Sports
Nelsonville-York Elementary Archers Make First Trip To World Competition
By: Sarah Hawley | Athens Messenger staff reporter
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The third year has been the charm for the Nelsonville-York Elementary archery team.
Less than two months after making its inaugural trip to the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) National Tournament, the archery team from Nelsonville-York Elementary School is continuing to re-write the record book.
The program will be making it’s first trip to the NASP World Tournament next week in Madison, Wisconsin.
The after-school program at NYES was launched three years ago by head coach Phil Shaw, along with assistant coach Bob LeClain and two then-high school students.
Shaw has conducted shooting in the elementary school for the past eight years and has led the after-school program for three years. There were a little more than 100 kids to start. Three years later, there are full teams at the elementary and middle school of 24 kids each, with 16 participants on the high school team.
“The parents have really helped the program succeed with transportation, fundraising and other things as needed,” said Shaw.
Shaw noted that many of the parents will be making the trip to Wisconsin along with the team for the world tournament.
“Many of the parents will be going along as this may be the only time they get to see their children participate in a world competition,” he said.
Nelsonville-York Elementary will be represented by 18 archers at the competition. A total of 21 of the team’s 24 members took part at the national tournament.
Participants in the national tournament can qualify for the world tournament either as a team or individually. The NYES team qualified with a score of 3,002. At the elementary level a score of 2,649 was required to advance to the world tournament.
In order to reach the national competition, participants had to qualify at the state level. The elementary team consists of archers in grades 3-5.
The team has spent the past several weeks hosting fundraisers to support the team’s trip to the world tournament. Shaw expressed his appreciation to all those who have helped to support the team, including the businesses and individuals who have donated.
Any money left from the fundraisers will be used to purchase additional equipment.
The team is looking to expand on their skills in the coming year with the addition of 3D shooting. Shaw hopes to bring in more high school level participants with the additional shooting option. In order to participate in the 3D shoot, an archer must participate in the regular competition.
Results for all participants can be found on the National Archery in the Schools Program tournament website,nasptournaments.org.