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United States Shooting Academy
Practical/Competition Pistol Course 110
March 25-27, 2010
Lead Instructor- Pat Doyle
Assistant Instructors- Troy Fulbright, Jon Zane, Tammy Sharp
Special Instruction by Mike Seeklander
It still hurts, just a little, that I paid $600 for three days of training. However, if I had to do it again, I would not hesitate to take the class all over.
On the morning of the 25th, it was raining pretty hard. It wasn’t a good start to a course I was already skeptical about. We spent the morning in the classroom going over rules and regulations of USPSA and IDPA, and different types of gear used in competition. We also introduced ourselves and the instructors did the same.
After an hour or so, we started some dry fire drills in the classroom with miniature USPSA targets. We went over stance, draws, grips, aiming, trigger pulls, reloads, and turn and shoots, then we did all this with a "par" timer. As the morning progressed, the par time was decreased on each exercise. I really liked seeing my improvement with just a few minutes of practice. Using a timer really keeps you honest with yourself and makes you try harder every time to improve.
By the time lunch was over, the rain had subsided, and we headed to the range that afternoon.
At the range, we used live ammo while doing the same drills we did that morning. It’s a little humbling when you see that your bullets aren’t landing where you want them to land. I could slow down and make the bullets go where I wanted them to, but with a par timer, you really have to concentrate on many things at once. As we worked on our techniques, the mechanics got a little better, and I started not to actually think about what I was doing; things just started happening. By the end of the day I had decreased all of my par times by at least half, with the bullets landing where I called them……….mostly.
Day two was a full day at the range. It was a beautiful day, and in my opinion, perfect in temperature. I’m not sure I can remember everything we covered, but here’s most of it.
- Review of previous day drills
- Shooting on the move
- Transitions
- Flow (not the lady at the diner)
- Shooting from awkward positions
- Shooting through ports
- Choosing order of targets to engage
- Shooting the Texas star and other steel
- IDPA vs. USPSA targets
- Good shots after a reload
It doesn’t sound like much, but believe me, my hands were raw at the end of the day from all the shooting. The last part of the day was spent with Mike Seeklander in the classroom discussing the mental aspect of the shooting. In short, I was amazed at what Mike could convey in just one hour. His mental methodology can greatly improve your shooting, as well as your life in general.
Day 3 was our “final exam”. I thought we were going to have a “mock match” for just the 12 students in the class to run through. But, I found out we were shooting in the United States Shooting Academy monthly USPSA match. The students and the instructors made up one squad and shot the entire match together. Every stage, the instructors gave us a walkthrough of the stage; gave us some ideas to think about, and some tricks that were invaluable. As each student came to the line, the instructors were coaching and talking us through the process. While we were shooting, the instructors would be giving us positive feedback, which at times helped, but sometimes was a little distracting.
I did have a few issues with the overall experience.
- They do not have any type of living quarters on the property. I asked about this, and someone told me that they were planning on adding this in the future. So you have to factor in hotel costs if you are creating a budget. I think having an open bay, barracks style building with bunk beds for “free” lodging would be beneficial. I know not everyone will want to stay in barracks, so I would also build a building with 12x12 rooms with twin bed, wall locker, and latrine. The “private” rooms could be reserved for a minimal fee, which would likely pay for themselves eventually.
- It was really nice to have lunch provided (subs/chips/cookie). I think some type of snack stand or small restaurant would greatly increase the satisfaction of customers. This also could be a lucrative add-on for the business.
- In the lodge (which reminded me of an upscale golf course club house) there was a retail section that contained guns and gear. There was a pretty good selection, but in the 15 minutes I looked around, I wasn’t asked if I needed any assistance by any of the USSA staff. I had a few questions, but didn’t really want to chase anyone down, or make someone do something they really didn’t want to do.
- An outline of the course was given out on the first day, but it was very skeletal, and we really didn’t follow it. I expected more structure from an organisation with its roots in military and law enforcement. Using the Terminal Learning Objective (TLO) and Enabling Learning Objective (ELO) methodology could greatly improve this aspect.
