A Day in Life of a USPSA Club Match Director

[CHA-LEE]

With all of the new shooters coming into the practical shooting sports I wanted to compose a “Behind the scenes” article about what a match directors day looks like on the day of a club match. There is a lot more that goes into running a successful club match in the days before and after the actual match, but we can save that for another time. For this article I want to focus on the events of the actual match day. I have listed below a time line of what I experienced as a match director for the High Plains Practical Shooter USPSA Pistol match. Some of what I do to host a match is a little different than other clubs, but for the most part every match director is faced with tackling the same general challenges on match day. Hopefully this will give some shooters an example of what it’s like to tackle the Match Director duties.

5:00 AM – Rise & Shine

My alarm clock goes off, I grumpily wake up and turn it off. In my groggy mental state it seems like there may be an error of some kind for my alarm clock to go off that early. Maybe I set it to go off on the wrong time? The mental fog clears a little and I remember that its match day. I haul myself out of bed and get ready for the day.

5:30 AM – Pack the stuff in the car

Still a little groggy and definitely caffeine deprived, I start to load up my car with all of the match support gear. The night before I do myself a favor by piling all of the stuff I need to take to the range into a single large pile in my garage. I have learned the hard way that trying to mount a search & rescue effort for all the stuff needed for running the match the morning of the match while in a mental fog usually results in forgotten items, that usually go unnoticed until I need them 50+ miles away at the range. So I have learned the hard way to hedge my bets and make a pile of stuff the night before. That way all I have to focus on first thing in the morning is getting the whole “Pile” into my car. Surprisingly this “pile” loading usually takes about 15 – 20 minutes for some unknown reason. Evidently doing stuff in a caffeine deprived mental fog takes 2 – 3 times longer than it should. Eventually the car is packed and I do a quick double check to make sure nothing is missing.

5:50 AM – Hit the Road

Pulling out of the driveway and driving down the street I am still trying to mentally verify that I have all the stuff I need. I am not 100% sure I put my holster & shooting belt in the trunk along with my range bag so I pull over before the end of my block, get out, and confirm YES there is a holster & shooting belt in there. Jump back in the drivers seat and hit the road.

6:00 AM – Coffee Pit Stop

I pull into a gas station not far from my house that has pretty decent coffee and a few breakfast items. With Coffee & breakfast in hand, I can now hit the road again for the hour long drive to the range. Mmmmmmmmmm Coffee is delicious……

7:00 AM – Range Entry

I pull into the Ben Lomond Gun Club range and punch in the HPPS match specific gate code. YAY the code still works and the gate opens. I drive back to the competition / special use berms where we host the club match and pull in next to the score shack. Usually I am the first one at the range at this time in the morning but some times I am greeted by a couple of my board members eager to get going on the stage setup.

7:05 AM – Range Equipment Access

I unlock and open up all of the stage prop storage containers along with the score shack. The board members start to dig into the props and pull stuff out for the stages. I open up the score shack and get the written stage briefings on the clip boards then bring them to the stage setup guys so they know which stages are going on which bays. I put up the red “hot range” flag then set to inventorying and restocking the stage boxes with tape, timers, staplers, etc. After each stage box has been inventoried and restocked I let the setup crew know that they are ready to go then head into the score shack to get the match registration stuff started.

7:15 AM – Match Registration Preparation

We don’t have AC power at the range so we need to use a DC-AC converter connected to my car to power the laptop and wireless router. I get the laptop fired up and ready to register shooters then confirm that the wireless router is up and running so we can get the Nooks all synced up for scoring after registration is done. Then I set out the self squading lists along with the registration sign in sheet. With all of the scoring equipment ready now I can focus on coordinating the stage setup process as needed.

7:30 AM – Stage Setup

I assess which stages have already been started by the board members then pick one that hasn’t been started yet and get after it. At this point in the day we usually have competitors showing up early to help setup and I do my best to send them to the appropriate stage where their help can best be used. This is usually the “Setup Chaos” portion of the day where I get pulled in multiple directions taking care of many different things. These are usually broken down into pointing setup help to where they are best needed, getting new shooters to our training resources for the new shooter class, vetting or debugging stages as they are setup, and fielding any number of other random questions or concerns. This hour in the morning is the most intense craziness and physical work load of hosting a match. This is usually when match directors start to get a little irritable or frustrated. Unrealistic, unreasonable, or inconsiderate competitors be warned. You may experience the match director wrath if you push your luck during this time of the match.

