NASP ALL-STAR AFRICA NAMIBIA 2017

6th-10^th July 2017, Windhoek. - By R. Jackson

The four countries presently active in NASP ( National archery In The Schools Program) in Southern Africa had the pleasure of participating and competing against each other over the past weekend  of July 6th to the 10^th 2017.

The hosts were NASP Namibia, and the venue was SKW (Sports Klub Windhoek) in Windhoek. National teams of 16 archers were presented  from South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana.

To compliment this, Development teams of a further 16 archers representing Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana were at hand to compete against the Centreshot team based in South Africa.

With months of preparation involving Inter-school tournaments and ranking matches, the top 32 Zimbabwean archers were selected to do National Duty against our neighbours who we have been meeting in battle since 2014.

Zimbabwe’s rank has been 2^nd in Africa since 2014, when it entered the fray in the 2014 All -Star Africa hosted by  NASP SA. We have consistently won silver medals in the National Team awards up until 2016, where we were pipped by Canada in the All -World All -Star Tournament in the Drakensberg  KZN. Our Development archers captured team silver in bulls-eye and 3D and gold and silver in individual 3D matches.

We however retained our second place African ranking  going into this annual tournament.

This year our team were missing 12 of its legacy archers who were committed to serious exams on the same week as this tournament, so a new group of emerging talent found its way onto the rankings board and selections.

The Teams

The Zim teams had selected and fielded 18 twelve year olds or younger this year...a very young and inexperienced team indeed who were going up against the tough and seasoned and much older Namibian and South African National and Centreshot teams. Botswana’s contingent was also young and very new to tournament archery, so didn’t factor as a threat.

After a very comfortable evening flight into Windhoek courtesy of Air Namibia on Wednesday 5^th, we were bussed into SKW on thursday morning for our two  1 hour scheduled practice sessions. This is where the scope and reality of the trip set in, as our young archers had to adapt to the gusting wind and flying dust which was the competition ranges for the tournaments duration. The un-settled nerves and lack of experience was also a huge factor with the youngsters in all of the teams with this huge personal test looming.

Team shirts were issued on Thursday night at the hotel in the our traditional ceremony, and an early start was scheduled for the next day which would ignite a flurry of hectic activity in a well orchestrated logistic ballet with 8  teams shooting in sequence on a common 32 butt range. The National teams would compete, then the development teams would line up. Each team would shoot 3 full matches, with the weakest being eliminated in the next 2 matches which would determine the medal rankings and allocations.

At the end of Friday, the results were in with Botswana being eliminated from the National medals race for Bulls-Eye archery. The top 8 archers from each country were selected by their scores and the next phase begun. Zimbabwe’s sparring partner was Centreshot, and Namibia took on SA in the next round of eliminations on Saturday morning with SA beating Namibia by 54 points and Namibia beating  Zimbabwe by 29 points to give Zimbabwe the Team bronze medals for bulls-eye in the National competition.

 The final bulls-eye matches on Saturday morning were between SA and Namibia top 8, and Centreshot and Namibia Development Top 8 to determine  gold or silver medal winners  in these respective teams. The results of which would be forthcoming at the Gala prize giving banquet that night.

Mean while, the bottom 8 archers from each team were also busy on the 3D ranges situated not far away, but also not spared the harsh dusty conditions of the day.

Two rounds of 3D competition for all teams would set up the medallist for this exciting archery test, which is always fun to watch. This addition to NASP competitions is now well established, and has become a big part of the tournaments and the prize table.

We had prepared in advance for these tricky targets, but the less than optimum shooting conditions still created an added dimension of doubt when factoring in winds and other stresses. Our archers did very well in this format and claimed quite a number of individual medals and of course team bronze for National as well as Development in 3D.

Results and highlights

Individual Zimbabwe Medallist and Trophy Winners

The very elaborate prize giving banquet commenced with a walk through of all of the country teams to the accompaniment of their national anthems. A short welcome speech by the President of NASP in Africa preceded the very slick awards ceremony which was abundant in its classes and categories.

This year , for the first time medals were presented to junior archers in the various divisions. Our young contingent received many of these after displaying skill and courage in the less than perfect shooting conditions, and are well deserving of them. Well done and congratulations to all recipients especially...

Gold medal and trophy for National Champion senior Girl 3D archer in Africa was presented to Jennifer Rose Tennant.

Gold medal and trophy for National Champion junior Girls 3D and Bulls-Eye archer in Africa was presented to Jordyn logan. Well done and congratulations to you both for excelling during these 2 days of intense International competition in NASP archery.

With many new friends made, and some valuable archery and perhaps more importantly life lessons learned, the young team with 40 supporters and team staff will remember the 2017 All- Star Africa NASP Namibia for its many happy moments, either on the bus, dining room or archery range .

The International camaraderie between all archers , coaches, management and supporters was very special at this tournament, with  thanks going to the organisers and staff of NASP Namibia for making this all possible.

Thanks and appreciation must also go to all of the teams, coaches and organisers, including parents, sponsors and supporters of all of the participating countries for their preparation  and attendance for  this event which made it so memorable.

See you all in Johannesburg South Africa for the next 2018 All-Star Africa.