Range rules and commands
Ready when: nothing, this is the first card.
What you are learning
The safety rules and the range commands, before ever going near a range. Every shooter, from a beginner to an Olympian, follows the same rules every time; they are what make shooting one of the safest sports.
Words on this card Range, Range officer, Range commands, Firing line, Down range
- Range
- The place built for shooting, with safe walls and a controlled area.
- Range officer
- The person in charge of safety on the range; their word is final.
- Range commands
- The set words the range officer uses to start and stop shooting.
- Firing line
- The line shooters stand or lie at, and the line where the targets are.
- Down range
- Toward the targets, the only safe direction to point.
Set up
Paper and pencil; the safety rules your club or range gives you, copied out.
Weather: any weather
Show it first for the one teaching
- Read the club's safety rules aloud, slowly, one at a time.
- Read the range commands in the order the club gives them, and what each one means.
- Draw a range: the firing line, the target line, and an arrow for "down range".
Your part while they practise
Ask the child to say each rule and each range command back to you; after the first two weeks, once a week is enough.
Step by step
- Read the safety rules aloud.
- Say the range commands in order, as the club gives them.
- Draw a range with the firing line and the target line.
- Make a rules poster together.
How much: all the rules, twice 8 min a session 3 days a week
Say one thing Pick one line from "What you will see" for today and say only that.
The game: Range officer says
You act as range officer and give a command; the child says what happens next.
Who plays: the child against you; swap roles halfway.
How to play, turn by turn
- Turns
- Use only the commands on the club's list
- Give a command; the child says what everyone does next
- Every few turns, ask "which rule keeps us safe here?"
- 10 commands, then swap
- Fair play
- The grown-up must give the commands without the list.
- Points
- 1 point for each right answer; 1 more point for naming the rule behind it.
- Fouls
- The round ends, and you talk about why
- Pointing anything at a person, even a finger or a pencil
- Skipping a rule or a command
- Laughing it off: this one is for real
- Winning
- Beat your best from 10 commands.
- 8 points for 1 star
- 14 points for 2 stars
- 20 points for 3 stars
Easier or harder
Three rules only.
Add the club's etiquette list.
What you will see, and what to say
- the child skips a rule
Say all of them, in order
Every rule, every time. - they treat it as a game
This is for real, slow and serious
Safety first.
Self-check
All the rules and 4 commands said in order without help.
Stop and get a coach when
The club has its own version; follow that one.
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 safety habit, discipline.
awiseathlete.com/sports/shooting/shooting-b1