The importance of NASP in public schools

The great outdoors and my love of archery probably kept me out of a lot of trouble during my youth.

My first bow was a Browning Wasp Recurve, and I roamed the neighborhood imagining that I was the legendary archer Fred Bear.

For some years now, there’s been a great archery program for guys and gals in the schools. Boy, if they’d had this when I was in school, it would be a guaranteed “A” on my transcript.

On a recent visit to Braggs Public School, more specifically inside the old gym, I found a group of 10 middle-school students learning the sport of archery under the watchful eye of coach Martin Lincoln.

The old gym at Braggs Public School is transformed into a no-nonsense indoor archery range for two periods a day — one for the middle grades and one for the high schoolers.

Lincoln first learned of the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) while coaching and teaching at Gore Public Schools.

After the archery season in the spring, Lincoln will move to other courses of teaching such as survival skills, a unit on recognizing the snakes, poisonous and non-poisonous, of Oklahoma and other outdoor pursuits. He also is the baseball coach at Braggs.

An interesting note about Lincoln. His father taught cadets at the West Point Military Academy how to shoot a pistol and rifle. His father used to stress a breathing technique that Lincoln uses today.

While at Gore, he had a girl compete at the archery nationals in Kentucky.

“It was something to see 1,000 students shooting at once in each flight,” Lincoln said.

The students seemed to really appreciate this new class at their school.

“I like the challenge of archery,” Braggs seventh-grader J. D. Jones said.

“Archery is fun,” Braggs eighth-grader Tracker Stanfill said. “I’ve never had the opportunity before.”

Lincoln expressed the desire to add another 12 bows to his equipment set. He can obtain these at a reduced price from the NASP for around $125 each. Anyone wishing to donate to the archery program may contact him at Braggs Schools at (918) 4875265, then press 1 for the high school office. His school e-mail is martin. lincoln@ braggsschool. com. He also will work on a grant to add other necessary items to the archery program.

NASP is an in-school program aimed at improving educational performance among students in grades 4-12. Students learn focus, self-control,discipline, patience and the life lessons required to be successful in the classroom and in life.

The NASP is a joint venture between state departments of Education and Wildlife. Several archery equipment manufactures and organizations are also partners.

The Wildlife Department holds an intense two-day Oklahoma National Archery in the Schools (OKNASP) training for teachers. The curriculum covers archery history, safety, techniques, equipment, mental concentration and self-improvement.

The NASP is an archery program geared for three divisions, elementary school grades 4-5, middle school grades 6-8, and high school grades 9-12.

The archery students learn enhanced improvement in core areas such as the ability to focus, team pride, attention, following strict rules, motivation, selfdiscipline and concentration.

The Oklahoma NASP (OKNASP) is affiliated with our state’s wildlife department. For further information, contact Archery in the Schools Coordinator Kelly Boyer at (405) 9191623.

I hope more schools across the state will choose to participate in the Oklahoma NASP.

Archery is an Olympic sport for both men and women and is seen in the Summer Games.

Who knows? We may have a future gold medalist from the area reign supreme.

John Kilgore is the former Greenleaf State Park manager. He can be reached by e-mailing him at jkilgoreoutdoors@yahoo.com.