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 ) 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.