Pinewood Derby Cut-out Details Below
As packs across the country prepare for their annual Pinewood Derby events, Scout Shops are planning a pretty cool pre-event of their own!
It's CHAMP CAMP! On a fun-packed Saturday in January - Cut-out day has been postponed to Saturday, January 14 due to possibility INCLEMENT WEATHER - the Asheville Scout Shop becomes home to the best racing know-how you can find. So whether you're a first-time builder or a seasoned competitor, you can drop in anytime during regular store hours to:
• Learn the tricks that can shave seconds off your race time
• Discover precision tools that can streamline your build
• Find out your car's exact weight
• Some Scout Shops even have BSA Practice Tracks!
• Ask the questions that make the difference when you get back home
• Shop an awesome selection of Pinewood Derby tools and supplies
Plus, keep in mind, you can drop into the Asheville Scout Shop any time throughout the month of January for a free weight check at any stage of your racer's design!
Asheville Scout Shop
(828) 253-4949
10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. (Saturday Hours)
The Why of the Pinewood Derby: What Scouting Goals Are Accomplished?
In general, the Scouting program tries to avoid events with a single winner or even class winners. The Cub Scout standard is, after all, that a boy should do his best. We do not, for example, tie advancement to whether a Cub Scout beats the other members of his den in a foot race, but rather to whether he betters his previous standards. The primary methods of the Cub Scouting program—including the goal of personal achievement—are based on individual achievement and accomplishment rather than individual victory at the expense of another’s defeat.
The goals of Cub Scouting are not often extended to include competition or competitive sports, though the goals of character development, sportsmanship and fitness, and respectful relationships can easily be seen to give a special perspective on our very competitive world.
While, in some ways the pinewood derby is a special case (principally because it is so much fun), we can use the pinewood derby to further the goals of Cub Scouting. We can broaden the derby’s simple one-winner perspective to a program all participants can feel good about. At the same time, we need to be alert to the possibility of problems that can spoil the boys’ fun and discourage Cub Scouts and parents. Sometimes these problems have actually caused youth to drop out of Cub Scouting.
Given that competitive events like the pinewood derby can raise
emotional levels beyond what is appropriate, what Scouting goals does
the pinewood derby help a Scout achieve?
emotional levels beyond what is appropriate, what Scouting goals does
the pinewood derby help a Scout achieve?
- Sportsmanship and good citizenship is taught by following the derby rules and cheering on friends and den partners as they race against others in the pack.
- Personal achievement comes to any boy who picks up a woodworking tool and shapes raw wood into a sleek design. And, by learning woodworking, he prepares himself to more easily serve in the Boy Scouting's service projects.
- Family understanding is enhanced because building a pinewood derby car puts the boy and his mom, dad, or other adult partner into a close and sometimes intense learning experience over, potentially, many hours.
It is very clear that any boy who can cheer on a friend in a derby race, when his own car has been previously eliminated, must be said to have had his character developed, if not his car-building skills. But finally, and probably most convincingly, participating in the derby is fun. This is especially true if participation is stressed, and personal achievement is very broadly defined and rewarded.
So let’s start to have some fun.
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