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Archery for the Blind by Janice Walth I’m sure some of you at one time or another have thought about how you would do certain things if you were blind. You probably wondered how you would cook a meal. You may have wondered how you would match your clothes. But, it’s probably a pretty good bet that you’ve never wondered how you would shoot archery if you were blind. I have accompanied my husband to club shoots and
tournaments for the past four years.
During that time he and I had many discussions about how I might be
able to shoot archery as a blind person and share in the fun. I searched the internet for any
information I could find regarding blind individuals who shoot
archery. I could not find
anything in the Archers who can see the target use bow sights, but archers who cannot see the target use tactile sighting aides. It has been found that a lack of vision causes alignment and balance issues resulting in problems with body sway. For example, At 60 meters a visually impaired archer can miss the target 4 out of 6 times, but at 30 meters she may miss the target face, but should not miss the target entirely. The British Blind Sports development team created what is known as the Burntwood round. By utilizing this Burntwood round, the archer shoots at 30 meters and changes the size of the target to simulate the four distances. A 40 cm target represents a distance of 90 meters, a 60 cm target represents a distance of 70 meters, an 80 cm target represents a distance of 50 meters and a 120 cm target represents a distance of 30 meters. There is no difference in target size shot by male and female archers. The Burntwood FITA round enables visually impaired archers to attend mainstream outdoor competitions. When shooting indoors, a visually impaired archer can shoot the same distance and target size as the sighted archers (40 cm target at 20 meters). My husband tacks down the tripod which holds my sight
and the foot marker. The foot
marker allows me to stand in the same place each time I return to the line
to shoot. When I pull back
the bow, I aim by touching a particular area on the back of my hand to the
sight. Otherwise, my
technique is the same as any other archer. I have a spotter who tells me the
position of my arrow on the target by calling out the color and clock
face. For example, As I develop my technique, it is important to me that I am not shooting with any advantage over a sighted archer. I want to be confident that my skills and score are comparable to that of a sighted archer at the same level of experience, even though I am competing as a blind person. I shot in my first tournament on May 1st at
the Cotton Boll Classic in
I am pleased to be able to introduce blind archery to
the British Blind Sports Contact: http://www.britishblindsport.org.uk/archery_txt.htm Sandra
Nesbitt BBS
Archery section chairperson Tel. 0191 4567912 email
stephen.nesbitt1@btinternet.com mobile 0793 1219393 |
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