2014 Indiana USPSA Championship "Spaceballs" The Match

[jakemartens]

learned a lot
basically if we doubled everything but the stages and the size of the squads (the squads were too big, the schedule was made for 12 not 15)
more ro's and staff
another RM to cover one side of the range while the other one covered the other side
another mr fix it
marc could have used another stats (but hey within 45 minutes of last shot fired he had all 6100+ scoresheets entered)
2 different food trucks (yes I know....)

Took a lot of notes

"Well Jakey, it's a bit ambitious" -Ken Skeeters

 

[sv40sw45]

My take on the Match!!! Lee Leonard is RAT BASTARD #1 and STILL my HERO!!!!

 

[rvb]

another RM to cover one side of the range while the other one covered the other side
another mr fix it
marc could have used another stats (but hey within 45 minutes of last shot fired he had all 6100+ scoresheets entered)

Those fellas were busy, that's for sure. Many thanks to them.
-rvb

 

[rvb]

I managed to get all 18 stages on vid.... If you didn't go, here is what you missed!
-rvb
[video=youtube_share;khjIFM6T4Ac]http://youtu.be/khjIFM6T4Ac[/video]

 

[Dog1]

learned a lot
basically if we doubled everything but the stages and the size of the squads (the squads were too big, the schedule was made for 12 not 15)
more ro's and staff
another RM to cover one side of the range while the other one covered the other side
another mr fix it
marc could have used another stats (but hey within 45 minutes of last shot fired he had all 6100+ scoresheets entered)
2 different food trucks (yes I know....)

Took a lot of notes

"Well Jakey, it's a bit ambitious" -Ken Skeeters

Well now, I don't know who Mr. Fit It was, but he seemed to be everywhere and "Johnny on the spot" for whatever Staff needed.

 

[Dog1]

My take on the Match!!! Lee Leonard is RAT BASTARD #1 and STILL my HERO!!!!

Ate the lunch did you?

 

[Slawburger]

Thanks to the Sponsors, Jake, Dave, Dan and everyone else involved in planning, organizing, promoting, funding, building stages, setting up, running, officiating, reporting and cleaning up that made this match possible.

I was very disappointed with my personal performance (Ryan Leaf had a better rookie season) but I met some great folks, learned a lot, and had fun.

I resolve to do better next year. When does early registration for 2015 begin?

 

[Dog1]

We got to get you out to more matches and practice.

Did you did have fun though, right?

Ryan Leaf..lol..at least you were not hyped up like he was.

Or in prison....

 

[BillD]

So what's the concensus on why there were so many Mikes and NS's at the match? Just because there were so many stages or targets were more difficult than they looked? Almost all of my 4 Mikes were from pulling off. A-M. My goal was to shoot clean, I had a Mike on my first stage.
Targets did not seem that difficult, although, there was a metric ****ton of them. Some of the speedshoots would have left you with bad options if you didn't hit the paper when it was available.

 

[Grelber]

So what's the concensus on why there were so many Mikes and NS's at the match?

My theory is dust blindness from all the atv traffic.

 

[Dog1]

My theory is dust blindness from all the atv traffic.

Always something.

 

[Dog1]

So what's the concensus on why there were so many Mikes and NS's at the match? Just because there were so many stages or targets were more difficult than they looked? Almost all of my 4 Mikes were from pulling off. A-M. My goal was to shoot clean, I had a Mike on my first stage.
Targets did not seem that difficult, although, there was a metric ****ton of them. Some of the speedshoots would have left you with bad options if you didn't hit the paper when it was available.

People going to faster than they should.

I would like to know why or what stage caused so many DQ's in Limited.

 

[rvb]

People going to faster than they should.

I would like to know why or what stage caused so many DQ's in Limited.

Same reason

 

[Slawburger]

We got to get you out to more matches and practice.

Did you did have fun though, right?

Ryan Leaf..lol..at least you were not hyped up like he was.

Or in prison....

Yep, I definitely need more matches and practice.

Oh I had lots of fun. It was challenging, the people on my squad were nice and gave me a few welcome tips. Did I mention it was 2 days of running around shooting targets? Hard not to have fun.

Right up to the last stage I started each new stage thinking "Ok, fresh start beginning now. This is the stage where I turn it around".

I need to put in some work over the winter, build some muscle memory and get ready for next year. For next year I need to apply some of the things that I have learned and spend more time practicing so I don't have to consciously think about every move. There is so much to remember and think about when you are starting. Watching some of the really good shooters this weekend it was obvious that they weren't thinking about their grip before the draw, how much finger they were putting on the trigger before the shot, how much pressure the support hand was exerting or remembering to grab the mag the right way on a reload. This sport happens very fast and a lot of repetition is required. The good shooters have put in the repetitions to develop the muscle memory and things move slower for them. Honestly, it was worth the entry fee just to see that many good shooters over a prolonged time.

