Do We Need a New Perspective on Awards

jackie schmidt

jackie schmidt

New member
Much has been said lately about the shrinking of the number of particpants, and venues, in Benchrest.

As a club member who is active in running matches at The Tomball Gun Club, I would like to get some input on how we can cut some expences. A major one is the awards that are given.

At just about any registered Match you go to, there will be plagues or trophys awarded to at least 3d place in every category. A typical Two Gun Event will cost a club any where from $400 to $800 for these awards.

The problem is when you simply do not have enough shooters show up to pay all of the expenses. I think the break even point is about 28 shooters for a typical Match.

How offensive would it be if Clubs decided to award plaques or trophies to only the first place participants, and perhaps have ribbons, or a nice certificate, for the other places??

While you are thinking about it, contemplate this. We at Tomball are planning to have two Varmint for Score Matches as well as our standard Match Schedule. One of these Matches will be held in conjunction with the Gulf Coast Region and Texas State HBR Championships. Historically, The Tomball Gun Club has lost money on this Match because of small attendance.

The problem is, we are now going to DOUBLE our awards expense. If we fail to draw at least 28 Varmint for Score Shooters, we will be in the same shape there.

Of course, this would be a moot point if we draw a substantial number of shooters, but as of now, I can't tell you how many shooters will come down and shoot the Varmint for Score Match.

I am well aware that it is a great feeling to hear your name called and walk up and get a nice plaque. But if the Board of Directors of Clubs tell us that we can not afford to keep loosing money on matches we won't have any place to shoot in the first place.

And please, don't come up with that "we spend thousands of dollars on equipment and everything else, so Clubs should be willing to pay". Well, tell that to the 95 percent of the members in the Club who could care less whether we have Matches or not, and feel that if the Matches are not self paying, then they don't want to support them..........jackie
 
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jackie schmidt said:
Much has been said lately about the shrinking of the number of particpants, and venues, in Benchrest.

As a club member who is active in running matches at The Tomball Gun Club, I would like to get some input on how we can cut some expences. A major one is the awards that are given.

At just about any registered Match you go to, there will be plagues or trophys awarded to at least 3d place in every category. A typical Two Gun Event will cost a club any where from $400 to $800 for these awards.

The problem is when you simply do not have enough shooters show up to pay all of the expenses. I think the break even point is about 28 shooters for a typical Match.

How offensive would it be if Clubs decided to award plaques or trophies to only the first place participants, and perhaps have ribbons, or a nice certificate, for the other places??

While you are thinking about it, contemplate this. We at Tomball are planning to have two Varmint for Score Matches as well as our standard Match Schedule. One of these Matches will be held in conjunction with the Gulf Coast Region and Texas State HBR Championships. Historically, The Tomball Gun Club has lost money on this Match because of small attendance.

The problem is, we are now going to DOUBLE our awards expense. If we fail to draw at least 28 Varmint for Score Shooters, we will be in the same shape there.

Of course, this would be a moot point if we draw a substantial number of shooters, but as of now, I can't tell you how many shooters will come down and shoot the Varmint for Score Match.

I am well aware that it is a great feeling to hear your name called and walk up and get a nice plaque. But if the Board of Directors of Clubs tell us that we can not afford to keep loosing money on matches we won't have any place to shoot in the first place.

And please, don't come up with that "we spend thousands of dollars on equipment and everything else, so Clubs should be willing to pay". Well, tell that to the 95 percent of the members in the Club who could care less whether we have Matches or not, and feel that if the Matches are not self paying, then they don't want to support them..........jackie
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Hi Jackie,

Personally, I think you have already taken the biggest and best expense cutting step with your club matches, having competitors hang/score their targets, eliminating the expense and of organizing, trainning, and supervising a scoring/target crew.........extend this practice to registered matches.

