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The Avon archery team recently attended the 2024 State Nation Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) Tournament held in Spearfish at Black Hills State University on Friday, March 22nd. It was a one-day tournament where everyone from the Avon team qualified to compete at the state level. The competition is top level with schools from all over South Dakota coming to compete for awards, titles and hoping to make it to the nationals competition. The Avon archery team was coached by Troy Soukup and Charles Zacharias. They have both been the instructors for the Avon archery team for the past five years. The pair began coaching when the previous coach stepped down and they were approached by the archery team and staff asking if Troy and Charles would be willing to fill the position. It was easy for the pair to step into the role knowing that there was already a want to promote the tradition of archery in the generations to come. Troy’s history with archery started when he was ten years old. He was gifted a youth bow with arrows for Christmas. He became interested in archery again after finishing high school and continues to this day for him. Troy has found that archery hunting has become an addicting challenge. It also provides him with the peace and time for personal reflection and the ability to observe nature in an amazing uninterrupted way. For Charles, his exposure to archery came when he was seven years old. His dad archery hunted, and Charles can remember his dad harvesting a deer after he shot it with a bow. Since that experience, it was something that Charles always wanted to do. He bought his first used bow when he was 14 years old and has been hooked ever since. In his 20s, he shot competitive archery for about ten years. It is an individual sport that is really fun for Charles and one can take the knowledge learned and practice with a bow in many directions. It is also a sport that one can do well into the later years of life no matter what gender one is. For both instructors, archery provided them with another opportunity to hunt big game and spend time outdoors. It also provided them with the competition of an individual sport. In the NASP competitions there are very strict rules and regulations about what type of bow and arrows that can be used during competition. The only bow used in NASP is a Genesis compound which has no let off and is adjustable from 10-20 pounds in draw weight at any draw length. The only arrow that can be used is the Easton 1820 aluminum Genesis arrow. The archery equipment used in NASP competitions is highly standardized to be safe, durable, economical, and most importantly a universal fit for almost every student. This is important because it puts all archers on the same level of competition. In the NASP competitions learning the process of shooting is stressed more highly than arrow scores. Besides shooting and techniques, archery does provide other life-lessons to those that partake in the sport. Archery can be a lifelong enjoyable hobby that one can take as far as he or she wants to. It provides a great opportunity to meet interesting people from all over the world, especially in competitive shooting. The objective of archery is to teach the students to focus, learn self-control, disciple, patience and the life lessons that are required to be successful in both the classroom and in life. The Avon archery team has 15 members. Their members include lone senior Noah Watchhorn. Thejunior team member is Pierce Yonkers. Sophomore members are Lexi Vanderlie, Trent Soukup and Caleb Tallman. Jake Namminga is the only freshman. Hope Schryvers and Hoyt Brant are the 8th grade team members. Seventh graders include Mya Labeaux, Abigale Odens, Easton Sees, Ireland Small and Parker Podzimek. Ashley Soukup and Palmer Podzimek are the sixthgrade team members. This is a school sponsored team that is open to grades 6th through 12th. The only requirements to be a part of the team are to show interest in archery and come to practice. It is truly a sport that any student can participate in. In order to qualify for the state competition all that was required of the students was to attend ten hours of archery practice and to keep their academic grades up. The archery competitions do have different categories including girls, boys, High School, Middle School and individually by grade. The competitions include a 10- and 15-meter distance from the target for Bullseye and the distance varying for 3D animal targets. There are numerous archery rules and whistle commands that are taught to the students in order to provide a safe environment for both practice and competition. The instructors help the students prepare for competitions with the motto of aim small and miss small. They also help them focus on the 11 steps of archery success which include: 1) Stance 2) Nock Arrow 3) Draw Hand Set 4) Bow Hand Set 5) Pre-Draw 6) Draw 7) Anchor 8) Aim 9) Shot Set Up 10) Release 11) Follow Through and Reflect Plus, the instructors cannot emphasize practicing enough in order to get prepared for the competitions. Although there are several competitions throughout the state, the Avon archery team usually only attends the state competition due to there being so many other sporting events with conflicting schedules. The archery season usually begins mid-January with practice and ends with the state tournament. The advice that Troy and Charles would have for anyone who is interested in archery or who would like to learn would be to attend archery in school or find an experienced mentor to get started on your archery adventure. Congratulations to all of the members of the Avon archery team on a successful and fun year. Thank you to Troy and Charles for their time and dedication to teaching the Avon youth a skill that they both truly love that has been a life-long passion for both of them.