8:15 AM – Setup Almost Complete

At this point in the day the majority of the stage setup is complete and only final touches are being done if there is something left over. I go back to every stage and make sure that the physical target count matches the written stage briefing and that the start position for the stage is defined. I also double check the target layout to ensure that there are no shoot through issues or target placements that push the bounds of the 180 in common shooting positions. It’s hard to explain this as most shooters don’t get it, but the time I put into walking the stages at this time is NOT done to in an effort to figure out how to actually shoot them as a competitor. I am observing the stages from a legal target presentation, safe angles of fire, and shoot through perspective. I usually don’t have the luxury or time to actually walk the stages from a competitive perspective to figure out the best way to actually shoot them. With all of the stages vetted and given the thumbs up I head back to the score shack to get the registration process started.

8:30 AM – Match Registration Starts

I announce to the competitors that signup is now open and to get signed up. Depending on the availability of our score keeper either he or I end up doing the registration and scoring process. Competitors line up, set themselves on a self squading list then register and pay for the match. We use EzWinScore for registration so each competitor has to be manually input into the computer. Regular competitors can be easily pulled up from the database and their info simply verified, but new shooters need to be manually added to the system. This process usually runs pretty smooth as I usually pester the shooters to “SIGN UP!!!” several times during the registration process. We keep the registration process open until about 9:45 AM to allow for competitors to get to the range and sign up. But there are almost always a few competitors that show up late at the last minute who want to sign up after we have stopped the EzWinScore registration process. We can add these “Late” shooters to the match but they end up with temporary “Walkin” slots during the match. The Walkin shooters information has to be manually edited after the match is done to match their real name, division, class and whatever else. We all end up being late once in a while, but if you regularly end up with a “Walkin” slot for matches you really need to start making it a priority to get to the match sooner during the normal registration process. At 9:45 we start the match scoring distribution process to get the match registration loaded on all of the scoring Nooks. This allows the Scoring Nooks to be ready to hand out and use at the start of the match without delay.

10:00 AM – Shooters Meeting

I call for a shooters meeting a little before 10 AM in an attempt to wrangle up all of the shooters scattered across the range. Once everyone is gathered up I start the shooters meeting and define the range rules, match announcements, squading info, and whatever else needed. This usually only takes a few minutes and is immediately followed by the walk through of every stage. As a group we go to each bay and I read the written stage briefing and define any special requirements for the given stage if needed. Its important for everyone to attend these stage walk through as sometimes good questions are asked by the competitors and answers are given. Attending the stage walk through is a good way to ensure your squad is well informed about each stage as they shoot the match. The match is stared right after the walk though of all stages, which is usually about 10:15 – 10:20 AM.

10:20 AM – Shooting Starts

All of the squads start shooting their first stage. Each squad churns through all of the stages. If we have completed the registration process correctly we should have balanced the squad sizes and created stage gaps between squads to keep log jams from happening. As the match director I finally get to put on my shooting gear and join a squad to shoot the stages along with serving as the primary CRO for the squad. Since I didn’t have a chance to look at the stages from a competition perspective before the start of the match I get to “Figure them out” as my squad gets to the stages and in between ROing other shooters on the stage. In between ROing shooters I may also be tasked as servicing as the Range Master in making the final call on specific rule questions or dealing with stage or shooter issues. My primary focus is to ensure that the match runs smoothly and quickly deal with issues as they come up. My own shooting or participating in the match is pretty far down on the priority list. It usually takes about 4 hours for all of the squads to churn through all of the stages and finish shooting.

2:00 PM – Stage Breakdown

As the squads finish their final stages they are instructed to tear down the stage they finish on and return the props to the storage containers. We usually post a club board member at the storage containers to ensure that all of the props get put away in the proper location and in an orderly fashion. This is also a good time to inspect the props used for damage that may need to be repaired or replaced before the next match. Those items are set aside so they can be reworked at a later time. Once the props are put away the majority of the competitors usually pack up their gear and head home.

