I am now USPSA Match Director

[223to45]

Well title says it.

 

Just wondering from the ones who been there, the do's and don't's.

 

Anyone using practiscore for monthly match registration??

Looking to get that started.

 

Any info from past experience would be great.

 

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[DKnoch]

PractiScore is pretty easy. Create your club or go into your existing club to create a match from your computer or tablet. Computer is best for admin stuff, I think. Create match and set number of people on squads, etc. then when registration closes take your master tablet and download registration to PS App. Check people in on PS App on match morning, then upload to stage tablets. After match resync back to master, double check (especially for unauthorized edits) then post to PS. From there you can get match file and upload to USPSA and pay activity fee. Just play around with it and you’ll get familiar with it pretty quickly. P.S. make good stages, don’t make every position 6 reload 6 with all close or all far hard targets. Mix up difficulty and number of shots per position, makes it more interesting


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[DKnoch]

Also illicit feedback from competitors that have been around and know what good matches and stages are like. Create the type of match and stages you would want to go to as a shooter. Also please do not get too high on yourself, Ive known a few MD’s that think they are gods gift to USPSA


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[MikeBurgess]

Recruit as much help as you possibly can, anytime someone volunteers find something they can do.
Dont get caught up in your stage designs getting set up exactly like you drew them, if it gets set up different but its legal and safe try rolling with it, when setting your own stage give yourself the freedom to move anything or everything if you think it will make the stage better.


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[perttime]

Yep. Don't try to do everything yourself.

What size will your matches be? How many stages, How many competitors?

Even for stage design, it is good to get ideas and even complete designs from others. You need someone who is good at building stages. Someone to do the stats. Someone to troubleshoot the stages. Someone to make a swinger that actually works. Etc.

[MemphisMechanic]

11 hours ago, MikeBurgess said:

Recruit as much help as you possibly can, anytime someone volunteers find something they can do.
Dont get caught up in your stage designs getting set up exactly like you drew them, if it gets set up different but its legal and safe try rolling with it, when setting your own stage give yourself the freedom to move anything or everything if you think it will make the stages better.

All of this.

 

Edited October 18, 2019 by MemphisMechanic

[Nathanb]

Good luck. Take any help you can get.  Even if it’s just people to cart props around.  And all that other stuff already said. 
 

 

[Sandbagger123]

You the new far north close to border MD? 

[JWBaldree]

You are going to need a crew. Figure one responsible party per stage, plus someone to handle registration. Your job is to get those people organized and busy doing what they do. If you try and do everything yourself, you will last about three matches. Spread the love around. Get a good inventory of all your props / equipment, and make sure items don't get double booked when designing stages. If you are new to designing stages, then find an experienced competitor to help you out. Stages don't need to be complicated or gimmicky to be good. Someone who shoots sectional / state / area / national matches probably has a collection of match booklets with good stages, or at least can remember their favorites. Make sure your tablets are charged and the timers have good batteries.

 

Getting back to the help thing, as an example our club has  USPSA, Steel and 3 gun divisions. each division has a responsible party, plus at least two other volunteered co-MDs. On USPSA days, there are at least five people on hand that know where everything is, and how to get stuff done. The MD hands out assignments, turns everyone loose, and then makes sure things happen smoothly. Learn to delegate and then get out of the way.

[223to45]

You the new far north close to border MD? 

Yup. That be me.

Just trying to grab as much insight as possible.

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[wolffy1876]

Having a Co-director makes it much easier.  Split the duties.

 

Don't take complaints personally.  Use them to improve matches.

 

You will never please everyone.

[bgary]

If I can help (even if just to bounce ideas around), let me know

 

area1 "at" uspsa "dot" org

 

Bruce

[konkapot]

Delegate. Start training your replacement. 

 

Do not try to make every stage a Nationals level stage. I've made great stages in the past with 5 targets, some barrels, and some black spraypaint. 

[223to45]

Ok , had my first match. Thought it went really well.

Everything went pretty smooth. Decent size match, 60 shooters.

First time putting match on practiscore, 2/3 of shooters signed up. Not bad.

I have some really great help with the setup crew.

Was a little stressed this weekend, just wanted to make sure everything went right.
Now that the first one is out of the way. Should be no problem from here.

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[223to45]

If I can help (even if just to bounce ideas around), let me know
 
area1 "at" uspsa "dot" org
 
Bruce

No problem, will do.

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[perttime]

If you haven't yet, show the crew some appreciation. Our club has a group email set up, and a "Thanks, I think we did well" from the MD feels good - and makes you want to help out again.

