KSL Gold Trainer Elite

The instructions that come with the stretch band of choice.  I’m sure these will get lost as a piece of paper.

Extra Refinement

Getting some extra help on the NTS for hook and grip, set, and set-up.

About Brace Height

There are a lot of terms when talking about recurve bows.  Brace height, draw weight, riser height, tiller, ILF arm size, and more.  You can find out more about them in this excellent guide from the documents section of this site.

What is Brace Height?

Since the name is “brace height”, you can bet it will include measurement.  Knowing what to measure is important.  Brace height is the measurement from the string to the deepest part of the  bow grip.

It should also be noted that the deepest part of the grip is about the same as the pre-drilled plunger holes of the bow.  These holes are generally right above the pivot point of the bow.

In theory, you can measure to either point.  It’s a little hard to measure against the bow grip because of its rounded and slippery surfaces.  Check your own bow to know if these are equivalent measurements.

Why Does Brace Height Matter?

There are two elements of shooting affected by brace height.  The first is arrow speed.  A shorter brace height will generally translate to a faster arrow.  The shorter height will mean the arrow is pushed by the string for a longer period of time generating faster speeds.  The second element brace height affects is forgiveness.  Forgiveness is a nice word describing the Archer’s Paradox (find out more from a previous article on this site).  The longer the string is in contact with the arrow, the longer the distortions from the physics of the shot are in play.  An archer minimizes the physics of archery with better form.  For the same reason a shorter brace height generates more speed, it also increases the duration of the time the arrow is interacting with the bow.  The longer brace height will mean less time that the bow is interacting with the arrow.

What Is My Brace Height?

Your bow manufacturer will list the brace height range for the riser and the limb combination.  Each will be different, but it will be a range.  You can choose the brace height depending on your goals listed above.  If you can’t find your particular bow, you could follow the general guidelines below.

From Lancaster Archery

Another method to determine the appropriate brace height is to measure the length of the bow and divide by 8.

How do I Adjust My Brace Height?

You’ve bought the correct size string (or can find out more in the article on AMO sizing from this site).  How can I change or adjust the brace height?  The answer is pretty simple, you twist or untwist the string.  As you can see in the photo below, the string fibers are twisting.  The twisted string will be a smaller string.  A smaller string will mean a taller brace height.  An untwisted string will be a longer string.  A longer string will be a shorter brace height.

It’s a pretty good trick if you can twist both sides of the string at the same time.  You can work on just one side to make it easier.

What Equipment Do I Need?

You can do this with a regular ruler, or you can buy what is known as a bow square.  The bow square will help with brace height and nocking points.  The bow square will also clip to the string at a perpendicular angle giving your a more consistent measurement.

Measured at bow grip

Measured at plunger hole

You can get a bow square at most archery shops.  Here’s a common one from Easton available at Lancaster Archery

Because you are reassembling your recurve bow on most shoots, you’ll want to check brace height nearly every time.  Your bow string will unravel and it will change slightly.  Keeping a bow square in your gear bag is a good idea.

Almost All You Could Want To Know About JOAD Indoor and Outdoor Pins

Your JOAD program will likely participate in the USA Archery JOAD pin program. The Pins are awarded for achievements in archery. Importantly, the pins are won separately for indoor and outdoor achievements as well as the type of bow you shoot (barebow, recurve, compound). That means there are six distinct programs you could be participating in. Most kids would only be in two, indoor or outdoor for their bow type.

The pins are divided into three categories: basic, six star, and olympian. All categories are available to both indoor and outdoor and all three bow types.

Basic Pins

There are eight basic pins denoted by color and accretion of stars.

JOAD Basic Green 1 Star	JOAD Basic Purple 2 Star	JOAD Basic Gray 3 Star	JOAD Basic White 4 Star
JOAD Basic Black 5 Star	JOAD Basic Blue 6 Star	JOAD Basic Red 7 Star	JOAD Basic Yellow 8 Star

Six Star

Your kid can earn the “6-Gold” pin when they shoot six 10’s in a row. This can be in consecutive three arrow ends or in a six arrow end.

