S3DA recently held the 6th annual Eastern Outdoor Target National Championship at the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Kentucky. The inaugural S3DA Outdoor Target National Championship in 2017 was held in the same location and some archers have been in the program long enough to have attended both events and recognize the incredible changes in the program over that time frame. AimTakers archer Rylan Long said, “S3DA has grown so much since 2017. During that event the rules of Outdoor Target had each archer shooting three different distances over the course of the tournament. Now we only shoot one distance so it’s not quite as challenging but still tests your skill level because the distance is much longer than indoor or 3D. I encourage anyone who’s intimidated by the longer distances to at least give it a try. It really is a lot of fun.”
Over 250 archers from 78 S3DA teams across twelve states gathered to compete for their chance to earn the title of National Champion making this outdoor target tournament the largest stand-alone field event in S3DA history. S3DA Executive Director Holly Helton said, “Outdoor Target is the smallest overall discipline in numbers for S3DA but is slowly growing with the help of infrastructure building programs at the local and state level like the S3DA Target Rent-to-Own program funded by Easton Foundations. We’ve found that one of the biggest impediments to growth in archery is a lack of infrastructure at the ground level with the closing of local pro shops nationwide. Our goal to combat that is to build solid foundations centered around youth teams working in conjunction with their communities to grow the sport and hopefully, in-turn, provide much-needed support to the local pro shops. We consider this cycle winning on all levels.”
This event would not have been possible without the help of University of the Cumberlands Archery Head Coach, Kris Strebeck, Assistant Coach, Caleb Kirby, and Director of Judges, Wes Barker, as well as the Judges, State & Regional Coordinators, coaches, parents, and countless volunteers working together with S3DA National Staff to provide a quality event for youth archers. This event was powered by S3DA National Sponsor Between Ends which is a phenomenal electronic scoring resource for the competition archery industry.
The S3DA National Staff is already planning for future events and looking forward to the 2024 competition season. S3DA encourages archers and their families to take some time off from target archery and spend time in the great outdoors. If you would like to participate in upcoming conservation activities or simply learn more about the S3DA conservation program, we encourage you to contact S3DA National Conservation Coordinator, Patty Reel, (conservations3da@gmail.com).
To learn more about the Scholastic 3-D Archery (S3DA) program be sure to visit the website or follow us on social media @s3darchery!