USPSA Category Awards

[BritinUSA]

I noticed that WomenofUSPSA has a posted an online survey with regard to Category Awards.

There have been a few instances where shooters have won a category but it has not been recognized by the Match organizers due to a limited number of competitors. If you have any thoughts on this matter, then please take the time to complete the survey.

Here is the link : Link to Survey

Thank you

For reference, the current USPSA rules regarding the category awards are shown below:

Category Awards - Appendix A2

1. Divisions

Level I and Level II - A minimum of 5 competitors per Division (recommended)

Level III / Nationals - A minimum of 10 competitors per Division (mandatory)

2. Categories

Division status must be achieved before Categories are recognized.

All level matches - A minimum of 5 competitors per Division Category (see approved list below)

3. Individual Categories:

Categories approved for individual recognition are as follows:

a. Lady

b. Junior

c. Senior

d. Super Senior

e. Military

f. Law

[Joe4d]

deleted

Edited November 27, 2009 by Joe4d

[BritinUSA]

There are some comment fields in the survey where you can add additional suggestions.

[Ron Ankeny]

If the intent of the OP is to just provide a link, it might be good to lock the thread before the debates begin.

[Flexmoney]

I'm not giving that much information out to answer the question.

[BritinUSA]

The personal data is not sent to USPSA, it says so on the survey.

[ima45dv8]

I'm not giving that much information out to answer the question.

Ditto.

[RufDog]

I would like to see Military and LEO ammended to,,,,,,, using actual issued equipment, or personally acquired equipment that is identical in all aspects to dept or organization issued equipment including the use of all retention devices.

That is absurd.

[Flexmoney]

The personal data is not sent to USPSA, it says so on the survey.

You don't need it to answer the question. At all. So...why would you ask for it?

[BritinUSA]

You don't need it to answer the question. At all. So...why would you ask for it?

No idea, may I suggest that you send an e-mail Women of USPSA and ask them, the link to email them is : info@womenofuspsa.com

[Flexmoney]

Sorry, I thought you were involved in setting it up.

[smokshwn]

The personal data is not sent to USPSA, it says so on the survey.

All the more reason I am not giving out the info.

[JThompson]

Fat Masters over 40?

[Chills1994]

Are the women of USPSA actually paying good money for that survey?

To ask for identifier information down to the individual on such a topic that one's answer could be twisted and turned about as being sexist... is just dumb! And the people who came up with that survey have NO clue about how to survey people on sensitive subjects. DUH!

If they want to make sure it is USPSA members who do the voting, they could just ask some question that only us USPSA'ers would know... like "What does DVC stand for?"

[ima45dv8]

Before we venture down the path of bashing the Women of USPSA all to hell and gone over the registration requirements (meaning....I'll close this before it gets that far), I'd just like to say that I think the survey has merit but would like to see a more 'open' method of offering feedback.

Let's give them some time to reconsider the voting method before 'piling on' because of the sign-up screen. IOW, go easy here.

[Jim Norman]

We should look at the treatment of ALL categories. Not just Women.

We have a formula for official recognition that includes a plaque, certificate and/or a trip up to the prize table as a category winner which is in addition to your class placement and is likely an earlier trip.

I am in favor of recognizing any category winner at Level II or III matches, regardless of the number of people in the category. Call up the High and only Senior, Super Senior, Junior, Lady LE or Mil and recognize them by all means, but unless the category criteria is fulfilled, no special award.

My opinion

Jim

[99gski]

Boy did we open up a can of worms here!

First of all, I apologize if we offended anyone by asking for their personal info. Those questions were for verification purposes only and to capture USPSA specific demographic info. The reason we aren't sharing specific (name/email) info is to protect people in the case that they wish their answers remain anonymous. We do ask for the name and USPSA number to be able to perform some sort of verification and to negate multiple entries by the same person.

It's an unofficial survey and just one to get a "feel" of what's out there so that we can present results to the BOD to see if they want to look into rule changes even further. We did not pay for this specific survey. Women of USPSA generates no profit and we are 100% volunteer. The survey is something we put together to get an idea of how different classifications and divisions view the subject. It is completely voluntary and though we hope that you would take the time to answer, we completely respect your decision not to.

In my personal opinion - and this in no way reflects Women of USPSA or any other group, company or whatever I am affiliated with - I think we should look at the current rule. Special categories really help market our sport and encourage growth in areas that are crucial to the long-term success of USPSA. Even the current rule is not being followed. Not awarding SC's because a match director/committee doesn't want to pay for another trophy is beyond my understanding when the current rule supports it. And yes, sadly, it happens.

For those who want to know more about the survey...

If you select "NO" to the question:

Do you think USPSA should re-evaluate distribution of category awards?

Then you end the survey.

If you select "Yes" - these are the remaining questions:

Please rate the following special category acknowledgment options by order of preference.

OPTION A: Award 1st place when there are more than 2 competitors, 1st-3rd when there are more than 5 competitors, 1st-5th when there are more than 10 competitors.

OPTION B: Award 1st place when there are 3 or more competitors, 1st-3rd when there are more than 8 competitors, 1st-5th when there are more than 15 competitors.

OPTION C: Award 1st place when there are more than 3 competitors, 1st-2nd place when there are more than 7 competitors, 1st-3rd place when there are more than 11 competitors.

OPTION D: Award 1st when there are 3 or more competitors, 1st-3rd when there are more than 10 competitors.

OPTION E: Award 1st-3rd regardless of the number of competitors. If there are less than 3 competitors, award based on the number that have entered.

