Why is is so hard to get people to try USPSA?

[seadog_99]

Anyone have the same experience?  Anyone given this any thought, with a conclusion more insightful than "they are too intimidated"?     

It often is as simple as "they are too intimidated".

One of the best places for new shooters in my area to start is a weekly local indoor match. The good thing about it is that we are very welcoming and accommodating. We can take time to walk them through a stage before they shoot, give an extensive briefing, etc. The bad thing is that many of the regular shooters there are true A to GM level shooters. A newbie sees them run a stage and thinks they are in the wrong place when they're actually in the best environment possible for rapid improvement. Kinda like a fat kid in a gym.


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[GrumpyOne]

I started in the weekly indoor matches. I got my butt handed to me, week after week. All that did was make me try harder to get better. I'd pick out someone that was barely beating me, and practice till I could consistently beat them, then I would pick someone better than me, and start all over. 

[fenceboy]

I THINK IT MAY ALSO BE A MONEY ISSUE FOR SOME PEOPLE THEY MAY HAVE A GUN BUT THE GEAR AND FEEDING ONE AT STORE BOUGHT AMMO PRICES CAN GET EXPENSIVE

[9x45]

Fence, no need to yell (typing in caps). It's just priorities, $$$ to go shooting, $$$ to play golf, $$$ to eat out and go to the movies. Gun and gear and reloading equipment lasts forever, and it gets you out of domestic duty on a Saturday, what else could you ask for?

[9x45]

1 hour ago, GrumpyOne said:

I started in the weekly indoor matches. I got my butt handed to me, week after week. All that did was make me try harder to get better. I'd pick out someone that was barely beating me, and practice till I could consistently beat them, then I would pick someone better than me, and start all over. 

 

142 fastest gun in the West, looking for number 143.....

 

 

[zzt]

I'm the MD for all the non-bullseye shoots at my club.  We are not USPSA affiliated, but I run all the matches by USPSA rules, except for some DQs.  When shooters err, we tell them (nicely) what they did wrong and have them correct it.  We encourage them to compete.  Over the 28 matches we held this year, we challenged them.  By the time the last couple of matches came around, no one was afraid of weak hand shooting, or shooting around barriers any more.  Now the infractions we see are limited to a couple of foot faults, and two of the women still sometimes have their finger inside the trigger guard during unloaded gun mag changes.  They have small hands and short fingers.  They don't actually touch the trigger, but sometimes they wander inside.  By next year that will be cured.

The good thing about designing interesting and challenging courses is the shooters get comfortably with them.  Most of them know they have zero chance of winning, but they shoot anyway, just because they enjoy it.  They know to follow the rules, and they have a ball doing it.  3/4 of the way through, one of the shooters decided to come to USPSA matches with me.  He's now hooked.  The only problem he has is deciding whether to shoot SS or CO at the match.  Another two are planning to do so next year.  Three are so hooked on shooting steel, they'll go to SC matches next year.

So the experiment worked.  All of the shooters became more competent.  All of them became more confident in their gun handling ability.  At the start of the season you could see that many of them were concentrating more on not breaking any rules than they were on shooting.  By mid-season they knew the rules and spent more time talking about how best to shoot a stage or course.  By the end, even the poorest shooters had halved their times and upped their hit factor by 200-300%.

Our weekend matches start at 9:15 and end by 1PM.  We always have some observers who want to see what's what before them decide to try.  We had increasing attendance at every weekend match, up until Dec.  when it was really cold.

I think it very hard to persuade some one to shoot USPSA out of the blue.  My experiment this year allowed a lot of newer shooters to get their feet wet, find out there are some worse shooters than them, and it's not so hard to learn the rules and live by them.

[9x45]

zzt, if you are running a match by USPSA rules, and using USPSA targets, and using USPSA scoring,  why not just have the club join the organization? You can always hold USPSA practice matches, for newbies, (legally) after you join.  By the way, what is a non-USPSA DQ by your rules?

Edited December 28, 2016 by 9x45

[Milkcoma]

we have some LEO's that show up be but we never see them again. the 2 that have stuck around and still shoot at first couldn't believe people could shoot liek that after watching a few GM's go. 

as others have said alot of it is ego.  they dont want to get beat or look bad. 

[cas]

I had two people try to talk me into it back when I was "in my prime" and I had no interest either. Who knows.

[MHicks]

Zzt.  So are you saying that the main thing holding back new shooters is that they are afraid of being dq'd for a safety violation. Do you require they shoot to slidelock before reloading so that they only reload with an empty gun, in case they get their finger in the trigger guard?

[9x45]

1 hour ago, Milkcoma said:

we have some LEO's that show up be but we never see them again. the 2 that have stuck around and still shoot at first couldn't believe people could shoot liek that after watching a few GM's go. 

as others have said alot of it is ego.  they dont want to get beat or look bad. 