2:30 PM - Match Scoring

Once all of the Scoring Nooks have been turned in by the squads they are synced with the Master Nook and the scores are imported into EzWinScore. The scores are reviewed to ensure that valid scores are shown for all competitors and additional administration work is done to edit Walkin entries, second gun classifiers, DQ’s, Division or Class updates, or whatever else. Once there is a general wrap up of the scores and everything looks good, we shutdown and pack up the scoring gear.

3:00 PM – Match Wrap Up & Range Inspection

At this point the only remaining people at the range are usually a few lingering competitors that helped tear down the final stages and the match staff. Every bay used for the match is inspected to make sure that no props still need to be put away and all trash is picked up. All of the storage containers are closed and locked along with the score shack. The “Range is Hot” flag is taken down and put away indicating that we are done using the range. Everyone that is remaining jumps into their cars and heads home for the day.

4:00 PM – Post Match Duties

After an hour long drive home, following a long day at the range and feeling pretty exhausted but the job is still not done. I have to unpack the match and range gear from the car, get something to eat, and get cleaned up. This usually takes about an hour. Usually by now I start getting the “When are the scores going to be posted?” e-mails, texts, and phone from the impatient competitors. I try my best to respond politely to these impatient score status requests. I fire up the match scoring equipment again, double check the scores once again for any obvious errors or issues, then I post them online along with e-mail them out. After that I grab the cash box and tallying up the collected Match Fee’s then prepare a deposit slip to be done later in the week. I monitor my e-mail through the evening and the days following the match to address any match score or process issues presented by the match staff or competitors. The job of making the next match better than the last is never ending so constructive criticism and or lessons learned during the match are always taken seriously.

8:00 PM – Match is COMPLETE

By about 8:00 PM all of the post match activities or issues have been dealt with and I can actually consider the match complete. It has been a long day of pretty much non-stop work to host this single club match. The match directors efforts in making a club match happen successfully usually go unnoticed by most competitors. In all reality, if the Match Director and his match staff are doing their jobs correctly, the match should run smooth as silk and look fairly “effortless” to the competitors. Unfortunately the better you run a match, the less the competitors actually recognize the efforts of the match staff. Running a USPSA Club Match is ton of work for not only the Match Director but for all of the match staff. It is a labor of love as well since NOBODY is getting compensated for busting their hump to make these matches happen month after month. I choose to give back to the sport I love by donating my time and efforts as a Match Director. But the hard reality is that local club matches can’t happen without the dedicated and generous volunteerism donation by many individuals. If you enjoy the practical shooting sports and appreciate the value of the match product being provided, jump in and help make it happen. There is no such thing as “Too Much Help” when it comes to hosting local club matches. Don’t be a “Consumer” shooter who shows up late, pays their match fee, then expects everyone else to cater to them.

[Hi-Power Jack]

:bow:

Should be Required Reading for all BE members.

Thanks to all the RO's out there, and their "support staff".

[herky]

Submit it to Front Sight. The more people that see this the better. Very nice job.

[Nimitz]

yikes! Setup stages the morning of the match! I used to setup the morning of for my Steel Challenge matches but even that was too much of a PITA and so now I setup the day before .... when I was helping setup for USPSA matches it would take 2-3 DAYS to get the 5 stages setup ...now, some times there would only be 1 or 2 helpers on a given day and we didn't exactly work for 8 straight hours and it sounds like you may have a LOT of help all at once but still .... how/when do you do your stage designs since obviously on match day the setup folks are just following a stage diagram and everything has already been worked out, right?

Edited June 4, 2015 by Nimitz

[PatJones]

+1. That would make a nice front sight article. I feel you're one of the best writers here on BE. How long do you spend writing these large well thought out posts you make?