[MikeBurgess]

I was thinking it may be handy to have a little more detail into the process we use for running matches, its a little different than what I have heard of other places but seems to work very well for us.

 

We set up a Google drive for our matches, with a file for every match, everyone on the setup team has access to the drive and files.

stage designers save PDFs of the stages into the next months match file, the Match directors select the stages to run for a match and move any un used stages to the next matches file. then the MDs fill out a prop list that shows what stage goes in what bay and what props are needed for each stage, our form has a inventory of all our props on it so we can see if we have enough props for the the planned stages. 

 

We get access to the match bays the day before the match so everyone that can help prints out a set of stage drawings and shows up when they can through out the day and does what they can to help set the stages up, we have one guy how normally hauls props to the bays, a few more that rough setup the stages, then one of the MDs shows up and walks the stages and makes adjustments to finalize the layout, then another couple show up and nail everything down. Nobody specifically assigned tasks but everyone kinda fell into to doing their part.

 

 

[nikdanja]

Try and “push” responsibilities off. Manage like you are managing a company. 
 

I have a few extra committed guys that I get yearly commitments from. They commit to building a stage and running registration for me for 1 year. And in return the club pays for 1 major level 2 match they want to go to. (Here in Pa there’s a local one that most of the guys shoot about an hour away.)

 

If I’m going to ask a big commitment  of them, I need take care of them on the back end. 
 

obviously match fees are waved. 

[Coastalshooter]

New MD here as well. Mine is a monthly indoor match, 4 stages, in SC. 
I do most of it myself, but have been shooting horribly in my own match, NO focus

[MikeBurgess]

17 hours ago, Coastalshooter said:

New MD here as well. Mine is a monthly indoor match, 4 stages, in SC. 
I do most of it myself, but have been shooting horribly in my own match, NO focus

That is very normal,

[j33716]

Always remember it is a volunteer sport. We are all volunteers and each one is as important as the next, regardless of job.

[rowdyb]

Getting a single person per bay/stage who you can absolutely trust to build a stage without your supervision is amazing. Work towards finding or creating these 6 people mightily.

 

Second, find someone who can be your Practiscore guru and who will train their back up person.

 

Get those two down and you're well on your way to having a smoothly running club.

[CHA-LEE]

Call USPSA and have them spoon feed you everything you need to run a match. This will be just about the only time USPSA will have the ability to justify their endless fees.

[thermobollocks]

On 9/16/2020 at 6:43 PM, rowdyb said:

Getting a single person per bay/stage who you can absolutely trust to build a stage without your supervision is amazing. Work towards finding or creating these 6 people mightily.

 

This is a huge step to ensuring successful and fun stages. Go through them beforehand (as in the week beforehand) to make sure they're legal and relatively free from hiccups, to make sure you have enough equipment to get it done, and to make sure the match is relatively balanced for shooting challenges. You don't want stages with 8 whirligigs and dingleberries or whatever to become a complete logistical nightmare even though on paper it looks fun. You also probably don't want each stage to be a 32 round jungle run. 

 

Also, the clubs I have seen be successful have ways of making it be pleasant to be on the BoD. If there's no incentive to get up early and bust humps other than "we get to have a match," it's incredibly difficult to retain motivated staff. No one's going to get rich, but an annual cookout and a comped range membership or something go a long way.

[223to45]

On 11/9/2020 at 10:56 AM, thermobollocks said:

 

This is a huge step to ensuring successful and fun stages. Go through them beforehand (as in the week beforehand) to make sure they're legal and relatively free from hiccups, to make sure you have enough equipment to get it done, and to make sure the match is relatively balanced for shooting challenges. You don't want stages with 8 whirligigs and dingleberries or whatever to become a complete logistical nightmare even though on paper it looks fun. You also probably don't want each stage to be a 32 round jungle run. 

 

Also, the clubs I have seen be successful have ways of making it be pleasant to be on the BoD. If there's no incentive to get up early and bust humps other than "we get to have a match," it's incredibly difficult to retain motivated staff. No one's going to get rich, but an annual cookout and a comped range membership or something go a long way.

 

A week ahead of time???  lots of our stages are designed on the spot. Lots of good help. Some are designed ahead of time.

 

Now since I was the OP on this , I have reached my 1 year Anniversary . I will have to say things are going good.  Last match was a 8 stage 200 rd, done in 3.5 hrs 60 shooters, setup was 8 legal stages in 3 hrs.

 

I am getting lots of good help, which is making things go really good. This is a lot less stressful then I thought.