New Jersey DEP's Division of Fish and Wildlife brought the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) to New Jersey in 2005. There are currently 15 NASP schools in the state that teach archery in their physical education programs.
Although there is interest amongst other schools the cost of the required equipment has been an obstacle to growing the program. That obstacle has been removed by a recent grant from the Easton Sports Development Foundation, which paid for 21 NASP archery equipment sets for New Jersey. Starting this fall, schools in every county will have access to a NASP equipment loaner kit, free of charge. The kits have an individual value of $2,800 so this is an excellent no-cost way for teachers to introduce archery into their physical education curriculum.
NASP is designed to teach Junior Olympic Archery Development style target archery in the 4th - 12th grades. Students shoot at bulls-eye targets placed before an arrow resistant net in their gymnasium. Equipment used is state-of-the-art and designed to fit every student. Core content covers archery history, safety, technique, equipment, mental concentration and self-improvement. The course is designed for a minimum of 10 forty-minute sessions. Most schools go beyond the phys-ed class and establish teams, which compete at the state level with the top school moving on to the national tournament.
To participate in NASP, physical education teachers are required to complete a free 8- hour NASP training program. Interested teachers can register for the training programs being scheduled for late summer and early fall. An effort is being made to schedule training sessions on teacher in-service days. At the conclusion of the training teachers can schedule the use of the equipment for a minimum of 10 school days.
Is your school next? Teachers and administrators interested in having their school participate in NASP or teachers who want to register for training should contact Keith Griglak at keith.griglak@dep.state.nj.us (908-735-6826) if your school is located north of Route 195 or Nathan Figley at nathan.figley@dep.state.nj.us (856-629-1014) if located south of Route 195.
More information on the National Archery in the Schools Program can be found by clicking on the following link:
http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/nasp.htm
