IDPA Changes

beltfed said:
If it is one thing that organized sport shooting has taught me; be it IPSC, IDPA, DCRA Service Rifle or being involved with a Provincial Rifle Association, is that there is always BS politics involved. As soon as money starts changing hands or another discipline wants to use the range...ego 'A' v. Ego 'B'...look out, sparks are going to fly!!!:(
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Ain't that the truth.

This actually makes me laugh a bit on the inside. Karma.

Greg
 
Update on the IDPA forum and on IDPACANADA.

My take on the update:

SOI's, wait for the new rules, we will be needed again.

New club affiliations? Check, contact HQ.

New SO's ? Wait for the new rules and training course, until then work the line.

Who is running IDPA in Canada, Club contacts. If you need help with a sanctioned match contact HQ.

We keep shooting as we have been until the new rules come in place.

Geoff
 
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Here is the update:


There has been a bit of confusion regarding our recent announcement to reorganize the International segments of IDPA. Let me reassure everyone the "I" in IDPA still stands for International. Many companies facing exponential growth can out pace the management infrastructure it had in place. This can lead to many piece meal solutions which don't fit the majority of the problems the company may be facing and can lead to serious management concerns. Our International management of IDPA in countries around the world is facing such issues today. We need a much more concise management system if we are to continue growing our International, as well as our domestic, shooting community.

Our first and foremost priority is to all of our shooters. We will always put the shooters ahead of any management issues. Our recent announcements are focused on the requests of our member shooters. The number one request to the Tiger Teams from the members was about consistency of officiating. The Tiger Teams have taken this request as our highest priority. We have realized our current system of educating Safety Officers and Safety Officer Instructors is simply not working to create the consistent level of officiating our shooting customers are demanding. The SO Education Tiger Team will be kicking off in Q4. We expect a wholesale replacement of our current system for both Safety Officers and Safety Officer Instructors. While none of the criteria have been set at this point, we do know we can not continue to have people taking the SO class when they haven't been shooting IDPA long enough to get a membership number! We will most likely be implementing a "length of membership" requirement as part of the new SO system. Also remember, SO certification is NOT a requirement to work as an "SO in Training" at a local club match. Most of us who have been SOs for 10 years or more started as an apprentice SO at our local club for 2 years or more before we took the SO Certification class. We are also expecting a formal requirement for a period of local experience in the new SO requirements.

Knowing the rules of IDPA is only a small part of being an SO. As any battle hardened SO will tell you, nothing teaches a person how to be an SO like running shooters on a regular basis. We expect to have a large portion of the SO training day to be spent on the range. We will leverage a number of other tools to help us get new SOs all on the same page. We have been offered a number of resources including computer-based training as well as a library of video examples which could be integrated into the training. We will NOT spend 6 or 7 hours in the class room just reading the rule book.

In short, the SO education of tomorrow will bear little resemblance to the material being taught in the SO class today.

Many of our International shooters have told us horror stories of how expensive it has been for them to become an SO. A number of our Country ACs or Club Contacts tell us of significant travel costs associated with taking a class. The requirements to become a certified SO WILL change with the new rule book. We simply can not ask our International shooters to incur the high cost of becoming an SO only to have to retake a class again in just a few months. This is the primary reason for ending the SO classes now.

Training for SOIs has been non-existent until now. We have absolutely ZERO consistency in the lessons taught by SOIs around the world. This is one of the primary contributors to inconsistent officiating. We will also be addressing this problem with the SO Education Tiger Team.

What this leads to is a requirement that all SOIs and SOs around the world will need to be certified to the new education system. Our communications rescinding all of the AC, SOI and other country contacts is based on doing the right thing for our SO and shooter communities.

We are in the process of building a robust new system to deal with the unique requirements for our International shooters. However, it must be a system that is self supporting and does not overwhelm our limited HQ resources. As it stands today, 80% of the issues brought to HQ for resolution come from less than 20% of the membership. We must develop a new system which allows our International clubs to become more self supporting. We are investing heavily in new back office automation systems to help us with this goal, but we will need a consistent International management infrastructure across the globe to take advantage of that automation. The current disconnected systems we have today will simply not fit into the new automated systems we are building.

No one should feel slighted by these announcements. There is nothing personal towards any country or International leader. The changes are simply part of building a new IDPA as we continue our exponential growth. Until then, club contacts can continue to contact HQ for any issues they may face during this transitional period. The executive management team will all step in to give the HQ staff a hand in dealing with requests from around the world. Current clubs can continue to operate as they have been in the past. New shooters can continue to join IDPA. New SO candidates can continue to work local club matches and gain valuable experience working with shooters on the firing line. The executive management team will help new clubs get started around the world as we continue to grow. Other issues that may occur will be dealt with by the management team on a case-by-case basis as needed.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we strive to make IDPA the best shooting sport in the world.

Terry "Bubba" Burba
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Jarlath said:
Looks like IDPA taking a page outta IPSC politics.

Sad.
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Freedom Ventures said:
How so?
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cbabes said:
Not sure that's a bad thing. IPSC doesn't put up with some of the crap that IDPA let slide. Looking forward to see how this turns out.

If things don't work out I think there are enough of us that we could start our own league like ODPL did. No BS just fun, safe shooting. SAFE & FUN that's it, you would think it would be easy. :D
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From the initial sound of it, it was IDPA changing rules/requirements without even recognizing other groups outside of the USA. Many Canadian IDPA shooters were scratching their heads. Reminds me of the IPSC guys here on CGN wondering WTF IPSC HQ was thnking with some of the rule changes (eg: what needs approval for what level match, etc..)

Now that may now be incorrect (Or a try at a new money maker via new training, IDPA is for profit recall) with an up do date response from IDPA...

And yes the two key rules in ODPL are Safety and then Fun :) If you cannot be safe you have no fun!
 
