USPSA Membership Report

[jdphotoguy]

I see the changes outlined in the Members Report to be positive steps in the right direction.

[mactiger]

"Ending the Classifier Limit

One major administrative change for 2014 is the elimination of the 12 per year limit on USPSA classifier

score submissions. The development of the new activity credit system means there is no longer a need

for this restriction and clubs may now submit as many classifiers as they like. This also means the

restriction of one classifier per match without a special classifier is also removed. We hope this gives

clubs more flexibility in their match design and helps clubs get new shooters classified faster."

I would really like to know when this is going to take effect. The new rule book still shows the old rule on this.

It's called an "Executive Order." No need to bother the BOD with a rule change.

Actually, this was voted on at the board meeting as part of the technology update topic. Since it's not a rule (even though it's in the rule book, it's not and never has been a rule--it's a policy printed there for informational purposes), this policy change does not require board approval. It has been approved, however.

[Airic]

"Ending the Classifier Limit

One major administrative change for 2014 is the elimination of the 12 per year limit on USPSA classifier

score submissions. The development of the new activity credit system means there is no longer a need

for this restriction and clubs may now submit as many classifiers as they like. This also means the

restriction of one classifier per match without a special classifier is also removed. We hope this gives

clubs more flexibility in their match design and helps clubs get new shooters classified faster."

I would really like to know when this is going to take effect. The new rule book still shows the old rule on this.

It's called an "Executive Order." No need to bother the BOD with a rule change.

Actually, this was voted on at the board meeting as part of the technology update topic. Since it's not a rule (even though it's in the rule book, it's not and never has been a rule--it's a policy printed there for informational purposes), this policy change does not require board approval. It has been approved, however.

So I can run multiple classifiers in my club match this weekend and submit them?

[shootingchef]

I appreciate reading this announcement,great positive steps moving forward!

[mactiger]

I'm not sure about running multiples; that may fall under the "special classifier match" portion of the policy, but you could run one Saturday and one Sunday each weekend, for sure. I can confirm the other if you give me a day or two.

Troy

[RadarTech]

honestly, running a classifier match or two classifiers under the special match rules is NOT hard at all.. Contact your SC, he/she notifies USPSA HQ. and then do it..

Barring the lack of snow melt occurence we are doing a classifier match Sat... no big deal......

[ZackJones]

Huh.... That kind of information I would think they would want to tell everyone.

Guess they only want actual USPSA members to see the info and not just someone that happens to load the web page.

[ZackJones]

Little annoyed that I got a SCSA Life membership (and paid for it, to try to support SCSA in my local area and overall) in addition to my USPSA life membership, and now find that if I'd waited one year, I could have simply gotten it for free.

Kim's email address is in the post. Send an email with your concerns. You never know what you'll find out.

[JakeMartens]

Huh.... That kind of information I would think they would want to tell everyone.

Guess they only want actual USPSA members to see the info and not just someone that happens to load the web page.

It is being pushed thru their social media sites, it was just completed late last night and will be in Front Sight

[RadarTech]

Little annoyed that I got a SCSA Life membership (and paid for it, to try to support SCSA in my local area and overall) in addition to my USPSA life membership, and now find that if I'd waited one year, I could have simply gotten it for free.

Kim's email address is in the post. Send an email with your concerns. You never know what you'll find out.

she is responsive too.. I sent an email about something else today and got a reply fairly quickly..

[Airic]

I'm not sure about running multiples; that may fall under the "special classifier match" portion of the policy, but you could run one Saturday and one Sunday each weekend, for sure. I can confirm the other if you give me a day or two.

Troy

I await your answerbut I thought that was the intent of the portion in the report that stated "This also means the

restriction of one classifier per match without a special classifier is also removed. We hope this gives

clubs more flexibility in their match design and helps clubs get new shooters classified faster."

honestly, running a classifier match or two classifiers under the special match rules is NOT hard at all.. Contact your SC, he/she notifies USPSA HQ. and then do it..

Barring the lack of snow melt occurence we are doing a classifier match Sat... no big deal......

I run a classifier match every year. Being able to run multiple classifiers at monthly club matches will fix other issues we have had.

[JonSnow]

Any idea how soon the classifier changes will go into effect?

[jdphotoguy]

^^^^^^ +1

[Kimberley]

Hi all!

The response from this statement has been overwhelmingly positive and as a part of our commitment to better communication we hope to issue regular such updates to keep the membership informed as we progress through these changes. Thank you all for taking the time to send me your feedback, suggestions and encouragement. I'll try to address your questions from this thread. If I miss something, please let me know.

1) All these changes are effective immediately, including the end of the classifier limits.

2) Thomas H, I'm sorry you're unhappy with our decision, but I'm sure willing to work with you. As a benefactor member of USPSA you have the option of a benefactor varsity-type jacket and a $700 tax write off or no jacket and a $1000 tax write off. If neither of those things are acceptable to you, I understand. Just let me know and I'd be happy to refund the SCSA Life Membership for you, no problem. We try to be flexible, so if you have something else in mind, please do email me and I'll do what I can to help.

