Apologies for not having posted this entry before, but things went real fast betwen the evening of the 4th day and my return home.
Now that all pending matters at home have been addressed I can sit down and post the ending of the shooting portion of the 2019 World's.
The awards lunch will be posted as a different entry.
The WFTF has a very specific shootoff procedure.
The almost 40 countries that make up the WFTF decided that the American way of a "sudden death" was not really appropriate, and so a different method was devised that falls much more in line with the WFTF concept of a "lane".
As per the rules, IDENTICAL lanes are prepared, as many as are needed, and then shooters are invited to dispute the places shooting at the same targets, same time, same place, under "same conditions".
First round is conducted in the "free position" (mostly seating), if the tie persists, then the shooters go to the kneeling position, and if the tie still persists, shooters go to the standing/offhand position.
And so, there is also some strategy to the shootoff.
In the 2019 WFTC's case, the shootoff was carried out in an open field, while nearly all the targets had been placed in the woods. So that was, undoubtedly, a challenge.
Now that all pending matters at home have been addressed I can sit down and post the ending of the shooting portion of the 2019 World's.
The awards lunch will be posted as a different entry.
The WFTF has a very specific shootoff procedure.
The almost 40 countries that make up the WFTF decided that the American way of a "sudden death" was not really appropriate, and so a different method was devised that falls much more in line with the WFTF concept of a "lane".
As per the rules, IDENTICAL lanes are prepared, as many as are needed, and then shooters are invited to dispute the places shooting at the same targets, same time, same place, under "same conditions".
First round is conducted in the "free position" (mostly seating), if the tie persists, then the shooters go to the kneeling position, and if the tie still persists, shooters go to the standing/offhand position.
And so, there is also some strategy to the shootoff.
In the 2019 WFTC's case, the shootoff was carried out in an open field, while nearly all the targets had been placed in the woods. So that was, undoubtedly, a challenge.
Here you can see the 6 shootoff lanes prepared and ready to receive the contenders.
Shootoffs were a little late in starting, and even with the late start some of the shooters had to be waited for because they were not prepared. The long wait is always an important part of the challenge of the challenge of a shootoff, and so is the fact that there is a "public" now watching your every move.
But, good shooters should be prepared to isolate themselves inside their minds and just dedicate 100% of their brainpower to crafting the best shot possible. One at a time.
Of MOST interest to me, was the shootoff for 3rd, 4th, and 5th of the Piston class.
To the line were called John Farbrother, Leo Gonzales and Joel Goodwin.
It is worthwhile to note that John F had been shooting with 2 broken ribs. Being the defending champion (he won in Poland), he shot to the best he could and won the first round of the shootoff to get the 1-2-3 for England.
Quite an achievement!
With John in 3rd Joel and Leo buckled up and continued shooting.
Shootoffs were a little late in starting, and even with the late start some of the shooters had to be waited for because they were not prepared. The long wait is always an important part of the challenge of the challenge of a shootoff, and so is the fact that there is a "public" now watching your every move.
But, good shooters should be prepared to isolate themselves inside their minds and just dedicate 100% of their brainpower to crafting the best shot possible. One at a time.
Of MOST interest to me, was the shootoff for 3rd, 4th, and 5th of the Piston class.
To the line were called John Farbrother, Leo Gonzales and Joel Goodwin.
It is worthwhile to note that John F had been shooting with 2 broken ribs. Being the defending champion (he won in Poland), he shot to the best he could and won the first round of the shootoff to get the 1-2-3 for England.
Quite an achievement!
With John in 3rd Joel and Leo buckled up and continued shooting.
Round after round, the tie persisted, if Joel missed the long one, Leo woud miss the short one and viceversa.
To the point where Andy C must have said something to Joel and Leo, because they are all laughing.
Finally, after quite a few rounds Leo got both and Joel missed one, thereby placing Leo in 4th and Joel in 5th.
