Starting a NASP® Program in KY

Since NASP® (National Archery in the Schools Program) is an in-school program, the first step to starting a NASP® program in your school is to get the school administration to agree to offer the program in the school during the school day as part of the school’s curriculum (typically as part of the Physical Education curriculum, PE Class). There is a lot of information available on our website, as well as this NASP Brochure that explains why NASP® is a good option for schools. If you need to know a little more about the magic of NASP®, visit Magic of NASP® for a few examples of why students, parents, and educators love National Archery in the Schools Program.

Once the school has agreed to offer the NASP® archery lessons as part of their school curriculum, the next step will be to get the instructor(s) trained. NASP® Basic Archery Instructor (BAI) trainings are offered regularly throughout the year at many locations around the state by regional coordinators. You can find a current list of classes on our website at https://naspbai.org. If you do not see a class that meets your needs, you can contact your regional coordinator or the state NASP® Coordinator (lisa.johnson@ky.gov) to request training. You can find a KyNASP® contact map along with all KyNASP® documents on our Kentucky NASP® webpage. If possible, it is always a good idea to train multiple people at a school. In addition to the teacher(s) that will be teaching archery as part of their curriculum, you can also train interested parents and coaches (for an afterschool program/team), and other faculty at the school. This training will show you how to safely set up the range, teach the program in a positive approach and answer most of your questions. The current cost for training is $80 per instructor trained and includes the training materials fee. PE teachers that take on teaching NASP® can be trained for free. Contact lisa.johnson@ky.gov to see how.

After training, the next step is getting your equipment. The equipment can be ordered directly from the NASP® equipment ordering site at a substantial savings over retail pricing. A good way to start is to purchase a standard startup kit. This kit will cost about $3700 depending on the equipment selected. This will allow 10 archers to shoot at one time. The suggested standard kit includes 10 right-handed bows, 2 left-handed bows, 5 targets, 10 dozen arrows, 1 safety arrow curtain, 1 bow rack and equipment repair bow. Kentucky offers new NASP® schools a $1500 discount on their first start-up kit. Contact lisa.johnson@ky.gov to see how.

For many schools, funding the kit can be an issue. With school budgets very tight, it can be very difficult to find the money to fund your equipment purchase. Always check with your local sportsman’s organizations to see if grants are available. A list of organizations can be found at NASP®: GET MORE INVOLVED WITH ARCHERY at the bottom of the page. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Lisa Johnson, KyNASP® State Coordinator, at lisa.johnson@ky.gov or by phone 502-229-1861.

Have a wonderful day!

Lisa Johnson, ​KyNASP® State Coordinator

Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources