Match Directors

Local matches are the first step in the USPSA shooting experience.  New competitors arrive knowing only what they may have seen online or what a friend has told them. They bring whatever firearm they might have and enter the match with some trepidation, hoping to learn as they go.  Wonderful!  But what about the match staff?  How do they prepare or deal with these new competitors?

When I got into the sport almost twenty years ago, match books were printed paper documents you received when you checked in at a Major match. Some majors might have a website with some stage diagrams but this was, at first, the exception. It was the rare local club that did a formal match book for local matches. With the integration of the Internet into daily life, match books became more electronic in nature; although printed match books still ruled the day for almost another decade. Nowadays, it is rare to find a printed match book being handed out. Instead, electronic match books rule the roost. Match books do serve a purpose and are an important part of Major matches. Let’s look at some dos and don’ts for these important documents.

USPSA uses an online Form C for major matches. Any Level II or higher match needs to have a Form C submitted and submit the stage designs for approval. Level II matches need the stages approved one month before the match and Level III matches need stage approval two months before the match.

Our rules basically state that they don’t exist; yet, matches wouldn’t go very far without them. People complain about their cost, after all, you buy nice ones that are mostly straight, mostly dimensioned appropriately, we seem to never have quite enough of them to start with and then people cut them up and shoot them to pieces. Alas, they are the unsung heroes of our sport; I give you, the lowly target stick.