Over 20 elementary and middle school students from St. Elizabeth Ann Seton found a big surprise at archery practice this week!
Team coaches were thrilled to share that a generous donation from the Knights of Columbus-Council 1600 had brought three out of the six 3D targets needed to complete a tournament set, two new bows, 10 dozen new tournament arrows and three new block targets to the team. In addition, the School Calendar Raffle Fundraiser supported replacing the remaining seven original block targets. After a fun practice of "Tic-Tac-Bow" the archers posed for a picture chattering, "What?! We have real 3D targets!"
The St Elizabeth Ann Seton School Patriots Archery Team from Hastings has been knocking arrows and shooting targets at Minnesota Bullseye Archery Tournaments every year since 2011. The team had only participated in a 3D archery tournament back in 2019 at the MN State 3D tournament, but in 2024 the team is competing in six 3D tournaments, two completed and four upcoming.
Archery is both a team and an individual sport open to students at SEAS in fourth through eighth grade. The season starts during gym class in November and may end with the State Tournament in March. On a few occasions the team has finished the season in May at the Eastern National Tournament in Louisville, KY. During tournaments archers shoot with a compound bow at targets from 10 meters to 15 meters over 30 times. The draw strength of the bow is set during practice between 12 and 20 pounds.
After over a decade of annual use, the foam block targets littered the gym floor with black foam after each practice. The number of straight tournament arrows dwindled. There were more left-eye dominant students than left-handed bows during gym class. Practicing for 3D Archery was handled using polypropylene targets pegged to the block targets. This need for new equipment was answered with gusto.
Many, many thanks to the Knights of Columbus-Council 1600!!
Visit NASP Schools – National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) at https://www.seas-school.org for more information about this sport.
Check out NASP Tournaments, participating schools and more at https://nasptournaments.org.
Finally, visit St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School at https://www.seas-school.org to learn more about the Spirituality, Excellence, Academics, and Service behind this Archery Team.
