When the Greer children had taken 4H archery as far as they could and really wanted to pursue the sport, their parents, Theresa and Jeff stepped up to the plate. There weren't many options in their home state of Tennessee, so the Greer's learned the sport from the ground up, got certified with USA Archery and started their first Junior Olympic Archery Development (JOAD)club. Now, Jeff is a Level 4-NTS coach and National Judge, and Theresa is a Level 3-NTS Coach, Certified Judge, and the USA Archery State Coordinator in Tennessee. Together they run Music City Archers in Nashville, a successful range with JOAD, Adult and Explore Archery program offerings.
"We ran JOAD club meetings in three locations for two years," shared Theresa. "It was so successful, but it was also so much set up and tear down every club night that we decided to launch our business with a permanent location to hold club meetings all year round."
She added: "Our motto is 'archery for all ages and all skill levels,' so we really try to develop people that are new to archery and have never tried it before. We really want to get them in the door and develop them as archers: people who have never held a bow before or maybe they tried it in a camp or a PE class but they are not active archers. Our tactic is to grow the archery community, and develop community through archery for people that are brand new to the sport."
Music City Archers added Explore Archeryas part of their summer camp offerings with two week-long camps each summer. "We use the Explore Archery curriculum and do the skill-based achievement awards, so the kids get to earn one per day for that week and the hope is that they will continue on in the JOAD program," shared Theresa. "The achievement awards are a good incentive for the students; it gives them something to look forward to each day, and the games in the program are awesome, we've had a lot of success with those as well."
What has made Music City Archers so successful and such a large staple in Tennessee archery? Theresa credits a strong, local marketing campaign for their achievements in outreach efforts: "The best thing is just to advertise, go to community centers, utilize social media to advertise the program, and make sure that you have safety of course and a fun environment."
She added: "Once people find out that the Explore Archery and JOAD programs exist, they're really excited about it, but the hardest part is that since archery is not as mainstream as soccer or gymnastics, is getting the word out that archery is offered. Most people don't think about archery as an option for their kids." Marketing has helped the Greer's business grow rapidly and they have tapped into other organizations in the local community to get the word out about their archery programs.
To increase retention and offerings, Theresa shared: "We host tournaments to try to keep interest. If archers are going to Explore Archery or JOAD, it gives them something to strive for. We do USA Archery's Virtual Tournamentsand also host quarterly tournaments for our club and the local community. We've also hosted the state championshipfor about four or five years."
Follow Music City Archersat their website and on social media.
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