This week's announcement that the International Bowhunting Organization (IBO) and the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP®) will launch the "NASP® IBO 3D Challenge" at next year's NASP® National Tournament is not only exciting news for the nearly 10,000 young archers who participate in the annual event, but it surely brought some smiles to the faces of those involved in the bow, archery accessory and target business.
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For several years there has been a growing discourse between NASP leadership and the IBO to offer a 3D venue for students who participate in the enormously successful program, and what better place to launch it than during the year's single largest shooting event?
NASP National Director Roy Grimes said in the organization's official announcement this week that foam animal replicas (3D targets) have been provided at many state and national NASP® tournaments -- strictly for fun shooting, rather than competition -- for several years.
Anyone who knows Grimes - unquestionably the force whose leadership, tenacity and drive has placed the NASP in the position it is in today - knows his decisions are always based thoughtful consideration, and mostly, excellent data.
"In every survey conducted among NASP® students over the past 12 years, kids tell us they just want to have as much fun as possible in archery," says Grimes. "They report that shooting arrows is the most fun but practicing and competing with their new archery friends is also important. A majority of students (56%) also advise they want to know more about bowhunting."
With the addition of 3D competition at the national venue, Grimes is quick to point out there is no plan in the works to reinvent the wheel.
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"NASP® has no intention of modifying its wildly successful bull's eye tournament competitions," he said. "That format is practiced in more than 12,000 NASP® schools across 10 countries by nearly 2.5 million students per year."
You read right: two-and-a-half MILLION students per year.
Since he took the helm of the organization in 2002, when it was merely a pilot program confined to Kentucky, Grimes has remained focused on a few basic tenets. The program is about the students, helping them achieve their goals in archery as well as academics, and having fun shooting bows and arrows.
Anyone who has followed NASP over the past 11 years knows this latest expansion will prove to be just the beginning for a new competitive genre that will ultimately expand to schools, archery clubs and IBO-sanctioned events across the country.
But, getting back to what this means to those who produce and sell bow and arrow gear, it simply translates into an continually expanding bottom line - as more youngsters enter NASP and move through the program in coming years.
Yes, the equipment they use in NASP is provided by individual educational institutions, but once the kids get hooked on archery, the next step is purchasing their own gear - or having mom and dad buy it for them.
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But don't take our word for it. Just like everything else he does, Grimes has the research - and data -- to back that up.
An online survey of students involved in the National Archery in the Schools Program conducted by the Easton Foundations in 2012 indicated nearly nine of ten participants enjoy the program and almost half have their own bows.
- Of the 1236 survey participants, 46 percent (569) presently own archery equipment, with 44 percent (198) indicating they purchased the equipment prior to taking part in NASP and 56 percent (251) saying they purchased bows after beginning NASP.
- A total of 18 percent (200) of those completing the survey indicated they have purchased a hunting license.
- Given a choice, a total of 88 percent of those surveyed said the either "liked" or "loved" shooting archery in NASP.
- Further, one-quarter (25%) of those surveyed said they have visited a local archery club in addition to taking part in NASP at school, and 97 percent of those who have visited a club or archery range have returned.
And now, with the expansion of NASP competition into 3D targets, watch for those numbers to keep on growing well into the future. Growing, just like archery's bottom line.
- J.R. Absher
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