Knocking The Rust Off

OK. It’s not like I’ve had hours and hours to practice, but in celebration of the 15th anniversary of the Smith & Wesson IDPA Indoor Championships, and considering I’m the executive director of IDPA, I felt it appropriate to come ‘out of retirement’ to shoot what has come to be the season opener for IDPA.

My return to competition was something I was more or less goaded into while visiting Frank Glover’s Range in Oxford, N.C. Frank was hosting his infamous Day-Night-Day match and I was there scouting the facility for the 2012 IDPA National Championship.

Well, before I knew it, I had a gun, holster and ammo and was back in the swing of it – albeit, fairly rusty, but nevertheless shooting the match.

And no sooner had Smith & Wesson’s Tom Yost seen me shooting than he offered me an M&P Pro to shoot in the Stock Service Division…at one of our largest championship matches. Before I could diplomatically back out Gordon Carrell of Comp-Tac Victory Gear made sure I had a holster, mag pouches and a flashlight pouch.

At this point I had to face the reality that I was going to be shooting the Smith & Wesson IDPA Indoor Championships. Lucky for me I have a good contact over at Wilson Combat and getting plenty of ammo wasn’t a problem at all.

Just about a month ago I put some of that ammo to good use as Gordon Carrell came up to the ranch for a ‘tune-up’. I’m not really sure it helped much, but then I haven’t had a whole lot of time to practice. His training is really good, my application of it, well….

If you are unfamiliar with it, the Smith & Wesson match is one of the finest in the country and on Saturday, the final day of the event, a veritable who’s who of IDPA’s top guns will be shooting it out in a desperate battle for the highly coveted division titles.

I on the other hand will be shooting on Wednesday, with the Safety Officers and far away from the prying, and perhaps critical eyes of the 300+ IDPA members who might want to see how their executive director handles herself in competition.

I have a message for those interested in how I shoot…move along, nothing to see here.

This year’s match director is Frank Glover, one of our sport’s most respected stage designers who is well known for testing both a shooter’s skill and wits.

Fortunately, whatever match embarrassment I might experience will be shared with the other members of the IDPA headquarters staff – you can call us Team IDPA.

Like me they’ll all be shooting Smith & Wesson pistols. Considering IDPA’s long relationship with Smith & Wesson, and their unwavering and incredibly generous support for many of our matches, we thought it only fitting to shoot their guns in their house.

None of us are under any delusions that we’ll be recruited to become permanent members of Team S&W, but one can dream. I know that we will all have a wonderful experience and hopefully be able to spotlight one of the finest matches in the country.

On behalf of IDPA and our more than 19,000 members, I invite you to find a local club near you and join us out on the range. Trust me when I tell you that competing in IDPA matches can be some of the best shooting you experience…even if you have to knock a little of the rust off.

– Joyce Wilson, Executive Director of IDPA