I wonder why people from 2 to 3 states away are Willing to drive here but people complain about 2 or 3 hours?
Area 5 steel challenge had a senior drive up from Florida to Terre Haute and shot the whole weekend.
I have heard it said that Terre Haute is almost to St Louis
Fifteen shooters, three stages . . . everyone home by lunch time!.
I have heard it said that Terre Haute is almost to St Louis
Well I will be at 70 hours overtime this month, logged roughly 2700 miles for work. It can be done if you want to do it
I find drive time an excuse...Using the drive time as an excuse is just that an excuse. Be honest with yourselves and just say you dont want to go...
" SENIOR" That is the clue.
He has time on his hands. Time to kill...
Well I will be at 70 hours overtime this month, logged roughly 2700 miles for work. It can be done if you want to do it
I find drive time an excuse. If you don't want to pay for a hotel I get that. If you don't want to pay for the match, I get that. Using the drive time as an excuse is just that an excuse. Be honest with yourselves and just say you dont want to go.
I've been to Ohio, TN, KY and MI to shoot their majors in the past. I'm biased but I think Indiana puts on the best. Ohio and KY matches often sell out. MO sold out this year (and it is a steel heavy match) maybe they just enjoy it more than the average hoosier
There is a reason they don't hire for me for marketing
Terre Haute is a dang near geographical oddity. It is about 2.5-3.0 hours from everywhere (Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Louisville. Seems those people can make it to our major matches with regularity.
There's no doubt that the local matches have grown. The question is why is it not translating to our major matches?
Maybe because local matches are 20 bucks? I can see that being a little more...but not $130 more for 3 additional stages. I mean, I do appreciate sponsors, but from the standpoint of shooters a hundred extra bucks for a "His & Hers" T-shirt is pretty steep.
Maybe because local matches are 20 bucks? I can see that being a little more...but not $130 more for 3 additional stages. I mean, I do appreciate sponsors, but from the standpoint of shooters a hundred extra bucks for a "His & Hers" T-shirt is pretty steep.
(I say this from the standpoint of trying to figure out others' reasons. I personally could afford shooting one of these every month, if other concerns didn't interfere, but I am sure the money does enter into most shooters' personal ROI calculation for the day).
There's a LOT more cost into a major. Hotels for out of town staff is huge. Water/Ice. Porta-Johns. 5-8 sets of targets per stage vs 1 for a local. and so on. If all you're looking at is cost per stage, then sure, shoot locals. If you're looking at cost for level of competition, the experience gained, ability to shoot with/against higher level of shooters, the challenge of enduring through a dozen stages, etc, then the cost/benefit swings.
A couple majors per year can be really cheap if you can find the time to be on staff.
I suspect the hunting season is a big factor as mentioned above. I tried to extend our club season a month and soon figured out I'd be the only one there....
edit: I just found out a couple days ago a work trip around the time of the state match was cancelled. Trying to figure out if I can shoot and/or work it now....
-rvb
There's a LOT more cost into a major. Hotels for out of town staff is huge. Water/Ice. Porta-Johns. 5-8 sets of targets per stage vs 1 for a local. and so on. If all you're looking at is cost per stage, then sure, shoot locals. If you're looking at cost for level of competition, the experience gained, ability to shoot with/against higher level of shooters, the challenge of enduring through a dozen stages, etc, then the cost/benefit swings.
A couple majors per year can be really cheap if you can find the time to be on staff.
I suspect the hunting season is a big factor as mentioned above. I tried to extend our club season a month and soon figured out I'd be the only one there....
edit: I just found out a couple days ago a work trip around the time of the state match was cancelled. Trying to figure out if I can shoot and/or work it now....
-rvb
I think that shows a big difference between two general groups of shooters: those who are motivated significantly by the competition itself and those who are not. To me, the level of competition is irrelevant. The experience gained by shooting big matches was minimally useful to me because not only do I have no chance to win, I am not interested in winning the match. Shooting with higher level shooters was interesting for the first few dozen big matches, but not so much anymore.
I realize I'm probably on the opposite end of the spectrum from you, but I'm not alone. For those of us, if shooting in the match isn't likely to provide enough fun/entertainment value to offset the investment of time and money, it's not worth doing it.
Now, that begs the question: should the big matches cater primarily to the top level of competitors (I say yes), or should they cater more toward a larger group of shooters that could increase participation (I say no)? I think the big matches should primarily be about the competition and providing a venue for the best to compete against each other with challenges commensurate with their ability levels. The downside of that is that it's not necessarily conducive to participation by everyone else, but I think that it's a potential tradeoff that is necessary and appropriate.
That also raises the reverse issue about club level matches and their audience. When clubs start running monthly matches more suitable for the nationals, it's not a great idea (I've seen this more in multi-gun/3-gun than any other discipline).