How to Handicap Archery

Like golf, the handicapping system for archery allows less skilled archers to compete meaningfully with more skilled archers. A handicap, once established for a certain types of bow, the handicap can be used in all types of competitions with that bow type. The handicap number is simply added to shooter's raw score. If you compete with more than one bow type, you'll need to establish a separate handicap for each type.

Acquiring a Handicap

For a bowman to obtain a handicap, he must shoot and score a minimum of three recognized standard archery rounds. Once he provides all three score sheets, signed by a witnessing archer to his archery club or society's recording officer or secretary, the recording officer will calculate a handicap rating for each score with special archery handicapping software or by hand using official handicapping tables. The average handicap value of all three is totaled and averaged and then rounded up to the nearest whole number. This number will be your first handicap.

Improving Your Handicap

Your handicap will change over time as you submit new scores for rounds you have shot. Submit the new signed score sheets to the recording officer of your club and he will calculate your new handicap by adding the new score, if it's better than the old one, to the old handicap and averaging the two. The average of the two is then rounded up to the nearest whole number and that's your new handicap. If the new handicap is worse, your official handicap remains the same. The only way for your handicap to get worse is if your club does an annual review in which the official handicap is recalculated based on the average of your entire year's scores.

Calculating the Score

To actually calculate your handicap, you will need either archery handicapping software or a set of appropriate handicapping tables from your region's or country's archery authority. On the tables, look up your total score. Find your score in the score column of the handicapping tables . If you can't find your exact score, just select the next lower score. The handicap value for that score will be found at the side of the table. Your working handicap will then be the average of the first three scores' handicaps. Your score is reviewed annually by your archery club's recording officer, but you must shoot at least 3 standard rounds that year for your handicap to be changed. The average of those three scores will be averaged with the old handicap to calculate the new handicap.

Keeping Score

There are a variety of on-line score sheet generators available through local and national archery associations like the National Field Archery Association, the National. Archery Association, FITA and the National Crossbowmen of the USA. Each of these has local and state chapters you can join. Every country has its own national association which may or may not be affiliated with the International Archery Federation (FITA), the governing body which regulates Olympic archery competition. It is important to use a compatible score sheet when shooting handicapping rounds and to belong to a club that supports handicapping by maintaining proper records.

References and Resources
Double G Archery: Archery Clubs and Associations Links
Archery Handicap Calculator
Gentlemen and Lady Archers of Darlington: Competitions
Supermarine Bowmen: Information
Fuzilogic: Archery Associations
Frome Valley Archers: Competitions
FITA: International Archery Federation
USA Archery: National Archery Association
The National Crossbowmen of the USA, Inc.: USA Crossbow

Simple Homemade Country Shelves

  My son and I built this set of country-style shelves for my wife one Christmas. It took us an afternoon to build it and a couple of days to stain and varnish it leaving time for the varnish to dry between coats. You don't need more than simple tools and a few basic carpentry skills.  Here are the tools you need:

1. Circular Saw
2. Saber Saw with furniture quality blade
3. Drill
4. Philips driver bit
5. #6 pilot bit
6. 1/8 inch drill bit
7. 1/2 inch drill bit
8. Tape measure
9. Nail set
10. Compass
11. Router
12. 1/4 inch quarter round router bit

Here are the materials you'll need:

1. One 12 foot long 1x12
2. Three 8 foot 1x12s
3. One 8 foot 1x6
4. Box of 1-1/4 inch #6 Philips screws
5. Ten six inch 1x2s
6. Glue
7. Box 2 inch finish nails
8. Wood filler
9. Putty knife
10. Multiple grades of sandpaper

Sides

Build the sides first.  Cut the 12 foot long 1x12 in half. Use the compass to round the top of each side. I put a heart shaped cutout and a little dip in the top of the arc as shown in the picture to the right. To cut the cutout, draw the shape you want. I used a heart shape, but you can use any shape you like. Drill a half inch hole inside the area you marked for your cutout shape. Slip the blade of the saber saw through the hole and cut out the shape.  Go around the outside edges of the sides and the inside edges of the cutout with the router. Then sand the faces and edges of the sides and the inside edges of the cutout.




Center the 1x2 shelf rests as shown.

Shelf Rests

Screw a series of 1x2x6 inch long boards to ask as shelf rests. This makes for a much sturdier shelf than simply screwing the ends into the sides.  Set the first pair on the inside of the side boards so they are centered with the bottoms resting on the floor. Drill a #6 pilot hole, but don't go through the sides - just enough into the side boards so the screws will grab.  Glue the shelf rests and screw them to the sides. Put the top of the next pair 18 inches above the first pair. Then, set the third, fourth and fifth pair 12 inches apart. Test fit shelves to make sure they are all level as shown in the picture of the shelf  face below.

