What would you like to see at a Level III Match?

[j33716]

I want to know what everyone would like or expects to see when attending a level III match such as an Area Championship.

Prizes are one thing but what else makes a big match stand out from the rest. Bring on the suggestions! (and the dislikes)

[joedodge]

The match should feel like a area championship. It should feel big coming from drag racing when you go to a national event it feels big there banners and signs with the match name and sponsors tons of vendors and organization it feels like your at a major event not just the local track on a friday night. A qaulified staff is another huge thing that would be a plus with plenty of communication about the match and sqauding after the sign up process is started.

[Coach]

Stages make or break the match. Good stages and the shooters will be fine with the match.

[joedodge]

Stages do make or break the match but a little flash is always nice makes the trip a little more worth while.

[Chris iliff]

It should feel big. It should look big, new, exciting. I love a big match with new walls, fresh paint, good looking stages. I know I've shot GREAT stages with beat up props, but at an Area I want them looking NEW.

I know these things don't make stages great, but to me they add to the feeling of participating in something important. What's the word.......ambience.

[Chris iliff]

Stages make or break the match. Good stages and the shooters will be fine with the match.

Helps run and setup the biggest State matches on record and never notices how good the stages look!! I was going to say that Indiana State typically has good looking stages, in addition the shooters love them! As our attendance records reflect.

[bbbean]

Outstanding stages testing a wide range of skills, world class staff, great facility, regular communication prior to and during the event, more Ms and GMs than you can shake a stick at, good food, fast results, decent hotel, decent shelter for inclement weather and benches/bleachers so you can sit down ever once in a while.

Basically, I would hope to have a repeat of hte experience I had at Area 5 and the Single Stack Nats this year!

[wide45]

Good stages, good officials, good schedule.

No carnival, no circus, no pomposity, and no shooting in the dark.

[centermass]

As much as I enjoyed my first level III at A5 this year, I was a bit disappointed in lack of moving targets, movement within stages, and lack of grounds keeping forethought. Heavy foot traffic combined with the heavy rains made for muddy slippy sloppy mess. Very little maintenance was achieved with a small amount rock in attempts to rectify, but in some stages the footing was near dangerous and not equal for all competitors depending which day you competed.

[Poppa Bear]

Well planned stages that are a challenge but not so labor intensive that they back up all the squads. If they can be set up so that you arrive + or - 5 minutes of the prior squads finish that makes for a smooth transition between stages.

Stages that cannot be gamed. The shooter has a number of ways to attack the course but all loopholes have been plugged so that the squad of DRL's cannot argue with the RO and CRO.

A well trained match staff who can make decisions for themselves, but know who or when to call for the necessary assistance to keep the stage running smoothly rather than try to do it all themselves.

[Red Ryder]

A random production class give away of many Glocks with Vanek custom triggers, a few XDMs, custom limited and open guns, along with some Infinity and Les Baer singlestacks with some Dillon 650s and Hornady Lock n loads APs thrown in for good measure.... to promote the sport

Edited September 22, 2011 by Red Ryder

[bbbean]

As much as I enjoyed my first level III at A5 this year, I was a bit disappointed in lack of moving targets, movement within stages, and lack of grounds keeping forethought. Heavy foot traffic combined with the heavy rains made for muddy slippy sloppy mess. Very little maintenance was achieved with a small amount rock in attempts to rectify, but in some stages the footing was near dangerous and not equal for all competitors depending which day you competed.

Wow! I didn't feel that way at all. Given the historic rain and flooding the region suffered during April and May, I'm willing to give them a pass on the mud. Short of completely resurfacing the entire range with truckloads of gravel and heavy equipment, I can't imagine they could have done much more.

As for the stages, well, opinions vary. I thought they were pretty outstanding and varied.

BB

[pskys2]

You'll never be able to catch all ground work before a match starts, within financial reason, and the Area 5 crew worked their cans off trying to overcome mother natures crying shame.

I do like a nice "Match Booklet", something that was lacking at Area 5. I have started keeping them, with the info filled in, as both a momento/reminder of the match and future COF references for local matches.

[Hawthorne2k]

What would you like to see at a Level III Match?

Scarlett Johannson, Salma Hayek and Tricia Helfer in skintight spandex.

[twodownzero]

What would I like to see?

Plaque only matches. Big match fees and fancy prizes don't do squat for me. I came to shoot.

[Jim Norman]

Stage Design; Make sure the stages are fun, have no 'holes' and are safe.

Stage Construction; Make sure the stages are built to last. Nothing worse than needed a Mr. Fixit on a stage for nearly every squad. slows the match doan and makes for a lot of grumbling.

Stage Staff; Certified and vetted ROs and CROs also a RM that knows his/her stuff.

Stage Schedule; A proper schedule that allows the match to 'Flow'. Nothing to me is worse than a match with a 35 minute schedule that takes 60 minutes to complete. Backs up everything and makes for bad feelings.

Vendors are nice, but sadly given the cost of doing business and the availability of most of the vendors products on the 'net' we don't see too many vendors anymore. A deep prize table is nice, If the price is right, then a Plaque Only match is fine, if you are going to charge a small fortune to shoot and it is plaques only then the money best go to a really good cause. Supporting the local club is good, but has its limits. If that is to be the case, then we the shooters need to know up front what the benefit to the club will be.

