Lord, I love Monday morning quarterbacking.  It's enough to make one either vomit or just say the hell with it, it's not worth taking a week of your personal vacation time and hard earned money to drive 800+ miles to help others have fun then two days later have your work trashed by The MM Quarterback Club.

Dave (GIShooter) - From your post, I can only surmise you have never held a timer at a major match.  I may very well be wrong about that, but that's my feeling.

Finally, you are supposed to be watching the shooter shoot.  Your focus is on the gun, not feet.  I have never seen a foot shoot someone.  If this sport becomes one where an SO's job is to stare at people's feet then something has gone horribly wrong.


The SO's are there for several reasons, the primary directive/mission being SAFETY.  I had two highly capable SO's working with me at Oxford, and their job was two fold - watch for Rules violations and keep the shooter and others safe.  Oh, yea - also bust their asses repeatedly resetting the stage in less than 60 seconds over 350 times in three days.

From my point of view, the SO running the competitor is responsible for the following:
    Muzzle direction at all times.
    Keeping their eye on the gun. 
    Listening and watching for signs of a squib.
    Watching for a slide not returning to battery (several reasons it might not, but most importantly the aforementioned squib that can have serious consequences).
    Counting shots.
    Target engagement sequence.
    Watching reloads for safety (muzzle direction, finger in trigger) and the damned cheater's ghost reload.
    Possible sweeping of body parts (and yes, I saw too many this week).
    Transitions from one area to another - finger violations.

And a host of other things, up to and including awareness of where the competitor is in gross relation to objects (not judging if 0.4" of his foot is out in relation to a doorframe, but standing in a doorway blasting away at a target that clearly could shoot back easily if real - i.e. NOT at cover).

Yep, the primary SO is just a smidge busy.  Oh, yes - and that pesky timer thingy, too.  That has to be run as well.

Mr Koski, I just measured my size 10 shoes.  They are 4.75 inches wide at the widest point.  That would make half of my foot 2.375 inches.  You stated that 2 inches was OK but half the foot was a procedural.  That is a difference of 0.375 inches.  You can make that determination in a dynamic event such as IDPA?


The other SO's (Steve and Travis) are watching for the cover calls, safety and other violations from angles the SO on the timer (me) doesn't have - in essence what the primary SO is doing minus the constant eye on the gun and running the timer.  In the meantime, shooters are moving, cover points (swinging doors) are sometimes moving as well, shots break as shooters are jumping back to cover, shooter movement or the primary SO (getting in position to keep an eye on the gun) obscures direct vision of the SO watching for cover to align target / cover object / foot at a critical time...there is a myriad of things that are being processed during a shooters run of a stage. 

So yes, there are SO's that do look at a shooter's feet - and correctly so.  Depends on which SO you are on the stage.  My guys did it right.

Let's clarify one thing:  Cover was called on our stage.  It was called what was referred to as "tight" by several folks.   So much so that I understand people were complaining about it to the MD.  This I attribute to lax / non-enforcement at the local level - I've seen it at several clubs I shoot at near home.  This was a national championship, and was treated as such - consistently and equally amoungst the field.  The calls were made regardless of your standing in the sport, sponsors, lack of sponsors, etc.

And before someone brings up 'agreement' to waive calling 'an inch or two of a foot',  or as Dave put it, "three SO's decided to use their own criteria for penalties instead of the one that is clearly defined in the rule book", if you shot Stage 4 you should remember how the doors bounced.  Now you go ahead and quarterback the call on whether a competitor should be dinged 3 seconds or not on what amounted to the width of two nickels side by side when the shot was fired and where the door was at that time.

Bottom line:  The bay was run, as were all the bays at Nationals, professionally and consistently to the best of the ability of the staff selected to run them. 

If you're looking for perfection on calls, whether in our sport or IPSC, 3-gun, etc. - you'd just better take up checkers and stop shooting competitively, otherwise you'll drive yourself nuts.  And yes, I've had a bad call affect my finish in matches, especially majors - denied a bump to a higher class by 0.02 seconds rather than a 10+ second class win and a match bump.

Nick Y's post above is well put.  The only way you'll ever take the subjectivity out of cover is to use lasers, sensor pads and other whiz-bang gadgets that will put the cost of putting on a match beyond the reach of all.  Ah, hell - that won't work 100% either.  The danged batteries would croak during run....
 

    

--Cindy

"You know, some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints...."

"Happiness is a warm, smoking barrel..." image

Proud Patriot Guard Rider - Area 8, Southcentral PA
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