Thanks for responding with some answers Green Frog. You say that, postal matches are not a very large emphasis in ASSRA, that is, postal matches of any kind are not all that popular. Anyone know why this is ?. has there been any effort to promote the offhand postal matches ?, has there ever been bench rest postal matches ?. Maybe the leadership should start thinking about doing more to promote postal matches, especially with the rising cost of everything, like travel and the cost of Gas. I would think that any shooting association that has 2000 or so members would have at least a 100 + that would shoot postal matches if they were promoted, interesting, and set up as official ASSRA matches. Secondly, you say, this being a volunteer organization for most all of its events, including the postal matches, there has not been a person who has stepped up and volunteered to organize, publicize, run, and otherwise administer these matches which have not been strongly asked for. As far as the ASSRA being a volunteer organization, so are other associations, the one that I mentioned that has over 300 members shooting postal matches is 100 % volunteer, plus has shoulder to shoulder matches in different parts of the country. As far as waiting for someone to step up and do something, that's like putting the horse behind the cart. I believe the "word" has to come from the top that ASSRA needs someone to run certain events that they have in there program, most members will not step up and do things on there own for fear of doing something wrong, that's what good leadership is for, direct the programs and the members to the events. It's worked like that in just about all shooting associations for over 100 years. If what tenx has said is so, that if it was offhand matches only the sport would die, and if what Green Frog is saying is so, that postal matches are not a very large emphasis in ASSRA and that, postal matches of any kind are not all that popular. My next question is why ?, they seem to be very popular in other shooting association, why not this one ?. Again, if what tenx said is so, there should be a larger group of members wanting to shoot postal bench matches than there is the postal offhand matches, if they were available as an official ASSRA event. I may be a new guy to this type of shooting, but I'm not new to volunteer shooting associations or to the shooting sports, been doing it for about 50 years, all offhand events by the way, very little bench rest. I realize that none of this can be done by just one volunteer, it takes at least a handful of concerned and interested guys that want to see this sport grow, and from what has been said by guys like: tenx, "I agree with you entirely, but at most clubs if the matches were entirely offhand they'd go out of business very quickly. Plus not many will drive a 100 miles or so just to shoot offhand. Around here I doubt if they'd drive 25 miles." J.D. Steele: "I don't know a single soul in our 600-member club or for that matter within a 150-mile radius who would walk across the street to even witness a real Schuetzen match of any type." tenx, again: The plain fact is that at most clubs if all you shot was offhand not many would show up. If you shot just bench you'd have to beat them off with a stick! Maybe I should qualify that and say most clubs East of the Missouri River." It seems to me that something is very wrong with this picture. I may be new to this Schuetzen shooting sport thing and don't know a lot about it but I think it's a very worthwhile shooting sport and should be promoted. Everyone knows by now that I'm new at this but I'm willing to volunteer my time to help anyone that has the experience in this sport that wants to see it grow. Does anyone know how a member gets to put something on the agenda of the next annual ASSRA meeting ?. Shooter
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