Ringer Percent

Each youth participant in your league will obtain a “ringer percent.”  This is a measure of their level of skill at scoring ringers.  Over time, this percent will change as kids improve at making ringers.

A Ringer % is determined by dividing the total number of ringers by the total number of shoes pitched.  This is done for each game, and again for all games pitched in a tournament.  Generally, a horseshoe pitcher’s ringer percent will vary between games with some higher and some lower.  The total ringer percent for all shoes and ringers pitched at a tournament represents a truer picture of skill level than does a single game.

A Ringer Percent Average is developed by using several individual tournament ringer percentages.  The NHPA method uses the highest 3 tournaments in the last 12 months or 10 tournaments, if more than 10 are pitched in a year.  If your league is participating as a sanctioned league with the NHPA, the NHPA will keep track of the ringer percentage of your youth participants, based on the date you report to them in a database called NatStats.  As the coach, you should keep track of each game pitched.  This will help you have a full picture of the skills of your participants as well as their rate of improvement.

Common multipliers used to determine ringer percent.

  • 20 shoe game: Ringers x 5 = Ringer %  (2 ringers represents 10%)
  • 40 Shoe game: Ringers x 2.5 = Ringer %  (4 ringers represents 10%)
  • 50 shoe game: Ringers x 2 = Ringer %  (5 ringers represents 10%)