Please use this space to submit another option(s)

2. Please rate the following types of awards:

Award trophy or plaque to the special category winner and medals/certificates to remaining placements

Award medals with specified placement engraved/printed to all placements.

Award trophies or plaques to all placements.

Other (please specify)

3. In order to help match staff acknowledge special categories within the sport, what are your thoughts on the following ideas:

Create a certificate template available for download on USPSA's website. The template would allow match director's to enter the match specifics and special category details on each certificate. It would be designed so that when printed, the certificate could be placed in a frame and proudly displayed by the winner(s).

Create a stock medal (similar to a military coin) purchased in bulk to reduce cost that could be engraved with match details and placement. Match directors would contact USPSA and request an appropriate number of medals for their event.

Please use this space provide additional feedback

4. Please use this space to provide additional thoughts or suggestions regarding Special Categories.

We are open to suggestions of course, so please email us at info@womenofuspsa.com.

Again, one last apology for any offense.

All the best,

Julie

[99gski]

We should look at the treatment of ALL categories. Not just Women.

We have a formula for official recognition that includes a plaque, certificate and/or a trip up to the prize table as a category winner which is in addition to your class placement and is likely an earlier trip.

I am in favor of recognizing any category winner at Level II or III matches, regardless of the number of people in the category. Call up the High and only Senior, Super Senior, Junior, Lady LE or Mil and recognize them by all means, but unless the category criteria is fulfilled, no special award.

My opinion

Jim

Hi Jim,

The survey is not limited to women only. We agree that all special categories should be looked at. From the opening page of the survey...

As a supporter of Women of USPSA, we want to hear from you! Please answer the questions below and give us your feedback regarding acknowledging special categories within the sport. A summary of the results of this survey will be provided to USPSA for their review.

Special categories per the USPSA Rulebook are:

a. Lady

b. Junior - Competitors under the age of 18 on the first day of the match.

c. Senior - Competitors over the age of 55 on the first day of the match.

d. Super Senior - Competitors over the age of 65 on the first day of

the match.

e. Military - Military personnel on current active duty orders.

f. Law - Full-time law enforcement officers with arrest

powers.

Currently the USPSA rules state that:

Division status must be achieved before Categories are recognized at all level matches where there are a minimum of 5 competitors per Division Category.

All the best,

Julie

[Ben Stoeger]

Asking so much information about the respondent seems very strange to me. It likely even skews the results. People that are very passionate about changing the status quo will be much more willing to answer tedious questions in order to voice their opinion. The rest of us saw that it could take as much as a minute to answer the survey in its entirety and went back to surfing porn.

Edited November 28, 2009 by Ben Stoeger

[DJM3808]

I just completed the survey, the info didn't seem any more personal than what you can find here if you look for a minute.

[dcbfluff]

As mentioned, the survey iteself is kinda painless once you wad through the admin/registration. I like Julie's comment about this being about more than "High Lady" but includes other Special Categories. It's about a 1-3 minute commitment to respond.

[sslav]

In my personal opinion - and this in no way reflects Women of USPSA or any other group, company or whatever I am affiliated with - I think we should look at the current rule. Special categories really help market our sport and encourage growth in areas that are crucial to the long-term success of USPSA.

I would not want my asking this question to be misinterpreted as expressing some sort of an opinion. But I would like to understand how recognition of special categories helps to promote our sport.

[Nik Habicht]

In my personal opinion - and this in no way reflects Women of USPSA or any other group, company or whatever I am affiliated with - I think we should look at the current rule. Special categories really help market our sport and encourage growth in areas that are crucial to the long-term success of USPSA.

I would not want my asking this question to be misinterpreted as expressing some sort of an opinion. But I would like to understand how recognition of special categories helps to promote our sport.

Slav,

if you look at the demographics at an average match, it's a pretty narrow cross-section of the population. I suspect that the theory involves marketing USPSA to groups that are currently not heavily involved --- women and juniors among them....

I'm not sure that changing things will have any effect at all; neither am I sure that changing things won't have an effect.....

I'm pretty sure that recognizing a first place in a category of one is a bad idea; on the other hand in the Mid-Atlantic Section we pay class prizes (3 in class) even if we don't have five shooters in a division. So there's probably some room for discussion....

[BritinUSA]

As Nik said we are a very narrow sport, if we can find ways to promote the sport to other groups/individuals then it pays for us to do so. I think there should be some recognition for each category regardless of how many enter, for an example see this post by Nemo about the latest US Nationals.

I like the idea of companies being able to sponsor individual awards as this reduces the cost of providing a trophy for the organizers and allows some extra advertising for the sponsor.

[LPatterson]

We should look at the treatment of ALL categories. Not just Women.

We have a formula for official recognition that includes a plaque, certificate and/or a trip up to the prize table as a category winner which is in addition to your class placement and is likely an earlier trip.

I am in favor of recognizing any category winner at Level II or III matches, regardless of the number of people in the category. Call up the High and only Senior, Super Senior, Junior, Lady LE or Mil and recognize them by all means, but unless the category criteria is fulfilled, no special award.

My opinion

Jim

Based on your response, does this mean that for a Level I match you approve of the USPSA Recognition (APPENDIX A2) policy of requiring a minimum of 5 competitors per Division Category (see approved list below). Is it your intent to only recoognize a High Junior with an award if there are more than 5 Juniors at your match. Same applies to other categories but most matches now have more than 5 Senior/Super Senior shooters so someone in the old $hit category is always going home with an award. I do believe a shooter must beat someone for an award but I am not giving back my trophy for High Super Senior Revolver.