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Spring 2021/ Volume 25/ Issue 1 ANNIVERSARY MESSAGE FROM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR JOYCE WILSON AROUND THE GLOBE TRAINING MISTAKES TO AVOIDCONTENTS TABLE OF 04 09 15 Happy Anniversary - Director’s Letter How to (re)introduce IDPA in Poland Simon Anders Match Review: PA State Kitty Richards 1 19 Match Review: Holiday Havoc Doug Klueh & Jay Hile 25 30 36 38 42 Match Review: The Southern Belle Kris Walley Club Incubator: Unsportsmanlike or Negative Shooter Behavior Cody Ray Gear Corner: Cool Fire Trainer Robert Ray Match Review: The Men of the Southern Belle Chris Schmied Pro Tips: Seven Key Training Mistakes I See Shooters Make Mike Seeklander 46 Upcoming Match Information 48 Trophy Room: The Southern BelleGET MORE BOLT PUMP BREAK LEVER SEMI-AUTO ACTION STARLINEBRASS.COM | 1!800" 280-6660 100% AMERICAN MADE & OWNED LOAD IT. PUMP IT. RACK IT. CYCLE IT. FIRE IT. HIT IT. WIN IT. GET IT? When you’re ready for action, you’re ready for Starline’s precision rifle brass. It’s the FINEST brass available at the best possible price, so you can load more, shoot more and get more action. PURCHASE FROM YOUR FAVORITE RELOADING SUPPLIER OR ORDER FACTORY DIRECT. DIRECTOR’S LETTER Congratulations on making it through unprecedented events during 2020. These are surely some days that none of could have imagined or prepared for and I am hoping that we can look forward to a better year and exciting events in 2021. While the challenges we faced last year will not immediately melt through the flip of a calendar page, there are some things we will be celebrating, and one of those is the 25th anniversary of IDPA. In 1997, I was an IDPA shooter and had no idea that I would be heading an international organization of this size. Our growth has been exponential over these years and our sport, despite the challenges of a pandemic, continues to grow and prosper. Let’s take a look at where we started and what we achieved through the eyes of two of our founders. 4 Joyce Wilson Happy Anniversary! A Message FromJohn Sayle, Board Vice-President, says, “When the members of the IDPA Board of Directors had their first organizational meeting to begin putting structure to Bill Wilson’s idea of creating a new shooting sport that limited itself to guns suitable for concealed carry and courses of fire that simulated real life self-defense encounters, I remember wondering if there was a marketplace for such a sport. I wondered if the Board members would simply end up gathering together several times a year to compete with each other using the new rules. I certainly didn’t foresee an organization that would experience sustained growth for twenty-five years and grow to a membership of almost 28,000 members in 74 countries. It has been rewarding to be part of such an organization.” This sentiment is echoed by Founder and President of the Board of Directors, Bill Wilson. “As some reading this may already know, I began shooting IPSC in 1976 and was one of the early pioneers of IPSC, holding various positions within IPSC/USPSA such as the section coordinator for the Midwest under Colonel Jeff Cooper, area coordinator and USPSA BoD member for several terms. My USPSA membership number is CL15. In the early days (late 1970s) IPSC was a very similar sport to the early days of IDPA, fairly relevant to the real world in regard to the defensive use of a handgun. Standard 1911s and Browning High Powers were the pistols of choice, often carried in very practical day to day carry holsters and we shot real manly loads with a major power factor of 175,000. However, this was fairly short lived and soon the desire to win led to more and more equipment innovation that moved the sport further and further away from relevance to the real world of self-protection. I have to admit that my company and I were all part of that equipment innovation. Please forgive me if I get the dates a little off, I’m 66 now and do have a tendency to forget things! But in the late 1980s John Sayle (a fellow USPSA BoD member and IDPA founder) and I were instrumental in USPSA forming the “Limited” division in hopes of bringing a little practicality back into “practical” shooting. Well, it started out pretty good with equipment rules very similar to CDP, but it didn’t take long before it began to morph into the current USPSA Limited division, which is simply race guns without optics. After all of the hard work I’d put into the original Limited division rules this disgusted me to the point that I completely quit competition shooting and focused on handgun hunting for several years.” 5 “I am immensely proud of the milestone we have achieved in the sport.” “But I guess competition shooting kinda gets in your blood and in the early 1990s I began missing it. I had no interest in getting back into USPSA shooting, rather something more practical for the real world. At first it started out as informal matches held in NW Arkansas where we all shot real carry guns. But it seemed the more people who heard about what we were doing the more interest there was in it. In 1995 I started talking to some of the veterans of the old IPSC days such as Ken Hackathorn, Dick Thomas and Walt Rauch. They all thought a shooting sport designed around real-world practicality was a good idea, but no one stepped forward and volunteered to run with it. Then one day I was on the phone with Kerby Smith, who at the time was one of the editors/writers for Guns & Ammo magazine, the same magazine that originally put IPSC shooting on the map. I explained to Kerby what kind of shooting we were doing and he immediately said, “a sport like that fills a major void in the handgun shooting sports and I think you should run with it”. He then went on to say that he thought he could get Peterson Publishing on board with some “seed” money and help with promoting the new sport. This chance phone conversation encouraged me to take the bull by the horns and run with the ideas.” “In order to keep this reasonably brief and not bore you to death, I’ll hit the high points from here. First Ken Hackathorn and I worked to draft the initial basic proposed rules. Then I talked Dick Thomas, John Sayle, Ken Hackathorn, Larry Vickers and Walt Rauch into being partners in crime. We made a plan for our formal “formation” meeting and shoot in Ken’s hometown of Marietta, OH for the fall of 1996. We rented a suite at the Holiday Inn for a two- day meeting to finalize the initial rules of a new sport we had decided to call the International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA). Well, all went really smooth day one and we ended the day with a rules package for everything EXCEPT holsters. We spent all of day two arguing over what was a “practical” holster and how to define it. At the end of the day, we left with holster rules that none of us really liked but looking forward to day three on 6the range at Fort Harmer to showcase our brand new shooting sport. Range day was a blast and all the new shooters that had not been exposed to what we were doing simply loved it and encouraged us to push forward. Over adult beverages that evening we discussed the progress we’d made at the meeting and shoot, and all agreed that we had something that might have some interest to shooters who were looking for a place to compete with their carry guns. We were so optimistic that we even discussed membership numbers and felt we might have 2 or 3 thousand members someday!” “After that the honeymoon was over and the hard work began. The Petersen Publishing people came through with $25,000 “seed” money and with their help we talked Smith & Wesson out of an additional $25,000. Wilson Combat also donated more $s than I want to remember and pretty much all of my time for the next year or so. We all worked really hard to make this new sport a success and with over 28,000 members in 74 countries now I guess the founders “optimistic“ hope of 2000 – 3000 members wasn’t so optimistic after all!” Like Bill and John, I am immensely proud of the milestone we have achieved in the sport. In 25 years, we have increased membership every year of our existence. Along the way, we strove to improve our offerings and customer service through technology innovations and efficiencies and did it all while increasing the cost of the membership only ten dollars over the quarter of a century, far less than the inflation index. IDPA has achieved this anniversary through the hard work and dedication of countless shooters and volunteers in the sport who tirelessly work as Shooters, Safety Officers, Match Directors, Instructors and Leaders. We owe a large part of our success to our members, customers and clients. To you, we say, “Thank You and Happy 25th Anniversary!” 7Next >