Yes, but the ones that do stay are Masters and Grand Masters. My squad always has a bunch of those guys.

[DukeEB]

I think a lot of shooters simply don't have a competitive nature, or not enough of one to overcome obstacles.  It does take effort to come to the matches, and excuses are easy.

[9x45]

The biggest thing, by far, is the newbies don't want to stand up in front of the 15 or so in the squad, plus maybe 2 waiting squads. But everyone had to start somewhere and sometime. 

[Steppenwolf]

1. No nearby club (and thus no knowledge about USPSA and not knowing anyone that could introduce them to the sport).

2. Cost of gear, cost of travel, cost of ammo, cost to reload.

3. Time (prep time, travel, match duration, gun cleaning, reloading).

4. Ego (not willing to admit that they must practice and do not want to perform badly in public). Intimidated by better shooters and competition gear. Also no one available to help them improve/teach them.

5. Gun collector or just want to plink.

6. Maybe encountered unfriendly people or jerks at a match.

My personal experience. I owned guns since I was a kid. Went hunting and shot trap. Was in military. Went to college and got a job and had a twenty year hiatus from guns and shooting. Decided to carry (given events occurring). Began practicing gun-handling and marksmanship skills. Someone told me about competition matches. Showed up and friendly people introduced me to the sport. Was hooked. Starting learning more about competition gear and guns. Starting practicing (bought training DVD and dry fire book). Starting improving. Know most of the people locally and regionally. Got into IDPA, USPSA, Cowboy Action Shooting, 3-Gun, and Glock competitions. Focusing more on USPSA now. Gave me an excuse to buy an STI. I enjoy beating young'uns and am working way up ladder. Still carry (and competitive shooting improves gun-handling skills and confidence).

[GrumpyOne]

30 minutes ago, 9x45 said:

The biggest thing, by far, is the newbies don't want to stand up in front of the 15 or so in the squad, plus maybe 2 waiting squads. But everyone had to start somewhere and sometime. 

There is a lot of truth in this. 

[L3324temp]

zzt, if you are running a match by USPSA rules, and using USPSA targets, and using USPSA scoring,  why not just have the club join the organization? You can always hold USPSA practice matches, for newbies, (legally) after you join.  By the way, what is a non-USPSA DQ by your rules?

I can't speak for his club, but I shoot at one USPSA "style" match. Due to close proximity of homes, they require guns not be pointed above the berm at anytime even during reloads. USPSA shooters don't seem to like local range rules so it stays non USPSA. There are several others in my area that are also USPSA style but I don't know their reason for not affiliating. I almost never shoot at official USPSA matches anymore.


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[warpcorps]

I've been shooting USPSA now for 2 1/2 years and before a friend introduced me to it, I did not even know it existed... and I have been highly involved in shooting sports for just about every discipline as an NRA trainer, attended training at places like Front sight and am former military. Maybe I'm just ignorant, or running in the wrong circles, but i had no idea how to get involved.

 I've come to realize that unfortunately there is a very small segment of the population that is comfortable getting involved in our sport. As mentioned in previous posts, there are lot of barriers to entry - guns, equipment, reloading, gun handling comfort, and ego. For the average non-competitor, even drawing from the holster is a big scary thing. From a training perspective a good portion of the NRA PPOTH (personal protection outside the home) course is focused on this one skill - how to safely and effectively draw from the holster. I've seen experienced instructors and avid gun guys struggle to get comfortable when they first learn to draw. Next comes the whole idea of moving with a loaded gun!  It doesn't help that 90% of the gun ranges out there prohibit drawing from the holster for "safety reasons". I understand why and I'm not knocking them but the message to the general public is that drawing from the holster is dangerous and unsafe - so you can't do it here... As for USPSA competitors, well it's become second nature and we've moved on to more advanced things like 1 second reloads and shooting on the move.

 Once I got started, I had a lot of people who helped me and genuinely wanted to help me get better. They made me realize that it wasn't just about competition like many other sports, but it was about the friendships and shooting community. It wasn't just about winning - yes, winning is a goal but it's not the only goal. It was also about learning, growing and getting better one step at a time. Many of the people I was exposed to through the sport are the same ones you know here on the forums, and they are still helping me and anyone else who takes the time to listen, think and learn. (Thanks! You know who you are!) The best thing we can all do when we see that new shooter who is maybe a little scared and a little awkward is to help them and be a friend to them. We cannot ignore the safety issues, and most of the new shooters will go out of their way to be safe, but we can manage how we communicate when they happen.

