I recently worked the USPSA Area 1 Championship in Winnemucca, Nevada, and made some observations about working the match as a follow up to my instructor colleague Kevin Imel’s blog post about major match preparation. This blog article is something of an after-action report of things that I noticed and wanted to share with people as we get into the heat of summer and major match season.
The Winnemucca Dust Devils and the Giordano family did a terrific job putting on the event. More than 430 competitors attended the match, which consisted of 14 fun and challenging stages. I worked as a range officer in a bay with two small stages and got to see some very impressive runs on our stages. The crew that I worked with was great to work with and ran the stages very efficiently.
Most of the information discussed below is taught in the Level 1 Range Officer or Level 2 Chief Range Officer seminars but a quick refresher doesn’t hurt. I am nearly 15 years removed from my RO class, and I suspect that many of you are in a similar situation.
First, stick to the proper range commands! It is very important that we, as range officials, use the range commands as written in Section 8.3 of the rulebook. Don’t skip steps, and don’t sprinkle in other talk while you are running a shooter. I have heard a lot of colorful variations of the commands, and some staff are using older commands or commands from other shooting disciplines. While working a major USPSA match, we owe it to the competitors, to other staff, and to the match organizers to use the proper range commands. If you are planning to work a major match, take a minute to review the commands as written in the rulebook.
RO positioning is very important. We teach in the seminar that the RO holding the timer should be on the shooter’s strong side and that he should focus his attention on the firearm. The tablet RO is on the shooter’s opposite side and any other stage ROs are in a location where they can watch things like foot faults and target engagements. Having both the timer and tablet RO stationed on the same side of the shooter does not give us the best view of the shooter as he navigates the stage, especially if there are only two ROs on a small stage. If you are working as the tablet RO and you see the timer RO take up a position on the shooter’s weak side, just move over to the shooter’s strong side so that you are each seeing a different view of the shooter. Any other ROs can be in locations best suited to seeing different things and can position themselves to ensure that targets don’t get pre-pasted during scoring.
Score the targets the same way, after every shooter, regardless of where he finished on the stage. As the stage CRO, communicate this information to the squad as part of your admin notes and be sure to note that the competitor needs to assign a delegate if you are split scoring. Keep the admin notes brief and concise; the shooters typically want to know the round count and start position and are anxious to start their walkthrough and their attention may wander.
When changing targets, leave the base target in place but remove the top target when hanging a new one. Make sure that the target you are hanging is of the same type as the one you just removed. Check, and check again – hanging a left-side hard cover target where a right-side target has been guarantees that you will be putting in extra time with squad reshoots so that the stage doesn’t get tossed. Pull the staples when you pull the targets; it is dang near impossible to hang a new target neatly when you are fighting three target changes worth of old staples. If your stage has targets directly in contact with one another, such as a no-shoot on top of a scoring target, put a staple in the upper part of the top target so that it does not start to distort from heat or moisture. It may be necessary to bend the legs of the staples on the back side of the target since there is not a stick for that staple to go into.
Maintain the shooting area. If you are on a range with loose dirt or gravel, it will quickly become apparent where shooters enter or leave a position. Holes get dug where competitors enter a position, and the dirt or gravel can get piled up against the fault line both inside and outside of the shooting area. Rule 2.2.1.1 recommends that fault lines are at least 1.5 inches above the ground surface; the reason for this is so that the shooter has both a visual and tactile sense of the edge of the shooting area. If the range surface gets pushed up against the fault line, it makes it more difficult for the competitor to feel that edge. Similarly, dirt or gravel piled up against the fault line on the outside of the shooting area makes it more difficult to properly assess foot faults. Each competitor should have the same opportunity at the course of fire, and part of that is our job in maintaining the shooting area. Not all stages are equipped with a rake or shovel to maintain the area, but an old target stick can be used as an expedient to clear dirt away from the fault line. If you notice a hole developing inside a shooting area, keep it filled with dirt or gravel. This not only makes for a safer range surface for the competitor, but it will also help eliminate any low spots that may collect rainwater. Check and freshen up the shooting area between squads; some stages may need it more often.
Along the same lines, take a minute or two during the squad’s walkthrough period and at the end of the day to police your stage for trash. Water bottles and paster tails accumulate through the day; we not only want to keep the stage looking good for each squad, but we also want to prevent that trash from blowing away and ending up on the neighbor’s land.
If you are the CRO on a stage, know how and where to get supplies for your stage. Will match staff restock and bring your stage bucket to you, or do you need to refill and grab your bucket each morning? Yes, there is a quartermaster, but he has a lot of things to do and it is the CRO’s job to make sure his stage is adequately stocked for a day.
Electronic scoring has made entering and maintaining scoresheets much easier than the carbon-copy paper method. I won’t say that electronic scoring is foolproof, and we as range officials still need to be diligent about entering scores. Remember that when we touch “Review” we are affirming that the score we entered is correct, and when the competitor touches “Approve” that is his confirmation. This has taken the place of the old paper signatures, but it is important that we stick to the approval procedure outlined in Rule 9.7.1. Once the competitor has approved his score, it can only be changed in certain circumstances and so it is important that the competitor – and only the competitor – approves his score. As range officials, when we present the scoring device to the competitor for his approval, it is a good idea to summarize his score for him. Competitors tend to focus on time or hit factor and may not notice that they had a miss or a no-shoot until later when looking at scores. So, take a few seconds and summarize his score even if it is as simple as noting his non-alpha hits and his time along with any penalties.
Last, remember that we as range officials are at the match for the same reason as the competitors – because it is fun! USPSA is made up of a great group of people, and I enjoy visiting with the shooters as they come through whatever stage I am working. We are representing USPSA and NROI and we should always strive to be polite and friendly.