Slawburger
Master
Following are a few random thoughts on the 2015 USPSA Limited Nationals in Frostproof FL at Universal Shooting Academy.
I met some nice people and was pleased to see a few acquaintances from the Indiana State Matches in 2014 and 2015. I had been looking forward to this match for a long time and enjoyed the experience. I would definitely attend another Nationals in the future although my observations include a few areas for improvement.
The little pro shop had some nice items and shooters conveniences but it wasn't regularly staffed. I knocked several times on the inner door and eventually someone came out to see what I wanted. I was persistent because I needed some replacement ammo (long story). The ammo seemed consistent, cycled fine and was exactly what I needed. I would have bought more items on later visits if the counter had been manned. Several people left without making a purchase because there was no one working even during peak times.
It was very hard to find information about the match. The USPSA website had few details and seemed choppy to navigate with information in different places. The Universal Shooting Academy website didn't have much information and I had to dig for what little I could find. The Florida Open was promoted much heavier on the Universal website than the Nationals. Frankly, it irritated me that we didn't receive top billing at least while the match was happening. E-mails seemed to come out after I needed to know something instead of before I needed to know it. I would have really liked one webpage that I could mark as a favorite and return to for updated, reliable, well-presented, coherent and complete information. After you drive 600+ miles small things become more difficult to wrap your head around. Example: I saw it stated somewhere that the Range opened at 8:00 but the schedule said the first stage started at 7:45. I arrived at 7:15 just in case.
The last 70 miles of the drive consisted of three lanes of traffic all traveling at the same rate of speed and punctuated frequently by stoplights. Interminable comes to mind as a description. The closest hotel I could find was a Hampton Inn about 35 minutes away. The hotel was fine but the front desk people could have been more helpful. There was a mall and theatre across the road but there were no sidewalks, the grass was calf-high and there was no way of safely crossing a 3-4 lane road without a car. My wife accompanied me on the trip and probably would have contributed more to the local economy on the first day if there had been a way to cross the road. Maybe I am spoiled because Silver Creek Conservation Club is almost right in town and near a major metro area and airport.
Based on the Indiana State Matches I expected more swag at the Nationals. I got a small blue bag of catalogs and two small stickers. The match shirts were white printed t-shirts that evoked event shirts from 30 years ago instead of a modern performance fabric and competition styling. There was a nicer match shirt available for sale in the vendor tent. I bought one but it is fairly drab compared to the last two Indiana shirts.
There were a couple of vendors setup under a large sheltered area. I enjoyed browsing the merchandise and looking for that magical piece of gear that would improve my score. It would have been nice to see more vendors though. The guys at Black Scorpion Gear took pity on the sad looking hat I was wearing (too many rainy matches) and gave me a new one so "Thank You again"!
The "gravel" in some of the areas at Universal was more like the remains from blasting a tunnel. It was huge and difficult to traverse with a shooting cart. I almost twisted an ankle a couple of times trying to walk across it.
The bays all had cover, seating and trash containers (bagged). The wood was in good shape and appeared freshly painted (in the same color). There were plenty of well-marked safety areas. There was plenty of water although the plastic bottles seemed wasteful compared to refillable water dispensers. The appearance of the bays was professional and they were well marked with the Stage numbers. The center road between the bays was dry and passable (after you got past the areas with huge gravel).
My wife accompanied me on day two and three. She appreciated the restroom with an actual flushable toilet, sinks with hot & cold water and soap. There were also plenty of port-a-potties.
There was a practice area at the end of the range with steel plates to do some live fire and check out your gun. I thought that was a nice addition and would be very helpful if field modifications/repairs were needed.
They seemed to have plenty of golf carts and 4-wheelers running around. I saw one cart loaded with targets, stakes, plastic bags and other quick resupply items for the bays. One of the cart drivers was nice enough to give my wife a ride to save her a long walk. Shuttles make a big difference in the heat.
Scores were posted frequently and e-mailed to the competitors throughout the day. That was well-done.
The break between days seemed to occur right after one of the more interesting stages. I don't think I ended any day with a plain "stand and shoot" stage. There were a few props, decorations and stages that involved construction although I really expected more at the Nationals. The stage in a shoothouse constructed inside and around a large shelter-house and the stage with targets on a railed track will probably be the ones I remember when I think about the match a year from now.
Maybe I missed it but I didn't see any mention of a Shooters Meeting. I like the big kick-off before the State Matches where the sponsors are introduced and thanked for the wonderful prizes they donated, match people we need to know are pointed out, final instructions/updates are provided and then the Match Director says something demotivational er inspirational to kick us off. I shot the AM round on the last day so I didn't stay the extra 6.5 hours for the awards ceremony at the end. I assume there were some sort of prizes from the sponsors. Since there was a nice bright indoor area with glass display cases in the pro shop it might have been a good idea to display the prizes.
The stage crews were all a little different. Some had clipboard trees numbered by shooter order and others just had a pile of paper on the table. Some of the crews had obviously worked out in advance who was responsible for various tasks and were very efficient while others seemed to be winging it. Some tried to decrease paster waste by issuing one roll of pasters at a time (which resulted in people not pasting because they didn't have any pasters). Some had worked out the best way to score and reset their stages. Some crews were brusque and all business but were still professional. Some crews were fun, engaging, added to the experience and they also seemed to be the happiest crews. I appreciate all the crews for working the match and putting in long days in the sun but some deserved extra acknowledgement.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention what a great squad I fell into. We had a lot of fun together, helped each other, reset the stages quickly and all posed for pictures afterward.
I saw a few things that could be brought back to our matches and a few things we might want to avoid.
Overall, it was a great experience and I am very happy and thankful that I was able to attend.
