I shot my first IDPA match like I was hitting a series of live targets. I finished near last because I hadn’t yet realized that the bulk of an IDPA score is time, and that precision can’t improve it.
Like you, I had walked the path of the pure and righteous man. But the path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will shepherds the gamers through the valley of darkness for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children.
Keeping to the path doesn’t mean avoiding games or abandoning the truth, the way, and the light. I focused on being good in the classical sense. I shot fast enough to get A-zone hits and did everything else at warp speed. I shot my carry gun from my carry rig with full-power ammo, which messed with a lot of people’s heads. It didn’t take long until I started to finish ahead of the guys with the fancy gear.
After a while, I started to compete against stage designers. One guy was diabolical—he once set up a stage where you had to carry a dummy of a baby under your strong arm and basically shoot your way out of an area ambush. Then the focus became thinking with a gun rather than shooting, and to show others that it IS possible to shoot well without spending a fortune buying skill. I became able to strike down with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempted to poison and destroy my brothers.
I left IDPA after a match that had taken eight hours on a gorgeous fall Saturday. I shot well, but I realized that it had taken me a full day to get less than one minute of trigger time.
Post COVID, I’m rusty enough that I might consider going back.
Okie John