Harrisburg, U.S.A. - Pennsylvania student participants and the Pennsylvania Game Commission came away from the recent National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) tournament with some awards and high honors. The event, which took place May 11 and 12, in Louisville, Kentucky, was recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest archery tournament with 7,804 competitors from 38 states.

“More than 70 students from Pennsylvania made the trek to compete in the tournament, including teams from New Castle Christian Academy, Williams Valley High School and Halifax High School,” said Samantha Pedder, Game Commission outreach coordinator, who oversees NASP in Pennsylvania.”Two students placed in the top 10 in their respective divisions, and almost all shooters posted higher scores at the nationals than at the state tournament!”

Among those who finished in the top ten were Garrett Richardson, from New Castle Christian Academy, who placed third in the fourth grade male division with a score of 279 out of a possible 300. Richardson placed first in this division at the Pennsylvania state tournament with a score of 255.

Katelyn Donely, a tenth grader from Williams Valley High School, placed sixth in the High School Female Division with a score of 289 out of a possible 300. Donely tied for fifth, but finished second in a shoot-off round.  She was first in the same division in the Pennsylvania state tournament, with a score of 279.

The Game Commission received recognition at the NASP Coordinator’s Conference, which occurred before the tournament, for reaching the milestone of having 100 schools enrolled in NASP. The Game Commission also was recognized for achieving the greatest percentage increase in school enrollments over the past year from among 47 states and five Canadian provinces that offer NASP.

The World NASP Tournament will occur on Oct. 4-6, at Disney’s Wide World of Sports, and any NASP participating school in Pennsylvania is invited to send a team.

In 2010, the Game Commission began coordinating Pennsylvania’s NASP, which helps school districts inPennsylvania meet physical education curriculum requirements of the state Department of Education, while at the same time introducing them to the world of competitive archery. In 2011, about 350 students from nearly a dozen school districts participated in the state competition, which was volunteer-run at the time.

Earlier this year, on March 9, nearly 500 students from 23 schools competed at the NASP State Tournament held by the Pennsylvania Game Commission at the Penn State Multi-Sport Facility inUniversity Park, Centre County.
Studies conducted by the national NASP organization demonstrate that NASP is a great introduction to the sport of archery, and that many students choose to pursue the sport outside of school.

“NASP fosters an interest in archery for these students, and we hope that the excitement that competitions build will cause students to want to continue to shoot and expand their archery experience,” Pedder said. “We want to encourage them to keep shooting and to consider taking the next steps toward 3-D archery tournaments and, eventually, bow hunting, which are natural avenues for archers to hone and maintain their skills.”

Started in Kentucky, in 2002, NASP has spread throughout the United States, and now is reaching around the world. At the end of the 2011-12 school year, nine million students had gone through NASP lessons in 9,000 schools throughout 47 states, Washington, D.C., Canada, Australia, New Zealand  and South Africa. Tournaments are held at the state, national and international levels.

NASP is a joint venture that partners with state education and wildlife management agencies and archery equipment manufacturers and organizations to promote student education, physical education and participation in the lifelong sport of archery. The program’s focus is to provide international-style archery training in physical education classes in grades four through 12.

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Ottawa, Canada- A strong team of five archers has been nominated by Archery Canada to the Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC) for entry into the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

The Canadian contingent will be led by 2008 Paralympian and 2011 Parapan American Games gold medalist, Kevin Evans (Jaffray, BC). Evans is also a two-time defending world champion, having struck gold in 2007 and 2009 in the Men’s Open Compound Bow category.

“I’m really pleased and excited about returning to the Paralympic Games,” said Evans. “Last season was a bit rough with some untimely injuries, but things are definitely looking up this season and for the Paralympics.”

Joining Evans will be first-time Paralympian Bob Hudson (Leoville, SK). Hudson captured the silver medal in his category at the 2011 Parapan American Games. Both Hudson and Evans will compete in the men’s Compound Bow, Open category.
Lyne Tremblay (Magog, QC), a 2008 Paralympian, will compete in her second Paralympic Games. Tremblay will compete in the women’s Recurve Bow, ARW2 category.

Karen Van Nest (Wiarton, ON) will be competing in her fourth Paralympic Games. She competed in the 2000 Sydney, 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games in pistol shooting. The London 2012 Paralympic Games will mark the first time she competes as an archery athlete. Van Nest will compete in the women’s Compound Bow, Open category.

Rounding-out the strong Canadian contingent is international veteran Norbert Murphy (Vaudreuil-Dorion, QC). Murphy will be competing in his third Paralympic Games. He competed at the 2000 Sydney and 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games. Murphy captured the bronze medal at the 2009 World Para-Archery Championship and finished fifth at the 2011 World Para-Archery Championship (in the men’s Compound Bow, ARW1 category).

The five archers nominated to the Canadian Paralympic Team for London is an increase from the three who competed at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games four years ago.

“I am really happy to see the fantastic growth in Paralympic archery with a record number of athletes being nominated to the London 2012 team with real chances of medals,” said Gaétan Tardif, Chef de mission for Team Canada.
Vladimir Kopecky (Kimberley, BC) is Archery’s Team Leader for the Games.

“I believe we have a very strong team and that we have a real chance to be on the podium,” Kopecky said. “We are going to the Games to do Canada proud.

Athletes and staff nominated to the Canadian Paralympic Committee for the London 2012 Paralympic Games in archery are Kevin Evans (Jaffray, BC) – Compound Bow, Men’s Open category, Bob Hudson (Leoville, SK) – Compound Bow, Men’s Open category, Karen Van Nest (Wiarton, ON) – Compound Bow, Women’s Open category, Lyne Tremblay (Magog, QC) – Recurve Bow, Women’s ARW2 category, Norbert Murphy (Vaudreuil-Dorion, QC) – Compound Bow, Men’s ARW1 category, Rob Cox (Winnipeg, MB) – Alternate in Compound Bow, Men’s Open category, Vladimir Kopecky (Kimberley, BC) – Team Leader, and Linda Gagnon (Magog, QC) – Team Support Staff

The archery competition for the London 2012 Paralympic Games will take place at the Royal Artillery venue in London from August 30 to September 5.

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