Submitted by Ramona Leddy
The Cave City Elementary Archery Team competed in the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) National Tournament on Thursday, May 9 in Louisville, Kent.
Over 15,000 archers from across the country participated in the National Tournament May 9-11. Cave City students, led by Coach Ramona Leddy, shot with over 250 others in the same time slot. With that large of a number of people shooting all at the same time can be very intimidating.Leddy said she is are very proud of the archers for their accomplishments and skill. NASP archers must shoot a Genesis Original bow without sites, releases, or other archery assists. “Cave City was well represented by the skill, sportsmanship, and behavior of these students. We would also like to thank all the businesses and individuals who sponsored our trip to Nationals,”
she said.
To qualify for the NASP National Tournament students had to compete on several local and state levels. Each NASP tournament team has 24 students and the Cave City Archery program has an average of 100 students each year who are in fourth through twelfth grade. To select elementary, middle school, and high school tournament teams a school competition is held and the top 24 archers from each division form the tournament teams. The tournament teams then compete in a NASP State Qualifying Tournament like the qualifier the Cave City Archery program hosted in January of this year. If the team places in the top 30 of their age division in the state the team competes at the NASP State Tournament in Hot Springs. All three Cave City teams qualified for the state tournament this year, which was held on March 1-2. To qualify to compete in Kentucky the elementary team had to score more than 2,499 points.
The archery program is funded through grants and supported by the Arkansas Game and Fish. The school program provides all the equipment students need if they are interested in participating in the program. All students interested in learning about archery are encouraged to participate regardless of skill level or financial need. Students who join are encouraged to continue to participate in practices even if they are not on the NASP teams so they can compete in other 3-D and bulls-eye target tournaments.