There will be more than 100 archery teams and 1,800 students converging in Columbia next week for the Columbia Academy Cougar Classic at the Columbia Expo Center.
The four-day event begins Wednesday and will conclude Saturday, March 2. When CA archery coach Mike Barber was devising a plan for the first installment of the event four years ago, it was initially going to be held at a local church. However, as word spread more and more programs around the state agreed to participate, and a bigger facility was a necessity.
There are three major shifts for this year’s tournament. Barber said the focus has been more about quality rather than quantity, which also led to it being reduced from six days to four. The biggest difference, though, is how the funds raised will be used.
Columbia Academy initially had plans to erect a state-of-the-art archery facility capable of hosting matches on its campus. While original estimates seemed feasible with the Cougar Classic as the main source of funding, the cost skyrocketed as the need for a slab and the routing of electrical and plumbing was added. The program decided instead to renovate its current practice facility and has hosted a few matches this year in the school’s gym.
With the idea of an archery-only building gone, Barber said the focus now is to give back to other participating schools.
“We’re going to give away four or five bows, six bow cases and six practice targets to team members from other schools; ours aren’t eligible,” he said. “We’re going to have team drawings where we can help a team. Last year there was a team that didn’t even have a bow rack, and they won a bow rack. This year we’re giving away two bow racks and two cases of arrows. A case of arrows is a couple hundred dollars. This is going to help them.”
Barber also said there will be prizes for coaches as well. With all of the time coaches commit with very little pay to show for it, Barber said he wanted to give back to them. He said there will be a cooler donated by Coca-Cola, gas cards and coupons for free oil changes available for coaches.
Barber said the money the program does make from the tournament will be reinvested into new targets for the Cougars.
There will also be several sponsors on hand for the event with booths set up, including Helenbak, Mack Grubbs, Waldo’s and Real South Hunting.
“We worked hard at having things for them to do when they come in other than just shoot,” Barber said.
Every year Archery in Mississippi Schools continues to grow with new schools coming on board, and currently there are more than 80,000 students participating in the state.
For the first time, the Cougars will be heading to the NASP (National Archery in the Schools Program) Nationals May 9 through May 11 in Louisville, Ky. Barber said this year’s team may be the best CA has ever had, shooting a record 3,349 twice this season, despite claiming five state titles in three years. The junior high and high school teams both won in 2016, and the elementary, junior high and high school teams all won state last year.
