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Sportsman Channel to be Network Provider of Programming to ESPN International’s Outdoors Block

Sportsman Channel

New Berlin, Wis. --(Ammoland.com)- Sportsman Channel, the leader in outdoor TV for the American Sportsman, announced today that it has reached an agreement with ESPN International to supply the global sports programming leader with original content for its outdoor programming block beginning in November.

Under terms of this agreement, the network will provide 52 hours (104 episodes) of original programming to ESPN International. The agreement makes Sportsman Channel ESPN International’s only network supplier of outdoors programming.

Sportsman Channel will showcase some of its premier talent and content to ESPN International’s audience. Sportsman Channel series to air on ESPN International include Dropped: Project Alaska, Beau Knows Outdoors, Fly Fishing the World with Conway Bowman, Breaking the Surface, Florida Sportsman, and others.

“This agreement with ESPN International dramatically expands Sportsman’s brand, content, and reach to outdoor enthusiasts throughout the world,” said Gavin Harvey, CEO of Sportsman Channel. “We are looking forward to sharing our content with viewers of ESPN International’s top-quality family of networks.”

ESPN International will air the Sportsman Channel programming to more than 7.4 million households in 78 countries and territories, including Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, and the Middle East.

About ESPN International: ESPN International has grown to include ownership — in whole or in part — of 46 television networks outside of the United States, as well as a variety of brand extension businesses, which allow ESPN to reach fans in 200 countries and territories.

In the UK, ESPN now includes a portfolio of television and digital brands including ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN Classic, ESPN America and ESPN America HD, ESPN.co.uk, ESPNCricinfo.com, ESPNSoccernet.com, ESPNScrum.com, ESPNF1.com, ESPN Goals and ESPN Player (broadband).

ESPN and ESPN HD feature exclusive live coverage of the Barclays Premier League, the FA Cup, Aviva Premiership Rugby, Clydesdale Bank Premier League, UEFA Europa League, Italian Serie A, German Bundesliga, UFC, French Top 14 Rugby, NBA, NFL and much more.

ESPN Classic now has five networks (UK, French, Italian, pan-European and Middle Eastern feeds) available in more than 40 countries.

ESPN America and ESPN America HD, the only European networks devoted exclusively to the best in North American sport, features coverage of the NFL, NHL, MLB and NCAA Football and Basketball across Europe, available to 19 million homes in more than 40 countries.

About Sportsman Channel:
Launched in 2003, Sportsman Channel is the only television and digital media company fully devoted to the more than 82 million sportsmen in the United States, delivering entertaining and educational programming focused exclusively on hunting, shooting and fishing activities. Sportsman Channel is now available in HD, check with your local cable or satellite provider. Acquired by InterMedia Outdoors Holdings in 2006, Sportsman Channel reaches 27 million U.S. television households and is a part of the nation’s largest multimedia company targeted exclusively to serving the information and entertainment needs of outdoors enthusiasts. Visit www.thesportsmanchannel.com, follow on Twitter, @SPORTSMANchnl (www.twitter.com/SPORTSMANchnl), become a Fan on Facebook, www.facebook.com/sportsmanchannel and download Sportsman App at www.itunes.com/appstore

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2010 NASP World Tournament Held at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex
Bows, Smiles and 40,000 Arrows Launched – The 2010 NASP Worlds was a Huge Success.

LR Spirit and 2nd Place Team Winners Hayden Elementary at 2010 NASP World Tournament

2010 NASP World Tournament

Orlando , FL --(Ammoland.com)- Disney’s ® Mickey Mouse is a popular draw! We believe the promise of Mickey’s presence at our 2010 tournament resulted in the largest turnout of winners at our awards ceremony since inception of the NASP® tournaments in 2002.

There were at total of 64 team and individual award categories (more than 300 medals, plaques, trophies, and banners) and youngsters were present to accept 100% of them!

Competition at the 2010 NASP® World Tournament concluded at 12:17pm on Saturday, October 9th. More than 40,000 arrows were launched at 10 and 15 meters by 902 student archers during the event. While the Morrell targets performed wonderfully, a few were sorely tested by students who persisted in shooting every arrow, one after another squarely in the target’s middle! Total participation was 48% higher than the first NASP® world tournament conducted in October 2009. While students in all of NASP®’s 4th-12th grade classes were in attendance, 6th grade boys and girls comprised 24% of the total shooter population. As is our co-gender norm, total participation was 40% female and 60% male.