P.S. I am still tired from the drive back so please excuse any typos or poor phrasing.
I met some nice people and was pleased to see a few acquaintances from the Indiana State Matches in 2014 and 2015. I had been looking forward to this match for a long time and enjoyed the experience. I would definitely attend another Nationals in the future although my observations include a few areas for improvement.
The little pro shop had some nice items and shooters conveniences but it wasn't regularly staffed. I knocked several times on the inner door and eventually someone came out to see what I wanted. I was persistent because I needed some replacement ammo (long story). The ammo seemed consistent, cycled fine and was exactly what I needed. I would have bought more items on later visits if the counter had been manned. Several people left without making a purchase because there was no one working even during peak times.
It was very hard to find information about the match. The USPSA website had few details and seemed choppy to navigate with information in different places. The Universal Shooting Academy website didn't have much information and I had to dig for what little I could find. The Florida Open was promoted much heavier on the Universal website than the Nationals. Frankly, it irritated me that we didn't receive top billing at least while the match was happening. E-mails seemed to come out after I needed to know something instead of before I needed to know it. I would have really liked one webpage that I could mark as a favorite and return to for updated, reliable, well-presented, coherent and complete information. After you drive 600+ miles small things become more difficult to wrap your head around. Example: I saw it stated somewhere that the Range opened at 8:00 but the schedule said the first stage started at 7:45. I arrived at 7:15 just in case.
The last 70 miles of the drive consisted of three lanes of traffic all traveling at the same rate of speed and punctuated frequently by stoplights. Interminable comes to mind as a description. The closest hotel I could find was a Hampton Inn about 35 minutes away. The hotel was fine but the front desk people could have been more helpful. There was a mall and theatre across the road but there were no sidewalks, the grass was calf-high and there was no way of safely crossing a 3-4 lane road without a car. My wife accompanied me on the trip and probably would have contributed more to the local economy on the first day if there had been a way to cross the road. Maybe I am spoiled because Silver Creek Conservation Club is almost right in town and near a major metro area and airport.
Based on the Indiana State Matches I expected more swag at the Nationals. I got a small blue bag of catalogs and two small stickers. The match shirts were white printed t-shirts that evoked event shirts from 30 years ago instead of a modern performance fabric and competition styling. There was a nicer match shirt available for sale in the vendor tent. I bought one but it is fairly drab compared to the last two Indiana shirts.
There were a couple of vendors setup under a large sheltered area. I enjoyed browsing the merchandise and looking for that magical piece of gear that would improve my score. It would have been nice to see more vendors though. The guys at Black Scorpion Gear took pity on the sad looking hat I was wearing (too many rainy matches) and gave me a new one so "Thank You again"!
The "gravel" in some of the areas at Universal was more like the remains from blasting a tunnel. It was huge and difficult to traverse with a shooting cart. I almost twisted an ankle a couple of times trying to walk across it.
The bays all had cover, seating and trash containers (bagged). The wood was in good shape and appeared freshly painted (in the same color). There were plenty of well-marked safety areas. There was plenty of water although the plastic bottles seemed wasteful compared to refillable water dispensers. The appearance of the bays was professional and they were well marked with the Stage numbers. The center road between the bays was dry and passable (after you got past the areas with huge gravel).
My wife accompanied me on day two and three. She appreciated the restroom with an actual flushable toilet, sinks with hot & cold water and soap. There were also plenty of port-a-potties.
There was a practice area at the end of the range with steel plates to do some live fire and check out your gun. I thought that was a nice addition and would be very helpful if field modifications/repairs were needed.
They seemed to have plenty of golf carts and 4-wheelers running around. I saw one cart loaded with targets, stakes, plastic bags and other quick resupply items for the bays. One of the cart drivers was nice enough to give my wife a ride to save her a long walk. Shuttles make a big difference in the heat.
Scores were posted frequently and e-mailed to the competitors throughout the day. That was well-done.
The break between days seemed to occur right after one of the more interesting stages. I don't think I ended any day with a plain "stand and shoot" stage. There were a few props, decorations and stages that involved construction although I really expected more at the Nationals. The stage in a shoothouse constructed inside and around a large shelter-house and the stage with targets on a railed track will probably be the ones I remember when I think about the match a year from now.
Maybe I missed it but I didn't see any mention of a Shooters Meeting. I like the big kick-off before the State Matches where the sponsors are introduced and thanked for the wonderful prizes they donated, match people we need to know are pointed out, final instructions/updates are provided and then the Match Director says something demotivational er inspirational to kick us off. I shot the AM round on the last day so I didn't stay the extra 6.5 hours for the awards ceremony at the end. I assume there were some sort of prizes from the sponsors. Since there was a nice bright indoor area with glass display cases in the pro shop it might have been a good idea to display the prizes.
The stage crews were all a little different. Some had clipboard trees numbered by shooter order and others just had a pile of paper on the table. Some of the crews had obviously worked out in advance who was responsible for various tasks and were very efficient while others seemed to be winging it. Some tried to decrease paster waste by issuing one roll of pasters at a time (which resulted in people not pasting because they didn't have any pasters). Some had worked out the best way to score and reset their stages. Some crews were brusque and all business but were still professional. Some crews were fun, engaging, added to the experience and they also seemed to be the happiest crews. I appreciate all the crews for working the match and putting in long days in the sun but some deserved extra acknowledgement.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention what a great squad I fell into. We had a lot of fun together, helped each other, reset the stages quickly and all posed for pictures afterward.
I saw a few things that could be brought back to our matches and a few things we might want to avoid.
Overall, it was a great experience and I am very happy and thankful that I was able to attend.
P.S. I am still tired from the drive back so please excuse any typos or poor phrasing.
