Bray Hopes Streak Continues at NASP Alabama State Championship

By DAVID RAINER, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

When the largest youth archery competition in Alabama, the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) Alabama State Championship, kicks off on April 9, the Bray brothers from Decatur will be ready to compete at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl located at 220 Hall St. in Montgomery.

About 2,000 student archers in Grades 4-12 from schools across the state will compete, starting at noon on Thursday, April 9, and shooting until the last flight is finished on Friday, April 10. Those archers earned the opportunity to compete in the state championship after advancing in one of eight regional qualifying tournaments. State champions from each category will advance to the NASP Eastern National Championship on May 7-9, 2026, in Louisville, Kentucky.

Easton Bray, the eldest of the three brothers at age 18, is currently on a roll and hopes that continues through the Alabama Championship, although he’s a latecomer to the sport of archery. 

It took a little prodding four years ago from his younger brother Noah to begin his archery career. Noah had started shooting at Centershot, a Christian ministry that uses archery as an outreach program.

“He started dogging on me, saying he was so much better than me,” Easton said. “He said if I took up archery, he would beat me every time. So, I just got tired of hearing all this trash talk and said I’ve got to do this now. The next year, I started archery; we’ve been competing against each other ever since.”

Easton has taken his archery pursuit so seriously that he constantly keeps a lookout on social media for sanctioned competition. One such search led him to an adventure as well as a place on the podium at the Lancaster (Pennsylvania) Archery Classic, the largest indoor archery tournament on the East Coast.

“I was looking at the NASP Facebook page, and it said they were opening up a new division,” he said. “The Lancaster Classic is one of the biggest tournaments there is, and they were opening up a division for Basic Compound for Genesis bows, which is what I shoot. I thought it would be a fun deal to go up there and shoot. My granddad (Scott Carmichael) liked the idea, so we rented a car and got a hotel and headed up there.”

Their trip lasted longer than expected when a snowstorm covered the Lancaster area with a foot of snow.

“We got stuck in the snow with ice and a whole bunch of snow,” Easton said. “We heard there was going to be snow, so we packed our hunting clothes. We stayed an extra three days and played in the snow. That’s the most snow I’d ever seen.”

When they finally headed back to Alabama, Easton brought back a gold medal, winning the Basic Compound for High School Male category with a score of 543.

“I was expecting to do the best I could,” he said about the Classic. “I was expecting to have fun. I knew it was a highly competitive tournament. Pennsylvania is pretty big on their NASP program. I was expecting to have a good time. We shot for like five hours straight, but it was a blast.”

Easton took advantage of the practice ranges in Lancaster to tweak his bow to shoot the 15-meter distance and credited his mentor, Steve Cox, for being prepared. Cox runs Centershot Ministry in Decatur and is involved with the ministry nationally as well as being involved in the NASP event in Alabama.

Each round, Easton shot 60 arrows at the 80-centimeter target, which has an 8-centimeter center. Each competitor was allowed two practice arrows followed by three-arrow volleys. That was done 20 times. 

“At NASP, you switch up between 10 and 15 meters, but up there, it was 15 meters the whole time,” he said.

When he was announced winner of his division, Easton said he was “pretty surprised.”

“But I was praying to the Lord the whole time that whether I win or lose, let me have some fun,” he said. “I made some pretty good friends up there too. I shot with the guy who won the state NASP up there last year. I got to meet a whole lot of people. It was pretty great.

“I just want to give all the glory to God. No matter what nerves we have on the shooting line, God is with us.”

When the Alabama NASP event starts, Easton hopes to continue his success with at least a top three finish. The Bray brothers are homeschooled and compete as individuals.

“I’ve been No. 1 in bullseye for most of the year,” he said. “I’ve just got to have the right mindset and focus. If you can hit a 10, you can shoot a 300. What I’ve learned about archery is that it’s more of a mind game than a mechanics game. Once you get the mechanics down, it’s whether you can do it 30 times in a row.”

Of course, Easton will also be competing against Noah and his youngest brother, Silas, in Montgomery. Their mom, Brittany Bray, serves as their coach.

“Noah scored his personal best this year with a 290,” Easton said. “He beat me in a couple of tournaments when my mind frame was not right and his was. My youngest brother, Silas, also had his personal best at 272. It’s pretty fun driving around to these tournaments with my family.”

Justin Grider, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) Assistant Chief of the R3 Section with the Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) Division, said Bray’s success in the national event helps to promote the success of the NASP and overall archery participation in Alabama.

“Alabama has a rich history of archers from the state who historically do well in national and even international competition,” said Grider, whose R3 Program oversees NASP in Alabama with Hunter Education Coordinator Katie Burks serving as the NASP State Coordinator. “We, as a state agency, feel it’s important for people to have the opportunity to participate in shooting sports, and archery is one of those shooting sports. We have more archery parks (20) in Alabama than any other state.

“We have a strong stake in the NASP program in Alabama to make sure students in Alabama in grades 4-12 get an opportunity to participate in the program. It’s a pathway to get people involved in shooting sports, and that’s really important. At the end of the day, the excise tax on sporting goods like archery equipment, firearms and ammunition go to support conservation. That benefits bald eagles and salamanders and everything in between.”

Visit www.outdooralabama.com/archery-schools/nasp-alabama-state-championship for more information on the NASP State Championship.

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