While NASP® world records remained unbroken at this tournament, two team records were threatened. Winning the Elementary Division with 3,240 of a possible 3,600 points was Chatsworth, Georgia’s Woodlawn Elementary. Their score was only 47 points or 1.5% below the world record set by Kentucky’s Trigg County Intermediate at the 2010 NASP® Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky. Kentucky’s Anderson County Middle school repeated as the world champion with a total score of 3,351, only 27 points -less than 1% off the world record set by Ashville, Alabama at the 2010 Nationals. The high school team award was earned by archers from Irvington, Alabama’s Alma Bryant High with 3,343 points.

Crowned individual world champions at this year’s event were; Female 4th Grade-Megan Aldridge, Male 4thgrade-Cole Rautenberg, Female 5th grade-Natalie Owens, Male 5th grade-Grayson Phillips, Female 6th grade-Morgan Ray, Male 6th grade-Miles Wilson, Female Middle School-Kayla Dowell, Male Middle School-Lucas Roy, Female High School-Stephanie Whisenant, Male High School-Andrew Atkinson.

The overall highest score by a female at the tournament was an amazing 292 posted by Stephanie Whisenant from Ashville High School in Ashville, Alabama. The top overall male score of 294 was posted by middle schooler, Lucas Roy from Southern Middle School in Somerset, KY. NASP®’s world record for both boy and girl archers is a tie at 298 out of a possible 300 points.

Each year one of the most hotly contested prizes is the eagle trophy, ‘Spirit Award’. This award is presented to the team who, in the opinion of the 29 lane officials, exhibited great sportsmanship, enthusiasm, and school spirit. Hayden Elementary from Indiana was the winner. Hayden was given a run for its money by a Henderson, Kentucky team with a very active ‘cow bell’! Hayden Elementary, located in Southern Indiana is no stranger to winning this award. This eagle trophy will join the flock Hayden is building back home in its trophy case!

Exhibiting at the world tournament were NASP® medal-level sponsors: Morrell Targets, Easton Technical Products, the Army National Guard, Field Logic, the National Wild Turkey Federation, and BCY.

As has always been our experience at this tournament Disney’s® staff and volunteers were pleasant, professional, and extremely cooperative. The tournament t-shirt and hat combinations made available by Disney®, was extremely popular with many sizes selling out early in the contest.

We were pleased once again to host many archers, coaches, teachers and parents from Saskatchewan, Canada. These students are always a crowd favorite because of their upbeat and friendly nature. For the first time the tournament was joined by archers from South Africa and the top boy and girl from New Zealand. The South African team linked up with the Anderson County Kentucky team and coaches at hotels, pools, and rumor has it for a few motorcycle try-outs! They got along so well the Kentucky team has been invited to be guests on tour at South Africa’s national NASP® tournament next April. What at treat this will be for some of these Lawrenceburg, KY youngsters, some of which saw the ocean for the first time at last year’s world tournament!

As promised Disney's Mickey Mouse attended the awards ceremony. He arrived to welcome the thousands of archers and their families. Mickey returned for terrific pictures at the end. No matter the age of the person who witnessed this special guest's entrance - smiles were as broad on the 60-year old faces as they were on the 5-year olds.

As with any NASP® tournament, volunteers are always a critical need. Thanks to Steve Robbins from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, we were able to post one adult lane official for every 4 archers throughout this event. Nearly 40 volunteers including NASP® board members, teachers, parents, Florida 4-H staff, archery club members, National Bowhunter Education Foundation, and wildlife agency personnel from Kentucky, Virginia, and Florida were on hand to help the students.

Of course the big story behind the story is how these archers, their teammates, and coaches were able to participate in the world tournament. First of course the archers had to qualify for the world tournament. To do this they had to qualify for their country’s national tournament by participating in the state or provincial contest. Then they had to participate in their country’s national tournament. Finally, they had to raise money for travel. Some teams had to raise $30,000-40,000 to make it to the event. A variety of ingenious ways were invented to raise the necessary funds. The common thread in nearly every case was strong community support for the archery students to enjoy an exciting and educational experience. As they grow older, very few of these world participants will ever encounter anyone who has competed at a national or world level.

The 2011 NASP World Tournament will be conducted at the Jostens Center at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Florida. The tournament will be conducted on October 6, 7, & 8th. To view complete tournament results visit our website at: http://www.nasparchery.com/ . To volunteer at the 2011 NASP nationals or 2011 NASP world tournament just drop us a note. Of course, our non-profit NASP Foundation Inc. is always thrilled to add additional sponsors.

Help us bring archery to students everywhere! During this school year more than 20,000 NASP-certified instructors are expected to provide training for nearly 2 million young people in more than 9,000 schools!

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