- Timelines. Maybe it’s just me, but it bugs the crap out of me when someone sets a timeline and doesn’t stick to it. I understand that things will come up every now and then, but repeated occurances are not isolated incidents. We never started anything on time during this course. I think if I’m going to pay $600 dollars for training, then training should start on time, every time. If students are late, it’s their fault; they will have to deal with it later and ask the instructor to catch them up on their own time, not my time. Instructors should be on the premises no less than 30 minutes prior to class; the range/classroom should be prepped and ready to go NLT 15 minutes prior to class; students should be expected to be seated or on the range, with gear on, magazines loaded, and ready to pull the trigger at the time the class starts. I imagine we lost more than an hour due the non-adherence to time-lines.
- Take home information. We were given a few “handouts” containing valuable information. However, I think most people will end up misplacing the hand-outs since no one really seemed to have anything to keep them in. I think a three ring binder containing the handouts in page protectors, a few blank pages to take notes, a couple ink pens, and a contact sheet would have been a great educational tool for USSA to provide the students with. Or, have some sort of bound “manual” that is given out.
- The information received prior to the course was minimal, contradicted information on the website, and did not give a “show-time”. I think having the course outline, release paperwork, and contact information paperwork sent in advance would save time. Also having the lead instructor review all the information would help to. (The instructors weren’t aware of what information we received)
- There was a problem throughout the class, when it came to instructors knowing the students names, as well as the students knowing each others’ names. We were provided with those cheap peel-off name tags, but no one used them. This problem could be solved by providing each student with two t-shirts, or a t-shirt and a hat, with their names printed on the apparel. This is seen on sponsor shirts all the time, and really decreases the awkwardness when you don’t know someone’s name, or forget someone’s name. Not only would this help in learning each other’s names in the class, it would be free marketing and advertising for USSA since these shirts will inevitably be worn to matches all over the country. I also think that a couple seven dollar t-shirts would be nice tangible item to have after spending $600 dollars.
continued in next thread........................................
Practical/Competition Pistol Course 110
March 25-27, 2010
Lead Instructor- Pat Doyle
Assistant Instructors- Troy Fulbright, Jon Zane, Tammy Sharp
Special Instruction by Mike Seeklander
It still hurts, just a little, that I paid $600 for three days of training. However, if I had to do it again, I would not hesitate to take the class all over.
On the morning of the 25th, it was raining pretty hard. It wasn’t a good start to a course I was already skeptical about. We spent the morning in the classroom going over rules and regulations of USPSA and IDPA, and different types of gear used in competition. We also introduced ourselves and the instructors did the same.
After an hour or so, we started some dry fire drills in the classroom with miniature USPSA targets. We went over stance, draws, grips, aiming, trigger pulls, reloads, and turn and shoots, then we did all this with a "par" timer. As the morning progressed, the par time was decreased on each exercise. I really liked seeing my improvement with just a few minutes of practice. Using a timer really keeps you honest with yourself and makes you try harder every time to improve.
By the time lunch was over, the rain had subsided, and we headed to the range that afternoon.
At the range, we used live ammo while doing the same drills we did that morning. It’s a little humbling when you see that your bullets aren’t landing where you want them to land. I could slow down and make the bullets go where I wanted them to, but with a par timer, you really have to concentrate on many things at once. As we worked on our techniques, the mechanics got a little better, and I started not to actually think about what I was doing; things just started happening. By the end of the day I had decreased all of my par times by at least half, with the bullets landing where I called them……….mostly.
Day two was a full day at the range. It was a beautiful day, and in my opinion, perfect in temperature. I’m not sure I can remember everything we covered, but here’s most of it.
- Review of previous day drills
- Shooting on the move
- Transitions
- Flow (not the lady at the diner)
- Shooting from awkward positions
- Shooting through ports
- Choosing order of targets to engage
- Shooting the Texas star and other steel
- IDPA vs. USPSA targets
- Good shots after a reload
It doesn’t sound like much, but believe me, my hands were raw at the end of the day from all the shooting. The last part of the day was spent with Mike Seeklander in the classroom discussing the mental aspect of the shooting. In short, I was amazed at what Mike could convey in just one hour. His mental methodology can greatly improve your shooting, as well as your life in general.
