Almost a hundred Springfield Public Schools students lined up on a marked spot at the Ozark Empire Fair Grounds Central Building. Each held a bow in hand, rested on the tip of their shoe. Their arrows stood in neat bunches beside them.
The whistle blew — “shoot” rang out over the speakers — and the young archers notched their arrows and took aim. Like rain drops, arrows hit the targets all at once.
Similar scenes unfold at any given SPS archery tournament, which typically run from 9 a.m. until the evening, with students shuffling in and out to allow everyone involved to participate. At the end of each round, or flight, applause rings out for all the archers, despite the lack of a scoreboard or clear “winner.” While the program was first offered more than a decade ago, it has brought in more students than ever in recent years, totaling about a thousand archers district-wide.
The program has outgrown three venues and doubled the number of targets available for archers at one time. Susan Provance, co-coordinator for the program, attributes this growth to a variety of reasons but the one that stands out is the sport’s accessibility and ability to accommodate each student’s needs.