Stage Decoration/Match Decoration; Yes this is nice and no one wants to shoot a big match that looks like it is being shot at the local scrap yard (Unless that is the theme) a bit of paint, Sponsor Banners, signage all go a long way towards making the match feel 'Big' BUT don't let get caught up with putting lipstick on a pig, it is still a pig. If your stages suck and the props fail and the staff needs to be re-trained etc., paint and banner will not save you.

[spanky]

What would I like to see?

Plaque only matches. Big match fees and fancy prizes don't do squat for me. I came to shoot.

I agree.

That said, stages are #1 for me. Period. Prizes are nice but after spending money on gas, hotel, food, not to mention gun, ammo, gear, etc, until I start winning guns I wont make it back and I'm fine with that. I'm out here to shoot better and faster than I did last time.

Also, even prize distribution. If you have 20 guns, distribute them based on percentage of participation per division and not randomly. I hate seeing lots of awesome prizes on open and limited and maybe a handful of decent prizes on the other tables.

If you have 20 guns, 200 participants, divide participants by guns, multiply by participants in a division and put that many guns on that table.

200 shooters and 20 guns is 1 gun per 10 shooters. If you have 20 people in a division then that table gets 2 guns. 50 and that table gets 5, etc. Simple and fair.

Also, prize distribution should be based on class placement and not overall. If I beat everyone in my class but someone in a higher class placed above me but beat no one in his class, why should he go before me? We compete in division and class, not just division. I'm sure most won't share this opinion but c'est la vie.

Edited September 22, 2011 by spanky

[Jim Norman]

Also, prize distribution should be based on class placement and not overall. If I beat everyone in my class but someone in a higher class placed above me but beat no one in his class, why should he go before me? We compete in division and class, not just division. I'm sure most won't share this opinion but c'est la vie.

This is an interesting point of view, One I think I could support. I think that at Nationals the Class Winners get to go early although the rest of the crowd goes order of finish.

At our local club, we have some very large steel matches. You shoot for the Money, all the Prizes are distributed on a double blind raffle. This tends to get a lot of the prizes into the hands of people that can and will actually use them. The top dog wins a new STI, it usually goes on sale before he gets home. This doesn't help grow the sport. Classes and proper recognition do.

[jar]

Also, prize distribution should be based on class placement and not overall. If I beat everyone in my class but someone in a higher class placed above me but beat no one in his class, why should he go before me?

Because he beat you.

Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk

[sperman]

Match Schedule.

There is an Area match that I would love to shoot. Unfortunately they spread the match over 3 days. Because I am on the other side of the country, that means a 5 day commitment, including travel. I don't think my lack of attendance is hurting their turnout, but why not give the shooters an option to shoot the match in 1.5 days? (I would love to see that option at Nationals, also.)

Both of the Area matches that are within driving distance from me can be shot in one day. I prefer that option.

[leewhiskey]

Stages are the make or break for me. Not to technical but require a little thinking. Area 3 this year is a perfect example of stages I like. High round count also. I like long courses, I understand the need for short courses, but if the majority of the courses aren't 20 some rounds or higher, I probably won't be there.

[JFlowers]

Stages and Scheduling are the most important.

Stages should be well presented, with good challenges and options. Stages need to look good. If all the walls within a match can't be the same, all the walls within a stage should be. Nothing is worse than showing other videos from a major match and the stage looks slapped together. The stages should also present a challenge. Not all challenges on one stage, but the stages of a major match should have tested all your skills. And yes that means longs shots like the GA State, even though I grumble as much as the next guy.

Like Perman said, matches should present schedules that are doable. I really liked the GA State 2012 where we had 5 man squads and shot the entire match in 4 hours. I understand that scheduling matches like that means people have to wait on "the banquet", but if you want to go the banquet you have the option of the last shooting period.

[twodownzero]

Also, prize distribution should be based on class placement and not overall. If I beat everyone in my class but someone in a higher class placed above me but beat no one in his class, why should he go before me?

Because he beat you.

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this isn't quite accurate. He didn't "beat" you because he wasn't competing against you.

So long as we're going to have a classification system, we ought to take it seriously.

[JakeMartens]

Big match, 12-16 stages

Stages that are set up to test shooting skills, with lots of options, and lot's of shooting, but with some 8-12 round speed shoots throw in (like 2 or 3 only)

Challenging stages that are fun to shoot, no marathons, no circus stuff, just straight forward shooting challenges.

Personal opinion here, but I think prize tables just aren't worth it. The amount of work and time put into getting stuff and hitting up companies over and over again is played out.

I don't go to matches to win something, I am going to challenge myself against other shooters.

Edited September 22, 2011 by JakeMartens

[twodownzero]

Big match, 12-16 stages

Stages that are set up to test shooting skills, with lots of options, and lot's of shooting, but with some 8-12 round speed shoots throw in (like 2 or 3 only)

Challenging stages that are fun to shoot, no marathons, no circus stuff, just straight forward shooting challenges.

Personal opinion here, but I think prize tables just aren't worth it. The amount of work and time put into getting stuff and hitting up companies over and over again is played out.

I don't go to matches to win something, I am going to challenge myself against other shooters.

Everything this man says about big matches is gospel. I have shot two of them and staffed one, and Jake, I think everyone knows that you put on as good a state match as any area match.