[CHA-LEE]

yikes! Setup stages the morning of the match! I used to setup the morning of for my Steel Challenge matches but even that was too much of a PITA and so now I setup the day before .... when I was helping setup for USPSA matches it would take 2-3 DAYS to get the 5 stages setup ...now, some times there would only be 1 or 2 helpers on a given day and we didn't exactly work for 8 straight hours and it sounds like you may have a LOT of help all at once but still .... how/when do you do your stage designs since obviously on match day the setup folks are just following a stage diagram and everything has already been worked out, right?

Setting up the day before the match isn't possible due to range access and use by others. That and Mother Nature would probably rip up the stages anyway as we get crazy windy weather on the plains of Colorado. Lastly setting up the day or days before the match promotes "consumerism" instead of "volunteerism".

[CHA-LEE]

+1. That would make a nice front sight article. I feel you're one of the best writers here on BE. How long do you spend writing these large well thought out posts you make?

This one probably took me a couple of hours to compose and review. When work gets slow I try to make use of my time.

[bigbent]

Good read!

Edited June 4, 2015 by bigbent

[Fuelie777]

Pretty good description. To keep from getting burned out, need to constantly recruit help and not be bashful on asking people for assistance.

[MarkCO]

And you don't shoot as well, have to deal with DQs of friends, deal with club BOD, etc. Nice write up my friend.

[Sandbagger123]

"Thanks Cha Lee, it was a great match. You guys need to put on more of them. I look forward to next time". MD. " i don't need accolades, I need help". Everyone love s to shoot, but no one like to help.

[michmalo]

Very nice write up. Thanks for taking the time to post....

[OUshooter]

So you still find the walk through to be useful? We get around 85 shooters on the average. Sometimes 60 sometimes 110. Not only does it take at least 30 min to walk 6-7 stages a few folks are always talking amongst themselves, and about half aren't even even listening.

Plus we would never make it unless we setup the day before, just not going to work. I'm jealous, or fortunate that we have lots of room.

But yeah you have hit lots of the high's and low's. As stated earlier the part about not shooting your best because of duties was pretty good. I'm B so my best is pretty bad anyway.

[RangerTrace]

Thanks for posting!!

[Mark R]

Pretty well sums it up. Good article Cha-lee.

We used to setup on match day, but that really took a toll. Now I try to setup on the day before and I usually get 2-3 good guys who make it possible to setup 5-6 stages in 2-3 hours. Drive to and from range is 45 minutes one way...so 2 round trips over 2 days is required, but I think it's worth the drive vs. setting up on match day.

[MarkCO]

So you still find the walk through to be useful? We get around 85 shooters on the average. Sometimes 60 sometimes 110. Not only does it take at least 30 min to walk 6-7 stages a few folks are always talking amongst themselves, and about half aren't even even listening.

I have considered taking 2 people from each squad to do the pre-match walk-throughs instead of the whole mob. But not doing them is a sure way to get something messed up with squad ROs. Seems a lot of shooters have trouble understanding the common use of the English language these days and with the IPSC lawyers...almost necessary unless you have a per stage RO or monitor.

[Corey]

Nicely written! A must-read for anyone who shoots matches.

Our club has 3 bays that are off-limits other than match days so we can setup stuff the week before a match. The other 2 bays are public use and those have to be setup on match morning. I can't imagine trying to do it all the day of!

[CHA-LEE]

It would take the same if not more time to review the stages with a small group of squad RO's verses forcing the "Mob" to go from stage to stage for the walk through. The other factor is that doing the "Mob" style walk through does foster good questions about the stage that may be a little gray or misunderstood for many shooters. Being able to give a solid Yes/No answer that everyone hears goes a long way to minimizing the same question being asked several times by many different shooters during the match. That and the answer is coming from the proverbial "Horses Mouth" so there is no ambiguity to what the answer or stance is for a given question.

Pretty much all of the clubs here in Colorado do the stage setup the morning of the match. Yes this is a lot of work and creates a Chinese fire drill type of event during setup, but it also promotes a volunteerism environment for competitors to pitch in and help setup. The basic mantra is "If you want to shoot today, get to work in helping with setting up and tearing down". Distributing dedicated match staff across each stage works wonders in keeping the volunteer worker bee's coordinated and efficient in stage setup. For my matches I have each board member create their own stage days before the match and assign it to a specific bay. That way, they know exactly what they are setting up and where. This works out a lot better than me creating all of the stages then the setup crew really doesn't have confidence in setting up the stage how I wanted or envisioned.

