WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. — It was the last contest of Kimber Koehler’s high school archery career. She’d made it to states, nationals and qualified for the world championship of the National Archery in the Schools Program, held June 5-7 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Her mother, Julie, told her to just go out there and have fun. The world championship was the cherry on top for the recent Wheeling Park High School graduate, who has had a bow in her hand since she was 5 years old. Kimber, of West Liberty, West Virginia, has a case full of trophies in her room at home, highlighting her accomplishments from her nine years in NASP.
“She was cool, calm and focused,” Julie said. “And she just kept plunking 50s.”
Kimber shot a 299 out of 300. She hit the center of the target 29 times in a row, scoring a 10 each time. Her last arrow was a 9.
It was good enough to earn her the title of NASP overall female world champion. She was the best shot out of 1,522 girls at the contest, which brought in archers from 40 states and one Canadian province.
“She saved the best for last,” said Rick Thomas, Ohio County Schools Archery program head coach.
Origins
The world championship contest takes place over three days. Each shooter gets one chance to shoot and then they wait for the results to come in.
“I shot at 9:30 a.m. Friday. We had to wait until Saturday at 5 p.m. until it was all over [to see the final results],” she said. “We thought that last round I’d get knocked out.”
Kimber started shooting archery with her dad when she was 5. Chris Koehler had hunted with a bow since he was a kid, so it felt natural to teach his daughter once she was old enough to pull back the string.
“Out here, we don’t have no ball fields,” Chris said. “[Archery] is what I was doing. So she’d go out there and do it with me. She started with a little pink bow I got her for Christmas.”
The family got into the school archery program after Kimber brought home a flyer from school one day asking if any parents wanted to become certified to coach archery. Chris, who had never been interested in traditional school sports, knew this was something he could do, so he took the class to become certified. Julie followed a couple of weeks later. The Koehlers still coach archery at Ohio County’s West Liberty Elementary, although they hope to find someone else to take over now that their daughter is out of school.
Kimber started shooting at school in fourth grade and started placing in contests in fifth grade, her mother said. She earned the state NASP title in West Virginia in 2024, scoring a 293. That was her previous high score before the 299 at worlds this year.
This year, Kimber placed sixth at the state contest and qualified for the Eastern Nationals, held in Louisville, Kentucky. She didn’t place there, but qualified for the world contest based on her score of 288.
The Koehlers made a vacation out of the trip to Myrtle Beach for the world championship. Kimber could shoot, and then they’d spend the week at the beach. Maybe that’s why Kimber was so relaxed as she shot in her last NASP contest.
“I still can’t believe it,” she said. “I look at the trophy and it feels like I stole this.”
Archery in schools
NASP is open to students in 4th to 12th grade. More than a million students participate in the program each year in 9,500 schools nationwide. There are optional contests held each weekend from November to March, Thomas said, with elementary, middle school and high school divisions. State, national and world competitions go on through June, if students qualify.
Shooting sports like archery can be more inclusive than other sports, as it’s easier to adapt the activity to people with different abilities and different physical needs, Julie said.
“You have some kids that don’t fit into other traditional sports categories, but they excel at archery,” she said.
According to NASP, 66% of children who participate in the school program are first-time archers. The bows used in NASP are bare bones — no sights, no releases, no gadgets of any kind. The pull weight can be up to 20 pounds.
“It levels the playing field,” Thomas said, by making sure that shooting then is based on skill, not equipment.
Future
Kimber is taking a gap year before starting college to see how far she can take her career in archery. Kimber is taking a gap year before starting college to see how far she can take her career in archery. She plans to shoot in International Bowhunting Organization tournaments and has aspirations of making the Olympic archery team.
She’s long past the days of shooting with a little pink bow. Now she’s working with a top-of-the-line Mathews bow that she received as a prize for becoming world champion.
“It’s the Gucci of the bow world,” she said.
Her dad is a bit jealous of his daughter’s new equipment, she said. Before Kimber was born, Chris had been working side jobs to save money to buy himself a Mathews bow. Just about when he’d gotten enough money put away, the couple received word that a baby was available for them to adopt.
“Then Kimber came along and there went all my money,” he said, though she was well worth the investment.
Kimber also plans to become certified to coach so she can coach for the Ohio County Archery program to continue helping other students learn the sport she loves.
The next generation of archers is already coming up through the ranks. Parker Williams, a fifth grader from West Liberty Elementary, also placed eighth at the world championship.