Aside from the cost savings, it also gives the competitors a greater stake, satisfaction, and appreciation for tournament operations. Seems like the trend lately is to buy/spend for every service. I think its much better to have competitors participate in the operations than buying the services of the operation..................Don
 
Jackie,
I agree, the whole 'cheesey plastic bowling trophy" thing has gotten out of hand.The clubs need to turn a profit from registered BR matches or else the clubs will cease to hold BR matches.I would like to suggest a "new world" approach to awards.Being as the recognition of one's accomplishments and the memory of time spent with friends is what BR comp is all about,perhaps clubs could have patches made up" Tomball Gun Club Agg winner" yardage,grand,and two gun winners would receive a generic patch for their wins and more importantly a photo would be taken of the top three in each catagory alongside their fellow competitors,each name and finish place would be superposed onto the photo and these photos would be mailed to competitors or be available for download.
Now all 1st,2nd,and 3rd place winners have a momento of their time at Tomball,etc.
Joel
 
Recycle

If there was some central place, or several drop off points for people to take them, maybe enough people would donate their old plaques. Put a new sticky deal on with the correct club and date, ect. There has to be hundreds in boxes of usable plaques around the country.

Not too good of a deal for the people who sell plaques though.

Dave
 
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jackie schmidt said:
How offensive would it be if Clubs decided to award plaques or trophies to only the first place participants, and perhaps have ribbons, or a nice certificate, for the other places??

.jackie
Click to expand...

I personally don't see a problem with this ..... and in terms of getting more (new) people out to the range then certs for the top finishing rookie in each class ... we keep indicating if we are a rookie but unless we finish in the top three it really doesn't seem to matter in terms of recognition .....

just my two cents worth .....
 
Joel,
I think what you have suggested is a good idea.
Best,
Dan Batko

"Where are we going and why am I in this basket?"
 
FBecigneul said:
Unfortunately, the competitors can't score, record, hang their own targets in a registered match.
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I wonder if that is really the case?

If I remember correctly, Jackie stated that in club matches, targets were scored/hung by other relay competitors, and the same protest rules were in effect as would occur in a registered match, so that any disputes or inconsistencies can easily be resolved......... so I am not sure there is anything in the rulebook that would prevent this method, in both the practice and spirit of the rules.............Don
 
Profit

At our Club, and I suppose others, the members are not neccessarilly concerned with turning a profit, they just do not like loosing money on matches.

Francis is correct. At Registered Competitions, there are rules governing the handling of targets that would prohibit the type of activities we do at Tomball Club Matches.

As a note, here is what it cost to have our four club matches at Tomball. I spend about $150 for enough official score targets for the four matches. (the club gets a discount). The 36 Ribbons, (pretty nice, I think), we give over the four match schedule cost about $90. That is it. And, by shooters retrieving and hanging their own target, we do not have to have a target crew, and we can keep the entry fee down to a mere $15.

This works great, and the club gets a tidy sum.........jackie
 
New guy perspective

I am new to the shooting thing, and I understand the cost factor in holding these things. There is NOTHING more satisfying to a new shooter than to hear his name called. So limiting it to 1st place really hampers the new guy from hearing his name should he do pretty well.
If you went the patch route, I know they have those real fancy sewing machines that can do scripts and/or logos. You could get a few generic patches, and script out "1st place 100 yard score" around the outside.
You possibly could do the same thing with T-shirts too (I love me some T-shirts). Problem is with T-shirts you have the regular guys, then the guys like me that need XXL. Tough to plan that in advance.

What about having bullet/brass vendors make small product donations for the prizes (and the club cover the cost of the certificate printing) Maybe 100 bullets is worth a few plugs during the match? You know sponsoships.

Relay 2 is brought to you by Joe Blow bullets.... shooting straight, and living GREAT.
 
I think the cost of your trophies are more than necessary. At San Angelo we ran a silhouette competition for 22 long rifles this year. We gave out trophies for the first five places. The contest was for "Shooter of the year" for the best four match scores out of six months. They were all the same size.

We gave out award plaques that would have been 5x7 except I had some scrap oak lumber and I made plaques about 6x8. The trophies would have cost about $24 each and would have been an inexpensive melamine covered particle board but they knocked off $3 each and put them on the oak plaques.

What can I say? Everyone was happy and they felt recognized.

After all, It is good to have something to show. At $25 each for six the cost would be $150 total for the club and you can spend less.

My point is give out something decent to all three places, just cut down the cost.

Concho Bill
 
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I wonder..!!

