Match Directors

[p7fl]

Been a shooter in USPSA for 15 years, a CRO for the last 10 and have now been asked to be a Match Director.

I should have paid more attention, but on a club level I've focused on simply running shooters.

Read the rule book, beyond that, from those of you who hold/held this role what is important to focus in on?

TIA

[Nik Habicht]

1. Who will replace you -- recruit an assistant or better yet a co-match director. It will make your job easier, and ensure continuity.

2. Recruit a team -- people who'll will take ownership of a pit, and design and supervise the building of a stage every month. A statsmeister to keep scores. Someone to deal with logistics -- ordering targets, tape, and supplies.

3. Get to know your customer base -- find out what they want out of a match, what they like, and what they don't. Doesn't mean you have to cater to that 100%, but it's important to keep in mind, if you want to grow the attendance. Helping people stretch is a good thing, overwhelming them isn't....

[Jim Norman]

Everything that Nik said. Plus: Lead by example. You don't need to and shouldn't try to do everything. So long as your crews stages are within the rules, say thank you. TEAM. If you don't develop one, you will not last. If you do your job right, you can go on vacation and the match will still happen.

[Seth]

The job, as I see it, is as an organizer more-so than a doer.

The mistake that I made early on was taking on too much. I was doing a big chunk of the construction along with the registration, the announcements, tear down and everything else. What I had to learn was to get a good crew and keep them busy while directing traffic. I still manage online registration, the match announcements, and lead construction, but I don't have a hammer in my hand much. Even worse, I was everywhere on match day trying to be the cruise director.

You need to get help and use it. We setup on Saturday/ Match Sunday. I will show up to setup with the stages and start barking orders to the crew. They'll load the gear and we'll get started on stage construction. It takes chiefs and indians, so be the guy directing where stands go. If you have help, you shouldn't be the guy putting them in place. Someone needs the global vision of each stage. When the stages are on the ground have ALL the crew dry fire them. Find the errors. Ask for feedback.

Then Sunday I have 2 folks meet me at the range and they staple targets. Again, I stand back and let them while I make sure the stages work.

Tear down, in my opinion is EVERYONE'S responsibility. You played with the toys and you're expected to put them away when you're finished. No free rides. If a squad leaves without tearing down, we're not going to process their scores.

I've learned to be better at the job by letting go of control. Its not who hammers the nail, its that the nail gets hammered. If steel fails to fall, don't call me.... grab a wrench and fix it.

[Flexmoney]

The job, as I see it, is as an organizer more-so than a doer.

The mistake that I made early on was taking on too much. I was doing ...

I've learned to be better at the job by letting go of control. Its not who hammers the nail, its that the nail gets hammered. If steel fails to fall, don't call me.... grab a wrench and fix it.

Spot on!

[Wideload]

Good stuff... what about the role as an educator? Teach the new guys how to build good stages and hope to train/recruit your successor.

[Nik Habicht]

The job, as I see it, is as an organizer more-so than a doer.

The mistake that I made early on was taking on too much. I was doing ...

I've learned to be better at the job by letting go of control. Its not who hammers the nail, its that the nail gets hammered. If steel fails to fall, don't call me.... grab a wrench and fix it.

Spot on!

With the exception of failing movers, and relocation of targets, I'm on board too. Locally, we tell squads, that once a mover fails to activate, to send a runner to get one of the match directors -- we want that fixed correctly immediately, so reshoots don't gum the works....

[Graham Smith]

I'm in the same spot as you, a new match director, but I've got a whole lot less experience than you do so it's all kind of overwhelming.

My best advice to date mirrors what Nik and Jim have said - don't try and be a one-man show. I've got the prior two MDs as my assistants and I've just tried to grab the reigns and hold on tight and depend on them to keep me going in the right direction.

We have a match on the third Saturday and I try and get all the stage diagrams together by the middle of the second week of the month. On the Sunday before the match, I go to the range early and go over things with one or two of my "assistants" and then staple targets on the sticks. The Friday before the match, one of the AD's and I go to the range and start getting all the props out onto the ranges and put things roughly where they belong. That's also when we first walk the COF to look for problems and I make any changes to the diagrams needed.

The morning of the match, I've got half a dozen seasoned shooters that show up and start putting up the targets, no-shoots, and making adjustments. The two AD's and I then do a final walk through each stage and "bless" them or tweak them and things get staked down. I've also got two or three regulars who handle the registration - that's a huge load off of me.

There is also the issue of a design philosophy. Ask anyone who has shot at Southern Chester and they will tell you that my predecessor, Rob, is a crafty SOB. He loves setting up stages that are fairly free-form. Where you can stand in one place and see a lot of the targets, but not all of them, and not without some long shots, with some no-shoots in the way (but not blocking). IOW, if you want to shoot it from 'here' you could, but you were going to have to go 'there' to get this other one so... He also likes a certain amount of run and gun. But these kinds of stages are remarkably difficult to design without creating problems with 180's and other stuff that is specific to our range (rocky ground, uneven, etc)

Edited April 29, 2011 by Graham Smith

[remoandiris]

Watch your helpers for burnout. Some of them may have been doing this for years. Do your best to recruit new people to step in so the old timers can step back. The old timers will always be there to help if you ask, but they need time off, too. And always remember to thank the helpers publicly during walk thru.

During teardown, it helps to have people direct where to put "stuff". Returning props to their correct storage place helps for the next match setup and can prevent damage to them.

You also have to make sure your matches are fun. Some stage designers may get too technical or elaborate. If your shooters are older, having to go prone could negatively impact several of your competitors. While you don't want to chase away stage designers, you may have to modify the stage so you don't chase away shooters.

[wgnoyes]

Whatever project management skills you have, you'll use them and then some.

[CHA-LEE]

Assemble a team of fellow shooters that you can count on for driving the different tasks of hosting your match (WSB creation, Stage Setup, Score Keeping, Prop Maintenance, Stage teardown, RO / CRO/ RM duties, etc). Then allow the team members to truly “Own” their tasks and responsibilities. From my experience an effective Match Director empowers their team so they can get the vast majority of the match tasks done and you should only have to deal with the one off issues or challenges that fall outside the normal process. Trying to run the match with a hard line dictator stance will quickly burn you and your team out.

To me the real job of the Match Director happens well before the match day comes. Its up to the MD to ensure that his team is available and if not find others that can take their place/responsibility. You need to review all of the stage WSB’s to ensure that they are legal and more importantly balanced from one berm to the next so that the match flows smoothly and timely for all squads. You also need to ensure that the club has enough consumables (Tape, Targets, Paint, Tools, Batteries, Props, etc) to properly host the match.

I have found that if you have properly managed the process and allocated the tasks to your team well BEFORE the match day comes, the actual match day runs like a well oiled machine.

The biggest tool in improving the quality and effectiveness of your match is team member communication. My match team has a post match discussion via e-mail to go over what we each believe went well or needs improvement. Its important to have this discussion be an “Open Forum” setting where all of your team members feel like they can voice their opinions without feeling like they are putting others down or making it a personal attack situation. I simply list my observations of the match, listing both the good and bad then provide some possible solutions for the bad items but ultimately leave it up to the whole team to decide what the best solution should be.