By: Brittany Jones

Every year the National Archery in the School’s Program (NASP®) convenes its annual coordinator’s conference. In year’s past, this widely attended conference has been held at various places around the United States. Phoenix, AZ was set to hold the 2020’s conference on July 28th and 29th. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and associated health and safety guidelines, which NASP® takes very seriously, the archery program conducted its very first virtual conference, over those same dates.

NASP® coordinator conferences are vital to the archery organization because it provides an opportunity to communicate news and updates about NASP® activities and most importantly, share ideas about how to better serve the millions of students who attend thousands of schools around the NASP® “world”. Coverage at this year’s conference included annual reports, Academic Archer registration, online teacher and student archery training, results of a student survey, and individual state, provincial, and country reports. Caren Sawyer, representing the Easton Sports Development Foundation offered, “We were impressed by the enthusiasm and involvement of the entire NASP community. Everyone seemed engaged in the discussion, and the meeting generated feedback and ideas that we look forward to seeing. We hope to see everyone at next year’s conference.

Tommy Floyd, NASP®’s Vice President, elaborates further on the details of this event. “Like many organizations that are navigating through the Covid-19 season, NASP® has been committed to emerging from this ‘reduced interaction period’ with virtual strategies in place that can and will likely be of real value moving forward. This first-ever NASP® virtual coordinator’s conference is a great example of that type of thinking. Floyd further explains, “that by utilizing the Zoom software platform, we were able to host an online conference which involved a total of eighty-eight individuals from various jurisdictions across the globe including United States, Canada, and Africa.”

Each of the sixty-seven jurisdictions in NASP® has an administrator. About ten percent of these local leaders turns over every year. At this gathering, new and experienced coordinators learn from each other how to best serve the student archer. Jillian Trunko, NASP® New York Coordinator, shares her positive take-away from the 2020 coordinator’s conference.

"As a relatively new coordinator, the most beneficial aspect of the conference for me is the ability to connect with all of the leaders in the NASP® program- national staff, coordinators, and sponsors. The conference provides a valuable opportunity to share challenges, successes and new approaches with NASP® coordinators and staff. There is now a wide range of experienced coordinators, yet I have always felt that everyone’s perspective is valued as part of the decision-making process for the future of NASP®. It is clear how much everyone cares about this program and has created a very supportive environment to be able to ask questions and seek advice.”

NASP® has always been known for putting the safety and health of its archery community first and until in-person activities can safely reconvene, NASP® will continue to utilize the ever-changing technology for endeavors like this. Wilhelm Greef, coordinator of South Africa says, “The technology is impressive and motivated us to schedule the 2020 NASP® Africa Federation via Zoom on September 1, 2020. NASP® set an example of how we can overcome the lockdown and still communicate effectively.”

For more information on NASP® visit www.naspschools.org.