 

[Dog1]

Same reason

I know one guy got DQ'ed on Bay 8 Stage 10. He went to grab his gun off the spool and spun it around to face his squad.

 

[Dog1]

Yep, I definitely need more matches and practice.

Oh I had lots of fun. It was challenging, the people on my squad were nice and gave me a few welcome tips. Did I mention it was 2 days of running around shooting targets? Hard not to have fun.

Right up to the last stage I started each new stage thinking "Ok, fresh start beginning now. This is the stage where I turn it around".

I need to put in some work over the winter, build some muscle memory and get ready for next year. For next year I need to apply some of the things that I have learned and spend more time practicing so I don't have to consciously think about every move. There is so much to remember and think about when you are starting. Watching some of the really good shooters this weekend it was obvious that they weren't thinking about their grip before the draw, how much finger they were putting on the trigger before the shot, how much pressure the support hand was exerting or remembering to grab the mag the right way on a reload. This sport happens very fast and a lot of repetition is required. The good shooters have put in the repetitions to develop the muscle memory and things move slower for them. Honestly, it was worth the entry fee just to see that many good shooters over a prolonged time.

Dave and I will be out there tomorrow, Wednesday and Friday. Dave will be out there on Thursday. We will be shooting some of the stages and tearing them down.

Come out and shoot some and then we will put you to work.

 

[Bosshoss]

My thoughts on the last week.
I live 1 hour and 15 minutes from the range. I drove back and forth 7 days in a row because I like MY bed but looking back on it I probably won't try that again. Drove almost 900 miles back and forth over the week. Spent 8-10 hours on the range helping setup Mon-Wed. not counting the drive. Pulled a muscle in my calf of my leg Tuesday and limped the rest of the day.
Thursday we started shooting and it was wet and raining lightly and it put a damper on the mood(pun intended). Re-injured calf muscle on the first stage and I hobbled through the first 3 field course's before it loosened up and didn't bother me as much. We shot 12 stages the first day after finishing the setup. Finished shooting Friday morning and got ready for the shooters to show up.
It was not as bad Friday afternoon or Saturday morning because we would have 2 squads and then a break.

I worked a cool little stage that had everyone thinking. I bet I heard 50 shooters say they would love to shoot it again, not for score mind you they just wanted to try it again and see if they could shoot it a different way. Several shooters said that they were setting this up at their club at a future match.
Best part of the weekend was seeing friends come through the stage I was working and getting to say hi and talk a little(very little as the stage moved fast). Also got to meet a lot of new people and some interesting ones.
Downrange72 (Mike) and my wife were working the stage with me.
Got to see some incredible shooting and DAMN do some of those limited and open guns look good. True works of art.
Some squads were having fun and shooting their best and some were a little more serious and still having fun and it was my pleasure to work the match and watch them shoot. I even enjoyed the "special" squad. There is usually one at every match. This squad seemed to want to game the rule book and argue about it. One of them must have had tourettes as he would yell comments from the peanut gallery about the things that didn't concern him(he wasn't the shooter).
Another shooter on that squad wasn't happy that I didn't give him that double. I offered to call the RM and have him look at it but that seemed to make him even more upset. Thankfully there were some 3 or 4 shooters on that squad that helped us reset steel and paste targets for them. It did upset me a little that when that squad was done shooting they just left. I really wanted to shake there hands and let them know what an "honor" it was to run a stage for them.
All but a very few shooters appreciated the work that went into setting this match up and running them through it. You have that in any sport.
It was great to watch others enjoying the shoot and getting to shoot it also. Yes I really want to reshoot the stage I worked after watching everyone else shoot it.
The stage I was on ran very smoothly and the match seemed to flow well or at least it seemed that way from the far end of the range where we were at. Lots of positive comments and smiling faces or at least they were before they shot our stage. I liked the stages and really hated to see 1 of them thrown out(one of my better ones to) but they had no option.
A great crew of RO's and the club had a great crew that made this happen.
Jake did a remarkable job putting all this together.
If you don't like Jake I suggest giving him a Polaris RZR (what he drove around on the range all weekend) as he would kill his self in one of them. If this shoot had been 1 more day I don't know if he would have survived

 

[Slawburger]

...
If you don't like Jake I suggest giving him a Polaris RZR (what he drove around on the range all weekend) as he would kill his self in one of them. If this shoot had been 1 more day I don't know if he would have survived

That thing looked like way too much fun.

 

[Dog1]

That thing looked like way too much fun.

It is...Dave and I had some fun in it.

 

[Slawburger]

Dave and I will be out there tomorrow, Wednesday and Friday. Dave will be out there on Thursday. We will be shooting some of the stages and tearing them down.

Come out and shoot some and then we will put you to work.

I can come out tomorrow about 4:45 and provide brute unskilled labor. I excel at that sort of thing.