The unit, "Archery: On Target for Life," was written by the Kentucky Department of Education curriculum specialist, utilizing the National Curriculum Standards required by the Kentucky Education Reform Act. The archery curriculum contains Academic Expectations and Core Content for Assessment required by state regulation for Physical Education. In addition, the curriculum provides interesting and creative possibilities for integration with core content in social studies, mathematics, visual arts, history, and English/language arts.

Potential aside, it is the results we have already realized from the "Archery: On Target For Life," program that have excited educators and administrators across the Commonwealth and the Nation. Participating students have exhibited marked improvements in self-esteem, confidence, self-discipline, structured programs and self-worth--all qualities that lead to an all-around better student, and an enriched student body. We have also documented improvements in critical attendance, behavior and on-task behavior categories as a result of student participation. View the Evaluation Report.

The Kentucky Model of "Archery: On Target For Life,"" is a two-week unit of study that incorporates Olympic-style archery instruction that addresses safety strategies, concentration, skills and techniques necessary to enjoy and participate in archery as a "Lifetime Sport."" The safety procedures and instructional guidelines were adopted from the National Archery Association (NAA) and the National Field Archery Association (NFAA).

Participating schools send at least one teacher to an 8-hour, NASP BASIC ARCHERY TRAINING (BAI) course to become a certified archery instructor. Fee for this training is $75. The total cost of the equipment kit is $2800.00 for Kentucky schools due to special grants and donations. The equipment kit includes:

• 12 bows
• 5 targets
• 5 dozen arrows
• 1 safety net
• 1 repair kit
• bow rack or you can build your own bow box. Plans can be found by clicking HERE

The majority of the schools in Kentucky and other states which have implemented the inaugural two-week course have now expanded archery into after-school programs like ESS, 21st Century, Family Resources Service Center (FRYSC), as well as school archery clubs and organized competition.

"Archery: On Target for Life,"" in Kentucky, KDFWR has witness to hundreds of success stories that this program has brought to Kentucky schools and students. Prominent among these is word from principals and instructors that students who do not normally participate and enjoy sports-related or extra-curricular activities seem to excel in this program--something that invariably carries over into their attitude, work habits and other school activity. We have two principals that stated the NASP program is the key factor that enabled their school to be a top 20 school in Kentucky on the state assessment in 2003.

​Since NASP® (National Archery in the Schools Program) is an in-school program, the first step to starting a NASP® program in your school is to get the school administration to agree to offer the program in the school during the school day as part of the school’s curriculum (typically as part of the Physical Education curriculum, PE Class). There is a lot of information available on our website, as well as this NASP Brochure that explains why NASP® is a good option for schools. If you need to know a little more about the magic of NASP®, visit Magic of NASP® for a few examples of why students, parents, and educators love National Archery in the Schools Program.

Once the school has agreed to offer the NASP® archery lessons as part of their school curriculum, the next step will be to get the instructor(s) trained. NASP® Basic Archery Instructor (BAI) trainings are offered regularly throughout the year at many locations around the state by regional coordinators. You can find a current list of classes on our website at https://naspbai.org. If you do not see a class that meets your needs, you can contact your regional coordinator or the state NASP® Coordinator (lisa.johnson@ky.gov) to request training. You can find a KyNASP® contact map along with all KyNASP® documents on our Kentucky NASP® webpage. If possible, it is always a good idea to train multiple people at a school. In addition to the teacher(s) that will be teaching archery as part of their curriculum, you can also train interested parents and coaches (for an afterschool program/team), and other faculty at the school. This training will show you how to safely set up the range, teach the program in a positive approach and answer most of your questions. The current cost for training is $80 per instructor trained and includes the training materials fee. PE teachers that take on teaching NASP® can be trained for free. Contact lisa.johnson@ky.gov to see how.

After training, the next step is getting your equipment. The equipment can be ordered directly from the NASP® equipment ordering site at a substantial savings over retail pricing. A good way to start is to purchase a standard startup kit. This kit will cost about $3700 depending on the equipment selected. This will allow 10 archers to shoot at one time. The suggested standard kit includes 10 right-handed bows, 2 left-handed bows, 5 targets, 10 dozen arrows, 1 safety arrow curtain, 1 bow rack and equipment repair bow. Kentucky offers new NASP® schools a $1500 discount on their first start-up kit. Contact lisa.johnson@ky.gov to see how.

For many schools, funding the kit can be an issue. With school budgets very tight, it can be very difficult to find the money to fund your equipment purchase. Always check with your local sportsman’s organizations to see if grants are available. A list of organizations can be found at NASP®: GET MORE INVOLVED WITH ARCHERY at the bottom of the page. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Lisa Johnson, KyNASP® State Coordinator, at lisa.johnson@ky.gov or by phone 502-229-1861.

You can contact Lisa Frye at lisa.johnson@ky.gov or find your regional coordinator here.

You can sign up for a class here in the NASP® Class Search app.

For most schools, the most difficult part of the process is funding the equipment kit. The cost of a kit is around $3100 (depending on what targets and bow stands you choose). KDFWR/KY NASP® has a limited amount of $500 discounts that we can offer to help offset the cost of a NASP® kit for a new program. A lot of schools use school athletic funds, activity fees, PTO funds, other fundraisers, and Century 21 Community Learning Center grants to fund the equipment purchase. Once you have a program established, you can host weekend fundraising tournaments for raising money for your program. Also, check with your local sportsman's clubs and organizations to see if grants are available. And, NASP® A has a list of organizations you can contact for possible funding at http://naspschools.org/archery/ under "POSSIBLE GRANT OPPORTUNITIES IN YOUR AREA."

If your school already has a NASP® archery program, you need to get the coach or archery instructor at the school to sign your archer up. If your child's school does not have NASP®, find out more in our How to Start a NASP® Guide.

Go to our KY NASP® Contact Information.

Go to KY NASP® Contact Information.

An archer can only compete in NASP® events if the school teaches NASP® in school during the school day and the archer has permission from the school to represent the school. To manage this effectively, Kentucky requires a BAI (Basic Archery Instructor) associated with the school to sign up archers from that school.

There is nothing in the rules that requires an archer to shoot with 3 fingers under the arrow. However, that is the method that NASP® teaches because it promotes safer arrow management. If an archer shooting split-fingered pinches the arrow while drawing, the arrow can/will fall off of the rest. This creates a safety concern for the other archers. So, if an arrow falls off of the rest, the range officials are trained to look for split-fingered shooting. If the archer is shooting split-fingered, the archer is instructed to immediately change to 3-finger under. If they refuse or switch back to split, the archer will be disqualified. This is a VERY traumatic situation for the archer. So, I would recommend teaching the 3-finger method of shooting.

The school must teach NASP® in school, during the school day, and in a class as part of the class curriculum each school year. These lessons should include eye-dominance, 11 steps of archery success, whistle commands and range setup, and supervised shooting of the bow by all students in the class. 77% of students get their first archery lessons from NASP® in school. We encourage a school to introduce as many students as possible to the program and to teach it long enough for the students to feel successful in shooting the bow.

Check out our National Archery in the Schools Program® page and check out the info under "Tournament Rules and Information."

Check out our National Archery in the Schools Program® page and check out the info under "Hosting Tournaments."

Most tournaments in Kentucky are listed here on the NASP® Tournaments page. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​