The match at Silver Creek Saturday had some drama and lead to some discussion on stage difficulty at the local matches.
First off let me say that I AM NOT complaining about the stages at monthly matches.
Some background for those that don't know me.
I will be 60 years old in a couple of months and while I love shooting I love eating more so I'm not a little guy. I shoot revolver because I enjoy the challenge and tell you this because I look at the stages differently because of the limited capacity of my gun. I have been a match director before setting up and troubleshooting stages. I also do the new shooters meeting at a couple of the clubs I shoot at.
Ok at Silver Creeks match they had a experienced shooter volunteer to set up a couple of stages at the match. Thanks for stepping up Mike. This is not directed at Mike in particular but just the conversation several of us had including Mike.
He set up the stages and said he wanted more challenging stages, and he wanted to shoot stages that mimicked what he shot at several different major matches this year. He wanted to challenge his skill set. I have no problem with that.
Every Match director has a "style" and I can usually tell what division the stage designer shoots by walking the stage.
One of Mikes stages had lots of movement and several ways to shoot it with some interesting options one of which is was a drop turner that was available from 2 different spots if you could move fast enough. Mike said is was no problem getting to the spot the drop turner presented it's self in time to shoot it. Mike is a 30? year old master class shooter that moves fast(much respect) and he also got to spend the day before rehearsing it to make sure it was doable. This is one of the perks of setting up. Everyone else had a few minutes to make the call and most that I seen went with the safe option.( I love stages with options)
I personally thought this stage was fun and not really that difficult it did have 20 yard mini poppers and 25 yard open paper but a neat stage with some interesting twists. My only real complaint with this stage was that as a stage designer keep in mind that a shooter only has to run the stage once but the RO's have to run it several times. It was our last stage of 8 and everyone was tired and there was a lot of running here. Remember some of us RO's are not able to do this anymore especially during hot weather.
Mikes other stage was a standard exercise and a tough one. 56 shooters and 14 zeroed the stage and only 9 shot it with no penalties. IMO this stage should have had the distances shorter than they were or more target available. Doing this would have made the stage a little easier and the same people would have finished at the top as they would have just done it faster. Yes everyone had to shoot the same stage and it was the same for everyone. I personally didn't hear anything much positive about this stage. Those that think I'm whining about this stage I'm one of those that shot it clean.
This isn't about Mike as he stepped up and was trying and all of us shoot stages that we don't like. He said he shot area 8 and they had great stages and he wanted that challenge locally.
This is where my reason for this post comes in. I would guess that 90% of the shooters at a local match don't shoot major matches and then if they do it is usually because it is local. Many of them are not even USPSA members. Those people don't give a crap how area 8 does it they just want to shoot a match and have fun. Some will get involved want to get better and want to be tested with stages. I believe we have great stages here in Indiana and Kentucky and some of the best match directors around.
As a former match director and a person that does the new shooters meeting and a RO I have to say while it is great to test the better shooters we also have to remember the lower classed shooters. I have seen it many times over the years where shooter get discouraged(or their ego takes a hit) and instead of taking the challenge of getting better they just quit.
Remember most of the shooters doing this are B and C class and while we don't have to dumb down the stages we don't want to discourage them to please a few.
I encourage shooters to help set up stages and even design stages as it will make you a better shooter. Keep in mind that if you do design a stage someone will have a issue with it. Mike was getting discouraged a little because everyone was complaining about the field course before the match and the fact it needed a little tweaking before the match as others saw thing they missed during setup. This is normal. After the match he said that he had several compliments on the stage.
To me that makes it a success a few complaints and a few compliments make that a winner. Good job Mike.
I personally like the hard stages I don't care if they have hardcover and no shoots on every target I don't care if we have turtle targets, strong hand or weak hand, long shots, whatever. I do have problems with low ports and prone shooting. That is just me as one of these days I might not be able to get back up. Prone is more a equipment thing as my moonclip holder is in the way and I don't plan on tearing up equipment to shoot a stage at a local match.
So do we need to have some stages to test the best or just do what has been working for the clubs?
I always remember something that one of the greatest shooters of all time said like 25 years ago when asked about staying focused on easy stages. He said there are no easy stages if you shoot a easy stage you wasn't going fast enough!
Remember this is supposed to be fun and designing stages can be just as rewarding as shooting them. Even if you are a new or newer shooter or seasoned shooter and want to try designing and setting up a stage step up and say something.
The match directors would appreciate the help. If you are around Silver Creek or South Central and want to design and set up a stage give me a shout and I will help you set it up and debug the stage.
Thanks to all the match directors and support people making it possible for us all to have a place to shoot.
