JEFFERSONVILLE, NY — Scott Scardino fell in love with archery, so he started an afterschool club for the sport.

In 2016, the Sullivan West Elementary School received a grant from the National Archery in Schools Program (NASP). The physical education teachers received training, equipment and other resources to start an archery program, Coach Scardino said. The teachers have been teaching archery in school ever since, and in 2018 Coach Scardino started the club. 

“The unit has been a great success and archery has turned into a very popular activity with our students in grades five and six,” said Coach Scardino. 

The archery club had a wonderful season this year with Coaches Scott Scardino and Ryan Terracciano. It was always had fun to go to archery practice because every practice was fun and had challenging targets: shooting at foam footballs, playing cards or ping pong balls. They played archery bowling, stacking cups and whoever knocked down more cups would get a prize. 

The archers aimed at regular bullseye targets and got prizes for the scores they received. 

The students are excited for their next coming years of archery because anyone can do it. Another reason is the experience of going to the tournament, meeting new people, hanging out with your friends and family and most importantly having fun.

Victoria Skuthan is a fifth grade student at Sullivan West.  

Elementary archery club competes at state tournament 

SYRACUSE, NY — The Sullivan West archery club has been in place since 2018. Every year since then, about 30 to 40 students sign up for the club, said Coach Scott Scardino. The other coach is Ryan Terracciano, who generously volunteered his time and donated the use of his range, Scardino said. 

This year, 23 students competed in the National Archery in Schools Program (NASP) state tournament. High school students Brooklyn Veiro and Avery Bair also attended as coaching assistants.

For the sixth-grade girls, Ava Steppich came in fifth place out of 57. For the sixth-grade boys, Colton Kautz came in fifth place out of 62, the coaches wrote in a newsletter. 

“The entire team represented Sullivan West with pride and respect both on and off the range. The students were honored to be the first team from Sullivan West to compete in this tournament.”