Virginia was the 29th state to offer the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) to students in elementary, middle, and high schools. The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries conducted its first training of Level I and Level II trainers in August 2005. Embracing NASP and conducting the educational training of the program provided an opportunity for trainers and school educators to be certified to instruct archery programs to youth in the schools. NASP provides training for educators in Olympic-style archery and promotes safety with standardized curriculum that is congruent with Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs). NASP promotes: youth the opportunity to develop archery skills; an opportunity to develop archery skills; learning of lifelong leisure skills in a structured setting; an avenue for youth to increase skills individually as opposed to team sports; and an opportunity for after-school programs. This session provided an overview of the process of how we recruited schools to participate, how we set up and conducted the basic archery instructor training, and an overview of funding sources which can assist schools in obtaining NASP equipment sets. Discussion included feedback from schools conducting the program and information on curriculum correlation to the state's standards of learning. A sample of the standardized equipment was available to participants.
