Record Field Expected for Ninth Annual NASP State Championships April 1-2

NASHVILLE --- The Ninth Annual Tennessee National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) State Championships will be held April 1-2 (Wednesday-Thursday) at the Tennessee Miller Coliseum in Murfreesboro.

The NASP State Championships will return to the Miller Coliseum for the sixth consecutive year. A record field of almost 1,800 students is expected to participate by the time the registration concludes. The students will be representing more than 80 schools.

Sponsored by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), many of the Volunteer State’s best student archers will again participate in this year’s event. The NASP began in Tennessee in 2004 and has seen tremendous growth since its inception.

There will be three divisions. Schools will compete in the elementary, middle school and high school divisions. Awards will be presented to the top teams and individual finishers in each division.

The record field has caused the increase of an additional flight to be added on the first day. Competition will start at 2 p.m. on Wednesday with the first flight and two more flights to follow. On Thursday, there will be six flights with the first flight to begin at 8:30 a.m. and continuing until the final flight starts at 3:30 p.m. The awards ceremony is expected to begin at 5 p.m. The public is welcome and invited to attend. There is no admission charge.

 Last year, White County won its first state championship crown in the high school division. Rutherford County’s Whitworth Buchanan Middle School and Christiana Elementary were repeat winners in their respective divisions.

Tennessee began NASP in late 2004 with 12 pilot schools participating in the program. The number of schools has grown to 282 that now participate in the program. NASP is a two-week curriculum taught during school that teaches International Style Target Archery.

Each student will shoot 30 arrows, 15 from 10 meters and 15 from 15 meters with a maximum score of 300. The top team and top 10 individuals in each division automatically receive a bid to compete in the 2015 National NASP Tournament to be held May 7-9 in Louisville, Ky. There will also be at-large bids for those who qualify.

If a school or teacher is interested in starting a NASP program, please contact Don Crawford, Assistant Chief of Information and Education at Don.Crawford@tn.gov or (615) 781-6542 or Matt Clarey, Regional Training Coordinator in TWRA Region III at Matt.Clarey@tn.gov or (931) 484-9571.

---TWRA---