Camp is full of simple pleasures and one of my favorite happens to be washers. This seemingly benign little game of tossing washers into a cup may appear at first to be so lacking in complexity that just about anyone could become a champion their first time out. On the contrary, to be great at washers requires skill and dexterity.
Cap Endres taught archers to throw darts with the knowledge that they would improve their hand/eye coordination and thus improve as archers. I would say that similarly, washers can help you improve at all sorts of sports for the same reasons. For this reason, I think we should all build ourselves a washer court in our own back yard.
All a person needs to do to enjoy washers (and exercise those fine motor skills!) is to follow these simple instructions.
1) Materials:
2 8' green treated 2"x6" boards ( ' means feet and " means inches - don't ask me why. It just does.)
2 6" long pieces of 3" ID (inside diameter) PVC pipe
4 2" OD (outside diameter) washers
1 10' to 16' long area in the yard that you have written permission from your mother to turn into a skill honing washers court.
2) Get help from mom or dad and cut the wood into 4 pieces that are 24" long and 2 that are 27" long. The two that are 27" become the backstops and the 24" pieces become the sides. Screw or nail them together standing on end to form a three sided box that measures 24" by 24" on the inside.
3) Mark out your courts location. The cups in the center of the boxes should be about 14' apart but anything 10' to 16' is perfectly acceptable. Bury the boxes, open ends opposing one another, halfway into the ground.
4) Bury the 2 pieces of PVC in the exact center of each box.
5) Remove the grass or wood chips or flowers or concrete from inside the box and replace with a nice bed of clay (check the local clay supply store) and you are ready to start being better at nearly everything you do.
6) Have fun and don't hurt yourself. And if you forgot to follow these directions to the letter and did not get permission, you're on your own.
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3 comments:
Sounds great, but any chance of the directions in English?
How many inches in a centimetre (yes I spelt that right!) - If I go into my local B&Q (that's Home Depot to you and me) and ask for some "3 inch pvc pipe" I'd get a slap (unless the guy serving me was about 80 years old)
Simon, Simon, Simon. You can't leave such mathematical complexities to these simple American folk. Any Brit worth his salt knows that there are 2.54cm in an inch, 568ml in a pint, 1.75 cloves in a stone, and 1 US Gallon is 3.78541178 litres. Come on, get with the program.
I have actually played on the pictured court known as "Bearded Meadows" and, whilst it is no E&W Cass Court, it has a good slide and hangers are prolific due to the distinct lack of lip.
Chin chin,
Peter
Simon, the man at the hardware store should slap you regardless of what you ask for.
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