Cant...Move...Up...

[THS]

Maybe this is not a real hate.... Anyway

It just kills me that I'm backing up in overall % as a result of the first entered, first dropped USPSA classification system.  

Maybe I was lucky on my firstCM, but I felt like I was shooting slower than I could, and it was a valid score.  Then I run into a string of blown reloads, extra shots, brain fade and the like, and more than half of those CM's just make it into my class, so they're "valid" in the eyes of USPSA.  ARRGGHH. (I shot one with a miss, AND a NS, and it came back at 60% in production????)

Now I've got things working better, and as I shoot more the first one is gone, and it was helping and VALID to my ability.

Worse yet, I shot a special 4 CM event with malfunctions and errors, and if they go by data entry into the computer,( they all have the same date obviously), I will go down, down, down, before I clear those and can get the chance to have a card that is a reflection of my ability.

This system is ripe for sandbaggers, as I'm classed lower than my ability, IMHO, and I'm trying to get better.

Change guns, go to match, shoot well, back up in percentage.  Dont make sense does it....

Tom

PS.  I have not yet asked to re-shoot a cm for score because I blew it.  I have shot a few with 2 guns in the same day, but no "make-ups."  What do you think about re-shoots for a claerly blown stage?

[lynn jones]

THS,

i know what you mean about the silly classifcaion system we have now.  i would have been a master class shooter way before august of this year if the classifcation used your highest 6 scores.  i usually shoot 3 classifiers a month (different clubs).  if you shoot your average more often that a really good one, they eventually replace a great score.  the only way i was abel to move up, was to shoot a special classifer match and have a string of good matches.

i now have to reshoot a blown classifer.

lynn jones

L-843

ps just look at my classifers

[xsrdx]

I used to try to reshoot blown classifiers, but I've come to believe the classification system works as designed. It's not built to recognize your "on my best day" ability -it's built to reflect average performance.

The truth is, a less than optimal classifier is a reflection of ability, since the better you get, the more consistent you become. Taking the bad scores out paints a distorted picture of "true" ability.

If I screw up a classifier, it's for a reason - shooting it over again and doing better won't make it go away. I view the classifiers as a heads-up measure of my ability on any given day, not a system to measure the best performance I'm capable of.

[jhgtyre]

Without fail the classifier is my absolute worst stage at any match I attend.  I also attend only a few sactioned matches because there are so many fun unsanctioned ones to shoot.  The result?  I have a classification that is lower than what I think is my actual skill level.  I don't lose much sleep over it but it is kind of annoying.  

-ld

[Ron Ankeny]

I doubt that there is a person on this board who has spent more time in the last year pondering the classification system than I have. At first, I was anxious to move up as quickly as possible through the system. I wanted bragging rights to Limited Master. Our local clubs are small so I treated the classification system as a huge postal match, and I fell into the trap of believing that I could compare my ability to others on a national level by looking at my per centages.

In recent weeks, I have come full circle and the classification system has a lot less meaning than it did before. I used to shoot a classifier with the intent to "move up" and that resulted in a lot of "blown" classifiers. I no longer think in those terms. Now I shoot the classifier as just another stage that I want to win. It's just part of the match, and I am there to win high overall.

My goals are to improve in my "on demand ability" over time, and to learn how to "manifest" my ability into a winning performance. As I accomplish those goals, I will move up in class, be able to perform on demand to a level that reflects that classification, and develop a winning attitude free of the stress imposed by trying to live up to a title.

(Edited by Ron Ankeny at 4:19 pm on Dec. 19, 2002)

[Flexmoney]

It all comes from TRYING.

[Ron Ankeny]

Flexmoney:

Dude, you gotta do something about that blinking...ah never mind.

[shred]

Well, I might approach Ron's level of pondering the classifier system, and have come up with some items:

a) There is a considerable amount of variability in the HHF's between classifiers-- a level of shooting performance that scores 70% on one may score 80% on another.   Translation: Some classifiers are easier than others.  Some will never get you an M-card.

My classifier % is around 80%, has been for a year and a half.

c) At the three national-level matches I shot this year (Area 4, Area 2 and Race Gun Nats), my match %'s were all between 70 and 80%.

What does that mean?  I dunno.  Maybe all the flaws cancel themselves out.  Anyway, I'm working to get issue 'a' fixed by Sedro, and working on me to fix the other two

(Edited by shred at 8:12 pm on Dec. 19, 2002)