Why shooters want a plaque for their win at a BR match...I realize it is some form of momento, but how many of us put those plaques/trophies in a predominant room in our homes for all to see.???
Most of us enjoy them at the match then they are stored away somewhere until they are discarded 10+ yrs down the road...
I have always been an advocate of "MONEY" payback, and a printed certificate that can be framed if you wish...
In my opinion the trophy makers are ripping off the clubs at a huge rate...I recently took one of my old BR trophies to a pro-shop to have a aluminum/brass self-adhesive plate engraved for it for my grandchild...the plate was 1"x 2 1/2"...they wanted $10 for two words on one line..:eek:
The time has come to do away with the club match trophies and payback 50% of the entry fee to the top three places...or whatever works for a club to make a profit...
I will donate several large boxes of trophies to any club that needs them...they are meaningless to anyone now...my enjoyment was outshooting my fellow competitor at that match that day...and being recognized by them the day of my win...no more needed...

just my .02 cents worth
 
To me, the value of a trophy is inversly related to the number of trophies you have already won. That first trophy to a new shooter is extremely important.

I agree with Dave, let's be "green" (it's the in thing now) and recycle the old plaques.

Jim Carstensen
 
Jackie ...

I have two of your Blue ribbons hanging on my wall next to a few other momentoes.

They are actually more conspicuous then some very expensive plaques I've picked up over the years.

Go with ribbons. They're an inexpensive way to bring back a day's memory. Art :)
 
What about this for club matches?
Make up a decent generic plaque with the name of the club and don’t put a date on it. If the shooter wants it he takes it home, if not after all is said and done he can quietly give it back and it can be given away next time. We gave away 14 plaques this year for Denton’s club matches. If I hadn’t put 2009 at the bottom I could most likely get back 90% of them and use them next year.

Jon Conley
 
jlcprec said:
To me, the value of a trophy is inversly related to the number of trophies you have already won. That first trophy to a new shooter is extremely important.

Jim Carstensen
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Jim,
You are absolutely right. The first 5 really mean something. The next five are just ok. The next 5 are a hassle. But if I am reading these posts right, and attendance is going down, those new shooters need to get those so they can turn into old shooters. I like the no date on the plaque idea so you can reuse them in the event someone does not really want to take it home.
 
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This is a very good subject. I like the idea of no date. The money idea is too much like gambling and that is not what we shooters go to matches for. Besides, how long does it take us to spend and forget a few dollars?

I am primarily a 22 benchrest shooter. 50/50 is my game. The little pins that Wilbur buys for about a buck is award enough for me. In shooting the silhouette game, there are pins that cost about a buck and those who haven't got a box of them already like to stick them on their hat or shirt.

The point is that most shooters do not come to these matches for the costly trophies or money prizes, they come to shoot against themselves with friends.

Concho Bill
 
I'm still new to this game and really cherish the few awards that I've won. I believe the drive to be "in the money" is one of the things that makes the competition truly enjoyable. Please don't take that luterally brcause I don't think I would have the same desire to wine an envelope with a few dollars in it - don't get me wrong, if there was enough money in the envelope to feed my family I would probably feel differently. But, I think it is important for young shooters to be recognized and have something nice to take home and show their family when they have some success. I also thing a custom patch with the range and finishing place would be very nice. Just my 2 cents.

Ryan
 
At one day matches at Thurmont we give back 30-35%of the match fees in cash except in Factory class. for Factory class we get awards made from recycled awards from other matches, adding a newly engraved plate makes total cost for factory award around $2, no date just Club name and First Factory on award.

At big matches awards usually cost less than 30% of the proceeds.
For some circumstances we give certificates.

Dick
 
i see nothing wrong with recycling and i wiil bring some to anyone that wants them- one time i traded a pickup load of horse trophys for a couple of saddle pads.

i think the generic plaque is ok too-arkies do this at ouachita

ribbons and certificates are a good idea - frame it if you want, heck have a box of frames there for them to pick up to frame it.

better yet is to jackpot the entries and give out an envelope with first place printed on it and the amount. the envelopes can be framed too, if they want. give the club a cut off the top and the club cant lose. you could have blue,red and yellow envelopes for first. second and third place just like ribbons.

all that and still the folks at tomball have really had some outstanding awards- i thank you guys
 
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