putting on a good match, The RO's

[bigbrowndog]

Moving through staff we come to ROs, with them we have the GOOD, the BAD, and the TEACHABLE.

ROs can sustain a match or help bury it. Every year I get requests for RO help for the High Plains

Shotgun Challenge, and every year I have to refuse help simply on the grounds that I dont know the

RO personally or know of anyone that can vouch for their personality or demeanor. These two traits

Are very important to a good RO, and in my opinion they are as important as knowing the rules.

A good RO is there to help the competitor safely and correctly navigate their way through a COF,

this may not be what IROA says but it is what I think is necessary for a good RO. They should not coach

on how to shoot the COF, simply read the stage brief and answer any questions, but do not give

elaborate answers, it is the competitors responsibility to know the rules as well. An RO should remind

competitors of certain peculiar aspects of a stage, such as empty chamber starts means only this many

rounds in your gun this type information should be included in the stage brief to ensure that all

squads receive the same information, it may sound silly for the open shooters to hear, but everyone

should get the same information. As a MD, if I am unsure of an ROs ability or experience I will give

them an easy stage to run, one that should not require any opinionated calls for STOP. I firmly believe

one of the most frequent and hardest calls for a MD to address is an opinionated STOP of a shooter

by an RO. As an RO, it is this type of call that you should really think back on and reassess from all

viewpoints and know without any doubt that the call you made is correct. Any RO that boasts about

the number of shooters they have sent home, will have no place on my range, and if I can I will send

them home immediately. The RO needs to be very much like the MD/RM, they must be able to admit

when they may be mistaken or have made the wrong call, as a MD, I would much rather have my RO

admit a possible error, than have a competitor go away with a DQ for an opinionated call that was

questionable. The RO should also be able to look at the stage they will run as a gamer, if there is

something you do not understand in the course description then ask the MD/RM, do not interpret what

you think they meant. On the subject of gaming a stage, if someone asks youwhat cant we do or

something to that affect, ask them what do they have in mind and if need be summon the MD/RM.

One of the worst replies an RO can give to a competitor regarding a shooters plan is No, because no

one else has shot it that way. Well get more into this when we discuss stages. A MD needs to consider

the RO that they are assigning to run the stage, are they going to be able to keep up with all the

competitors all day long, will they need help calling long range rifle targets, do they possess any special

talents that will allow them to work a particular stage better than someone else. Lastly an RO needs to

allow a competitor the privilege of requesting a different RO to run them through the stage, for

whatever reason, and if it happens perhaps question themselves as to why it happened.

part 3 Practical stage design, to follow.....................thanks

Edited June 2, 2010 by bigbrowndog