Maryland Archery in the Schools Program (MD NASP)

Participant Benefits 

"Changing Lives One Arrow at a Time" 

Why Educators Like the NASP Program: Young archery student, courtesy of Doug Oatman

  • Adds diversity and interest to the classroom
  • Teaches a life skill to PE students
  • Complies with state and national PE standards
  • Accessible to all students
  • It also develops and improves muscle tone, and endurance and flexibility. It develops hand - eye coordination and dexterity and teaches the importance of focus / concentration.

    Educators say they are starved for new, effective ways to engage and teach their students. Archery fits the bill!

    What the teachers are saying:

  • School attendance is improved
  • Student behavior is improved all day
  • Kids, regardless of gender, stature and ability have success
  • Students are buying personal archery equipment
  • After-school archery clubs are forming
  • A​rchery adds diversity and “something new and exciting” in PE class!

    What the students are saying:

    Students preparing to shoot, courtesy of Doug Oatman

    (taken from a pilot program survey with accuracy +/- 2.7%.  55% of the students surveyed were male; 45% were female):

  • 89% enjoy the class
  • 62% have never shot a bow before
  • 73% do not own archery equipment
  • 49% want to own their own equipment
  • Most student archers wanted to use their new life skill. Archery has increased their school pride and positively impacted their self-esteem.

  • 59% want to be target archers
  • 38% are interested in bow hunting
  • Teaching archery in the schools is not a new idea.

    Prior to the NASP program, many archery programs disappeared for several reasons:

  • The archery teacher moved on.
  • New teachers lacked the proper experience and/or expertise in archery.
  • The equipment wore out, broke or disappeared.
  • Education criteria changed but the archery classes did not.
  • There was no connection among schools in regards to the archery program.
  • The archery industry reports increased sales of archery equipment since NASP started. Equipment purchases produced more excise taxes at the manufacturers level which were apportioned, through the Pittman Robertson Act, back to the states to use for wildlife management.

    Maryland’s NASP addresses all of these issues. Educators say they are starved for new, effective ways to engage and teach their students. Archery fits the bill!

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    Maryland Bowhunters Society logo

    The Maryland Archery in the Schools Program
    is brought to you in Partnership with the Maryland Bowhunters Society.​