IDPA club dying, your thoughts for revival....

[flintknapper]

Small club (perhaps 15 members), small town. I have not been active in this club for a couple of years now.. due to a shoulder injury. I am one of the founding members and I am concerned that our club is about to close because of lack of attendance.

When the club first started (about 6 years ago) we had in excess of 40 members (all ages)...and attendance was quite good. I warned at the time.. that unless we made it family oriented and encouraged women and youngsters to participate that we would die a slow death.

We are about to hold a meeting to discuss ways to attract more people.

Currently, we are comprised solely of middle aged men (demographically the most likely members).

What do you guys/gals enjoy about your club, and what recommendations would you make (keeping in mind that we are small, and surrounded by small towns).

Your thoughts are appreciated.

Flint.

[SRVA]

Flintknapper, This would be a great discussion topic on http://www.texasidpa.com. You might want to also post it over there.

[BobCat]

You are absolutely right about making the club more "open" to women and young people. I'm often one of the younger people on the firing line at the Highpower match at our club, and I'm 57 years old.

The shooting sports will die out unless we get more young people involved. Once the "sports" die out, the pool of people having some expertise with firearms dies out, and the entire idea of "self defense" is moot.

If I had any idea how to revitalize your IDPA club, I would put it into practice at out Highpower division. The best I can think of is to have a Web presence - if you are not on the Internet you might as well not exist, these days.

You might want to have some "clinics" - introductory shoots for "new" or inexperienced shooters, who might be intimidated by "posting a poor score" in comparison with experienced shooters. Maybe make an unoffical "class" for new shooters at your regular matchs.

The hardest part is getting the word out to people that these opportunities exist. There is a thread on THR by a student in Austin, about getting new shooters involved at the University rifle club by handling out leaflets on campus - apparently pretty effective.

Best of luck with your endeavor.

Regards,
Andrew

[Piney]

Greetings--

Couple of comments-

Advertise--
Gun Shops- put up flyers
Internet (decent web site-- not just a one pager...)
Local paper- small ads in the classifieds

Events
Women's Shooting Day
I hear my friends' wives/girlfriends say 2 things-- There arent ever any ladies at these things- and I dont know how to shoot.

Range
Make it inviting-- Covered area, lights for night shooting, set up a steel shooting bay, ect

Flint-- Your from somewhere around East TX. Im in LVW- Feel free to holler sometime--

[therooster]

encourage people to bring guests and let the guests shoot free (once or twice).

put together a "new shooter orientation". have an experienced shooter go over:

Drawing from holster and re-holstering.
Gripping the firearm with strong hand, weak hand, and freestyle.
Sight alignment.
Trigger control.
Reloading (slide lock, tactical reload and reload w/retention).
Moving with a drawn weapon.
Shooting stances, including prone shooting and barricade shooting.
Clearing malfunctions.
How matches are scored.
Range commands and procedures.

this has helped out group gain over 60 members in just one year.

[Charles L. Cotton]

Flint:
I have a few domains for various purposes; my wife's real estate business, my law firm, our family page (nothing but links), TexasIDPA.com and a couple of others. I also have TexasShooting.com which is the host for TexasCHLforum. (TexasCHLforum.com is on a re-director.) I know enough to get these sites up and running, but I’m far from a web site expert. I would be happy to make space available to your club on TexasShooting.com and if you don’t have anyone able to make your web site, I can help you there as well. I won’t have time to make changes on a frequent basis, but after we get the site up and running, I could post scores and announcements for the club. If some of the true experts here could help you, I could also set up what's called an FTP account and they could run your web site.

I can also put a club section in the forum on TexasIDPA.com, so long as someone in the club will serve as moderator. In all candor, TexasIDPA.com was set up as a resource for finding clubs in Texas, their match dates and contacts, as well as Classifer dates. The forum was added primarily to provide a private planning section for those of us running the 2006 Texas State IDPA Championship. A few folks asked me to add other areas to see if they got any activity, but the forum is largely unused. I don’t know how much exposure your club would get there, but I’d be happy to add them to the forum.

