Before you jump my shit, I have shot PRS matches, not many but a few. I am getting a bit too old to shoot them well or often.
Its been a long road for me. Decades ago, our son was a nationally ranked water skier. I participated in tournaments but found my nich in officiating. I’ve seen bad calls made for good kids, that had national implications. Giving a break for a newby may be fine, but a young man who is going for a national championship and his rank matters, well not so much, fine. On top of crappy calls, buddies always give buddies choice positions. (While others get left on the far side of the ski lake, in the sun all day). Does any of this sound familiar?
Always liked to shoot and when time and money made it available, I got into handgun silhouette. It was a great sport, lots of fun and in my day I was pretty good. Good enough that I was recognized far and wide. Not great, but good. I became a match director and did my best to help shooters do good, within the absolute boundaries of the rules. But rules are rules. Without them there is no match, no point. I saw cheating in just about every point. And the central office made every effort to muck things up. Mucked em up to the point that entire clubs left the organization. Talk about ”shooting” yourself.
Interesting though, most shooting was self scored and never once did I see anyone bloat their scores. Coaching is allowed so that was never an issue. It actually cost me a target. In Jackson, Mississippi, I turned a half scale turkey sideways. At 150 meters, looking through a 7X handgun scope it was invisible. I would have scored it a hit. My spotter (My Brenda no less) saw what happened through the much more powerful spotting scope. Half scale turkeys at 150 meters are very small.
The point of all this discourse? Its not just PRS, its pretty much everywhere. So, don’t rain on RO’s or MD’s. They have a plenty hard enough job to do. There are good ones and there are not quite so good ones. However, if they are doing their best, to be fair and accurate, Give them Your Best.
