WALVIS BAY – Some of the country’s leading coaches from the Archery Association of Namibia (AAN) successfully conducted a course to train basic archery instructors (BAI) at the Walvis Bay Private School last weekend.
The course formed part of the National Archery in School’s Programme (NASP-NAM) and was attended by 11 teachers together with parents. “Everything was perfect, from the alternating theory to the practical. I have never been to such a well planned course before in my 15 years of teaching,” remarked Kirstie Horn, one of the attendees.
As it stands, a total of 10 schools and archery clubs from all over the country have so far participated actively in the NASP. Another BAI course is slated for Tsumeb this weekend.
NASP was established 13 years ago in Kentucky, USA in an effort to get school-going children involved in outdoor activities as a balance to the increasing time spent behind computers and video games. The concept was enthusiastically accepted and has grown tremendously.
After initially starting with 21 schools in Kentucky, in March 2002 there are now over 5 500 schools in the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Namibia participating actively. By 2010, over 5 000 000 pupils and 15 000 archery instructors were part of the NASP.
In most of these countries, the programme is part of the school curriculum.
Generally, instructors are convinced that this programme gets pupils more involved in school activities and actually leads to better academic results.
It teaches learners life skills such as concentration, determination, tenacity, accuracy, respect and consideration to name but a few. It is very advantageous that this programme can be followed by pupils from different backgrounds, different economic classes, and different physical capabilities.
Learners with certain disabilities can take part without any special adaptations. Unfortunately in Namibia physical training is not part of the school curriculum anymore and therefore, in participating schools, NASP forms part of the extramural activities.
By Staff Reporter