Here's some information about how NASP is setup in general, and in Washington State in particular. 

NASP National Headquarters is in Wisconsin. Each State, Province of Canada, or other Country has a NASP State Coordinator which is responsible for the program in their area. 

In most States, the NASP Coordinator is an employee of a government agency such as their Department of Fish and Wildlife or Natural Resources. Washington is one of a very few States in which the program is conducted by a non-governmental agency.  

Washington State Archery Association (WSAA) is the lead agency for the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) in our state. We are organized as a 501(c)(3) corporation, with a wider mission of promoting archery and bowhunting for all ages throughout the State. For NASP, we recruit schools, assist them with initial outfitting of equipment, provide Basic Archery Instructor courses to certify the teachers, and conduct an annual NASP State Championship. 

Linda Parker and Karen Palmer share the role of NASP State Coordinator for Washington, with Linda covering the West side as she is in Hoquiam while Karen does the East side from Tri-Cities. Sherrie Crisp is our NASP Instructor Training coordinator.   

Keystones of the program include placement in the regular school-day curriculum, universal equipment, instructor training, and State and National competition.  

With help from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and additional sponsors including the NASP Foundation, we are able to help outfit schools to start archery lessons at reduced cost to the school. See the Documents and Resources page for a Grant Request Form which is the basic starting point in getting your school enrolled in NASP.  

Some of the requirements to be an official NASP school (and thereby be eligible for grant funding through the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and for the school archers to be able to participate in the State and National tournaments), the program must be part of the regular school day, taught by BAI certified instructor, using NASP standard equipment. Once the program is up and running, many schools find there is interest from their student body in also developing an archery club or extra-curricular program. But the in-school classes are crucial because of the object to reach students who might not otherwise have even tried archery, and to help students form a bond with their school through participation in a class which offers them opportunity for success and involvement.  

Depending on the size of the group and the number of students that would be participating in a typical session, an outfit of equipment would be approximately $3500. This includes Bows and Arrows, an Arrow Safety Curtain, Target Butts, Bow Rack, and Maintenance Kit.   

Grant support from the Department of Fish and Wildlife is available to schools adding NASP archery to their curriculum as outlined above: part of the regular school day, taught by BAI certified instructor, using NASP standard equipment. In this case, we provide in-kind grant of equipment which we purchase for your school, and accommodates approximately half of your needs. Typically, we buy the bows and arrow curtain. We expect that the school will raise funds to cover purchase of the other half of the equipment - arrows, targets, bow rack, floor quivers and repair kit.   

The first steps are for the school to fill out a Grant Request Form, and to attend the Basic Archery Instructor (BAI) class.   

We typically offer one Basic Archery Instructor (BAI) class per month on the west side (with Sherrie Crisp and Linda Parker as the primary instructors) and Karen Palmer also teaches several courses on the East side.