St. Francis School

Fall 2025 (Quarters 1 & 2) - Archery classes are taught as a PE elective. Classes are open to 5th -8th grade students. Fall archers are eligible to compete in local tournaments hosted monthly, join weekend practices at Lamar Middle School, and be qualify to join the SFS Archery State Tournament Team in the Spring.

Spring 2026 (Quarter 3) - Archers wishing to join the SFS State Tournament Team must select archery as a PE elective. The State Tournament Team is open to all 5th-8th grade archers that selected archery as a PE elective in the Fall. The Texas State Championships are scheduled for March 19-20, 2026 in San Antonio, TX.

Spring 2026 (Quarter 4) - TBD. Pending the results at the State Tournament, SFS may opt to continue the season in order to take a team to Sandy, Utah for the National Championships in April 2026. If not, SFS may opt to continue archery as a PE elective.

National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) is a different kind of team sport. NASP doesn’t discriminate based on popularity, athletic skill, gender, size, or academic ability. It’s It’s open to any student. Teams come together around one thing: Archery. NASP is an in-school program aimed at improving educational performance among students in grades 4th – 12th. And through it, students are learning focus, self-control, discipline, patience, and the life lessons required to be successful in the classroom and in life.

Archery Equipment used in NASP is highly standardized to be safe, durable, economical, and most importantly, universal fit for almost every student. In NASP learning the “process” of shooting is stressed far more than arrow scores. The only bow used in NASP is a “Genesis®” compound which has no let-off and is adjustable from 10-20 pounds in draw weight at any draw length. And the only arrow is the Easton 1820 aluminum “Genesis” arrow.

The NASP program in Texas is managed by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD). Since 2004, TPWD staff and volunteers have certified hundreds of NASP Archery Instructors and Trainers. Currently, over 1,700 schools actively participate in TX - NASP. The 2025 Texas State Championships hosted n 3,922 students from 148 schools.

Weekend practices are held at Lamar Middle School. St. Francis archers join other Bat City Archers from Highland Park, Lamar, and Magellan. Practices are 75-90 minutes long. In order to accommodate busy family schedules, 2-3 options will be offered both Saturday and Sunday. Sign-ups will be posted on the website 2-3 week in advance.

Weekend practices during the Fall quarters are optional. Weekend practices for State Team archers in the Spring are mandatory. Cost for weekend practices is $80 per Fall quarter and $100 for the Spring (Quarter 3).

In addition to Bat City Archery schools, archers from across the Austin archery community compete in local tournaments once a month. “Flight” times are scheduled throughout the day, i.e., a 90-minute block of time. Different tournament venues use different sign-up platforms. Parents/Care Givers pick the flight time that works best for weekend schedules (first come first served). Although the tournament runs all day, families only need to budget a 2-hour block of time (travel time plus competition time). There is an $18 registration fee for most of the local tournaments.

Fri-Sun, Nov 14-16, 2025 @ LMS* 11th Annual Scottie Strong Shootout

Sat & Sun, Dec 13-14, 2025 @ MHS* McCallum Invitational Tournament

Saturday & Sunday, Jan 24-25, 2026 @ Ann Richards* Texas State Qualification Tournament

Saturday & Sunday, Feb 14-15, 2026 @ KMS (optional) Kealing Invitational

Saturday & Sunday, Mar 7-8, 2026 @ LMS* Bat City Two Step-Bullseye & 3D ($30 fee)

Friday & Saturday, Mar 20-21, 2026 @ San Antonio* Texas NASP State Championships

Do we need to purchase our own equipment?

No. We provide all the necessary equipment. At some point, many archers choose to buy their own bow and case. We typically organize a bulk order mid-October and purchase all of our equipment from Shipley’s Archery. There are many comparable options on the internet, but we find the service from Shipley’s second to none.

We have our own bow and arrows, can we use them?

Only if they are the NASP approved Genesis Original Bow & the Easton 1820 Arrow The NASP standardized “universal fit” equipment (bows and arrows) is designed to level the competitive playing field, keeps equipment costs equitable, and maximizes archer safety (the bow and arrow are designed together such that the arrow can never be overdrawn off the arrow rest and possibly shot into the bow hand or riser.