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Is there any potential for USPSA matches at Ike's (Lincoln)?
OnTheFly:
Let me preface my rant: This is my perception of what is going on at Ike's. I have spoken to a couple of board members, as have friends. So below is what I believe are the hurdles we have to overcome to get USPSA matches at Ike's. I completely understand the concerns of the Ike's board. Allowing any unsafe activities at the range will only harm Ike's and jeopardize the future of the range.
My wishes:
I would love to see USPSA at my local range, but if the Ike's board can not accept the long proven history of safe matches throughout the World and instead want to run a "neutered" match, they will kill most interest in it. After all, why would anyone come to a watered down version of USPSA when they could just go to ENGC for the real deal? At the very least, they will see limited success, but it will pail in comparison to the success that ENGC has seen.
What I perceive to be the attitude towards USPSA reminds me of a few things I have experienced.
Analogy #1:
When I first bought into a skydiving center as an instructor, we were using "high performance" round parachutes (PCs...if that means anything to you). We had a business meeting and someone brought up the concept of throwing the students out of the airplane under square (ram air or flying wing) parachutes. The oldest, most experienced jumper of our group said "Students will NEVER jump squares! They are too dangerous.". Within a couple of years, ALL of our students' first jumps were on squares.
Analogy #2:
Years ago, when snowboarding was just becoming popular, many ski resorts banned snowboarding because of the perceived negative connotations. They were radical, dangerous, unruly, etc. The ski resorts soon realized that snowboarding was not a fad that was going to go away and decided they needed to accept them IF they wanted to continue to thrive.
Point being, the board has a set of rules which has kept the range relatively safe for years, and understandably they want to keep it that way. This includes keeping a round from going over the top of the backstops and hitting a nearby residence. Action shooting is looked upon as a fad, unnecessary, radical, or possibly just plain dangerous. The exception would be one of the Ike's board members, our very own bkoenig, who is doing what he can to sway the attitude of the board.
A friend has been a member at Ike's for many years. He explained the history to me. At times, there may be a majority of X shooters on the board. Where X = Trap, bench rest, etc. (Could you guess I was a math major?). Even though that shooting discipline did not bring in a majority of the revenue, a majority of the revenue would be spent on that particular shooting discipline. So, I'm guessing most of the board members are unfamiliar with action shooting and therefore skeptical about it. However, a couple of board members at Ike's have told me that the board would like to build new pistol bays and need someone to help generate revenue to justify their expense.
Another local shooter who is into 3-gun has offered to run a demonstration match (just a couple selected shooters and maybe board members) so that they can see all the layers of safety that come from the well established rules. However, I believe they declined due to the moving and shooting concern.
So this is where we stand:
Myself and a friend would consider running USPSA matches at Ike's. IDPA Nebraska is going to start matches in the spring, and another shooter has offered to start 3-gun. But my friend and I are not willing to do it if the matches are unreasonably restricted to the point where they are not true USPSA matches. Hopefully, the Ike's board will see that, while action shooting will not be (and shouldn't be) Ike's only focus, it is a growing, thriving shooting sport and a potential healthy revenue stream for the range.
A young man can dream, can't he?
Fly
NE Bull:
I here your concerns, Fly. I have heard the same about getting SASS into the Ikes (and similar ranges) Once a month a bunch of "Cowboys and Outlaws" (who in real life come from all walks) would descend upon the range and shoot low speed cartridges at steel targets. I have heard Steel is a four letter word there.
Don't get me wrong- it's a nice enough range, but I think alot of improvements could be afforded if they rode the wave of these "Fads". The shoot I went to in Texas was literally in the ranch owner's back yard, and was TOP NOTCH and was funded entirely by himself and the local "posse" including income from entrance fees.
OnTheFly:
The way I see it, the Ike's needs four things to make these (SASS, USPSA, 3-gun, etc.) happen.
1) Additional bays so that the other ranges don't have to be shut down. As I said, the board already has this plan, they just need some reason to do it.
2) Allocate the money for equipment (steel, target stands, etc.) that will be needed for these matches.
3) Someone to step up and be the organizer for each particular shooting discipline.
4) Some progressive (in the good way ;D) thinking.
