Range commands at home
Ready when: nothing, this is the first card.
What you are learning
The rules of a range: six commands that say when archers may shoot and when they may walk forward. On a real range these keep everyone safe, and an instructor expects a child to know them before touching a bow.
Words on this card Range, Shooting line, Waiting line, Range officer, Nock
- Range
- The marked place where archery is shot: a shooting line, targets in front, a safe area behind.
- Shooting line
- The line archers stand on to shoot. Nobody goes in front of it while anyone is shooting.
- Waiting line
- The line a few metres behind the shooting line where archers wait their turn.
- Range officer
- The person who calls the commands and decides when shooting starts and stops.
- Nock
- The small notch at the back of the arrow that clips onto the string; "to nock" is to clip it on.
Set up
An empty floor, tape for a shooting line, a waiting line 3 m behind it, and a broomstick as a pretend bow. No arrows, no real bow.
Weather: any weather
Show it first for the one teaching
- Stand behind the waiting line with the broomstick pointing at the floor.
- Say each command and act it out: walk to the shooting line; pretend to clip on an arrow; raise the stick toward the far wall; pretend to shoot.
- At "Range closed", lay the stick on the floor. Walk forward only at "Retrieve your arrows".
Your part while they practise
Call the commands in order; the child acts them out with the broomstick: "Shooters to the line", "Nock your first arrow", "Shooters ready", "Range open, fire at will", "Range closed, put your bows down", "Retrieve your arrows".
Step by step
- The child waits behind the waiting line, stick pointing at the floor.
- You call each command; the child does that one thing and nothing more.
- After "Retrieve your arrows", the child walks to the far wall, pretends to pull the arrows out and comes back behind the waiting line.
- Then the child says the six commands aloud, in order, from memory.
How much: 3 rounds of the full set 5 min a session 3 days a week On your own: say the six commands aloud from memory
Say one thing Pick one line from "What you will see" for today and say only that.
The game: Range officer
One player calls the commands and the family must follow them exactly.
Who plays: 2 or more. One player is the range officer; everyone else is an archer with a broomstick or a rolled-up newspaper. Take turns as range officer.
How to play, turn by turn
- Turns
- The range officer calls the six commands in order, fast or slow
- Archers do exactly what each command says, and nothing before it
- The officer watches for anyone who moves at the wrong time
- Play 3 rounds, then a new range officer
- Fair play
- A younger child may keep the six commands written on a card.
- Points
- An archer scores 1 point for each command done at the right time: up to 6 a round.
- Fouls
- The archer gets no point for that command
- Walking forward before "Retrieve your arrows"
- "shooting" before "Range open"
- Pointing the stick at a person
- Winning
- The archer with the most points after 3 rounds.
- 12 points for 1 star
- 15 points for 2 stars
- 18 points for 3 stars
Easier or harder
Read the commands from a card.
Add a surprise "Stop" that everyone must freeze for.
What you will see, and what to say
- the child walks forward at "Range open"
Behind the line until I say
Nobody crosses the shooting line until "Retrieve your arrows". - they point the stick at someone
Point it down the range
The pretend bow points only at the far wall or the floor.
Self-check
The child says all six commands in order without help.
Stop and get a coach when
Not needed here; ask the club to teach the whistle signals.
Fitness for this
Warm up first: how to warm up, at workonfitness.com. For strength and stretching, its exercise library shows each exercise step by step, with an easier version.
This card trains range safety, listening.
awiseathlete.com/sports/archery/archery-b1