Franklin, Tennessee – Music City Archery hosted a three-day, seven flight S3DA Indoor Regional in middle Tennessee at their indoor range and custom pro-shop. The tournament kicked off with two flights for Jr. Eagle and Eagle age divisions on Friday night, followed by three flights for Youth and Young adult age divisions on Saturday, and concluded with two flights for Youth and Young adult age divisions on Sunday. With 118 archers registered for the event, the staff provided various flights spread out over the entire weekend to accommodate social distancing and safety. Targets were hung in the middle of nine bales, allowing a lane between each archer. Thirteen teams from Middle and East Tennessee were represented with numerous first-time competitors.

Although smiles were hidden behind masks, laughter was in abundance from kids who were happy to have a place to compete and do a little bit of socializing from a safe distance. Following local guidelines, only one spectator per family was able to attend the event. Due to these restrictions, State Coordinator, Robert Carter, broadcast all seven flights via Facebook LIVE, with viewers in many areas of the state. Safety protocols also restricted the awards ceremony,

so, following the Jr. Eagle and Eagle flights on Friday night, awards were announced by coordinators via Facebook LIVE with no spectators in the building. After completing the last flight of the Youth and Young Adult divisions, on Sunday, those awards were announced in the same manner. Medals were sent home with coordinators to distribute to coaches.

TN S3DA Regional Coordinator and Tournament Director Brandon Hardy stated, “It was a long weekend, but with teamwork, it went like clockwork. Robert and Melissa Carter stuck it out with my wife and I to cover all our bases throughout the long weekend. I immensely enjoyed spending a few days with these kids and their coaches. They were all great competitors, even with the ever-evolving COVID guidelines. Theresa and Jeff of Music City Archery were great hosts, and we’re thankful they offered the kids a place to compete.”

“We had several archers participate in the Music City Archery event and we appreciated how the COVID-19 protocols were enforced. The archers felt safe and were excited to compete in the sport they love. With so many changes happening in their lives during these times, allowing them to compete and be a kid is a big win for them,” stated Joe Gaskins, Head Coach of Oakland Archery.

When asked his opinion of the safety guidelines, Corban Hardy, youth archer of Stones River Archery replied, “I really like having an empty lane between us when we are shooting, because it doesn’t feel so cramped. I don’t like wearing masks, but it isn’t that big of a deal, especially since I can take it off when I am shooting. It does make communicating with everyone a little harder when we’re scoring, but it is kind of funny because everyone seems to be screaming at each other, when in all reality, we just have to talk a little louder.”

About Scholastic 3-D Archery

Scholastic 3-D Archery (S3DA) is a unique, family-oriented youth archery program which has grown exponentially across the United States as a next-step initiative to follow introductory archery programs. The mission of the Scholastic

3-D Archery program is to foster, educate and guide youth in the areas of 3-D, indoor target, and outdoor target archery as well as safe, ethical bowhunting practices. The goal of the S3DA program is to provide archery and bowhunting opportunities to youth in after-school settings, as well as with archery-affiliated clubs and businesses in the community. S3DA students participate in 3-D and target archery using compound and traditional archery equipment. Students can participate at local, regional, state, and national archery events and earn college scholarships from colleges and universities across the United States. 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.

Contact the Scholastic 3-D Archery National Office at:

www.s3da.org or 225 North 3rd Street, Williamsburg, KY 40769, Ph: 606.524.3685

Media contact Kayla Bolton at kayla@s3da.org, Ph: 423.494.2204