I'm not sure what we can do to get more people "hooked" other than help them take the first steps. Make them aware of the sport, get them to a orientation class, help them overcome the fear of learning to draw, help them with some basic equipment needs and encourage them that it's ok to be slow and learn. I like the stuff zzt is doing above - keep it simple, small and help people learn. Start with a basic five point draw and go from there - just search for it on youtube, there are plenty of good examples.  

“If you don't know, the thing to do is not to get scared, but to learn.” – Ayn Rand

 

[teros135]

1 hour ago, Steppenwolf said:

1. No nearby club (and thus no knowledge about USPSA and not knowing anyone that could introduce them to the sport).

2. Cost of gear, cost of travel, cost of ammo, cost to reload.

3. Time (prep time, travel, match duration, gun cleaning, reloading).

4. Ego (not willing to admit that they must practice and do not want to perform badly in public). Intimidated by better shooters and competition gear. Also no one available to help them improve/teach them.

5. Gun collector or just want to plink.

6. Maybe encountered unfriendly people or jerks at a match.

7. No participation trophies.

 

Edited December 28, 2016 by teros135

[LabMan]

I've been trying to get one of my friends to go to a USPSA match for several months now. At first he declined but now he says that he wants to go and watch first. At least it's a step in the right direction.

This one is indoors and is just one stage, IMHO perfect for introducing a new person to the sport.

[GrumpyOne]

31 minutes ago, teros135 said:

 

Not true. There are participation trophies...your USPSA card showung your class...if you do well enough, you get that card with GM on it...and that ain't easy to get.

[CHA-LEE]

I think that the primary challenge is that you can't automatically assume that gun owners are also into competing. It would be like expecting anyone that owns a car would also be into racing cars competitively.

People that are into competitive sports or hobbies are the exception within the masses. Non-competitive people can be converted to becoming competitive. But that is usually more rare than existing competitive people stumbling upon the practical shooting sports and taking on the challenge head on.

[dbagwell]

I see lots of good comments here. I do believe it takes a certain type of person to desire to compete. Personally, as soon as I saw my first match, as a spectator, not a competitor, my immediate impression was "this is so friggin' awesome, I have to do this". I started with what I had, which was far from the typical USPSA gear. I used a Sigpro, an Uncle Mike's OWB holster, factory ammo and a few extra magazines tucked into my pockets and belt - and shot the Tuesday Night Steel matches at Rio Salado in Mesa and had a blast! It was intimidating to see the GMs blaze through those stages, but it was inspiring at the same time. I was extremely impressed by the outgoing, helpful and friendly nature of the regular shooters. They made me feel comfortable from day one and that reinforced my desire to continue. I now reside and shoot in another state, however, my experience with the people at the clubs here have been just as welcoming. One thing that I do see as a downer, especially here in SoCal is range access for practice. It seems to be non-existent and you're just expected to show up and shoot. I don't like that and I can see how that can be very intimidating to new shooters. There's a lot to know and remember and showing up "green" to an actual match, getting the new shooter briefing, and trying to have a good time is difficult in my opinion. I'd like to see some practice days and better range access at my local clubs and some method of introducing interested shooters to the game in a less intimidating setting. I think that would go a long way in attracting more new shooters to our sport.

[RJH]

7 hours ago, CHA-LEE said:

I think that the primary challenge is that you can't automatically assume that gun owners are also into competing. It would be like expecting anyone that owns a car would also be into racing cars competitively.

People that are into competitive sports or hobbies are the exception within the masses. Non-competitive people can be converted to becoming competitive. But that is usually more rare than existing competitive people stumbling upon the practical shooting sports and taking on the challenge head on.

This.  I like to fish, but don't want to be a competitive bass fisher.  I used to think it was a lot of the other stuff people listed, but finally decided it is just different strokes for different folks, and that is OK.  I like to shoot and I like shooting competitions, but some people don't. 

[zzt]

9x45, our club has "extra" safety rules that they would have to drop in order to join USPSA.  If you violate them you are DQ'd.  There are also rules about what a target can look like.  No animals, people or any silhouette that looks like a living thing.  So we have to cut the "heads" of the metric targets to use them.

Edited December 28, 2016 by zzt

[9x45]

So just use the classic "Amoeba" target. You see I view these "USPSA Like" matches as ripping off the national organization. We run several 'club' level action pistol matches here, but with our own rules, including division and classification, straight time scoring, scoring penalties, almost nothing is the same except for the range commands. In addition to the members that are NROI certified we even have our own RO class. Some of these club level matches are just as challenging as a real USPSA match. But when I go to a USPSA match, that's what I except it to be. 

What is an example of an "extra" safety rule? Any shooter has to be safe enough to follow simple rules, whether it's local action, USPSA/IDPA/Steel Challenge or 3 Gun.