Fly
bkoenig:
Ok, as a board member at the Ike's here is my .02. Please realize I am speaking for myself and not the board as a whole.
We're moving in that direction, but for better or for worse, things move slowly here. I am fully in favor of having action shooting matches and have been advocating for them, and I believe a majority of the board supports it as well.
As Fly mentioned, there are a few things that need to fall into place:
1) Additional bays so that the other ranges don't have to be shut down.
We're looking into this. Right now, we're at a point where we really need more bays if we're going to have more matches. We don't want to shut down the existing ranges and make them unavailable to our dues paying members - they pay good money to use them, and we're already shutting them down pretty often for events. The problem is, we need to be able to justify the cost. If we have enough interest and can show that we will have enough shooters participating we can justify it. In addition, we have some other major projects that need to get done to address potential safety issues, such as putting overhead baffles on all of the existing ranges to prevent an errant round from being launched over the berm towards the housing developments to the east. In the past the NRA has been extremely generous in awarding us grants to improve our range. We need to support them through the Friends of NRA banquets to ensure that assistance continues.
2) Allocate the money for equipment (steel, target stands, etc.) that will be needed for these matches.
Just like #1, this is a cost/benefit issue. I believe we can justify it, but regardless it's a big outlay of cash.
3) Someone to step up and be the organizer for each particular shooting discipline.
This is the chicken or the egg problem. We've been thinking about developing additional berms if we can show the need for them, but to do that we need to have people willing to run the matches. At the same time, people don't want to run the matches without a commitment of adequate support from the club. I think we're past this hurdle, as I've talked to people who are willing to run both IDPA and USPSA matches. Now, I will say that we'll probably have to start small, and right away we probably won't be hosting matches on the order of what ENPS runs. But, if the club and the match directors will work together to grow these activities, with the understanding that it's an ongoing process, I think we will get there.
4) Some progressive (in the good way ;D) thinking.
We're getting there. As I said, things move slowly here. This is something we've been working towards for years, so it's not going to happen overnight.
So.........
The question is, how do we (all of us who want to advance the sport(s) of action shooting) move forward with this?
Let the board know your opinion.
Typically, at our board meetings we have maybe 1 or 2 people show up who aren't on the board. At our annual meeting we have maybe 30-40 people show up, out of 1200 or so active members. I know the vast majority of our members want to just show up to the range, shoot a little, and go home, but we need actively involved members if we want to move forward. That means attending board meetings and letting the board members know where you stand. We hold office at the members' pleasure, and our duty is to run the club as our members see fit.
Also, we need people to get involved with projects. Most projects around the club are done by just a handful of volunteers. Believe me, if you help out around the club your opinion will carry a LOT more weight. We'll need people who are willing to put in some sweat to make sure these things get done. Just beware, if you volunteer you might get Shanghaied into running for the board. Ask me how I know.
I hope I don't come off as negative here, because I really believe we will get there. We just need a little help from the Lincoln shooting community to push it along.
Man, that was a lot of writing. I feel like JTH. ;D
JTH:
--- Quote from: bkoenig on November 18, 2013, 09:28:24 PM ---Man, that was a lot of writing. I feel like JTH. ;D
--- End quote ---
HEY!
:o
I'll note: ENGC didn't start out big, either. The USPSA club there had only a few dedicated shooters for years. It has only been recently that we've gotten bigger. Prior to 2005, they only ran two stages for a match. In 2005, they started having three. In 2006, they ran four stages. Now we are up to five stages for a match. (I'd like to run six stages, but our numbers aren't quite big enough yet to support that. In a couple of years, though...) Similar things have happened for Multigun and Steel Challenge.
In 2006 we averaged about 30 shooters per match (for USPSA). Now we are up to 50 shooters per match. Steel Challenge has gone from 15 in 2006 to an average of almost 60 shooters per match. (And we've had a couple of matches with over 70 shooters.)
In other words---if action pistol matches can get started at a range, shooters will show up. If that club gets the word out that matches are available, and follows the official rules for the match (no cases of "well, at our club we do it THIS way" because that really turns away non-local shooters)---then it'll grow.
Looking forward to seeing it at Ike's!
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