WHY NASP Story Series is a collection of individual success stories from WHY NASP. Check back each week for more success stories from NASP Members!
KELBY GJOVIK – NORTH DAKOTA
To many people, NASP® is more than just a sport, it can be a passion, a way to create friends, a stress reliever. For me and many others, it is another family. A family is a group of people that will be there for you no matter what. Most of the time in the NASP® family, they are not related to you by blood unless you have siblings in it. However, these people, considered another family, are going to be friends and family of the other archers that are on your team.
Just in our small community archery team, we have a big family. Everyone is always there to support one another, no matter what. One way that we stuck together as a team at the state tournament this year was when two of our archers had lost their mom a few weeks before the tournament. Their mom was a huge part of the community and was always there supporting everyone on the team. So, the practice after we got the news, my coach and I came up with the idea to create shirts to show the girls that we were there for them. I also made sure that they had different ways to contact me so if they needed anything they could get a hold of me. This is one way that the archery family stuck together and was there for one another during a hard time, not just for the girls, but for the whole team.
On the state level, the family just continues to grow, and I have seen it multiple times throughout the past four years that I have completed. As I have gone around to multiple tournaments before going to the state level, most of the coaches have gotten to know at least some other archers that are not on their own team. At the state level in North Dakota, no one wants to see any of the kids fail or do bad so the coaches, and even other archers that are shooting around them, are always willing to help. I have seen coaches tell a kid to just let that one arrow go after they had a wild flyer and for whatever reason, they will listen to a different coach even if their coach has told them the same thing multiple times before. Also, at state, the coaches will always tell other archers’ good luck before they shoot and a good job after they are done shooting. Over the past four years that I have been participating in NASP®, I have created many friends and for the most part, we are always trying to beat each other in tournaments. However, we always want to see each other do good and are always proud of each other, even if one of us shoots better than the others.
After just shooting at the national level, I have seen the family grow even further. Kids started to struggle and they just became frustrated when their coach or teammate tried to talk to them. When a different coach talks to them, they are not as frustrated. Sometimes, the archer would listen to the other coach’s advice. From what I have seen at nationals, is that the coaches and other archers want everyone to do well. Although there are people that you want to beat, especially at the national level, you still want them to do good and are still happy for them if they do better than you do.
As the NASP® teams gets bigger, the family will continue to grow even more. Before you know it, there will be so many people in your corner that you did not know even know you had. I have seen this over the past four years where a coach will come up and talk to me, and I had no clue that this coach even knew who I was. Or, an archer who I had no idea who they were, but they knew exactly who I was because they had looked up to me and wanted to shoot just like me.
LILY MITCHELL – KENTUCKY
WHY NASP Story Series – Rineyville Baptist Church recently had instructors trained as Basic Archery Instructors for the National Archery in the Schools. As part of our church’s Centershot program, we offered North Hardin Christian School students an opportunity to participate in our Centershot program. Our instructors just recently became basic archery instructors through the NASP® training. Our instructors were recently trained by the Kentucky NASP® region 3/5 coordinator, Christie Zimmer and her husband. We were really excited about the opportunity to present archery to these students.
Lily, a student at North Hardin Christian School, has a short right arm and limited use of a partial hand. She told her mother that she wanted to participate in our archery program. Her mother was convinced that Lily should try, and her father agreed. We immediately got advice from our regional coordinator. Christie told me to contact another area instructor, David Carrico, who had, in the past, a student with a partial right arm that was part of their archery team. David helped us make a mouthpiece for Lily to draw the bow back.
Lily and I worked together one-on-one prior to the other students arriving during the very first archery session. She was a natural and extremely excited. She was shooting better than most other students. You can tell from her smile that she was enjoying archery.
I sent Christie a video her mother made of her hitting the bullseye. It made Christie’s day. She was happy for all of us. It certainly made our team feel good about taking the training to be instructors.
SOPHIE HUFF – KENTUCKY
WHY NASP Story Series Archery and the National Archery in the Schools Program provides a school based outlet for students that many other sports do not offer. It provides students who may not have the opportunity with other sports to participate in a team and individual environment. The team environment provides valuable life skills while the individual achievements provide confidence and personal pride.
Bernheim Middle School, and former Cedar Grove Elementary School, archer Sophie Huff is a shining example of a student who has blossomed thanks to NASP®. Sophie started her journey in the fourth grade at Cedar Grove Elementary School. She quickly learned what it meant to be part of a team and how to compete at the highest level.
Upon transitioning to Bernheim Middle School, she continued her archery career, improving year over year. During her 8th grade year, Sophie hit her stride and the opportunities provided by NASP® gave her an opportunity to find her voice, literally.
Besides competing, Sophie stepped up and provided her amazing talent as a public speaker by announcing a tournament when a last-minute substitute was needed. Her delivery and organization where on a level with the best. She, along with her coach/Mom, also coordinated and provided all the details for the team’s 8th Grade Night, honoring those moving on to high school. It was the teams first such night and was a rousing success.
Sophie has now moved on to high school and will continue her archery career. Despite moving up, she offered to participate in Bernheim’s open house to evangelize the archery program. She made an awesome poster board and spent time speaking with new students and parents about her own experience with archery.
NASP® has given Sophie an opportunity to find several inner strengths in addition to participating in competition. This opportunity will no doubt benefit her as she moves through her life and career. We are excited to see what the future holds for Sophie!
See more WHY NASP Story Series at WHY NASP
WHAT IS NASP®
NASP® is an activity that doesn’t discriminate based on popularity, athletic skill, gender, size, or academic ability.
It’s a different kind of team sport. It’s open to any student. Its biggest supporters are professional educators. Teams come together around one thing: Archery.
The National Archery in the Schools Program is an in-school program aimed at improving educational performance among students in grades 4th – 12th. And through it, students are learning focus, self-control, discipline, patience, and the life lessons required to be successful in the classroom and in life. Learn more at https://www.naspschools.org