3) The slot changes are confusing many people. The two biggest changes in the policy: We're not giving slots to clubs and sections for credit outright and we won't be issuing slots to returning area champions. Instead, clubs & sections may choose if they want to spend their credit on slots or other items from the budding catalog or a combination of the two. As to the Area Championships, we have found over the years that fewer and fewer of those members are accepting those slots, but we still must invest hours and hours of staff time contacting the winners to get that rejection. Therefore, members who want to compete may seek out the application and those who aren't interested won't be called, emailed, texted, Twittered and Facebook messaged to death trying to see if he wants his slot. Once club, section and returning nationals champ slots are issued we will simply place a link online where all members may register for the match(es) directly through PractiScore. If it turns out that the match fills, PS has wait list functionality built-in. We'll start a wait list and as drop outs are processed, we'll move slots to those on the wait list, automagically. I believe it will continue to be as it has been in the past in that anyone who truly wants to attend won't have an issue getting a slot through the myriad of possible avenues: club, section, previous champion, wait list, walk on.

I think I covered everything, but if you have further questions, please don't hesitate to sing out. I'll try to keep an eye out here. I'm monitoring FB and several other forums as well, but I'll do my best. I'm also available via email at kim@uspsa.org. Please be patient with us. As you can see, we've undertaken a huge workload and committed to some serious changes. We'll need your patience, support, and understanding more than ever.

Thanks again guys!

Kim

[Thomas H]

2) Thomas H, I'm sorry you're unhappy with our decision, but I'm sure willing to work with you. As a benefactor member of USPSA you have the option of a benefactor varsity-type jacket and a $700 tax write off or no jacket and a $1000 tax write off. If neither of those things are acceptable to you, I understand. Just let me know and I'd be happy to refund the SCSA Life Membership for you, no problem. We try to be flexible, so if you have something else in mind, please do email me and I'll do what I can to help.

Kim, like I said in my original post, I'm not mad----matter of fact, I think it is a GOOD idea that people who are USPSA members don't have to buy another membership. I'm glad this decision was made.

So, I'm not mad, I'm not annoyed, I'm not frustrated---I just don't have a good way to explain the "Arg!" feeling about paying money when I could have just waited.

....but I still think that USPSA doing this was a good idea. It just didn't work out, timing-wise, for me.

I'm not quite sure how I get a tax write-off out of it, and a refund might be good instead----I'll email and ask about it, to not further de-rail this thread. I do appreciate you taking the time not only to read and respond to this thread, but to specifically work with me on this!

Overall, pretty much all of the changes mentioned in the Update look very good, both from a member standpoint and from the standpoint of someone interested in making sure the sport continues to grow. Good stuff!

(And speaking as kind-of-one-half of the stats team for our club, I'm looking forward to going direct from Practiscore to USPSA!)

[furyalecto]

Thanks for the swift response! Good stuff!

[wgnoyes]

Um, ezwinscore isn't going to let you define a regular Level 1 match with multiple classifiers. It throws an error message when you try to run an activity report.

Update: Practiscore 1.6 can't do it either. It also throws an error message when you try to create the activity upload file.

Edited February 14, 2014 by wgnoyes

[jdphotoguy]

Thanks Kim for addressing the questions.

[Lee G]

Kim,

Along the lines of steel challenge, what is the deal with the classification system? Why is it all lumped together instead of classifying by division? It makes no sense at all and truthfully has been one of the big discouragements in organizing sanctioned steel challenge matches at our club.

[ZackJones]

Along the lines of steel challenge, what is the deal with the classification system? Why is it all lumped together instead of classifying by division? It makes no sense at all and truthfully has been one of the big discouragements in organizing sanctioned steel challenge matches at our club.

I think we'll see it by division eventually. Don't know if you've seen this thread or not but there's at least some talk about modifying the current system:

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=188033

[Chills1994]

If a club or range already has the steel targets, what is the incentive to become affiliated to the USPSA/steel challenge?

[Kimberley]

As to the classifier issues, his will be going up on the USPSA.org website very shortly:

The recent USPSA report to the membership stated that the policy concerning how many classifiers a club could run at a match had been removed. While both USPSA and Nifty Bytes are working to modify EzWinScore and PractiScore to handle this change, until a new version is released in the next week or two, the workaround in both programs is to select Level I Special when setting up a new match. Currently, the maximum number of stages is limited to six, and the same fee schedule for Special Classifiers will be followed.

USPSA has established an ambitious agenda for this year, so we ask the membership to be patient with us as we build the necessary infrastructure to achieve these goals. There are many aspects to be dealt with, and we may not be able to think of all of them at once. Please be assured that USPSA is working hard to prepare for the future, and that we need your input as we go. We appreciate your input and positive feedback as we work toward our goals.

Lee G, we're working on it. Slowly but surely. It's one of our goals though, rest assured.

Chills1994, club affiliation gains clubs participation in the classification system for both organizations, access to our scoring software, access to our match calendar and results listing for your matches. We have a current click count of about 50 unique visitors per second on the USPSA website, that's a lot of exposure for your club rather than going it alone. In the coming months we'll be ofering dedicated club portals on the USPSA site for clubs to build club pages without any coding experience. These pages will integrate nicely to the USPSA main page and PractiScore for ease of use. There will be tools implemented to aid clubs in club management such as a Range Officer finder and course design software. We offer club program manuals detailing how to effectively manage your club, NROI seminars to train your members and safe handgun safety check for new members. We're adding additional support as it is developed. Not too shabby, in my humble opinion, for $25 per year affiliation fee.

Thanks again for the great questions and feedback guys, we appreciate it!

Kim

[Nimitz]

So if my uspsa club sends in the paperwork to become steel challenge affiliated then after the first match I shoot I'll automatically get a Steel Challenge classification without doing anything?

[wgnoyes]

$25? (Must be a typo.) I just finished paying $50 to reaffiliate.

[Nimitz]

I thought I read it was $25 as well .....