An Appeal to all Sports Shooters
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2020 2:02 pm
Hello fellow shooters,
The pre-state games will be beginning around the country in a couple of months and in light of the on-going pandemic, I believe we need to discuss an urgent issue. I do not know how games are conducted in other states, but here in UP, we are assigned a competitor card via the UPSRA website, which we have to take over to the venue where we are assigned our lane and time on a first come first serve basis.
This method presents numerous issues. Firstly, the shooter is completely unaware when his/her turn will come, or if they will even get a chance. For shooters traveling to the host city, this means they cannot plan their travel. I played two games last year and on both counts, I had to re-book my train tickets and extend my hotel reservation. Many of my friends had to go through the same ordeal.
Next, since everyone wants to be done with their game as quickly as possible, everyday at the venue we would have a HUGE crowd of people trying to get their name on the list. Those that failed will try the same the next day. This process would go on until the last day. Even the range officers usually spend more time crowd controlling than actually conducting the games.
While the present way of doing things is no doubt annoying and at times financially burdensome, with a killer virus on the loose, it's downright dangerous as it leads to a large gathering of people every day not to mention, many will have to extend their hotel stays increasing their risk of getting infected. Yes, it is expected that the infection rate will go down during the summer months but this as of now is merely an assumption. Even if the rate of infection does fall, the virus will not disappear completely and I doubt anyone attending a game will want to be the one who finds this out.
I suggest we request NRAI to make automated lane and time allocation mandatory for all pre-state, state and pre-national games for all states. This is already being done for the nationals, so, it shouldn’t be too hard to do the same for all preceding games. The lane and time should be part of the competitor card so that everyone knows exactly when their match is. This way, only the shooter along with one guardian maybe permitted per slot so that as few people be at the venue as possible.
What do you guys think?
Thanks!
The pre-state games will be beginning around the country in a couple of months and in light of the on-going pandemic, I believe we need to discuss an urgent issue. I do not know how games are conducted in other states, but here in UP, we are assigned a competitor card via the UPSRA website, which we have to take over to the venue where we are assigned our lane and time on a first come first serve basis.
This method presents numerous issues. Firstly, the shooter is completely unaware when his/her turn will come, or if they will even get a chance. For shooters traveling to the host city, this means they cannot plan their travel. I played two games last year and on both counts, I had to re-book my train tickets and extend my hotel reservation. Many of my friends had to go through the same ordeal.
Next, since everyone wants to be done with their game as quickly as possible, everyday at the venue we would have a HUGE crowd of people trying to get their name on the list. Those that failed will try the same the next day. This process would go on until the last day. Even the range officers usually spend more time crowd controlling than actually conducting the games.
While the present way of doing things is no doubt annoying and at times financially burdensome, with a killer virus on the loose, it's downright dangerous as it leads to a large gathering of people every day not to mention, many will have to extend their hotel stays increasing their risk of getting infected. Yes, it is expected that the infection rate will go down during the summer months but this as of now is merely an assumption. Even if the rate of infection does fall, the virus will not disappear completely and I doubt anyone attending a game will want to be the one who finds this out.
I suggest we request NRAI to make automated lane and time allocation mandatory for all pre-state, state and pre-national games for all states. This is already being done for the nationals, so, it shouldn’t be too hard to do the same for all preceding games. The lane and time should be part of the competitor card so that everyone knows exactly when their match is. This way, only the shooter along with one guardian maybe permitted per slot so that as few people be at the venue as possible.
What do you guys think?
Thanks!