Olympic Archery in Schools Program

OLYMPIC ARCHERY IN SCHOOLS PROGRAM

“My friends got me hooked into archery. It’s so cool to be part of a team and to compete together as archers!” – Crystal, North Hollywood HS.

The Olympic Archery in Schools program (OAS) is a program of the Easton Sports Development Foundation. It was originally introduced to the school community as a Physical Education program and/or after school program with a primary goal to raise awareness of Olympicstyle archery and the Olympic movement; to build pathways to next step programs such as JOAD, collegiate archery, and recreational archery.

OAS brought a cool vibe to the school community as the Olympic recurve archery program; it added a touch of originality. Archers competing in the ranking round and Olympic round not only receive individual trophies but earn points towards a team award. As the program grew, coaches and archers desired a more competitive experience rather than only shooting for individual score. Seeing how other traditional high school sports bring the “team” into interscholastic competitions, OAS revamped the program by offering a unique archery league giving schools the opportunity to have both an archery program and a competitive archery team by participating in league games. Students gain the personal benefits from learning recurve archery as well as the benefits from participating on a school competitive team. Teams now go head-to-head with other school teams in the Ranking Round, Olympic Round and Team Round events as seen in the Olympic games. OAS is now fundamentally about team play.

OAS currently has programs in California, Colorado, Florida, Texas, Utah, Washington and New York. The program offers pin shoots, mail-in tournaments, league games and competitive events which provides students the opportunity to participate in archery year-round. During the competitive season of OAS, school leagues can qualify for their local conference championship, state championship and national championship event.

Students participating in the OAS program find a place for archery play. OAS incorporates the many benefits the sport of archery offers both on the field and off the field, in the community and in the home. The OAS program is an opportunity for all students who previously have not expressed an interest in team sports such as soccer, basketball, football, etc. to be part of a competitive school team.

OAS brings “team play” to life by promoting positive youth development through the OAS I AM an Archer recognition program. The recognition program promotes lifelong values such as Leadership, Respect, Honor, Confidence and Competence. OAS archers are recognized for exhibiting healthy behaviors on and off the field stemming from being caring and responsible young adults. The OAS community knows the importance of team relationships and aims to foster camaraderie through the OAS values.

OAS is For Sport, For All and For Life. For Sport, Archery is a competitive activity. The league season offers archers the experience of competing with other school teams in league games and championship events which allows them to utilize both physical and mental focus. For All, Archery has no barriers. OAS archers using adaptive equipment to compete, can do so alongside archers without adaptive equipment. For Life, Archery is a lifetime sport. The introduction to recurve archery at the grassroot level instills lifelong values allowing for the opportunity to transition to collegiate archery, recreational archery and/or competitive archery.

The OAS Season:

How to Join: Start a school archery team with the help of the Olympic Archery in Schools (OAS) staff. As we move forward with less COVID19 restrictions, Archery continues to be one of the safest activities to participate in schools. The Olympic Archery in Schools program provides a place of belonging by encouraging team participation, all while practicing safe distancing protocols. Offering an archery program in your school provides the opportunity of participating in a sport while having the benefit of a healthy social environment for our youth. Learn more about bringing the Olympic Archery in Schools program to your school, please email OAS@esdf.org

About OAS: The Olympic Archery in schools (OAS) program is a middle and a high school league focusing on a fun and interscholastic team experience like Olympic archery. School archery teams compete against other local schools which lead up to a conference, state and national championship. Just like in the Olympic games, OAS focuses on recurve archery and team play creating an exciting and memorable experience. OAS can be run as a PE program, after school program, sports club and indoor and/or outdoors. To learn more about OAS please visit wwww.olympicarcheryinschools.org