Here are some reasons to use to pursuade your school to have an archery program!


October 16, 2008


Dear Admin,

I am not interested in any school clubs or sports programs offered at School; however, I am interested in an archery program. I am very sure that not only I, but other students as well would enjoy an archery program or club. An archery program would engage the unengaged students here; did you know that most high school dropouts are people that were uninterested, and therefore not engaged in extracurricular activities? This could’ve been prevented by an archery program to appeal to those people that were not interested in any programs.

Archery has been an approved physical education program in Georgia for 5 years. There are currently 43 participating states, and over 3 million student participants. The National Archery in the Schools program boasts a completely clean record; there have been absolutely no accidents, or even close calls in one of their programs This makes it much more safe than all of the other sport programs offered at Austin Middle School. Did you know that an average of 90 people die in the U.S. alone from lightning strikes, and no people at all are even injured in archery programs/ clubs?

And now, the part you want to hear the most, “How much would an archery club cost?” The equipment cost would be under $3000 (I calculated roughly $2500. This includes 12 very durable bag targets, and 12 Genesis bow kits (they include safety gear, 5 arrows, a quiver, 2 target faces and the bow itself.) The Genesis Compound Bow is the official NASP school archery bow; it has no specific draw length, and has adjustable poundage. There are several ways to pay for this. The payment could be such as the football, and other sport programs. It could also be paid for like the cheerleading program: entirely by the students and their families. It could also be aided by a fundraiser (selling things, or an Archery tutorial night that people would pay to come to).

Here are some things that people bring up when I mention an archery club:

-The weapons policy. The softball players are allowed to bring their aluminum bats to school, and students are allowed to use dangerous tools and materials in a science classroom. The safety issues could easily be dealt with by having adult supervision, and the practice taking place in a controlled and disciplined environment. Also, averages of 90 people are killed by lightning in the U.S.A. alone each year, and 0 are even injured, let alone killed in archery clubs each year.

-Lack of interest, I could give a survey to people in each grade level. It would ask about interest, preferred times to practice, current extracurricular activities, etc.

-A place to work/practice, Arrow curtains can be installed in the gym, the sports field, or almost anywhere to make it a safe place to practice. If we aren’t allowed to use the school at all, we can use a place like Taylor Farm Park like the softball players sometimes do.

- A time to practice, before and/or after school would work for a club (preferably after school), but if you would adopt archery into the physical education program, that could be part of the class. Team time would work for a club also (I would want a club more because people like me, who don’t have physical education class could still participate in it)

-What would an archery club do for us? It would engage people like me who aren’t very interested in any sports and clubs offered. Many schools connect their history/social studies lessons to archery, like the Woodland Indians from 8th grade social studies (first unit). It also demonstrates the properties of potential and kinetic energy. Many other people that are already engaged in sports and clubs would join, simply because they enjoy archery. Archery is a competition sport, so it adds another window of opportunity to add to the extracurricular excellence.

I hope that you have seen why I am so interested in requested an archery club/program. It wouldn’t cost as much as some other programs and it could connect to academic lessons too. I hope you take these things into account and will look into starting an archery club/program.