JOAD Six 10

Olympian Pins

If your kid is a super achiever, there is another class of pins they can pursue — the Olympian Award levels–Bronze, Silver and Gold. An archer reaching these levels is honored with special recognition from the USA Archery office.

JOAD Olympian Bronze	JOAD Olympian Silver	JOAD Olympian Gold

Qualifications

Barebow/Basic Compound
Indoor – 30 Arrows
Award	Distance	Target	Score
Green Pin	9 M	60 cm	40 points
Purple Pin	9 M	60 cm	75 points
Purple Pin	18 M	60 cm	30 points
Gray Pin	9 M	60 cm	110 points
Gray Pin	18 M	60 cm	50 points
White Pin	9 M	60 cm	145 points
White Pin	18 M	60 cm	100 points
Black Pin	18 M	60 cm	140 points
Blue Pin	18 M	60 cm	185 points
Blue Pin	18 M	40 cm	175 points
Red Pin	18 M	60 cm	230 points
Red Pin	18 M	40 cm	220 points
Yellow Pin	18 M	60 cm	255 points
Yellow Pin	18 M	40 cm	240 points
Bronze Pin	18 M	60 cm	265 points
Bronze Pin	18 M	40 cm	250 points
Silver Pin	18 M	60 cm	275 points
Silver Pin	18 M	40 cm	260 points
Gold Pin	18 M	60 cm	280 points
Gold Pin	18 M	40 cm	270 points

Olympic Recurve
Indoor – 30 Arrows
Award	Distance	Target	Score
Green Pin	9 M	60 cm	50 points
Purple Pin	9 M	60 cm	100 points
Purple Pin	18 M	60 cm	30 points
Gray Pin	9 M	60 cm	150 points
Gray Pin	18 M	60 cm	50 points
White Pin	9 M	60 cm	200 points
White Pin	18 M	60 cm	100 points
Black Pin	18 M	60 cm	150 points
Blue Pin	18 M	60 cm	200 points
Blue Pin	18 M	40 cm	190 points
Red Pin	18 M	60 cm	250 points
Red Pin	18 M	40 cm	240 points
Yellow Pin	18 M	60 cm	270 points
Yellow Pin	18 M	40 cm	260 points
Bronze Pin	18 M	60 cm	285 points
Bronze Pin	18 M	40 cm	280 points
Silver Pin	18 M	60 cm	290 points
Silver Pin	18 M	40 cm	285 points
Gold Pin	18 M	60 cm	295 points
Gold Pin	18 M	40 cm	290 points

Compound
Indoor – 30 Arrows
Award	Distance	Target	Score
Green Pin	9 M	40 cm	50 points
Purple Pin	9 M	40 cm	100 points
Purple Pin	18 M	40 cm	30 points
Gray Pin	9 M	40 cm	150 points
Gray Pin	18 M	40 cm	50 points
White Pin	9 M	40 cm	200 points
White Pin	18 M	40 cm	100 points
Black Pin	18 M	40 cm	150 points
Blue Pin	18 M	40 cm *	200 points
Red Pin	18 M	40 cm *	240 points
Yellow Pin	18 M	40 cm *	260 points
Bronze Pin	18 M	40 cm *	285 points
Silver Pin	18 M	40 cm *	290 points
Gold Pin	18 M	40 cm *	295 points
* Denotes the use of the inner 10 ring scoring

