Sigh. The things we do for love, and our love of the sport.
Yesterday I played rangemaster to 66 Cub Scouts shooting BB guns. Fortunately, not all at the same time. 9 groups of about 7-8 each.
This is the first time I have done something like this. My wife is in the Stake Primary Presidency (Mormon-speak for a district leader over young kids from 13 congregations). One of her assignments is to put on a Cub Scout Day Camp for those 13 congregations, along with some help from the Boy Scouts of America. She needed a Range Master for the BB Gun venue. Guess who volunteered?
All outdoors. Eight to Five. High of 107 today. I was in the sun all but about one hour of that. Thank Heaven for miracle fabrics, water coolers, a good hat and high SPF. Still kicked my butt pretty good. I was on my feet all but about an hour, too. Hard work.
I kinda learned on the fly. As father of seven, youngest age 9, I’ve had some experience working with kids. Also did some church service with them. Still, first time shooting with so many people of different experience levels and mental levels at one time. I got better as the day went on.
Procedure evolved into the following:
1. Explain The Four Rules. They boys repeat them back after a brief explanation. We focus on 2 and 3, the ones we would have the most trouble with.
2. Explain the range rules.
3. Bring ‘em out on the range, and walk then through the operation of a pump BB gun. Started off demonstrating, but rapidly evolved into having them follow along with me on each step of pumping, charging, etc.
4. Let ‘em shoot. Troubleshoot with boys having trouble with the above. Man, its hard to focus on one kid having trouble while monitoring the other 5-6 for safety.
5. Follow the rules for working with young kids. Praise, praise, praise. Treat every question seriously. End the answer with an encouraging word. Follow up with kids having trouble, and praise them when they get it right on their own.
Repeat above with the next group.
Main thing was, no injuries, and no repeat offenders on minor infractions.
Things I learned:
* Neither the Crossman Powermaster 760 nor the Daisy Powerline 901 (? the cheap one) is a particularly accurate rifle. Though some individual rifles are better than others.
* Cross-dominance--where one eye is dominant, but the other hand is dominant--is much more common than I expected. I saw it maybe 8-10 times out of 66 boys. Tough to deal with in 40 minutes. (One of my daughters has it. I turned to good ‘ol TFL searches to learn options for dealing with it. Would up teacher he to shoot with the same hand as her dominant eye. She shoots great, now. )
* Most parents are really helpful. A few can really get in the way. A few times I just wanted to say “Gee, let the guy just try it himself a few times—he’ll learn by experience.” I have more sympathy for good teachers.
* Some 8-10 year old boys REALLY know how to shoot. A couple of times, some experienced kids helped the kids next to them in meaningful ways. Warmed my heart. There were some mighty fine groups shot.
* Lots of other 8-10 year old boys know nothing at all about shooting. But almost all of them like it when they try it.
I got some nice praise at the end of the day from the boys’ leaders. I hope I planted some seeds today. The boys sure seemed to have fun. 66 potential new shooters (some of whom were already accomplished) is a worthwhile day’s work.
Yesterday I played rangemaster to 66 Cub Scouts shooting BB guns. Fortunately, not all at the same time. 9 groups of about 7-8 each.
This is the first time I have done something like this. My wife is in the Stake Primary Presidency (Mormon-speak for a district leader over young kids from 13 congregations). One of her assignments is to put on a Cub Scout Day Camp for those 13 congregations, along with some help from the Boy Scouts of America. She needed a Range Master for the BB Gun venue. Guess who volunteered?
All outdoors. Eight to Five. High of 107 today. I was in the sun all but about one hour of that. Thank Heaven for miracle fabrics, water coolers, a good hat and high SPF. Still kicked my butt pretty good. I was on my feet all but about an hour, too. Hard work.
I kinda learned on the fly. As father of seven, youngest age 9, I’ve had some experience working with kids. Also did some church service with them. Still, first time shooting with so many people of different experience levels and mental levels at one time. I got better as the day went on.
Procedure evolved into the following:
1. Explain The Four Rules. They boys repeat them back after a brief explanation. We focus on 2 and 3, the ones we would have the most trouble with.
2. Explain the range rules.
3. Bring ‘em out on the range, and walk then through the operation of a pump BB gun. Started off demonstrating, but rapidly evolved into having them follow along with me on each step of pumping, charging, etc.
4. Let ‘em shoot. Troubleshoot with boys having trouble with the above. Man, its hard to focus on one kid having trouble while monitoring the other 5-6 for safety.
5. Follow the rules for working with young kids. Praise, praise, praise. Treat every question seriously. End the answer with an encouraging word. Follow up with kids having trouble, and praise them when they get it right on their own.
Repeat above with the next group.
Main thing was, no injuries, and no repeat offenders on minor infractions.
Things I learned:
* Neither the Crossman Powermaster 760 nor the Daisy Powerline 901 (? the cheap one) is a particularly accurate rifle. Though some individual rifles are better than others.
* Cross-dominance--where one eye is dominant, but the other hand is dominant--is much more common than I expected. I saw it maybe 8-10 times out of 66 boys. Tough to deal with in 40 minutes. (One of my daughters has it. I turned to good ‘ol TFL searches to learn options for dealing with it. Would up teacher he to shoot with the same hand as her dominant eye. She shoots great, now. )
* Most parents are really helpful. A few can really get in the way. A few times I just wanted to say “Gee, let the guy just try it himself a few times—he’ll learn by experience.” I have more sympathy for good teachers.
* Some 8-10 year old boys REALLY know how to shoot. A couple of times, some experienced kids helped the kids next to them in meaningful ways. Warmed my heart. There were some mighty fine groups shot.
* Lots of other 8-10 year old boys know nothing at all about shooting. But almost all of them like it when they try it.
I got some nice praise at the end of the day from the boys’ leaders. I hope I planted some seeds today. The boys sure seemed to have fun. 66 potential new shooters (some of whom were already accomplished) is a worthwhile day’s work.
