Bullseye

The Jay County High School archery team has been a participant in the world tournament for a number of years.
For the first time, their younger counterparts will be joining them.
Sixteen archers from East Jay Middle School, along with 24 from the high school, will make the trip this weekend to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to compete in the 2016 NASP World Tournament.
“I’m really excited to be the first team to go,” said Kassidy Fennig, an East Jay eighth grader who was part of the Chief squad that missed last year’s tournament by one point.
“It’s bragging rights for her,” Bryce Fennig, her older brother, said.
“It is a big deal,” said John Fennig, father to Bryce and Kassidy and the East Jay coach. “They’ve shot for years and years and years, and this is the first time they’ve ever made it.”
While Kassidy is making her first trip to the world tournament, Bryce is no stranger to the event. The recent JCHS graduate who has been involved with the archery club for seven years, will be making his fourth trip to the world tournament. Previously, the event was in Tennessee, Wisconsin and Missouri before moving to South Carolina for the first time.
“It is a cool experience getting to go shoot,” he said. “Last year we talked to some people from South Africa. It is a cool experience to do.”
The National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) began in 2002 in Kentucky because wildlife conservation agencies were concerned too many youth were forgoing learning about the outdoors.
The program targeted middle school children, and after rapidly expanding to 46 states and the District of Columbia, the age range also increased to include students grade 4 through 12.
Former Jay County conservation officer Dwane Ford kick-started the program locally at West Jay Middle School. Now Jay County sheriff, he continues to coach Jay County and will be accompanying the Patriots in South Carolina.
John Fennig said about 4,400 competitors from the United States, Canada, South Africa and Australia will descend on Myrtle Beach for the three-day tournament, which begins Friday.
The group will get to Myrtle Beach on Friday and stay at a resort in South Carolina’s biggest tourist location. While

there, they will get to enjoy the six pools, putt putt golf course, private beach and pier. But after the fun, the 40 students from Jay County will take aim at the target. The high school team is scheduled to shoot Saturday, with the middle school group going through their flight on Sunday.
Each shooter gets 15 arrows from distances of 10 and 15 meters. A perfect score is 300, and the team score is comprised of the top 12 shooters. Last year, Jay County totaled 3,182 to finish 65th out of 78 schools.
Bryce Fennig is hoping for a better performance in his final season competing with the Patriots.
“I’d say we’re about an average team that goes there,” he said. “We’re not going to be one of the top ones, but we’re not going to be one of the lowest ones either.
“We’re about average for the teams that compete there.”
Every shooter uses the same equipment, a Matthews Genesis bow with Easton 1820 aluminum arrows that are 30 inches long.
“Everybody is even all the way across the board,” John Fennig said. “So what it narrows down to is your basic skills.”
Those skills, he added, are mostly instinctive, as the Genesis bow — designed specifically for NASP — does not have sights. Archers learn to aim using the tip of the arrow, a skill that is developed by shooting at a high volume.
Fennig said during a regular season — which begins in October and can run as late as June depending on if the team qualifies for the national or world tournament — an archer may shoot as many as 50,000 arrows.
“There are no sights,” he said “It is all just you, instinctive. It is a taught way to shoot.
“You have people shooting with sights that can’t hit as good as these kids are doing.”