At the SHC this past year, we had people who hit 10% of the targets and the winners were in the 80% zone, give or take a few percentage points ... that is the issue at hand.
I spoke with Vibbert, Pynch, et al of the top guys there and asked their opinion, because of the 10% shooters, (some were guys who had shot more than 5 national matches and used high dollar equipment), so why 10%... bad day? or something else, which we basically agreed it's something else called life. You have guys that take this sport serious and guys that use it as a day away from the family. So the field is mixed, it's a truly open field.
The separator is not equipment or experience, although that would seem like the obvious choices to make, but the separator is the targets.
They want everyone shooting the same thing, okay we get that, they want new people squadded with experience, check, got that, then they want the course of fire to be balanced so they can actually test a shooter's skill level, problem is, we talk about testing equally but we really aren't, we have a NASCAR Racing the Pace Car, and that won't change. You have guys with no experience but a ton of money buying all the best stuff but can't hit shit, and guys with less money hitting more but are handicapped by their means. It's an unequal playing field we want to treat equally. It's not, we have to divide it up.
So we have to look at balancing the target package, however that will change the dynamic in a way 99% won't do, why money, they won't pay for two targets, big and small. We need stages with two targets, a PRO PLATE and Amateur Plate.
This is Sports Entertainment, you are working a sport but also tasked to provide entertainment to the competitors. In order to make it inviting you have to give them results. Results are hits, if you go to a 100 shot match and only hit 10 plates odds are you won't come back. You need to give them 25 plates worth of value.
The message cannot be, step up or step off, cause off is where they will go. So if you want people off the street to attend, you have to create something to entice them. This was never really about growing the sport as much as it is about growing individual bank accounts. The growth of the sport requires a level of effort none of them will commit too, and trust me they have the financial freedom to do it, but they won't because it would require a fundamental change and effort.
This will never be made right, the ones in charge have incentive not to get right, it's pays them better this way, the right way would cut into the bottom line.
