Metal Plates (see Appendix B3) and things that use plates like various stars, racks and so on can be popular with stage designers and shooters alike so why don’t we see more of them in major matches? It’s simple: Range Equipment Failure (REF) and then the shooter gets to reshoot the stage costing the match schedule time maybe worse. A fellow RMI once told me that “The only use for a plate at a major match is to put food on.” He’s likely right.
[Read more…] about Plates: Just for Dinner?Bootcamp? What’s That?
Bootcamp? Well, if you have visions of running five miles with a full size popper on each shoulder or overhead pressing wall sections, …wrong type of bootcamp. A few years ago NROI started field testing a new concept for the Level 2, Chief Range Officer course called a Bootcamp. This was the brain child of Instructor Ray Hirst and it entirely changed the way we do the CRO class now. Years ago, the CRO course was more about stage design, mostly in the classroom or by correspondence, and less about running a stage efficiently. That left us with a problem finding people that actually knew how to run stages at major matches. The Bootcamp format of the class changed all that.
[Read more…] about Bootcamp? What’s That?The RO Seminar isn’t just for ROs
So you have been enjoying the sport for a few weeks, months, or years and you say you have never taken the RO seminar because you don’t want to be an RO. Okay, but do you realize that the RO seminar will quite likely make you a better shooter? Yes, really. If you have been shooting for a while you probably have learned the rules, such as you know them, from fellow shooters and by watching others. But do you really KNOW the rules and are the rules you “know” really the rules? Maybe, maybe not.
[Read more…] about The RO Seminar isn’t just for ROsJoining the Range Master Program
Let’s get this out of the way up front. The Range Master Program is not for everyone. If you just want the title, want the certificate to hang on your wall, and all the wealth and fame associated with being a Range Master; you are in the wrong place. The Range Master Program is intensive; not a “check the boxes and get the title” type situation.
[Read more…] about Joining the Range Master ProgramGetting Selected for Major Match Staff
Working major matches (Level II, Level III and Nationals) can be one of the best things you can do for your RO career. You are guaranteed to get more experience and see more “things” at a Major than you will at your local matches and all this adds up to great experience and helps make you a better RO.
[Read more…] about Getting Selected for Major Match StaffMajors and Form C
Congratulations! Your club has decided to hold a major match and lucky you gets to be the Match Director. That will teach you to miss important meetings…right? In all seriousness, thank you for stepping up. Major matches don’t happen without a lot of good people and one of the first of those to be appointed is the Match Director or “MD”.
[Read more…] about Majors and Form CBut we’ve always done it that way!
In my day job, when I sit down with a customer and talk about business processes one of the first questions I ask after they explain the process to me is “Why do you do it that way?” The answer all too often is “Because we have always done it that way.” And that is my cue to take them on the journey of reimagining that business process. What we often find is that as rules/laws/requirements/whatever have changed over time they have bolted on some other sub-process to maintain compliance instead of reworking the entire process to make sure it was efficient. In one notable case from several years ago, a physical piece of paper was hitting the same two desks in adjacent departments three separate times over the course of a few days instead of just taking care of everything necessary the first time it hit each desk. Needless to say, that got fixed.
[Read more…] about But we’ve always done it that way!Rethinking the Short Course
In these days of matches being driven by round count the poor Short Course is often dismissed from consideration. With only twelve rounds to offer to the overall match round count, why bother? Well, there are a lot of reasons to think about adding in a short course to your match.
[Read more…] about Rethinking the Short Course