Once again Thanks Mike for stepping up and setting up a couple stages.
First off let me say that I AM NOT complaining about the stages at monthly matches.
Some background for those that don't know me.
I will be 60 years old in a couple of months and while I love shooting I love eating more so I'm not a little guy. I shoot revolver because I enjoy the challenge and tell you this because I look at the stages differently because of the limited capacity of my gun. I have been a match director before setting up and troubleshooting stages. I also do the new shooters meeting at a couple of the clubs I shoot at.
Ok at Silver Creeks match they had a experienced shooter volunteer to set up a couple of stages at the match. Thanks for stepping up Mike. This is not directed at Mike in particular but just the conversation several of us had including Mike.
He set up the stages and said he wanted more challenging stages, and he wanted to shoot stages that mimicked what he shot at several different major matches this year. He wanted to challenge his skill set. I have no problem with that.
Every Match director has a "style" and I can usually tell what division the stage designer shoots by walking the stage.
One of Mikes stages had lots of movement and several ways to shoot it with some interesting options one of which is was a drop turner that was available from 2 different spots if you could move fast enough. Mike said is was no problem getting to the spot the drop turner presented it's self in time to shoot it. Mike is a 30? year old master class shooter that moves fast(much respect) and he also got to spend the day before rehearsing it to make sure it was doable. This is one of the perks of setting up. Everyone else had a few minutes to make the call and most that I seen went with the safe option.( I love stages with options)
I personally thought this stage was fun and not really that difficult it did have 20 yard mini poppers and 25 yard open paper but a neat stage with some interesting twists. My only real complaint with this stage was that as a stage designer keep in mind that a shooter only has to run the stage once but the RO's have to run it several times. It was our last stage of 8 and everyone was tired and there was a lot of running here. Remember some of us RO's are not able to do this anymore especially during hot weather.
Mikes other stage was a standard exercise and a tough one. 56 shooters and 14 zeroed the stage and only 9 shot it with no penalties. IMO this stage should have had the distances shorter than they were or more target available. Doing this would have made the stage a little easier and the same people would have finished at the top as they would have just done it faster. Yes everyone had to shoot the same stage and it was the same for everyone. I personally didn't hear anything much positive about this stage. Those that think I'm whining about this stage I'm one of those that shot it clean.
This isn't about Mike as he stepped up and was trying and all of us shoot stages that we don't like. He said he shot area 8 and they had great stages and he wanted that challenge locally.
This is where my reason for this post comes in. I would guess that 90% of the shooters at a local match don't shoot major matches and then if they do it is usually because it is local. Many of them are not even USPSA members. Those people don't give a crap how area 8 does it they just want to shoot a match and have fun. Some will get involved want to get better and want to be tested with stages. I believe we have great stages here in Indiana and Kentucky and some of the best match directors around.
As a former match director and a person that does the new shooters meeting and a RO I have to say while it is great to test the better shooters we also have to remember the lower classed shooters. I have seen it many times over the years where shooter get discouraged(or their ego takes a hit) and instead of taking the challenge of getting better they just quit.
Remember most of the shooters doing this are B and C class and while we don't have to dumb down the stages we don't want to discourage them to please a few.
I encourage shooters to help set up stages and even design stages as it will make you a better shooter. Keep in mind that if you do design a stage someone will have a issue with it. Mike was getting discouraged a little because everyone was complaining about the field course before the match and the fact it needed a little tweaking before the match as others saw thing they missed during setup. This is normal. After the match he said that he had several compliments on the stage.
To me that makes it a success a few complaints and a few compliments make that a winner. Good job Mike.
I personally like the hard stages I don't care if they have hardcover and no shoots on every target I don't care if we have turtle targets, strong hand or weak hand, long shots, whatever. I do have problems with low ports and prone shooting. That is just me as one of these days I might not be able to get back up. Prone is more a equipment thing as my moonclip holder is in the way and I don't plan on tearing up equipment to shoot a stage at a local match.
So do we need to have some stages to test the best or just do what has been working for the clubs?
I always remember something that one of the greatest shooters of all time said like 25 years ago when asked about staying focused on easy stages. He said there are no easy stages if you shoot a easy stage you wasn't going fast enough!
Remember this is supposed to be fun and designing stages can be just as rewarding as shooting them. Even if you are a new or newer shooter or seasoned shooter and want to try designing and setting up a stage step up and say something.
The match directors would appreciate the help. If you are around Silver Creek or South Central and want to design and set up a stage give me a shout and I will help you set it up and debug the stage.
Thanks to all the match directors and support people making it possible for us all to have a place to shoot.
Once again Thanks Mike for stepping up and setting up a couple stages.