I will be the first to say that you can get bit by the competition bug fairly easily.
When I bought my first shorthair 10 years ago I felt the same way your feeling right now. I started out by joining a GSP Club in the area and meeting alot of people that were more than willing to help. I started out doing the AKC Hunt Tests and finished her as a Master Hunter. We also entered her in afew of the Pheasant Hunting contests in which she did very well. We bred her and keep 3 of the 10 puppys she had. We did the Hunt Tests again and finished all 3 as Master Hunters. Looking at what to do next we entered them in afew Shoot to Retreive events as well as some walking AKC field trials. That was about 4 years ago. Our dogs did a fantastic job in the field trials so to pursue this venue we had to give our dogs to a pro or jump with both feet and by horses. Well to make a long story short we now have 3 horses, 5 shorthairs and alot of great friends. We finished all 3 or our dogs as Field Champions & Amateur Field Champions with 1 being the #2 dog in the country in open in 2001, 1 being the #1 dog in Amateur and the other #1 in open in 2002. AND THE BEST PART IS MY WIFE AND I DID ALL THE TRIANING AND HANDELLING OURSELVES.
Feel free to contact me since I to live in the Midwest and can get you the contact names for any of the GSP clubs.
Good Luck