Williamsburg, KY – Illinois S3DA held a regional 3-D event in conjunction with an ASA Qualifier at Panther Creek Bowhunters Archery Club in Chatham, Illinois. The Panther Creek Bowhunters Archery Club welcomed 29 youth archers and their families to a beautiful 80-acre timbered course with rolling hills backing up to a creek. The Panther Creek Bowhunters range was busy with the youth in attendance representing 6 S3DA clubs and 5 S3DA teams, along with siblings, parents, grandparents and other spectators. There were also 90 ASA archers, along with 30 Panther Creek club shooters.

The Panther Creek Bowhunters Archery Club is the longest continually chartered member of the National Field Archery Association (NFAA). The club was organized and dedicated to promoting, encouraging and fostering the sport of archery. The club actively promotes all forms of archery including 3D, Field, Indoor and lawful bowhunting. They are a family-oriented organization which emphasizes archery as a sport for the entire family. Club members include individuals of all ages, shooting styles and skill levels.

With such a history and dedication to growing the sport, it was an optimum location to host an S3DA Regional Event. This Illinois S3DA Regional was a casual start in conjunction with an Illinois Archery Shooters Association (ASA) State Qualifier. Several of our S3DA family members and coaches were able to participate in the Qualifier and shoot alongside the youth archers. Our new S3DA families got the chance to meet some of the top Illinois archery competitors, see what equipment they were shooting, experience the long-distance stakes to shoot from, as well as ask any questions from these more experienced archers.

A majority of the S3DA archers chose to also compete in the ASA Qualifier. Those archers shot the 20-target S3DA/ASA course and then continued to shoot an additional 10 targets for their final ASA score. It was interesting to see the changes in final placement between the 20th & 30th target in several of the youth classes.

Heather Nieder brought her two young archers to check out the S3DA event. Heather stated, “Current S3DA archer, Jayden Gerberding and alumni archer, Dominic Trujillo, have been a great help and remarkably patient with my children. My son, Carter, is nine years old and my daughter, Hannah, is seven years old. I know Jayden and Dominic’s parents and coaches are very proud of them!”

For S3DA archers, Jacob & Levi Nusz, this was their 1st ever S3DA 3-D event. They came from a 4H archery background. Their mom attended with them and she stated, “S3DA coach, Jeff Hudgens, was extremely helpful with explaining rules, format and best practices. He was very laid back and had a coach’s spirit of encouragement and competition.”

S3DA National Northern Outreach Coordinator, Kim Rigney stated, “This is my home range and it is so awesome to see all the archers enjoying the outdoors. Sometimes we forget how lucky we are to have such a great facility so close to home. There was just enough mud for the kids to get their boots dirty and enough sunshine to keep us warm. Hopefully, there was enough fun to make us want to come back for more!”

As with all the Illinois S3DA events, the archers got to see some new competition and connected with friends from all over the state. Illinois S3DA would like to thank all the archers, supporters, volunteers, coaches, parents and club members that made this event a success.

Started in December 2012 by the Scholastic Archery Association, S3DA has grown exponentially as a next step program to follow introductory programs offered as part of 4-H or the National Archery in Schools Program. S3DA addresses the need for a program to bridge beginning target archery experience and more advanced activities such as 3-D shooting and bowhunting. The program currently operates across the United States with hundreds of certified coaches serving thousands of young archers, grades 3–12. For more information on S3DA membership go to: WWW.S3DA.ORG or email: infos3darchery@gmail.com. Check out S3DA on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram.