Great! That is one of the main purposes of these matches.
Please let the ROs know this is your first match so they can do everything possible to make it an enjoyable first of many.
Don’t worry about your time or finish position. Use it as a gauge to measure your future progress. I tell people not to set the bar too high and make it difficult to beat it.
I see serious improvement with people shooting these. A good friend of mine went to his first match and shot a ~235s total time and finished in the bottom 10% at his first match. This was after considerable work and practice with him prior going. It set a mark, identified places for improvement. A year later he was ~105 and hopes to break under 100 at the next match. Incredible change.
Another shot a 192s at his first match in 2019 He has recently been promoted to Master after his 3 pistol division wins and most recently shot a 63s. 1/3 the total time.
My personal improvements were not near as dramatic. I’m a slow learner!!
But, I have cut over 20% of my best time of my first match. My first was better than most because of a practice match just like these and a few peers giving me advice. Most of these improvements were not made by memorizing the course of fire. It was from skill building. Signal to first shot times dropping to near or below 1s depend on target distance. Proper trigger manipulation while keeping the sights on target. Changing cadence on demand as needed, both speeding up and slowing down. That .20 split works pretty good on that 5yard target, but you had better put the brakes on on the one at 25yards. Target transitions. Anxiety management (the game plan goes out the window when the timer goes beep). Learning where you can risk a bit faster shot without gaining penalty seconds on your total time.
Most gun owners don’t shoot their firearms on a regular basis yet feel they are protected. Many times I think they avoid competitions to keep reality from interfering with their feeling if security. If a person can get past that and use it as a learning experience, they will gain momentum by leaps and bounds.
I think you will find it rewarding. Hopefully the weather will cooperate!!
