Archery Program

About the Program

Category: Parks and Recreation (Best in Category)

Year: 2017

The Chesterfield County Parks and Recreation Department (department) has established an innovative series of archery programs and clubs to serve the adults and youth of the region. In response to citizen demand and a lack of existing programs, the department began investigating the feasibility of creating stand alone instructional archery ranges and offering a comprehensive series of archery programs in 2012. The archery program that has developed since that time provides a wide range of opportunities from introductory level courses all the way to a Junior Olympic Archery Development team. In addition to standard archery program offerings, the department also offers classes in adaptive archery for individuals with disabilities, bow hunting, 3-D target shooting, aiming, scoring, form development, birthday parties, group lessons, scout programs, bow maintenance, instructor certification workshops, and archery themed summer camps. The explosion in archery programming was the result of the hard work of a number of visionary employees that took the initiative to build the program into a benchmark for the Mid-Atlantic region. Since 2012, the department has taught over 325 archery programs serving thousands of citizens. The department is continuing to refine and expand its archery programming. Most recently, Chesterfield County hosted the 2016 Virginia Outdoor JOAD State Championship. Multiple archers that have passed through the Chesterfield County program have moved on to compete at the national level. Archery has become a major component of Chesterfield County Parks and Recreation Department’s outdoor adventure programming and accounts for, on average, nearly $30,000 in department revenue on an annual basis.