Bow and Arrow Transcript
LISA: Hey there! My name is Lisa Belcastro and I am so excited to share with you some inexpensive ways to make sports more accessible to athletes with disabilities. For over a decade, I have been working in the disability sport community as an adapted physical education teacher, volunteer, and advocate. Like many who run disability sport programs, funding is often limited. Even on a shoestring budget, we must find creative ways to accommodate the needs of every athlete in our program. No one deserves to be left on the sidelines – and we’re here to make sure that never happens!

Today, we are going to be talking about archery. This is one of my favorite sports to teach the athletes that I work with. This is because there are many adaptations that can be made to increase independence and make the sport more accessible to all of our athletes. When teaching archery, what would you do if one of your athletes struggled with gross or fine motor control? What could you do to make the sport accessible to those with developmental disabilities? With some out-of-the-box thinking and creativity, we are going to look at inexpensive ways to answer both of those questions.

Today, we will be building an adapted PVC archery bow and arrow. This idea came to me after realizing the difficulty of adapting archery for athletes with developmental disabilities. This PVC archery bow is very inexpensive, easy to build, and very durable. Most importantly, it will ensure ALL of your athletes can participate. Over the years, I’ve found that I really enjoy working with PVC. PVC is incredibly durable, easy to work with, and best of all, it’s really inexpensive!

To build the PVC archery bow and arrow, here are the materials that you will need; PVC pipe, mason line, duct tape, wooden dowel rod, and a pencil top eraser. You will also need a couple of tools; a saw, permanent marker, measuring tape, and duct tape. When I built my first piece of equipment, I had never even picked up a saw. You might be a master builder or maybe you’ve never picked up a tool in your life. Regardless of your comfort level or experience, I want to assure you that there is nothing to be intimidated by.

First thing we’re going to do is we’re going to measure 5 feet of our 1/2 inch PVC pipe. Mark it. We’re going to cut straight down from where we made our mark. You’re going to need braided mason line. You’re going to roll it out and you’re going to measure 4 feet. Mark it and cut it. 
Next, you’re going to tie two knots into your mason line at the very ends. It’s a simple overhand knot just once. We’re going to saw a 1 inch slit on each of the ends of the PVC.

Next, we’re going to take our 4-foot mason line and we’re going slide the knot inside the slit that we just cut. You want to make sure that that knot sits on the inside of the PVC pipe.

We’re going to start to form our bow now. To do that, you’re going to have to take one foot and step on the PVC pipe so that you bend it towards yourself. You’re going to slide that second knot inside the PVC pipe. That’s going to give you your bow.

Next, you’re going to need duct tape. You’re going to pull off 4 inches. Rip. And you’re going to fold it in half so none of the sticky part is showing. Just like that. You’re going to set it to the side.

Next, you’re going to pull off a 3-inch piece. Now you’re going to rip this piece in half so that you have two smaller pieces. You’re going to go back to the piece that you folded in half and at the top of the piece you’re going to center the thin 3-inch piece across the top. Just like that, so it makes a T.

Take that piece of tape and wrap it around your bow. Now this is going to create a pocket. This is where the arrow rests. So to do that you’re going to slide that piece of tape up so that it does create a pocket. You’re going to take your second piece of 3-inch tape and you’re going to repeat exactly what you did on the top.

Alright, next you’re going to set your bow to the side. We’re going to go ahead and make our arrow. You’re going to need 2 feet of dowel rod, the thickness of a pencil. You’re going to take an eraser topper. You’re going to place it on the top. And then you’re going to cut a small slit at end of at the end of the dowel rod. That’s going be your knocking point.

Next, we’re going to go back to our bow, we’re going put our arrow inside the pocket, and we’re going to knock our arrow up against the bow string. And you want to make sure that the arrow sits in a straight line inside the pocket.
Now we’re going to pull off a 2-inch piece of tape. And you’re going to separate into thirds, you want small pieces for this.

Go back to your arrow, and underneath the arrow we’re going to wrap one of our 2 inch pieces around and around and around. We’re going to repeat the same thing just on top of the arrow. That’s it, now your bow is ready to go!

In archery, you use the very tips of your pointer finger and middle finger to pull back the bow string. For my athletes with developmental disabilities, their instincts are to pull back with their whole hand on the bow string. This makes releasing the arrow and accuracy very difficult. By having these 2 pieces of tape, it signals to the athletes where to put their 2 fingers.

We can see that the commercially purchased bow works well and puts a lot of force behind the arrow. However, it is expensive. A commercially purchased bow and arrow set can start at one hundred and thirty dollars. Everything you see here, adaptations and all, costs only four dollars to create.

I told you that was going to be easy! In just a few simple steps, we’ve created a piece of equipment that increases independence, and accessibility! With all the benefits this adapted PVC bow brings, it can be built for just four dollars.

Be sure to tag us on social media with your builds. Links to our social media accounts are available in the description. I'd like to thank the U.S. Department of State, especially the Sports Diplomacy Division and the University of Tennessee Center for Sport, Peace, & Society.

We hope this project design serves you and your athletes well! Thanks for watching!