50 Nebraskaland • August-September 2025
NASP
National
Archery in the
Schools Program
rchery does not discriminate.
To succeed, you don't have to be the tallest, fastest
or strongest. To shoot well, you just have to focus, refi ne your
technique and practice. Or, you can just shoot for fun and not
worry about how many bullseyes you hit.
Those aspects are what have made the National Archery
in the Schools Program so successful and popular among
participants — now 23.5 million and counting — and
instructors since it began in 2002.
Our School Sport
Mater Dei Academy, a parochial school in Omaha with
approximately 120 students from grades K through 12, has no
team sports programs. Except archery. Nearly every student
from fourth grade and up participates, and this tradition
grows every year.
"It's our school sport," said Sara Cerise, a senior. "Our
school has been doing this for a very long time. I like to do my
teachers proud. It's a lot of fun, too."
Mater Dei was one of the fi rst schools to sign up for NASP.
It doesn't have the budget to travel to weekend tournaments.
Instead, the school focuses on one tournament: The State
Tournament. This competition, hosted in Lincoln each
March, draws an ever-increasing number of participants. In
2025, the event drew more than 700 archers from 33 schools,
a big jump from the 100 who participated in the fi rst state
tournament in 2006.
This year, Mater Dei brought about 80 students to state,
where its high school team won its 10th title to go with
A
Story and photos by Eric Fowler
•
23.5 million students in more than 9,500
schools across the U.S. have participated
since 2002
•
66 percent were first-time archers
•
105,000 educators have been trained
•
Half of participants are female, and half male
•
$4 million in scholarships have been awarded
to students
•
Credited, in part, for an increase in archery
participation from 7 million to 19.2 million
NASP by the Numbers