Congrats to them, great job of "keeping it together" through three days of instense concentration, adverse elements, and changing conditions.
I will not mention the scores, those can be found here, and studied by using different filters to sort things out, if you are so inclined.
What you cannot elucidate from a spreadsheet of numbers is the human qualities and values of most shooters.
In any case, it was deeply satisfying to see Leo take 4th, I am sure he still has important successes waiting for him in the future.
And that is something that is important: The USA has been working on the spring-piston side for some time, the team is made up of young shooters, but also of experienced shooters, and it is this combination that has landed the Piston Team a place in the podium for two years in a row.
Yes there is a LOT of room for improvement, but with shooters like Ray Apelles, Nathan Thomas, Cameron Kerndt, Matt Brackett and Jay Hannon, I am sure we will be placing well.
The composition of Piston vs. PCP was also interesting, about 20% of the 439 shooters were springer shooters.
Finally, after quite a few rounds Leo got both and Joel missed one, thereby placing Leo in 4th and Joel in 5th.
Congrats to them, great job of "keeping it together" through three days of instense concentration, adverse elements, and changing conditions.
I will not mention the scores, those can be found here, and studied by using different filters to sort things out, if you are so inclined.
What you cannot elucidate from a spreadsheet of numbers is the human qualities and values of most shooters.
In any case, it was deeply satisfying to see Leo take 4th, I am sure he still has important successes waiting for him in the future.
And that is something that is important: The USA has been working on the spring-piston side for some time, the team is made up of young shooters, but also of experienced shooters, and it is this combination that has landed the Piston Team a place in the podium for two years in a row.
Yes there is a LOT of room for improvement, but with shooters like Ray Apelles, Nathan Thomas, Cameron Kerndt, Matt Brackett and Jay Hannon, I am sure we will be placing well.
The composition of Piston vs. PCP was also interesting, about 20% of the 439 shooters were springer shooters.
On a closing note, I must set apart a short space to thank those that made this memorable experience possible.
I am sure there are better pictures of him, but this pictures paints his character.
This is Andy Calpin, a veteran of a thousand battles and passionate FT shooter.
This time he did not shoot, he agreed to spend a grueling week as Match Director, a week of hard work just making sure that the match run as it should. And, by gosh, he did it!
I am sure there are better pictures of him, but this pictures paints his character.
This is Andy Calpin, a veteran of a thousand battles and passionate FT shooter.
This time he did not shoot, he agreed to spend a grueling week as Match Director, a week of hard work just making sure that the match run as it should. And, by gosh, he did it!
There were 7 cold lines that I am aware of in the three days of the competition.
Targets performed flawlessly, and there was no time lost between the end of one stint and the beginning of the next.
All in all, an admirable achievement.
We also need to thank, Bob Farnworth, who acted as "Captain of the boat", and Brian Samson who designed all the Paperwork/Cyberwork and even came out with a device that allows all scores to be put into the system as soon as they are handed in.
Very kindly, Brian has offered all this technology to future hosts of WFTC's.
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that FT has grown because there are MANY persons that do what they can for the sport. Each at his/her own level and possibilities, there are MANY, and in this sense we need to thank the whole crew that made such an excellent event possible.
So, THANKS, to one and all!
Keep well and shoot straight!
HM
Targets performed flawlessly, and there was no time lost between the end of one stint and the beginning of the next.
All in all, an admirable achievement.
We also need to thank, Bob Farnworth, who acted as "Captain of the boat", and Brian Samson who designed all the Paperwork/Cyberwork and even came out with a device that allows all scores to be put into the system as soon as they are handed in.
Very kindly, Brian has offered all this technology to future hosts of WFTC's.
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that FT has grown because there are MANY persons that do what they can for the sport. Each at his/her own level and possibilities, there are MANY, and in this sense we need to thank the whole crew that made such an excellent event possible.
So, THANKS, to one and all!
Keep well and shoot straight!
HM
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