Day 3 was our “final exam”. I thought we were going to have a “mock match” for just the 12 students in the class to run through. But, I found out we were shooting in the United States Shooting Academy monthly USPSA match. The students and the instructors made up one squad and shot the entire match together. Every stage, the instructors gave us a walkthrough of the stage; gave us some ideas to think about, and some tricks that were invaluable. As each student came to the line, the instructors were coaching and talking us through the process. While we were shooting, the instructors would be giving us positive feedback, which at times helped, but sometimes was a little distracting.
I did have a few issues with the overall experience.
- They do not have any type of living quarters on the property. I asked about this, and someone told me that they were planning on adding this in the future. So you have to factor in hotel costs if you are creating a budget. I think having an open bay, barracks style building with bunk beds for “free” lodging would be beneficial. I know not everyone will want to stay in barracks, so I would also build a building with 12x12 rooms with twin bed, wall locker, and latrine. The “private” rooms could be reserved for a minimal fee, which would likely pay for themselves eventually.
- It was really nice to have lunch provided (subs/chips/cookie). I think some type of snack stand or small restaurant would greatly increase the satisfaction of customers. This also could be a lucrative add-on for the business.
- In the lodge (which reminded me of an upscale golf course club house) there was a retail section that contained guns and gear. There was a pretty good selection, but in the 15 minutes I looked around, I wasn’t asked if I needed any assistance by any of the USSA staff. I had a few questions, but didn’t really want to chase anyone down, or make someone do something they really didn’t want to do.
- An outline of the course was given out on the first day, but it was very skeletal, and we really didn’t follow it. I expected more structure from an organisation with its roots in military and law enforcement. Using the Terminal Learning Objective (TLO) and Enabling Learning Objective (ELO) methodology could greatly improve this aspect.
- Timelines. Maybe it’s just me, but it bugs the crap out of me when someone sets a timeline and doesn’t stick to it. I understand that things will come up every now and then, but repeated occurances are not isolated incidents. We never started anything on time during this course. I think if I’m going to pay $600 dollars for training, then training should start on time, every time. If students are late, it’s their fault; they will have to deal with it later and ask the instructor to catch them up on their own time, not my time. Instructors should be on the premises no less than 30 minutes prior to class; the range/classroom should be prepped and ready to go NLT 15 minutes prior to class; students should be expected to be seated or on the range, with gear on, magazines loaded, and ready to pull the trigger at the time the class starts. I imagine we lost more than an hour due the non-adherence to time-lines.
- Take home information. We were given a few “handouts” containing valuable information. However, I think most people will end up misplacing the hand-outs since no one really seemed to have anything to keep them in. I think a three ring binder containing the handouts in page protectors, a few blank pages to take notes, a couple ink pens, and a contact sheet would have been a great educational tool for USSA to provide the students with. Or, have some sort of bound “manual” that is given out.
- The information received prior to the course was minimal, contradicted information on the website, and did not give a “show-time”. I think having the course outline, release paperwork, and contact information paperwork sent in advance would save time. Also having the lead instructor review all the information would help to. (The instructors weren’t aware of what information we received)
- There was a problem throughout the class, when it came to instructors knowing the students names, as well as the students knowing each others’ names. We were provided with those cheap peel-off name tags, but no one used them. This problem could be solved by providing each student with two t-shirts, or a t-shirt and a hat, with their names printed on the apparel. This is seen on sponsor shirts all the time, and really decreases the awkwardness when you don’t know someone’s name, or forget someone’s name. Not only would this help in learning each other’s names in the class, it would be free marketing and advertising for USSA since these shirts will inevitably be worn to matches all over the country. I also think that a couple seven dollar t-shirts would be nice tangible item to have after spending $600 dollars.
continued in next thread........................................
