Shooting for success: student archers at St. Martin de Porres
St. Martin de Porres student Francisco Bayas takes aim. (NTC/Kevin Bartram)
St. Sebastian, patron saint of athletes and sports, help me to do the best I can, aim high and always give it my best effort,
and if I should fail, give me the strength to try harder.
St. Sebastian, pray for us.
On March 26, the 59 boys and girls who make up the Archin’ Nighthawks at St. Martin de Porres Catholic School in Prosper recited this prayer before picking up their bows to compete in the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) State Tournament in Belton, Texas.
According to Coach Annastasia Moriarty, this prayer to St. Sebastian is what separates her team from the competition. It is a symbol of their Catholic faith and helps her team stay focused regardless of the outcome.
“We say it at the beginning of every practice and then we say it at the beginning of the tournament before we shoot. We say it out loud, as a team, together,” she said. “Even if we lose a tournament, we go back to the prayer. It serves as our guide.”
St. Martin de Porres participates in NASP, an instructional and competitive organization that encourages archery in schools. In Texas, over 1,700 schools actively participate in NASP. Archery has been part of the St. Martin de Porres physical education curriculum since 2016 for fourth through eighth graders.
Why add archery to the school’s curriculum? Principal Susan Flanagan said she likes that archery is a sport that is open to everyone. “Because scoring is based on the individual, archery attracts youngsters who may not be inclined to participate in a team sport,” she said. “It is not dependent on a person’s size, and it challenges students physically and mentally.”
Moriarty trains her students to focus on their individual skills and many practice outside of school. Her strategy to create a winning team includes entering them into a tournament in December before the January qualifying season.
“In January, we go to one every weekend and then we take the best score from whichever tournament had the best score, even though we only had to go to one. Hopefully we bring our best in January and by that fourth weekend we shoot our best score. This year, we team qualified with a top score in the Highland Park Tournament in Dallas,” Moriarty said.
St. Martin de Porres teams compete in two categories: fourth and fifth grades comprise the elementary teams, and sixth, seventh and eighth graders compete in the middle school category.
“I love that archery builds students’ confidence and can give them that sense of belonging to a team even though they shoot individually,” Moriarty said.
This individual commitment and the collective effort earned the team a spot in the state tournament. Eight of the Archin’ Nighthawks posted “personal best” scores for the NASP State Qualifying Tournament. Two of her top performers, Julian Nelson and Moriarty's daughter, Zoe Moriarty, have consistently improved their scores over the last few years.
The state competition is a true test of skill since the flights consist of hundreds of youngsters all shooting at targets simultaneously. “State is really cool,” Moriarty said. “They have 100 targets set up on one side of this huge convention center and then 100 targets against the opposite wall. There are flights like this all day.”
The archers shoot at different distances with scores tabulated after each flight. According to Moriarty, the archers shoot about 40 arrows from 10 and 15 meters in an hour, inclusive of practice rounds, during a competitive flight.
Beyond the shooting range, the sport teaches youngsters life lessons. Eighth grader Zoe is the team’s captain, and she said archery has taught her a lot.
“It pushes you into an environment of having good sportsmanship and even leadership from some of the older archers who've been doing this for a while,” Zoe said. “You learn to be respectful and quiet while others are shooting.”
Coach Moriarty added, “The fact that archery is co-ed is part of what makes archery so special. Both girls and boys have an equal opportunity to strive to hit a bullseye. It’s what we aim for and when we give it our best effort, we can hit it and feel that achievement instantly. When we fail, we have to pray for strength, to not be discouraged, but to persevere and try again. These are virtues that grow in archery, and I hope the archers reflect on these virtues throughout their lives.”