Williamsburg, KY – Scholastic 3-D Archery has named Dirk Dieterich of Colorado Springs, CO as the President of the S3DA Board of Directors. Dirk comes to the presidential position with extensive leadership experience, demonstrated success as a committee board member and a history of building capacity in the nonprofit sector. Dirk has either started or purchased 25 companies in oil & gas exploration, natural gas services, automobile refinance, low income housing, environmental consulting, hunting products, and ranching. He currently owns four businesses. From approximately, 2005-2015 Dirk served on the Board of the Pope & Young Club as Treasurer and then Director. Dirk currently serves on the Advisory Council for the Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech. Dirk’s areas of focus include strategy, finance, board management, and program delivery. Dirk’s goal is to utilize his business experience to help grow the organization in an organized and structured environment.

Dirk was born and raised in Richardson, Texas, where he resided until he went off to college. Dirk enrolled at Texas Tech University and graduated in 1978 with a degree in Finance. After graduating from Texas Tech, Dirk was hired by Hunt Energy Corporation in Bismarck, North Dakota. Dirk started his career there as a Petroleum Landman and worked there for a couple of years before he was transferred to Midland, Texas to serve as a District Manager. Dirk lived in Midland for 27 years before moving to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he currently resides with his wife, Didi. They have been married for 35 years and have a son in Austin, TX and a daughter in San Francisco, CA.

Dirk became interested in archery in college and bought a compound bow back in the late 1970’s. He hunted with it for 2 seasons and then switched to a recurve. He has hunted with recurves and longbows ever since. Dirk stated, “It is fair to say that I am a traditional bow addict. I cannot imagine shooting anything else. I have harvested whitetail deer, mule deer, black tail deer, elk, moose, black bear, turkeys, hogs, javelinas and probably a few more species. I have actively shot in 3-D shoots for the past 30 years or so.”

In 2015, in Phoenix, AZ, Dr. Jack Frost, who was also on the Pope & Young Board, encouraged Dirk Dieterich to spend some time with Jennie Richardson, who had recently started a new organization called Scholastic 3-D Archery and had a booth at the convention. Jack had been out to visit with Jennie and was very interested in how she was introducing young folks to archery. At the time, Pope and Young was searching for a signature conservation initiative to partner with. Dirk spent a couple of hours talking to Jennie and was blown away by her compassion and background in the industry. Dirk stated that it was easy to see that S3DA was the future of archery and bowhunting. Following the call, Dirk and Jennie worked out a plan to connect the Pope & Young Club and S3DA to service S3DA’s immediate need for funding. Pope & Young made a financial commitment to S3DA and S3DA agreed to include bowhunting in their curriculum. The relationship between the two has been wonderful and both organizations have benefitted greatly from the partnership.

Dirk states, “I believe that one of, if not the most important, role we have as adults is to help young people reach their potential and make the best decisions they possibly can growing up. I have a unique opportunity to do this both as a member of the S3DA board, as well as the Rawls College of Business Board. The most gratifying time I get each year, is the time I get to spend interacting with these incredible young folks. Kids love archery and there is no better organization out there to introduce them to this wonderful sport. There are other admirable youth organizations out there in the archery industry, but I believe that S3DA is positioned well and destined to be the leader going forward. Jennie, her amazing staff and the board, have done an incredible job of getting this organization to this point in its evolution. With several thousand kids as members, the industry support we currently have and the growth we are experiencing, the most important thing we can do is apply sound business practices to the organization and manage the growth carefully. With all of that said, we should support each other, act as a team and not as competitors and do what is best for the kids. After all, it is all about the kids and building our future leaders.”

Dirk wants S3DA to have a presence in every state and county in the United States. Accomplishing this goal will take quality management and considerable funding. S3DA will continue to find the best people available in geographic locations and encourage participation in the organization. Dirk stated that S3DA would have to be able to generate the necessary operating funds from events to reach a point of financial sustainability. S3DA will continue to seek both industry and non-industry funding.

Started in December 2012 by the Scholastic Archery Association, S3DA has grown exponentially as a next step program to follow introductory programs offered as part of 4-H or the National Archery in Schools Program. S3DA addresses the need for a program to bridge beginning target archery experience and more advanced activities such as 3-D shooting and bowhunting. The program currently operates across the United States with hundreds of certified coaches serving

thousands of young archers, grades 3–12.

For more information on S3DA membership go to: WWW.S3DA.ORG or email: infos3darchery@gmail.com

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