i went to my first match and was hooked. i went to another match 3 days later and got DQ . put one about a foot in front of me. i swore on the way home i was going to practice dry fire drills till i had mastered it. my first card was a C, two weeks later i got a A and i missed master 3 months later by half a point or so. made it next go around. almost had a gm card, but then i ran out of time and money. i was layed off and going to school 30 hours or so a week, shooting 700 or so rounds on wensday evening and a couple of matches on the weekend. i just picked up watching the shooters around me. you have a lot more options to learn real well from classes and dvds. plus you wount waste near as much money on ammo doing things the wrong way. i wish i could had stuck with it longer but finances just didnt have the room. i had to start working 12 hr days 7 days a week and i just faded away from it. now my kids are grown and i am really trying to see which of my current hobbies i can scale back to fit shooting in.