I am sorry for the IDPA shooter that just wants to shoot a great match. That is the real loser in all of this....but sadly that is the way of politics
 
bersmith said:
I am sorry for the IDPA shooter that just wants to shoot a great match. That is the real loser in all of this....but sadly that is the way of politics
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not really, we will just shoot matches any way we want, piss on hq if they want to invalidate out entire countries idpa management.

there should not be usa rules and then international rules, it should be everyone or no one.

I remember reading that one of the founding principles was "stability" of the rules....they are on the third set of rules/addendums now. not very stable
 
Just follow the rule book on course design and follow the shooting/equipment rules and through Brian's guidance you will do alright.

Take Care

Bob
 
sask farmboy said:
not really, we will just shoot matches any way we want, piss on hq if they want to invalidate out entire countries idpa management.

there should not be usa rules and then international rules, it should be everyone or no one.

I remember reading that one of the founding principles was "stability" of the rules....they are on the third set of rules/addendums now. not very stable
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interestingly enough, any club who now wants to run IDPA can do so unaffiliated it seems. There is no line of enforcement left in Canada.
 
cbabes said:
If IDPA doesn't do something about this soon clubs like mine will be pulling their IDPA nights and affiliation. I can guarantee you that. I already had an email from the president of one of my clubs asking about more information. I don't blame him. He needs to watch his back and the club's back.

Think about it? What if something goes wrong on an IDPA night and someone is hurt? IDPA USA has already stated how they feel about the training of our SOIs who in turn have trained our SOs. Personally if I was the president of my club I would pull IDPA until HQ approves of our training! Also, IDPA HQ should offer some money back to the clubs if this process takes much longer.

Ooops! There I go getting myself in trouble again! I just had to vent and the internet is great for that! Bob please don't call me a Monday Morning Quarterback for this like you did before. It makes total sense. If I was running a club that had an IDPA night I would feel very vulnerable right now!!!
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Agreed, one of the first thoughts I had was that it was weird they pulled the SOI status without also pulling SO status. Kind of like an oxymoron.
 
Onagoth said:
Agreed, one of the first thoughts I had was that it was weird they pulled the SOI status without also pulling SO status. Kind of like an oxymoron.
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but if they pulled the SO's there would be nobody left to run shooters through and an end of idpa, to drop the SOI's and up lets the league go on as usual while they replace the upper management and then make all the so's recertify to the new standard. and pulling the soi's status effectively puts an end to all so training until the new standard is out.


what a slap in the face to the soi's exc who put in free time for idpa to make money

I cant wait to have to go back to the general meeting at our Handgun club and have to ask for more money to get soi's down and get our SO's certified.....again. they will likely say no and we will end up paying out of our pockets........if we recertify.
 
sask farmboy said:
but if they pulled the SO's there would be nobody left to run shooters through and an end of idpa, to drop the SOI's and up lets the league go on as usual while they replace the upper management and then make all the so's recertify to the new standard. and pulling the soi's status effectively puts an end to all so training until the new standard is out.


what a slap in the face to the soi's exc who put in free time for idpa to make money

I cant wait to have to go back to the general meeting at our Handgun club and have to ask for more money to get soi's down and get our SO's certified.....again. they will likely say no and we will end up paying out of our pockets........if we recertify.
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Where are you getting this from?

Re-certification of existing SO's will be done on line on a no fee basis. Yes you will have to read and study the new rule book in order to pass any on line exam. That should not come as any surprise. It is my understanding re-certification will be an ongoing process.

Rules for certification of SOI's have not been set yet but will be once the new rule book is published.

In February all SO training outside of N.A. was cancelled. SO Training in Canada is now cancelled and the US has been cut back and will end Sept. 1 of this year. The US SOI's will be subject to the new criteria for certification as our ours.

Lets just continue to shoot our matches and wait for the new management structure to unfold.

Our management and SOI team here in Canada are big boys/girls and understand the need for this re-structuring. Our existing rule boom requires a major re-write and has required the need for sometime. Hopefully it's shortfalls will be addressed along with a more effective management structure for IDPA. I know the Wilson's along with Terry and Kitty and the BOD are committed to seeing this major overhaul through.

I believe we have in place the most qualified group of Instructors in IDPA. I make no apologies to my American counterparts. When the dust settles will still will have the best Instructors in IDPA and our sport will continue to grow in Canada.

Take Care

Bob
 
Canuck44 said:
Re-certification of existing SO's will be done on line on a no fee basis.

Take Care

Bob
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So the SOs that were not trained properly in the first place will get training from a computer online? Am I the only one who finds this hilarious? I know the corporate world does this type of training but for an SO?
 
cbabes said:
So the SOs that were not trained properly in the first place will get training from a computer online? Am I the only one who finds this hilarious? I know the corporate world does this type of training but for an SO?
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I know for a fact it is to train people how to deal with volatile chemicals.
 
Sorry but as a "former" SOI I don't see what a lot of the hoopla is about.

We were not able to run courses anyway?

Did they pull the US SOI's nope but this would be a good corporate decision, some states have more SOI's than all of Canada did.

SO attrition is a real issue in the states, think about it 20,000 members down there, weekly matches. Guys running the line are going to get tired, SO burn out is a real factor.

Did I give up my time to support this sport, yep.
Did I take time away from my family to support this sport, yep.
Was I tired, yep.
Some days do I just really want to sleep in on Saturday mornings, yep.

But what has come out of my invested time has been getting to know a great bunch of shooters. Being able put a little coin into the clubs coffers. Getting new shooters out and on the line supporting and promoting the shooting sports.

I feel the payout from this sport far out ways, the need for an extra large tea every second Saturday.

BTW are classifier is still a go July 7th starting at 9. See you there.
 
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