Excelsior Middle School Students Compete in National Archery Tournament

The archery team of Excelsior Middle School in Byron, California went to Kentucky on May 8, 2014 to compete against nearly 11,000 students at the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) 2014 National Tournament. 18 Excelsior Middle School students, full of nervous excitement, traveled for 23 hours to compete.

Three years ago, Deputy Sheriff David Allain of the Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff launched Project Straight Arrow, which is similar to the Police Athletics League. Deputy Allain started the program with the assistance of the Office of the Sheriff, Byron Union School District and Discovery Bay resident Al Harcourt. Grants were obtained from California Department of Fish and Wildlife for equipment at the middle school and the two elementary schools. P.E. classes now include archery for 4th through 8th grade students.

Project Straight Arrow has had more than 60 middle school students participate at one time or another. The team meets regularly on Wednesdays in the Excelsior gym, and students learn how to hold, aim and shoot tournament-approved equipment following NASP guidelines.

“I started the archery program as a means to allow myself to become part of the school community,” said Deputy Allain, who is the School Resource Officer for the district. “This program allowed students the opportunity to see law enforcement as their friend and not just an authority figure. I found that students were more open to talking to me and willing to discuss issues in their daily lives.”

Last year Deputy Allain took four members of the team to the national tournament in Kentucky. This year, the team won the California State Archery Tournament and 18 of the team members chose to compete in the national event. The team came home proud of their accomplishments at the Nationals.

Here are the rankings for the top 5 Excelsior students:

• K. DEWITT Score: 284; middle school boys rank: 62 out of 2477
• C. REIMANN Score: 278; middle school girls rank: 115 out of 2024
• N. DUMAS Score: 259; middle school boys rank: 997 out of 2477
• N. ZANGER Score: 257; middle school girls rank: 784 out of 2024
• Z. HOMA Score: 256; middle school boys rank: 1185 out of 2477

These rankings are fabulous, especially when looking at who the team competed against. “Many of the archers who competed are from states where students start shooting around the age of five,” said Deputy Allain. “Students from Project Straight Arrow practiced one day a week and have been involved with the program for 1-3 years. It will be awesome to see how much they grow for next year’s tournament!”

During the competition, students shoot 15 arrows at 10 meters and 15 arrows at 15 meters for a total of 300 points possible. The individual scores of the Excelsior team ranged from 206 to 284.

A special thanks to all those who donated during the fund-raising, the Office of the Sheriff and the Deputy Sheriffs Association for their help in making this trip possible.

Source: Contra Costa County Sheriff