Scoring

There are three terms that are key to understanding scoring in HotClays: Events, groups, and rounds. These terms were carefully chosen to match how clay shoots are organized in the real world. An event represents a real-world event — a practice, competition, or tournament. A group is a group of people who participate in the event, commonly called a “squad.” Finally, a round is a single pass through the entire sequence of shots: In trap and skeet disciplines, a round is typically 25 shots. In sporting clays, the length of a round depends on the course layout.

For example, suppose you are in charge of scoring for a 20-person American Trap practice. Each person will shoot 50 targets in a squad of 5 people total. In this example, event, group, and round have the following meanings:

• Event: The practice itself. You might call it “Practice Week 1.”
• Group: There are 4 groups, because we have 20 people total and split them into groups (squads) of 5 people.
• Round: Each group shoots 2 rounds, because each person shoots 50 targets, and there are 25 targets per round in American Trap.

HotClays shines in its ability to organize scores. In the example above, traditional scoring would require 4 sheets of paper with 1000 X’s and O’s written and counted by hand. HotClays eliminates the paper, the writing, and the counting. Scorers just tap hit and miss in the app, and total scores are automatically computed. You can easily view total scores for the event, for each group individually, and for each round. The larger your event, the more useful it is to have scores organized into events, groups, and rounds.

Create a New Event

To create a new event, first navigate to the Home tab. Then tap the ‘+’ button, which is in the top-right corner on iOS and the bottom-right corner on Android. Then tap ‘Create New Event,’ and enter a title and location for your event. You can change the event date by tapping on the date. Tap ‘Next’ to finish creating the new event.

The new event is created when you tap next. However, you typically add at least one round to an event, so HotClays automatically shows the page to start creating a new round. Proceed to the next section for instructions on creating a new round.

Create a New Round

Creating a new round is a very frequent operation. Therefore, to make it fast and easy to start a new round, HotClays lets you start a round from 3 different places in the app:

• From the Home tab (list of Events), tap the ‘+’ button. You will be presented with multiple options for the new round, including ‘Create New Event’ and ‘Add to Existing Event’.
• While viewing an event, tap the ‘+’ button. The new round will be added to the event currently being viewed. By default, the new round will have the same settings as the most recent group and round that was scored.
• While viewing a group, tap the ‘+’ button. By default, the new round will start with the same settings as the group currently being viewed and the last round shot by that group.

Regardless of where you start creating a new round, the next steps are the same.

You will now be presented with a list of people. Tap on a person’s name to select a person and add them to the group. You will see an orange checkmark for each person that is selected. You can use the search bar to find people, the ‘Add Person’ button to add a new person on the fly, and the ‘Clear All’ button at the bottom of the screen to deselect all people. Once you have finished selecting people for the group, tap ‘Next’ in the top-right corner.

The next screen lets you finalize the details of the round before scoring begins. You will see the following sets of details:

• Discipline: The first two rows let you choose the discipline: First, choose between trap, skeet, and sporting clays (including sportrap and 5-stand). Second, choose the variant of the discipline. For example, to score a round of Skeet Doubles, you would tap ‘Skeet’ in the first row, and then tap the second row and select ‘Skeet Doubles.’
• Course (sporting clays only): For sporting clays disciplines that have a variable course layout, you will see a row to set the course. By default, the round will start with a blank course and you can add stations as you go. If you know the course layout ahead of time, tap the ‘Blank’ row, then tap ‘+’ to add a new course. Enter a name for the course, then add stations one-by-one. Make sure to press ‘Save’ after entering each station. Then tap ‘Done’ when finished entering your course layout. You only need to enter a course layout once, and it will be saved for future rounds.
• People: This is the group of people you selected on the previous page. To change the shooting order, you can tap and hold on the lines to the right of each person, then drag to reorder. You can also change the gauge, starting station, and yardage (if applicable) by tapping on a person’s name.

When you have finished verifying the details for the new round, tap ‘Start’ in the top-right corner to start the round. For instructions on how to score the round, proceed to the next section.

Score Round

After creating a new round (or tapping ‘Edit’ on an existing round), you will see a scoring interface with ‘Hit,’ ‘Miss,’ and ‘Undo’ buttons. In most cases you will also see a grid of small squares, each representing a single shot. The cursor, which indicates the currently selected shot, is shown as a border around the shot.

To score the round, you perform a sequence of the following actions:

• To record a shot result, tap ‘Hit’ or ‘Miss.’ The cursor will automatically move to the next shot in a sequence determined by the rules of the discipline.
• To undo the most recently recorded shot result, tap ‘Undo.’ The cursor will automatically return to the shot that was undone.
• To move the cursor manually (i.e. select the next shot to be recorded), tap on a square.
• (Trap only) To record a shot result with target direction, tap and hold the ‘Hit’ or ‘Miss’ button. A list of options will appear. From the list of options, tap on the direction in which the target flew.
• When finished scoring, or if you would like to pause scoring and come back later, tap the ‘Done’ button in the top-right corner.

The round is automatically saved every time you record a shot result. If you are logged in and have internet access, the round is automatically synced when you press ‘Done.’

When scoring a sporting clays discipline with a variable course layout (e.g. English Sporting), the scoring interface contains multiple pages. These pages are arranged side-by-side — one page on screen at a time — and can be categorized into two types of pages:

• Totals Page: The leftmost page, called the totals page, contains a list of total scores for each person. You can reorder the people by tapping and holding on the lines on the right-hand side, then dragging to reorder. The totals page also lists the stations for the course. To add a new station, scroll to the bottom of the totals page and tap ‘New Station.’ Then enter the shot presentations and tap ‘Save.’ To edit or delete a station, tap on the station number and edit or delete the station’s shots.
• Person Page: All pages to the right of the totals page are called person pages. Each page represents the score for a single person. At the top of a person page, you will see the person’s name, and the type of presentation for the selected shot (i.e. the next shot to be recorded, as indicated by the cursor).

When you record shot results, the app will automatically move between the totals and person pages. People are also automatically reordered after each station: The first person is moved to the end of the order. You can manually move between the pages by using the tab bar at the top of the screen, or by swiping horizontally.

To preserve battery life, you may want to lock your device during pauses in shooting. You can safely lock the screen and come back to scoring later. Remember to always press ‘Done’ in the top-right corner when you are finished scoring the round.

Edit Round

To edit the scores in a round, first navigate to the Home tab. Find the event containing the round, and tap the event. Then locate the group of interest, and tap any row within the group. Finally, scroll to the round of interest, and tap any row in the round. On iOS, tap ‘Edit’ in the top-right corner. On Android, tap the dots in the top-right corner, then tap ‘Edit.’ The scoring interface is the same when editing a round as when scoring a round for the first time. For scoring instructions, please see the ‘Score Round’ section above.

Apple Watch

If you have an Apple Watch and are using HotClays on an iPhone, HotClays lets you use your watch to record hits and misses. This feature allows you to keep your iPhone in your pocket during the round. To record scores on your watch, open HotClays on your iPhone and start scoring a round as you normally would (see instructions above). Then open the HotClays app on your Apple Watch. You may now lock your phone and put it in your pocket. On the watch face, you will see the current shooter’s name, the station number, and the shot number. You will also see buttons for undo, miss, and hit. (If you do not see a name and buttons, make sure you have started scoring a round on your iPhone and make sure that a shot is selected). Use the buttons on your watch to score the round. Once the round is over, open your phone to review and save the round.