The Ohio Valley Schools hosted their first ever official NASP (National Archery in the Schools Program) tournament on Saturday, December 10, in the West Union High School gymnasium. (Photo provided)
Submitted News
The Ohio Valley Schools hosted their first ever official NASP (National Archery in the Schools Program) tournament on Saturday, December 10, in the West Union High School gymnasium. The participating archers included both high school and junior high students from six schools: West Union North Adams, Eastern Brown, Sugar Creek Christian Academy from Ironton, Ohio, Duffens Homeschool from Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky and Stafford Homeschool in Greenup, Kentucky.
This event was the culmination of three years of intense effort and sacrifice from the coaches, students, parents, and community members who have pulled together to reach this goal. The West Union coaches, Brian and Tiffany Chitwood, are both NASP certified and also teach in the Ohio Valley School district. Brian teaches at WUHS and Tiffany teaches at NAHS. The Chitwoods worked for three years to bring NASP to the Ohio Valley Schools, with the archery program just becoming school-affiliated in May 2022. Already, between NAHS and WUHS, they have 76 archers participating in the program. Tiffany states, “Next year, we hope to have a Peebles archery team up and going.”
Since October, Church 180 in Seaman has been volunteering their facility for the NAHS team to practice, and the CTC in West Union has offered the same for the WUHS team. The Chitwoods express their gratitude for this, saying that it has made all the difference. “We only had an outdoor range to practice, and that’s not feasible in the winter.”
Local businesses have also contributed to the NASP teams. West Union Electric & Plumbing custom made all the quivers for the school teams. Tractor Supply in West Union donated hardware and items needed for the target areas. AutoZone, First State Bank, AC Glass, the Leonard Family Archery, and O’Reilly’s Auto all contributed financial donations.
After becoming school-affiliated, the students and coaches worked hard toward this next big goal -to host their own tournament. As the deadline approached, they faced a final snag- since the Ohio Valley Archery program was new, the equipment needed to host the tournament was on order and might not all be available in time for the tournament scheduled. Showing their collaborative spirit, other NASP schools picked up the slack and made sure the event took place as planned. With a lot of support, determination and hard work, even this huge goal was accomplished.
Hosting a NASP tournament in the Ohio Valley School District is breaking new ground. After this success, the next home tournament is already scheduled for Saturday, February 11 in the WUHS gym. The Ohio Valley Archery teams invite the community to attend.
