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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.