RE: Snowshoe considerations
To be honest I am very dissappointed in both the IBO and Snowshoe for handling the situation last weekend the way they did. Granted, I know that it' s an extremely tough decision to make to cancel a day' s shooting, but I don' t think that was the only alternative. Here are my top suggestions.
1. Start shooting on Thursday instead of Friday. That will give a full day' s cushion in case the weather is inclement or there are problems with the ranges.
2. Rather than cancelling the whole day of shooting, the top 25% or the top 20 (whichever is greater) in each class could have shot on Saturday afternoon after the bad weather had cleared. Then the bottom shooters in each class could shoot on Sunday morning if they wanted to. I think this would aleviate alot of the frustration that people felt over not being able to shoot.
3. Don' t EVER let a World Championship be decided by a mere 10 targets. And certainly don' t completely discard scores that have already been earned. That' s a sure fire way to irritate, infuriate, as well as lose a large number of your members. According to the IBO rule book there are specific limitations on distance for each class, and as long as they have been adhered to, there shouldn' t ever be a case of one course being " more difficult" than another. I walked both ranges for my class and I didn' t think that either one was easier.
4. Last, and this is exceedingly important to consider. Give the members a chance to voice their concerns and offer their suggestions. I know that it would be difficult , but simply letting folks have their say goes a long way towards building good will in a tough situation. And who knows there might have been some good ideas that could have made people happy or at least a little less livid.
To be honest I' m still looking forward to next year at Snowshoe. It' s going to be a very different story and I plan on showing all the ladies in my class exactly what I can do with my bow, even though I didn' t get a chance to this year.