Trying to discuss what we found to work and not work is simply too long for a post. I’ll send you a PM with my phone numbers and we can discuss it in detail, if you wish.

Regards,
Chas.

[TraCoun]

What do you guys/gals enjoy about your club, and what recommendations would you make (keeping in mind that we are small, and surrounded by small towns).

Your thoughts are appreciated.

Flint.

Flint,
If you've talked to Charles you may have heard this, but:

A few years ago we put on "Roses With Guns", a ladies-only event, which went well and eventually led to the development of PSC's Womens' Program. We have not yet seen many of them drift to IDPA, but it's a start.

Charles and I have done a number of NRA Basic Pistol Classes for ladies only and had good success with those. There is interest, but the ladies like that format more, for various reasons.

Also, through the PSC Juniors program, Charles has put on some IDPA-ish stuff that has been fairly popular.

You can PM me anytime if you want more information.

Thanx,
TraCoun

[Jeremae]

I am in big favor of PSC-IDPA's policy of Junior shooter shoots match FREE with their parents (I find it hard to afford paying for my and 17 year old son's match fees so unless he has money he only gets to shoot the PSC match for month).

Where in East Texas is your club? Might be willing to take occasional road trips and I hunt in Davey Crockett National Forest in November/December.

[RKirby]

I am in big favor of PSC-IDPA's policy of Junior shooter shoots match FREE with their parents (I find it hard to afford paying for my and 17 year old son's match fees so unless he has money he only gets to shoot the PSC match for month).

Big + 1!

Before my work schedule interfered, my son and I were shooting at least 4 matches per month, sometimes five. By the time you add up range and match fees, ammo, gas, etc. I was spending $50.00 - $60.00 per match for both of us to shoot. This does not take into account the costs for any additional practice and IDPA membership fees. I can't even imagine the costs if more than one child was involved.

Folks, for a family man, this is a very expensive sport.

My son started shooting IDPA matches with me when he was 14. Most matches he was the only young shooter there. The reasons stated above may be one major reason why there are so few young shooters.

Now I'm not picking on my local club by any means. It's a very well run and very popular club. The match directors and safety officers all have my respect for the hard work that they do to make these matches possible. Most indoor matches seem to average 20 -25 shooters, so there's not a lot of pressure to attract young shooters right now.

But... as someone said in a previous post, the young people are the future of the shooting sports. If we don't make an effort to attract and nurture the young shooters our sport faces a very bleak future.

One way to promote this agenda would be to minimize the financial burden involved. Allowing children to shoot free or at least at a reduced rate is something the local clubs can do that would be a big help.

IDPA bears a lot of blame also. As near as I can tell, there is no effort on the part of the national organization to attract young shooters. Junior shooters also pay full membership fees. USPSA had a reduced rate for additional family members the last time I looked. They also seem to work harder to attract young shooters at the national level. True, you don't get an extra copy of the magazine with the reduced rate, but how many does one household need?

Maybe IDPA needs to wake up and smell the roses.

If your club has declining attendance try promoting your club as an affordable family sport. Get the youngsters involved now and it will pay dividends later.

[flintknapper]

Just got home...and finished reading all of the responses. I am overwhelmed to say the least.

Thank you, (everyone) for all of your suggestions, especially Charles.

We are slated to have a meeting on the 15th of this month to discuss ways to revitalize the club. It is a far cry from what it started out as.

Our club is the Old Stone Fort IDPA. Matches are held at the Angelina Rifle and Pistol club (near Lufkin) where the range facilities are more than adequate.

For the first couple of years we enjoyed a high percentage of member participation. It was common to have several of the ladies show up each month (we had a division just for them) and also for the youth. Fathers with their children (and Wives) in tow was the norm. A good number of the younger LEO from around here participating as well.

Slowly.. however, there seemed to be a trend toward making the scenarios more difficult..and competition among a few of the members reached a fevered pitch.

