Does your club have a poor club culture? Have you done anything to change that? Or are you assuming that someone else will do it?
In the Range Officer seminar we talk about the characteristics of a good RO: positive attitude, knowledge, objectivity, and leadership. These are what we expect from every certified official at all match levels in USPSA and SCSA.
To all our certified officials out there: Are you contributing to a good club culture by being a leader and sharing your knowledge of the rules and how a match works? Or are you sitting back and assuming that someone else will do it?
Are you stepping up and being the squad leader to make sure the WSB gets read on each stage? Are you enforcing the start position as stated in the WSB? Are you scoring targets properly? Are you applying penalties as outlined in the rules? Are you helping with stage setup or tear down? All of these little things contribute to a good club culture.
From what I have observed, club culture is primarily driven by peer pressure. If the club leadership and seasoned members follow the rules and properly manage stages, then the new folks learn that is the expectation and the norm. If the club leadership and members are very laissez faire about the rules and match management, then that becomes the norm and often when someone (often a newly trained RO) comes in and suggests change, that person gets teased and bullied and eventually stops trying to do things right.
In reality, I have never seen club culture issues fixed by just one person. Maybe one person will help lead the change, but it takes a group of folks to actually make it happen. After all, many hands make light work. Often simple things as being the person who takes the lead on your squad and reads the WSB on each stage or using the correct range commands or using your overlays to score a target starts a trend of doing things right.
And no, NROI can’t wave a magic wand and fix the club culture at your home club. We can offer advice, we can train range officials, but we can’t force a club and it’s members to change. If your club has very few certified ROs, we can come and teach a RO class to help get everyone on the same page as far as the rules and how matches should work. But making sure the change happens needs to be done by the club members who are at every local match.
Don’t wait for someone else to do it.