Shelves
Cut the shelves the length you want them. I made these 3-1/2 feet long. You can adjust the length, but if they are over 3-1/2 feet long you'll want to add more stiffeners behind the other shelves if you do (see below).
Set the shelves on top of the shelf rests. Apply glue to the top of the shelf rests and ends of the shelves. You can use bungee cords to hold the sides against the shelf while you fasten them in place. Tap finish nails into the shelf rests to hold them in place. Drill 1/8 inch pilot holes through the sides into the ends of the shelves. It will look like the picture to the right underneath each shelf.  Spread wood filler into the nail holes, level with the putty knife and let it dry.  Then sand the nail hole filler the shelves and all the flat surfaces and edges.  After the glue sets, lay the shelf on its back and route the top and bottom of the front sides of each shelf. Sand everything smooth.

Stiffeners


Attach the stiffener to the back of the bottom shelf

Cut the 1x6 into two pieces matching the length of the shelves. Round the top edges with the router and nail one to the back of the bottom shelf as shown in the photo on the right and one to the back of the top row as shown below. Add a screw to each in the center into the edge of the back of the sideboard.


  











Note the position of the top stiffener board.

Finishing
Use a wiping oil stain and good quality polyurethane varnish.  Do three to 5 coats of varnish. Allow each coat to cure for at least 4 hours and sand with fine sandpaper or steel wool between coats. 





Summary:
You can use this anything anywhere. It's cute and even if it comes out a little rough, the oil stain gives it a rustic look that adds to the charm of the piece. My wife loves that little shelf, as much because my son and I built it.

© 2018 by Tom King

Dealing With Bullies and Their Parents

In the midst of economic collapse, Middle-Eastern uprisings and a budget struggle threatening to shut down the country, President Obama today gave us a speech about bullying.

It is ironic that the very atmosphere of political correctness fostered by the folk who put the President in office is responsible for the rampant rise of bullying in American schools.

Where I grew up, if you did something wrong, the neighbors hit the phones and your mama knew about it before you could get home.  If you got in trouble at school, you got in twice as much when you got home. If you committed a heinous act in front of an adult, that adult was very likely fully empowered by your Dad to bust your butt. Then, when Dad found out about it, he'd bust your butt and call his friend to thank him for popping you on his behalf.

We have passed through an era in which people have gradually become so afraid of being sued by parents or reported to child abuse authorities that grown adults are reduced to mere bystanders.  Hillary Clinton is fond of telling people it takes a village to raise a child. Unfortunately, the litigous nanny state we live in has handcuffed all the people in the village and turned loose the children unsupervised.

And children are notorious barbarians. Without supervision they adopt a "Lord of the Flies" tribal social structure in which bullies rule the roost. So how do you, as a concerned adult, do anything about the problem of child-thugs in your neighborhood, public parks, grocery stores or churches?

You follow the advice of the angels!

Whenever an angel appears, the first word it always says is, "Fear not!"

Providing guidance to children is a rough sport and not for the faint-hearted. You must show unflinching courage when facing a young hoodlum. They smell fear. Show none! When you observe a child bullying another, here's what to do:

1. Approach the scene of the crime quickly, with a firm stride and confidence in your demeanor.
2. Don't ask for permission. If the parent is nearby, don't make eye contact with them. Keep focused on the young miscreant.
3. Firmly tell the child, "That's enough." Expect him to stop and give him (or her) your best steely-eye and usually, the shock will stop the behavior long enough for you to move between the bully and the intended victim. Do not raise your voice. Speak calmly and evenly. A calm person has great power, grasshopper. Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth if you need to calm down.
4. Describe the specific behavior you want stopped, even if it sounds vague as in, "Stop tormenting Tommy."  The more specific you are about what you saw, the better.
5. Don't argue with the bully.  He will deny the behavior. Don't be surprised when he does. Whatever you do, don't let him draw you into an argument. If you allow him to challenge your version of the facts, you give him power over you.
6. End the incident quickly. The best way is to explain to the bully that you WILL follow up by talking to his mother and father. They usually beat a hasty retreat at this point.

What you should do if the child's angry parent steps in?

I long ago quit asking parents if I could correct their kids. Usually, if I have to bark at one, the parents are more embarrassed than the kid. Also I'm large and have that teacher persona, so I seldom have a parent get in my face about it - not that it would do any good if they were to try. In the couple of incidences where a parent did take umbrage, I patiently explained to the parent, the full extent of the child's sin, explained exactly why I felt it necessary to intervene and assured them that I only intervened because I was not aware they were nearby and was certain they would never have condoned such behavior had they been fully aware of the problem.

Getting the parent involved in this fashion is one really great way to send home the misery to a child who is bullying his peers. The conversation at home typically begins with, "How could you embarrass me like that...."

If all the adults out there actually did subscriibe to the "It takes a village" philosophy, unruly kids wouldn't have anywhere to go to perpetrate their petty crimes. They would be confronted with corrective forces at every turn. Nothing trains a child better than living in an environment where every adult in the child's life subscribes to the 15 commandments.  You know the first ten. I've added five more as a kind of appendix for children.

     1. Thou shalt not sass thy Mama
     2. Thou shalt not run with scissors or other sharp objects.
     3. Thou shalt not go swimming for one hour after eating.
     4. Thou shalt not scratch thy private parts in public.
     5. And thou shalt not bully!

It's time adults in this country buck up and provide these young-uns some guidance. There's nothing to be afraid of. You cannot be sued for telling a child to behave himself. Just don't hit them or raise your voice and you'll be okay.

Tom