Barebow/Basic Compound
Outdoor – 36 Arrows
Award	Distance	Target	Score
Green Pin	15 M	122 cm	130 points
Purple Pin	20 M	122 cm	155 points
Gray Pin	25 M	122 cm	180 points
White Pin	30 M	122 cm	205 points
Black Pin	30 M	122 cm	215 points
Black Pin	40 M	122 cm	215 points
Blue Pin	30 M	122 cm	230 points
Blue Pin	50 M	122 cm	225 points
Red Pin	30 M	122 cm	230 points
Red Pin	50 M	122 cm	225 points
Yellow Pin	30 M	122 cm	255 points
Yellow Pin	50 M	122 cm	250 points
Bronze Pin	30 M	122 cm	275 points
Bronze Pin	50 M	122 cm	265 points
Silver Pin	30 M	122 cm	285 points
Silver Pin	50 M	122 cm	275 points
Gold Pin	30 M	122 cm	290 points
Gold Pin	50 M	122 cm	280 points

Olympic Recurve
Outdoor – 36 Arrows
Award	Distance	Target	Score
Green Pin	15 M	122 cm	155 points
Purple Pin	20 M	122 cm	180 points
Gray Pin	25 M	122 cm	205 points
White Pin	30 M	122 cm	245 points
Black Pin	30 M	122 cm	245 points
Black Pin	40 M	122 cm	240 points
Blue Pin	30 M	122 cm	275 points
Blue Pin	50 M	122 cm	240 points
Blue Pin	60 M	122 cm	240 points
Blue Pin	70 M	122 cm	240 points
Red Pin	30 M	122 cm	300 points
Red Pin	50 M	122 cm	275 points
Red Pin	60 M	122 cm	275 points
Red Pin	70 M	122 cm	260 points
Yellow Pin	30 M	122 cm	315 points
Yellow Pin	50 M	122 cm	295 points
Yellow Pin	60 M	122 cm	290 points
Yellow Pin	70 M	122 cm	270 points
Bronze Pin	30 M	122 cm	335 points
Bronze Pin	50 M	122 cm	315 points
Bronze Pin	60 M	122 cm	310 points
Bronze Pin	70 M	122 cm	295 points
Silver Pin	30 M	122 cm	340 points
Silver Pin	50 M	122 cm	325 points
Silver Pin	60 M	122 cm	325 points
Silver Pin	70 M	122 cm	305 points
Gold Pin	30 M	122 cm	345 points
Gold Pin	50 M	122 cm	335 points
Gold Pin	60 M	122 cm	335 points
Gold Pin	70 M	122 cm	320 points

Compound
Outdoor – 36 Arrows
Award	Distance	Target	Score
Green Pin	15 M	80 cm	180 points
Green Pin	15 M	122 cm	200 points
Purple Pin	20 M	80 cm	205 points
Purple Pin	20 M	122 cm	220 points
Gray Pin	25 M	80 cm	230 points
Gray Pin	25 M	122 cm	240 points
White Pin	25 M	80 cm	240 points
White Pin	30 M	80 cm	245 points
White Pin	30 M	122 cm	260 points
Black Pin	25 M	80 cm	260 points
Black Pin	30 M	80 cm	265 points
Black Pin	40 M	80 cm	250 points
Black Pin	40 M	122 cm	280 points
Blue Pin	25 M	80 cm	280 points
Blue Pin	30 M	80 cm	285 points
Blue Pin	50 M	80 cm	235 points
Blue Pin	50 M	122 cm	300 points
Red Pin	25 M	80 cm	300 points
Red Pin	30 M	80 cm	305 points
Red Pin	50 M	80 cm	300 points
Yellow Pin	25 M	80 cm	315 points
Yellow Pin	30 M	80 cm	320 points
Yellow Pin	50 M	80 cm	300 points
Bronze Pin	25 M	80 cm	340 points
Bronze Pin	30 M	80 cm	345 points
Bronze Pin	50 M	80 cm	330 points
Silver Pin	25 M	80 cm	345 points
Silver Pin	30 M	80 cm	350 points
Silver Pin	50 M	80 cm	340 points
Gold Pin	25 M	80 cm	350 points
Gold Pin	30 M	80 cm	355 points
Gold Pin	50 M	80 cm	345 points

Displaying Pins

USA Archery has made it easy to display your pins in a standard way. Lots of kids wear these ribbons/lanyards on their quiver. The color of the ribbon is specific to indoor or outdoor and your bow type.

