By Jeff Rawlinson - Vice President - NASP
Nestled in the rolling hills of western Wisconsin is the small town of Sparta. Known for its scenic outlook and outdoor recreation, Sparta is also home to the world-famous Mathews Archery, Inc. Matt McPherson started the company out of his love for archery. The Mathews line of bows is revered by hunters and target shooters all over the world. Most would call him a visionary. A devout man of faith and the son of a pastor, Matt combines everything he does with passion and purpose. “Whatever you do in life, do with your whole heart and do it well,” said Matt. And so, he did when he began creating a new bow in 2001 that would change the culture of archery the world over.
Matt knew that the bow was the weak link in developing new or young archers. He was in the process of designing a bow that would appeal to nearly everyone learning archery for the first time. “Most bows used in education were 30lb recurves, and that was too much weight for new archers to manage. We designed our new bow at 20lbs, and it needed to have little to no recoil,” said Matt. After long hours of design and engineering, Matt’s new bow was ready for the masses. He called it Genesis. Matt had created the perfect tool for reaching new archers. It was a new beginning for archery—now he needed to connect the bow to kids.
If Matt was a genius in engineering, Kevin Stay matched that with his expertise in manufacturing. Kevin oversaw manufacturing of the Genesis bow, integral to the success of NASP®. Matt asked Kevin to take the Genesis bow and help place it into the hands of youth on a larger scale. Kevin began working with Olympic gold medal archer Rod White, and together they reached out to camps, scout groups, and similar programs. Along the way, they learned about a young teacher named Jennie Richardson who was using archery in the classroom to teach key educational curriculum. An idea was forming.
At the same time, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Tom Bennett had recently tasked his new Deputy Commissioner, Roy Grimes, with developing a high school archery program in Kentucky schools. Roy proved to be the ideal person to get the program up and running in Kentucky. As a biologist, he had a deep understanding of state fish and wildlife agencies. This would prove incredibly useful as the program expanded. "In 2001, I was heavily involved in the elk program with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF) here in Kentucky," said Roy. "I’ve always wondered if Tom might have thought I was interested in the vacant Executive Director position with RMEF,” laughed Roy. "Instead, he created a second Deputy Director role within our agency and encouraged me to apply. I did. Shortly afterward, Tom assigned me the opportunity to develop archery as a school sport in Kentucky."
In the conservation world, Tom Bennett was known as a "get it done" hard charging leader. He was Commissioner at a time when state fish and wildlife agencies were struggling with a new concept called hunter, angler and shooting sports recruitment, retention and reactivation (R3). “At first, I was looking at declining hunting and fishing license sales and saw that our market for kids was dwindling annually,” said Tom. Roy had heard about the new bow developed in Sparta and reached out to Matt and Kevin. Knowing that an in-school program wouldn’t be easy to implement, Tom contacted Gene Wilhoit, Commissioner of Education for Kentucky schools. “I heard Gene was a hunter, so I picked up the phone and invited him to join me on a duck hunt. In the blind, we discussed the idea, and he said he would think about it. A few days later, he invited Roy and me to his office where we met his curriculum coordinators, Connie Shackleford and Agnes Durbin. These ladies were very important to our success,” said Tom. Roy noted, “We stepped outside, and Gene turned to me and said, ‘if you change the focus from high school sport to middle school curriculum in physical education, we will endorse the idea’.”
Roy convened a meeting with key members of various archery organizations along with Kevin Stay and Rod White. Roy noted, “We found out we needed a training program for teachers and a curriculum that would meet core content requirements for Kentucky and exceed national standards.” Said Roy “For schools to adopt a new curriculum three criteria had to be met: 1. Equipment had to be universal in fit and easy for the teacher to use and maintain. 2. Training had to be available to prepare the teacher to present archery lessons. And 3. The curriculum had to address core content for Physical Education,” Roy added.
From the beginning, the team made decisions to set this new program apart. It would have been easy for a group of shooting sports professionals to focus solely on archery—but they didn’t. “We knew we needed to make decisions that were best for schools,” said Matt. “No camouflage bows, and we needed to address safety up front. We played out different scenarios of what could happen. We even spoke with insurance companies, and they told us the only thing safer than archery was ping pong. They had no concerns,” Matt added.
With the curriculum developed and the training program established, the team was ready for launch. Their goal? “We hoped to put out an ad and get 10 pilot schools started, and Matt said he would fund them. Within three years we wanted one middle school program in all 120 counties in Kentucky. After we announced the program, 22 Kentucky schools wanted to sign up. Matt told us to take them all, and he would fund them, so we did.” said Tom. “Matt saw the potential of the program better than anyone. Within nine months, we had reached our goal of every county.” “Jennie Richardson played a huge role in helping reach that goal. She trained most of those teachers and convinced schools to adopt the program,” said Roy.
Matt strongly supported the idea of using his new bow for the in-school program, thus creating the standard. “We wanted a much broader range of kids to be exposed to archery. Most kids didn’t even know they would be good at it until they tried. Building the program into the school curriculum helped us reach those who otherwise would never have had the opportunity,” said Matt. The team soon realized that standardizing the equipment used in the program would contribute greatly to their overall success.
Matt continued, “Many of these kids would never jump into an after-school program, but in-school, they learned to shoot well. Suddenly, they were getting high-fives from the jocks. Archery gave them an incredible pathway forward.”
Soon, they would realize the program would need a better funding model. The solution? Key equipment suppliers would provide funding from program sales to help the program grow and operate. Matt, Kevin, and Roy were instrumental in coordinating this with their partners. The industry partners, state fish and wildlife agencies and schools became the triangle of success.
Over the years, NASP® has become many things to many different people. Interestingly, in over 23 years, NASP® has never wavered from its founding principles. Matt McPherson still provides program guidance. Kevin Stay remains intimately involved with the program serving as the Chairman of the Board of Directors. When asked to describe what NASP® is about, Kevin responded without hesitation: “Our role is to help kids find success! We are more of a student success program than an archery program. NASP® is much bigger than archery!” Kevin added, “NASP® is the result of a group of people who, at just the right time, shared a vision: to help kids succeed using a remarkably effective method.” Thus, the perfect storm.
Coming soon…Chapter Two, The Easton Arrow and Holding Ground
