IPSC Rules?

Having completed my BB course last November, maybe I can offer some insight.

We were definately taught safe gun handling techniques, and general IPSC rules and so on. But we were also taught a fair bit about the game, and tips on how to do well.

One possible way to 'improve' the course would be to set up a mini-match at the end and shoot a few sample stages. The instructor could then review different ways to shoot the course, and the pro's and con's of the different strategies. This would give the students a bit of a match experience before their 'first' match, (thus helping to remove anxiety), and would help them to start looking at ways to improve their scores.
 
Kent23 the idea of a "Mini match" has always been included in any BB course that I have been involved in. It is a great idea.

I also like to encourage "newbies" to head to matches together. It gives them moral support. It is even better if an "old timer" goes along to give some advice....not to mention to find some of the ranges.
 
i include a mini match with my BB course. i personally feel that this is one of the most important aspect of the course. i inivite local shooters to come out and shoot the match with the students so that they see other styles.

i have had many a student thank me for the mini match after they have gone to their first match. they felt that in most cases it prepared them for the match.
 
The idea of a mini-match at the end of a BB course is a good one. I have always felt however, that skills development should be incremental, prioritized for importance, and compartmentalized. I would define the primary goal of the BB course as safety, and after that it should be accuracy, and then time, in that order of importance. In the techniques classes that I have taught over the years, the single most distracting influence to the learning curve is the timer and the pressure it somehow brings to it. I have found that programming new neuromuscular pathways is best done slowly at first, and then letting speed increase naturally as the skill becomes more intuitive through CORRECT repetition. Accordingly, I have often felt that it would be advantageous to remove the time component from the specific drills in the course until everyone is executing them correctly and safely. This is what I do in my classes. I use the timer to start the shooter, but that is all. At the end of the class I record times on the "put-it-all-together-stage" and this seems to work better for me. In the BB course, the timer could be used the same way and then reactivated for the min-match at the end, so long as the students are made to understand that it is there to record the time, not to push the competitor. Really, who cares how long it takes a raw beginner to complete a stage, as long as it is done safely? In my experience, a brand new shooter who takes his/her time and WALKS through a stage shooting good points will almost never end up in last place.
 
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BB course

DVC1911 said:
AlexS

Have you seen the new Black Badge course? The training manual has been completely re-written, a lot more material has been added.

DVC
Click to expand...

I have seen the new material, and it is better than the previous stuff. It still needs more, and it needs exactly the kind of implementation that relliott outlined. No matter, the ultimate proof is still in the way I see first-timers shoot and in the amount of first-timers not returning to the sport. To pick up mobile1's first post, and to answer 2Filthy, instructors need to have lots of competitive experience. I would say at least a B level. (that would be a real B level, not an Ontario B level, which is closer to a real D level) And that means COMPETITIVE experience, both RO'ing AND competing. You can't teach properly if you don't have practical knowledge of the material. Period.
That's not the case with SOME instructors, and a lot of the assistants. This needs to be corrected. We don't have first year students teaching at the university, and we don't have med students performing complex surgery. Yet, we are teaching people to perform complex manouvers with live, full power handguns!!! There can never be a compromise on this issue.
 
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