XRe Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 'nuff said Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted August 20, 2008 Author Share Posted August 20, 2008 Note - that's the matrix, not the squad lists... You can at least see the times/stages/etc... but not who you're squadded with, yet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pskys2 Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 Wonder how long for the Squad Lists? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NMBOpen Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 If you're on squads 1-18 you'll have to deal with sunrise into your face over the back berm twice. In 2006 the sun came up right over a shoot above a no shoot target, so I indexed just above the white I could make out to hit the tan I couldn't see. USSA is the only place I've seen the berms facing southeast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pskys2 Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 The range faces Southeast and the last few eastern bays do kind of get a glare to them. Even GM's were commenting on it. Glad it's not rocked like the old Chapman Range. Wonder if they got the Sod down this year in time. They had torrential rains there, again, last week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Norman Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 Wasn't Day 3 last year a half day? in other words,didn't we all finish around noon? I really hope I get squadded on the early squad Saturday. I have travel arrangements that are dependent! Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AikiDale Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 The range faces Southeast and the last few eastern bays do kind of get a glare to them. Even GM's were commenting on it.Glad it's not rocked like the old Chapman Range. Wonder if they got the Sod down this year in time. They had torrential rains there, again, last week. Grass everywhere! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted August 21, 2008 Author Share Posted August 21, 2008 USSA is the only place I've seen the berms facing southeast. Frank Garcia's range in Frostproof, FL has the same issue in a few bays. If you shoot on the lower numbered bays as the first squad of the morning during the FL Open, you get a taste of this issue... sometimes pretty bad... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pskys2 Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 Definitely not a place to shoot lead. Guess the new Palm Pilot Scoring system is going to shorten the wait afterwards so the format can be compressed into 3 full days of shooting. Or we'll all plan on a Snoring Party. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hf219 Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 Wasn't Day 3 last year a half day? in other words,didn't we all finish around noon?I really hope I get squadded on the early squad Saturday. I have travel arrangements that are dependent! Jim Hey Jim, what match are you talking about? The nationals I think everyone else is going to starts on Sunday! LOL! I know your aging issues have caught up with you but WTF! LOL! H. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Norman Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 Harry, I will be shooting at both Nationals. It is only the second one that I have a concern about. I'd like to be on the road home by about 1:30 on Saturday. Last year IF I remember correctly we had each match shot in 2-1/2 days. (Actually 2 half days and a quarter day) Anyway, if you want a ride out and back... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuskySig Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 The squad matrix is kind of pointless without knowing which squad you are on. None-the-less, it's a step in the right direction. Thanks for posting! mattk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pskys2 Posted August 22, 2008 Share Posted August 22, 2008 Just noticed that the Multi-Gun Nationals is using the Self-Squadding format. Wonder why the others don't? Except for the necessary? Super Squads wouldn't it be simpler to use than having the Staff toil over a list of competitors? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Keen Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 (edited) We had a stage last year at USSA that we shot in the morning of the last day, and there were at least 3 targets (just past the door) on the East side of the bay that I couldnt see AT ALL because of the sun coming over the berm. Even with jacketed bullets .... I had to look down and find the target stands, and use the sticks to index up on each target. I think it was 2 bays down from chrono. Boy that sucked, but I got through it. Universal Shooting Academy in Frostproof has something like 5 or 6 bays that face East, and when I was down there last we started the day out on the very back left bay, right at about O'dark:30, and there was so much frickin' FOG we couldnt SEE ANY TARGETS beyond 10 yards! And anybody who has been to the FLA OPEN knows that Frank likes to put targets well past 10 yards! Anyways ....... it'd be nice to see some sort of squading list before the first shot is fired! I mean it is EXACTLY 2 WEEKS AWAY! Edited August 25, 2008 by CHRIS KEEN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mactiger Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 David Hyden and I have just finished squadding both matches, and the squads should be posted tomorrow, Tuesday at the latest. I'm not going to go into the complexities of squadding this many people twice. We tried self-squadding in the past, for one match, and the tremendous amount of phone overload and bitching that the headquarters staff had to endure didn't make it worthwhile. Another problem is the fact that USPSA uses it's member database for organizing competitors for the match, exporting information to EZWS just prior to the match beginning, so the self-squadding system doesn't just translate into that Access database. Also, we still had to squad the super squads by hand, and lastly the slot system sort of defeats the purpose of self-squadding, since not everyone has access to it at the same time. The multi-gun is not being organized through headquarters, so they can use whatever they like the best. I think there are still people out there who were offered a slot and have yet to decide. I still have a few spaces in the squad matrix for add-ins, but they'll have to take what they can get with regards to squad mates, because most squads are pretty full. I do think, however, that David and I have honored almost everyone's request. I'm sure not everyone will be happy, but we are pretty much done with making changes. Troy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EZ Bagger Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Probably nobody happier than the two of you! Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Boudrie Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Self squadding for the nationals is definitely one for that file labeled "seemed like a good idea at the time" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik Habicht Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Self squadding for the nationals is definitely one for that file labeled "seemed like a good idea at the time" I'll have to politely disagree --- I've never had an issue with self service squadding from the competitor standpoint. As far as I'm concerned, it's too bad that the decision not to use it again was made after a single year --- without even attempting to fix the problems that came up. (And no --- that's really not meant as a any kind of a slam against Dave Thomas, and especially Kim Williams, who I understand bore the brunt of the complaints and phone calls.) I managed to squad somewhere on the order of a dozen competitors for the Nationals that year..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Merricks Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Self squading was 05 right? Of course I did not hear any of the complaints but I thought it worked out pretty well. As Nik this is not a slam against any of the Staff, you guys Rock and do a great job. I would encourage to maybe try it again or maybe get some feed back from some of the larger matchs that use it on how it is working out for them, if any are using it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Boudrie Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 There are some fundamental differences with the nationals that present challenges for on-line squadding: Nationals registrations are processed in huge batches. On-line squadding works best if you add people to the on-line system every few days, rather than in huge batches. On-line squadding works best if you assign competitors to an initial squad upon registration, and let them change if they wish. That way, everyone in a single envelope starts out together, and you've taken care of the people who will never get to their computer. The 2005 nationals did not assign everyone to an initial squad, but that would not have worked since all registrations were released for squadding at the same time - so "initial squadding" would not have allowed any room for movement. The inability to set an initial squad meant users who previously simply enclosed a note with their registration had to coordinate squadding with their compatriots. If the nationals did allow competitors to squad as registration arrived, many people on the waiting list would find it impossible to get squadded with their buddy who registered weeks earlier with an earned slot, since that person's squad may already be full. It has been said that if you have a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail. The on-line squadding system has worked wonderfully for many major matches, but I can certainly understand the decision to not use it for the nationals. I decided to create the on-line squadding system when I had index cards representing competitors spread out all over my living room floor making up the assignments for an Area 7 Championship. By the time I was done, I had decided that I never wanted to go through that process again. One of the big advantages of on-line squadding is "no surprises" - everyone gets what the system says they should get, and the match director does not need to deal with a competitor who arrives at the match and finds out he did not get his squadding request honored. Fortunately, the nationals match staff has the competence to do a great job processing requests, and thick enough skin to deal with the rare competitor whose request they are unable to honor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlamoShooter Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 So I am kind of slow on some things....When the squads are up , will we be able to see all the names of the guys on our squad ? or just what squad we are on ? and will the link for the squad matrixe get us to the squad list ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritinUSA Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 This link will take you to the web-page with the Nationals Information on it. The squad list will show the number of the squad and all the names of all the people in each squad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgnoyes Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 I decided to create the on-line squadding system when I had index cards representing competitors spread out all over my living room floor making up the assignments for an Area 7 Championship. By the time I was done, I had decided that I never wanted to go through that process again. Oh, yuck! Well, the way I used to do it before self-service squadding was when a batch of entries came in wanting to squad with each other, I'd just start creating little bitty temporary squads starting at squad 40 or 50 and going up from there. (All of them marked 'squad-with'.) So I'd have dozens of little squads with 2, 3, 4, etc people in them. Then the week of the match, I'd just take all those little squad building blocks, look to see what my desired real squad size was, and just starting filling up the real squads with the folks from mini-squads with the drag-and-drop window, and it all seemed to work out. Now of course, with ezws fully integrated into self-service squadding, I go that route. Eliminates the problem of those coming in wanting to "squad with the such-and-such club folks". Yeah, okay. And who are those?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pskys2 Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 (edited) David Hyden and I have just finished squadding both matches, and the squads should be posted tomorrow, Tuesday at the latest. I'm not going to go into the complexities of squadding this many people twice. We tried self-squadding in the past, for one match, and the tremendous amount of phone overload and bitching that the headquarters staff had to endure didn't make it worthwhile. Another problem is the fact that USPSA uses it's member database for organizing competitors for the match, exporting information to EZWS just prior to the match beginning, so the self-squadding system doesn't just translate into that Access database. Also, we still had to squad the super squads by hand, and lastly the slot system sort of defeats the purpose of self-squadding, since not everyone has access to it at the same time. The multi-gun is not being organized through headquarters, so they can use whatever they like the best. I think there are still people out there who were offered a slot and have yet to decide. I still have a few spaces in the squad matrix for add-ins, but they'll have to take what they can get with regards to squad mates, because most squads are pretty full. I do think, however, that David and I have honored almost everyone's request. I'm sure not everyone will be happy, but we are pretty much done with making changes. Troy I figured it would cut down on the calls and complaints. Never thought of the Back Log due to big batches, now I understand why it would be a bigger pain. But then the Nats do get people a bit more uptight! Thanks for the info. Dave Edited August 25, 2008 by pskys2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Merricks Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Rob, Thanks for the great explanation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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