JOAD Lanyards

More

This covers most of the JOAD pin program for indoor and outdoor archers. If you want to check for updates, go to the USA Archery Pin Program.

What JOAD Age Division Do I Shoot In?

USA Archery and probably others have devised these groupings: Junior, Cadet, Cub, Bowman, Yeoman.  What group is your child shooting in?  Use this guide to find out.

Division	Age
Junior	18, 19, 20
Cadet	15, 16, 17
Cub	13, 14
Bowman	10, 11, 12
Yeoman	8, 9

Why does this matter? The groups correspond to distances and target sizes. As far as I know, the only group that shoots at 9m/10yd for indoor is the Yeoman category. All other groups shoot at 18m/20yd for indoor. The targets get smaller too as you get older. You will need to know what category when you sign up for a shoot.

More information:

Below, the term “last day” is 31 December. The term “first day” is 1 January

Juniors:

If you turn 18, 19, or 20 during the current calendar year, you are a junior until the last day of the current calendar year.

Example: Your 18th birthday is 1-January of this year, you would be considered a Junior.

Example: Your 20th birthday is the 30-December of this year, you would be considered a Junior.

Cadets:

If you turn 15, 16, or 17 during the current calendar year, you are a cadet until the last day of the current calendar year.

If you are 17, then you become a junior on the first day of the next calendar year.

Example: Your 15th birthday is 1-January of this year, you would be considered a Cadet.

Example: Your 17th birthday is the 30-December of this year, you would be considered a Cadet.

Cubs:

If you turn 13 or 14 during the current calendar year, you are a cub until the last day of the current calendar year.

If you are 14, then you become a cadet on the first day of the next calendar year.

Example: Your 13th birthday is 1-January of this year, you would be considered a Cub.

Example: Your 14th birthday is the 30-December of this year, you would be considered a Cub.

Bowman:

If you turn 10, 11, or 12 during the current calendar year, you are a bowman until the last day of the current calendar year.

If you are 12, then you become a cub on the first day of the next calendar year.

Example: Your 10th birthday is 1-January of this year, you would be considered a Bowmen.

Example: Your 12th birthday is the 30-December of this year, you would be considered a Bowmen.

Yeoman:

If you turn 8 or 9 during the current calendar year, you are a yeoman until the last day of the current calendar year.

If you are 9, then you become a bowman on the first day of the next calendar year.

Example: Your 9th birthday is the 30-December of this year, you would be considered a Yeoman.

Note, you can always shoot in a category above you, but you cannot shoot in competition for a category below your age. This information is believed to be accurate as of 2015.

So Many Details: Hook and Grip

After my instructor courses, I learned a lot of the details about shooting,  I suspect there is so much more to learn too.  Now, when we shoot at home or even at the range, we work on one thing during the session.  Her coaches told her as much in the first weeks of practice; but, it’s hard to do if you don’t know those details.  Today was the grip part of Hook and Grip.

  
Here’s what is should look like.

 
More on hook and grip 

3D Target Archery

There are only a few sports that divide themselves into thinly sliced variants.  Skiing and figure skating come to mind.  Archery has different combinations.

Nearly all of these could be chosen in some mix to form a specialty.  The exception is Video which goes with Indoor only and is called Darts.  There are leagues and organizations for most combinations.  For the most part, target shooting on rings is what most people picture in their mind for archery, but compound 3D shooting is the area of high growth.  She hasn’t been too interested in shooting anything besides her ring targets since 3D shooting is closest to hunting with most of the targets modeled after game.  Then things changed.  Next to her on the range was a woman shooting a 3D bear.  She became obsessed with the bear and begged to shoot on it.

 

Archery’s Identity Problem

i have now spent more than a year as an archery parent and that means I have spent a lot of time on websites, ranges, and retailers.  As such, I have come to hold some opinions about the sport and the confusing organizing bodies. 

