The Perfect Major Match

[Paul B]

With some definite intestinal fortitude the match organizers of the Ky State and Area 5 have been very active in requesting suggestions from us on how a major should work. Since I've worked a lot of majors and shot even more, I thought it might be interesting to list the elements that make it work for me and let others take them apart, agree or start their own list.

1. Squad size: anything more than 10 and I will avoid the match if at all possible. A max of 8 is better. I've found that standing around waiting to shoot is just exhausting. Shooting and pasting, setting steel is fine, but just standing and waiting because of too long a cycle time puts me in pain and the very wrong mental attitude. This makes for a very long day.

2. On line squading works great for single or dual shooters, but becomes progressively more difficult directly proportional to the size of the group you want to shoot with. As long as there is a manual safety valve here for larger groups it isn't a problem.

3. 2 day matches for less than 12 stages. It doubles expenses which by the time you add everything up runs about $300 a day or more if spouses come. Additionally, the match organizers in 2 day formats often spread out the schedule so the stand around time is very long. I remember at the Florida open shooting a stage and waiting 2 hours to shoot the next one. I wanted to go back to the hotel and sleep but there just wasn't enough time to do that.

4. Mixing 1 and 2 day schedules at the same match can also create major backups unless done extremely well. It can cause long waits and confusion on squad sequence. My advice is pick one or the other and stick with it.

5. Keep the 2 or more stages in one bay to a complete minimum. I recently shot a match at a club that put 2 large field courses ( one 28 and one 32 rounder) in one bay. This was a major bottleneck and was exhausting for staff and competitors. I would have been happy to shoot one less stage than to do this. Sometimes this can be engineered with a lunch break, but not when you hit them at 10:00 AM.

6. Be sure the pits are large enough to safely accomodate all the competitors at the beck of the bay. I've been to some that had so little room that you were always bumping guns with other shooters. This is specially important in pits with 2 stages.

Alright, I hope this is constructive. It isn't meant to be sour grapes. I know I shoot better and have a lot more fun when the match runs smoothly.