Today on Shady Mtn we shot a 1x Main Match shooting down to two shooters and at the same time a 2x True Resurrection Bracket shoot, last man standing, followed by a 1x Magnificent Five. The two top seeds in the mag 5 came from the main match and the other three seeds were the champions of three brackets. Making the mag 5 were two Sheriffs (one from the brackets and one from the main match), two Master Gunfighters (again one from main match and one from the brackets) and one Gunfighter. The Gunfighter, No Name, won the event by being the toughest gunslinger on this day.
Range Time: We had 15 shooters on two lanes and were able to complete the entire event in 2 1/2 hours. Match format was Arizona 5. Extrapolating out, had we had 6 lanes we could have shot the event with 45 shooters in 2 1/2 hours including the shoot off. There was no down time on the range. There was always a round ready to be shot when the prior round was completed.
The Association of Arizona Gunslingers: This would be a viable alternative to the Arizona Bracket Shoot for summer time use. We normally get 30 to 40 shooters and need to be done in 4 hours. I believe we could shoot a 2x main match shooting down to 6 with a true 2x bracket resurrection 4 brackets with the champions going to the Mag 10 1 x shoot off. We could seed the remainder of the shooters on lanes 3 & 4 and 5 & 6. We are used to shooting 3 simultaneous Magnificent 10 to 12 etc. shoot offs.
One might ask why do this. Well, just for a little variety. By doing a different format occasionally, it might give other shooters more opportunity to be successful. We tend to have the same shooters dominate our shoots in part because they have learned and trained for the format. A little change would be good for us. This format is actually more compliant with the structure of the CFDA titled shoots than the Arizona Bracket Shoot.
Innovations: What is novel here is that we shot a true resurrection and we shot it simultaneously with the main match. This has some really great advantages.
A true resurrection mitigates the unfairness of the luck of the draw. A great illustration of this unfairness was at the Texas State. Quick Cal was clearly one of the top shooters of the event but was out in the 5th or 6th round because of the luck of the draw. A true resurrection allows for advancement through what would be "a loser bracket" in other sports. Adverse draws can be overcome by higher x counts. A resurrection feature ups the x count. In this event from 1 to 3, but if used in a 6 lane event, it probably doubles the x count.
We shot the resurrection simultaneously with the main match. As shooters were eliminated they were added to the appropriate bracket match. 19.5 allows this and it seems to work well. When I did test runs of this, the match reports were in error but I did not consider that a problem since we were shooting down to the last shooter standing and the standings were not relevant. However, in this event the standing reports were accurate. To do this you have to have some arbitrary bracket times and you have to be willing to live with uneven brackets. Our brackets were 2 shooters, 5 shooters, and 6 shooters with 2 shooters remaining in the main match. This will work better with larger shooter numbers, but the times need to be set in advance. Time out time was used, not bracket report. A larger event might allow more administrative time and the bracket report might be an alternative. When you complete scoring a main match round you get a match standing report, it would have been easy to run a bracket report at that time, will do so next time.
Fragmentation: Another advantage is that you can fragment the field. At most titled events ranges sit idle for a significant amount of time. Normally, this is to draw rounds or simply to manage the event. In the early rounds you can shoot the men on all ranges and while you are doing that you can draw and administer the ladies, again shooting on all ranges. But later, as the field is reduced this is not possible and ranges sit idle while rounds are drawn. By fragmenting the field into brackets and with 19.5 scoring program you can designate the brackets to the idle ranges. The goal is always to have a round waiting at the table when the prior round is completed.
By starting the resurrection as soon as there are enough shooters in a bracket to make a viable posse or round you can keep the ranges full. By waiting until all of the shooters are eliminated you are wasting valuable range time. You don't need to wait. We need to remember that we don't score by wins, we score by losses. What is important is that everyone gets the same number of xs to used. It really does not matter when you use those xs. (See confusion below!)
Confusion: 19.5 worked well adding shooters as they were eliminated. However, I was trying to be the score keeper and enter data at the some time. I goofed and failed to enter two shooters into the bracket match. One of the shooters brought this to my attention during the match and it was not a problem, I simply entered him in the appropriate bracket and he got his two xs. The other shooter did not tell me he was left out until the match was over and then it was too late. (Actually it was not we could have reopen that bracket and entered him but I had already announced the Mag 5.)
Next time we do this we will alert all to be sure they get put into a bracket when they are eliminated. It really does not matter much if they are added late because we score by losses not wins. Looking back over the score sheets it would have been really easy to rectify this oversight, I just was too busy running the event to think straight.
Administration: We ran this event using two laptops and one printers. Shady ran the main match and we now declare him competent to be a data entry guru from start to finish on the main match. There is probably going to be a test tomorrow, but he will protest Trail Bosses don't test. I ran the bracket match and need my attention to detail sharpened.
When the smoke clears: After the event was over Shady said he had five specials for me. After the bellow and smoke of the first round I knew something was up, was scared a bit, but won three on speed before those specials caught up with me, then a I put a .191 on the plate just to let him know that he had better add more powder next time. In the interest of honest reporting, I will note he put me out of the main match on speed, hitting 80% to my 100%. Guess speed is sometimes relevant.
Someone said, "if you are not growing, you are rotting." Growing abit on Shady Mtn.