Here’s a list of most of the organizations, trade federations, and advocacy groups I’ve stumbled on.

• AMO (Archers Manufactures and Merchant’s Organization) [sic] maybe they didn’t like the “ammo” pun
• ATA (Archery Trade Association)  the new name for the AMO, but bow strings are still measured with the AMO acronym
• ASA (Archery Shooters Association)
• JOAD (Junior Olympic Archery Development)
• JDT (Junior Dream Team)
• CSAA (Colorado State Archery Association)
• RMAA (Rocky Mountain Archery Association)
• IBO (International Bowhunting Organization) they also have a system for measurement
• NFAA (National Field Archery Association)
• IFAA (International Field Archery Association)
• FITA (Federation Internationale Tir l’Arc)  the global archery organization 
• WA (World Archery Federation) the new name or domain name of FITA
• NAA (National Archery Association) the USA archery program
  
• NTS (National Training System) like a twelve step program for shooting an arrow
• NASP (National Archery in the Schools Program) this is an advocacy and financial support group for having archery in middle school and high school
• USAA (USA Archery) replaces the NAA

Here is my rough map of how these groups are related.  The World Archery group is at the top, but many still call them FITA.  USA Archery has replaced the NAA and is the top of the US groups for Olympic centric activity.  The NFAA is the top US Archery group for everything non-Olympic.  The ATA is a manufactuer and industry group with their own organization.  There is a lot of parity with USAA and NFAA.

Anything else is sort of hard to map.  It could be state level groups lost in the succession of NAA, specific manufacturing groups, or advocacy programs.

Fourth or First Rotational

The end of the season is approaching. This was the second to last rotational and we signed up,since there was a snafu with her calendar last time,  it is her fourth time shooting in this sort of structure, but her first time at this distance.  Since moving to this longer distance, her shooting is erratic.  Archers want to have their arrows cluster together, called grouping; however, with only three arrows per end, if the first arrow is off target, the archer is going to make corrections.  Her bow weight is low, I think 16 pounds and her draw length isn’t that large either.  When the arrows leave her bow, they aren’t traveling too fast and that means small adjustments get magnified by the time the arrow reaches the target, even the 60cm target.

At this shoot, she was less nervous and even anxious to get started.  She got to shoot on the same target as a teammate who is also shooting this distance for the first official time.

She started slow, but sort of found her groove right at the lunch break.  For that end she shot a 10, 9, and 4.  That meant right after lunch she was struggling to get everything back together and didn’t reach that sort of score again.  More important to me was that she finished and her extra reps have certainly helped, she was an encouraging and supportive friend, and she had the biggest smile.

More on groupings

More on ends

More on rotationals

More about target sizes

More Learning – ILF

The older one is going to need a new bow.  I don’t know when.  I chatted with a couple of the other dads.  I then got online to chat with Lancaster Archery.  Nearly all the shops I’ve seen in our area cater to the hunter.  They carry 40-80 compound bows in their shop.  Sometimes you find a shop with a couple of recurves, but not a lot for the younger shooter.  These shops lean on Lancaster Archery and will often assist in procurement through Lancaster.  I chatted with the rep and he had a few suggestions.  I learned that SF Archery is mostly a specialty brand of the larger Win & Win which I think is a Korean brand.  He suggested that she shoot longer arrows, so I may go get another set of arrows.  The longer arrow is a better flier he said.  Finally we talked about risers and limbs.  I learned that the big separation between a youth bow and the more advanced bows are the support of the ILF limbs.   ILF either stands for Interchangeable Limb Format or International Limb Fitting or Hoyt Dovetail System.  They are all the same thing and allow different limbs to be matched up with any sort of riser that supports ILF.  Originally developed by Hoyt in 1985, ILF has become the standard for many years.  I will be looking at new risers with ILF to let her have more options.  Here is a close up of the ILF/HDS connector.

More on ILF