| |
I have been amazed at the companionship and the willingness to help
and care for one another in the cowboy action shooting environment.
Someone new to this great sport usually receives all of the help and
assistance they need, including being loaned guns, ammunition, and
even clothes. Many people go out of their way to ensure that
the new shooter feels welcomed and learns the safe method of
handling firearms in re-enacting our Old West heritage. The
vast majority of shooters are courteous to others, easily accept
their misses, don't argue over the scores, accommodate the rules
of the shooting match and the club at which they are shooting, and
accept safety penalties without a complaint. It is unfortunate
that this is not always the case.
Each of us needs to remember that this is a sport that
although it is competitive, is supposed to be fun. Sometimes I
see the fun part of the sport being usurped by a bad attitude or
someone that is so caught up in the competition side of the sport
that they lose sight of the fun. This seems to be happening
more often as more people get involved and the matches get more
competitive. I don't feel it is in the Spirit Of The Game or
the Cowboy Way to argue extensively over scores, being upset by not
having immediate access to scores, trying to change the scenario to
get an advantage, using inappropriate language (remember we have
youngsters around who look to us as examples) complaining about
stages and especially how you could design it better. We need
to remember that this is not only supposed to be fun, but that each
of us at any time may be looked at as a representative of the sport
or our club. Let's see how this works:
A family of spectators comes along and sees what fun
this must be. A few of the shooters come up and talk to the
family about coming out and shooting. The family gets enthused
and thinks they would like to participate in such a friendly, fun,
wholesome, western heritage type sport when all of a sudden they
hear cussing from a shooter on the line who missed, or who starts
yelling at the spotter, or who goes storming off when they don't
like the way things are going, or someone comes up and says "If
you come out to shoot make sure you have the right clothes or we
don't want you here." Editorial
Continued
|