I suppose IDPA is viewed by some as "a game". And we all know that anytime you have a "game"... that someone is going to feel like they just have to win. I am not against a little playful competition..but I believe (at the club level) it can easily cause some problems. It is my opinion that each person should strive to improve upon their skills, but.. in the process..be helpful to those less experienced.

When the ultra competitive are left to concoct the scenarios, it often results in more of a challenge than the less experienced shooters are able to handle. I can't help but think this is discouraging to them.

We meet only once a month..so I don't quite know how to balance the match so that it is not too demanding of the new shooters, nor too boring for the more experienced.

I think we're going to have to take a long hard look at ourselves.

I haven't been active in the club for a couple of years, but I intend to make this meeting and present a few of your suggestions.

Thank you all for your input.

[seamusTX]

This recent thread in rec.guns has a rather bitter tone, but could be instructive:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.guns ... 7558d1b41/

I am convinced that everyone wants to shoot. Those who don't (a) don't have a clue where to start, or (b) are afraid because of ignorance. We have also been tarred with the "gun nut" image which, unfortunately, is sometimes deserved.

The key is getting newbies to come out. If anyone expresses the least interest, I offer to take them to the range. I've made two non-shooters into enthusiastic shooters in the last year.

- Jim

[flintknapper]

This recent thread in rec.guns has a rather bitter tone, but could be instructive:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.guns ... 7558d1b41/

I am convinced that everyone wants to shoot. Those who don't (a) don't have a clue where to start, or (b) are afraid because of ignorance. We have also been tarred with the "gun nut" image which, unfortunately, is sometimes deserved.

The key is getting newbies to come out. If anyone expresses the least interest, I offer to take them to the range. I've made two non-shooters into enthusiastic shooters in the last year.

- Jim

Thanks for the link Jim.

[seamusTX]

You're welcome, sir, and good luck.

- Jim

[KBCraig]

There's "new", and there's "new to practical shooting".

Personally, I believe that it's more important to bring non-shooters into our world, than it is to get them into competitive shooting.

Here's one big barrier that IDPA, USPSA, IPSC, etc., will never overcome: newbies just need to shoot. They don't need competition.

I've had newbies who fired 50 rounds, hit the target perhaps half the time, and pointed excitedly at the one round in the 9 ring, because they "almost hit the bullseye!"

Those of us who grew up shooting, who have always been comfortable with guns, have a hard time placing ourselves in the shoes of someone who has reached adulthood (or at least the teen years) without ever handling a gun.

They fear the unknown. Their overwhelming point of reference is Hollywood exaggeration. They're afraid of recoil, of noise, of the gun flying out of their hands and going on a murderous rampage all on its own, and of trying to remember just how to work the darn gun while under stress.

They compensate for that fear in lots of ways; young men want to play gangsta and have something to brag about. Women want to be safe and be persuaded that shooting is safe and fun. Each new shooter presents new and very individual challenges.

Quick feedback is very important to new shooters. "Shoot-N-C" targets are great. Most ranges ban plinking, but if you can get someone out to the gravel pit and kill some soda cans, they'll have way more fun than they'd have trying to remember a course of fire.

In short, I think letting the neighborhood kids blast milk jugs with .22 rifles will do more to assure the future of gun rights, than pesuading their parents to try IDPA.

Kevin

[Piney]

Flint--

Suggestions-- Contact the Military Science program at SFA. Some of the students and even staff/faculty there may be interested in participating with you folks. They once maintained a .22 range located underneath the SFA coliseum, but closed it due to lead issues a number of yrs back.

Perhaps Angelina College may have an ROTC program as well.

Target the SFA and AC faculty/staff. I knew of a number of my colleagues at SFA that had an interest in firearms. You could place a small ad in the campus newspapers and see if that generates some interest.

I'm an ex-Nacogdochian (77-94). I've been meaning to come out that way and catch you folks sometime. Drop me a note about your 15th meeting. I"d enjoy coming out if I can get away.