The Muskingum archery team was recently named to the USA Archery Club Excellence Program.

The Club Excellence Program is a unique 9-month learning experience available to select USA Archery clubs and their coaching staff. The program is customized for club leaders and coaches who want to elevate their club's status and develop athletes to be nationally and internationally competitive.

"I'm excited to take part in this program. This is a great opportunity for Muskingum to build on our coaching abilities and student-athlete development," said Muskingum head coach Craig Holycross. "I think this program is going to help enhance our coaching skills and help better prepare our student-athletes for national competition. I'm looking forward to everything we're going to learn over the next nine months."

The program curriculum focuses on developing coaches and clubs through the USA Archery Coach and Club Competencies. These competencies provide a road map for developing quality coaching for recreational-based clubs and clubs focusing on high performance. Selected clubs can nominate up to two coaches to participate in the program, and selected coaches must be willing to further develop within the USA Archery Coach Competencies and attend monthly virtual training sessions.

Muskingum is the only school in the Ohio Athletic Conference to field an archery team and one of the only NCAA schools in the state to offer archery as a varsity sport. Archery, which involves teams representing their institutions at USA Archery sanctioned events, offers recreational and competitive opportunities for barebow, recurve, compound, and bowhunter divisions.