Uspsa Participation Increasing?

[rtr]

According to the latest Frontsight twice in 2004 membership reached record levels. It seems the general tenor on this board and in USPSA in general is that although participation in the sport is good we struggle with making what it could/should be.

So I'm curious if membership is reaching record levels yet participation isn't as high as folks would like it, what exactly is going on?

[jm951]

How much of the "new" members shoot 3 gun the vast majority of time, like me!

[Sestock]

Not sure what the rest of the country is like, but here in Western PA there seems to be a lot of new faces shooting matches. I have seen a number of IDPA shooters crossing over and a number of local law enforcement folks. Our club's monthly matches are generally in the 80-100+ shooters.

Also, 3-gun seems to be catching on and expanding the local match structure, most clubs run side matches for rifle or shotgun, or multi gun.

[rtr]

So you guys think that pistol matches are growing slowly or not at all but 3-gun is growing quick?

[bobert1]

I would like to give a BIG pat on the back to Bill Seevers aka: Uncle Bill aka: Speedy Seevers. He started up a friendly competition night at a new Range here in Dayton, Ohio and He has easily been responsible for better than 2 DOZEN new USPSA members in less than a year !!! The word has gotten out and there are new faces each week.

[XRe]

He has easily been responsible for better than 2 DOZEN new USPSA members in less than a year !!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nice job, Bill

[Flexmoney]

Kudos to Uncle Bill.

I think it is key to ALWAYS be looking for the next new shooter.

Your regulars will fade away (for various reasons). If you don't have new blood, then matches will suffer.

[Duane Thomas]

I think it's all those Duane Thomas articles on how cool USPSA shooting is.

[John Heiter]

I think it's the new USPSA posters that are doing it.

[AikiDale]

Are you kidding? It's the cover of Blue Press. A shooters non-shooting friend sees the Blue Press and starts thinking....

[TriggerT]

Our area has seen a good number of shooter making the switch from IDPA to USPSA, and also an influx of just "New Shooters."

After close to 2 years I finially got my college roomate to compete in our clubs monthly match. He had a great time and finished 5th out of 15 in production. That is behind 2 Masters, an A and a B (I think). Now I just hope he doesn't get to the point where he is kicking my butt.

Plain and simple, if people like fast paced shooting, then they will like USPSA. They just need good folks like the ones here on the forum to get them to the range for a match.

[Vlad]

Our indoor matches where we get encourage new shooters to come by have gone from 15-25 shooters last year to 25-40 shooters this year, mostly from new shooters. We have these twice a month. The rise is here to stay and we adjusted our 4 stages such that we finish before midnight. The outdoor regular monthly match brings about 60 shooters which is about the same as in previous years, but I suspect there will be a delay before our new "indoor" shooters become "outdoor" shooters.

We are also seeing a lot of young people show up, college students, and fathers bringing their 13-15 year old kids out. Its great. I honestly think that at least in NJ we are seeing a lot more people come out and shoot USPSA.

[BSeevers]

Thanks guys,

I am very proud of starting a indoor league club and having 35-40 mostly brand new shooters show every Tues evening with about half becoming a USPSA regular member. I am preparing some info on what I am doing but if you are not growing then find out why. Look in the mirror for reasons.

I have learned more and grown helping these people reach their goals and enabling some to just have a fun time. I think USPSA has a "better" attitude than 10 years ago and except for a couple silly new green rules has taken steps to really grow the sport. What we need is more leadership and more mutual access and support from the entire media.

Is USPSA growing? Only if you help it grow.

[Carlos]

I think at least 4 different disciplines deserve credit:

1)USPSA, 2)IDPA & 3)SASS/CAS. All 3 of these sports have proven to host clubs that it can be perfectly safe to draw from a holster, shoot fast & shoot on the move.

4)I also give credit to GSSF for introducing the beginner to competition pistol shooting on a timer and for showing people that its safe to shoot at steel plates (not to mentionthe fact that its a lot of fun).

In addition, the American Shooter TV show has publicized all of the action pistol shooting sports without making negative comments about one over the other. Show is not perfect, but what show is? Overall, I think it makes a positive contribution to sport shooting.

Good job to all & keep up the good work.