[Trent1k1]

At our club, stages are sent to the MD for 'approval' prior to the match. This allows the MD to at least see on paper if the stage is legal, approximate what the time to shoot the stage is and make sure the stage will fit the appropriate bays.

Match Morning, the stage descriptions are put in the appropriate bay, and when the volunteers show up they start laying them out. We have a number of Club ROs which have show that they have common sense and they help organize the volunteers on each stage. The MD/RM check the stages after they are complete, but before everything gets nailed down. We have many shooters that show up and don't have any idea how to setup a stage, but can carry props and fault lines, and swing hammers.

Takes us about 90 minutes from the time the gate is open at 8am to build 6 stages (1 classifier) and be ready for the safety brief at 930. We have WSB at every stage, and have eliminated the group walk through, but still run into what ChaLee does with the same question over and over. For us, saving the 20 minute walk through with 80% of the people not paying attention is worth the questions.

Every club is different, obviously and many people have no idea how much effort goes into having a successful match. Its when things don't go right that people complain.

[MarkCO]

^That is how we do it as well.

[motosapiens]

yikes! Setup stages the morning of the match! I used to setup the morning of for my Steel Challenge matches but even that was too much of a PITA and so now I setup the day before .... when I was helping setup for USPSA matches it would take 2-3 DAYS to get the 5 stages setup ...now, some times there would only be 1 or 2 helpers on a given day and we didn't exactly work for 8 straight hours and it sounds like you may have a LOT of help all at once but still .... how/when do you do your stage designs since obviously on match day the setup folks are just following a stage diagram and everything has already been worked out, right?

For our bi-weekly matches, we set up the morning of. The MD (which rotates seasonally) has stage diagrams that he hands out, and teams of 2-10 people git-er-done. The MD usually pitches in but also checks on the other stages and answers questions about the intent of the other stages. Takes about an hour to set up 4 field courses and 2 classifiers.

Steel is even mo bettah. We do 4 stages every mon-wed night. The MD (me on wed) shows up about 5 or shortly before. Usually the first competitors show up then too and we pile everything (using the stage diagrams as guides) onto the trailer, pull the atv around the 4 bays and assemble each stage in about 2-4 mins. We have the positions for the boxes and targets marked out with colored construction fuzzies, so there's no measurement or fooling around. Just look at the diagram for the target sizes and put them where they are supposed to go. From unlocking the gate to starting shooting is typically 30-45 mins and that can be further reduced if there's someone besides me to drive the atv so I can prep the nooks and start registration.

[Graham Smith]

GREAT writeup.

It sounds as if you have a really solid cadre to get things setup for you. Over the past couple years, I got things smoothed out a lot, but it still took us about 2.5 hours to get all the setup done and blessed. And setup the night before has been nearly impossible to manage.

This year two guys have been doing most of the setup on two small ranges the night before. These aren't open to the general range membership, and that has been a huge help and has cut setup time down to under 2 hrs.

One thing we do have is a dedicated registration team. Three people who bring everything needed to handle registration and squadding, which took a lot of work off my plate (I retired from being the MD at the end of last year).

[JAFO]

Those setup times are amazing! Even with 10-12 people or more, it takes us 2-3 hours to setup 4 field courses, 1 speed shoot, and 1 classifier.

[gng4life]

A new bumper sticker I'm going to get made, "Have you hugged your MD today"

[motosapiens]

Those setup times are amazing! Even with 10-12 people or more, it takes us 2-3 hours to setup 4 field courses, 1 speed shoot, and 1 classifier.

That is truly amazing. It would be interesting to switch places and see what is taking all the time.

For us, out equipment shack is pretty much in the middle of the bays. Close enough that it's almost as easy to just carry out the portable walls and such rather than use the atv/trailer. The walls are light enought that you can carry one by yourself, or 2 people can easily carry two of them stacked. We also typically only use moving targets and activators on 1 or 2 stages. Usually at least 3-4 different crews working at the same time.