Preface: None of the four clubs in Arizona ever shoot a CFDA match. That is because of the heat. If you shoot an elimination match, in 115 degree heat, the shooters leave as they are eliminated and you are left with few people to take the range down. Therefore, all of the clubs shoot the Arizona bracket match in which all of the shooters make the shoot offs and therefore stay around to take down the range.
I would like to get our clubs to shoot a CFDA match occasionally. I propose a last man standing main match 2x with a simultaneous 2x bracket match. In this format, eliminated shooters are added to the bracket match as they are eliminated. We have done this several times on the mountain and it works quite well. There are a few problems to be resolved:
1. It is easy to overlooked an eliminated shooter from the bracket match. This is just human error and can be taken care of with more careful registering. Even if someone is overlooked, they can be added at a later round. See the next problem.
2. Some will say it is unfair to add shooters to the bracket after it has begun. This is not a valid complaint because it is easier to progress upward in the bracket of eliminated shooters than it is to progress upward in the main match of winners. You have to remember we score by losses not by wins. If you are shooting a 2x main match and a 2x bracket match, every one gets 4 x s. It is very fair.
HERE IS WHERE I NEED HELP:
3. The CFDA scoring program 20.0 seems to handle this well with the exception of standings when you get down to the final rounds of the bracket matches. If all you care about is the final bracket winners the program is adequate for that. But if the standings below 1st are important as they might be for club points, then in some brackets the standings are not accurate. The problem is worst in some brackets. If, for example, all of the Sheriffs went out early in the main match, then the standings appear to be fine in that bracket. But if, for example, half of the Master Gunfighters went long in the match main then the standings are more of a problem in that bracket. The problem stems from adding shooter after the match has begun.
I am looking for suggestions to fix this problem. Here on some of the fixes I will try:
1. From the bracket report after round 2 or 3, entered all shooters in their appropriate bracket. All shooters would be in the bracket draw and shooters still in the main match would get a win with no time. Shooters who draw main match shooters could be handled in one of two ways. One would be to give them a bye win with no time. The other alternative would be to provide that they move down the scoring sheet until they are matched with another shooter who has drawn a main match competitor or make the bottom of the scoring sheet for a CFDA bye.
2. Add and only draw those shooters that are available to shoot in the bracket match. This is what I have done in the past that has given rise to the standing problem. I am wondering if when I register them into the bracket match I edit their score with a win with no time in earlier rounds that would correct the problem. I do not know enough about the cause to know whether this would fix the problem. I know that editing scores can in itself create standings problems.
3. Of course we can always abandon the computer when we get down to the final rounds of the brackets and keep track of the standings manually.
ANY SUGGESTIONS OR THOUGHTS ON FIXES WOULD BE APPRECIATED.
In the perfect club shoot for us would be to have 48 shooters with the main match being completed and two or three of the brackets being completed at the same time. The final two shooters of the main match would enter and finish their brackets (one or two) after the main match is completed. Most of the shooters would stay around and take down ranges. Brackets would have 12 shooters each. Experience tells me there would be enough shooters to start brackets after round 3. With two ranges you would shoot main match on both ranges for 3 rounds, then shoot main match on one and brackets on the other.
For some related discussions see "Don't sell yourself short; don't sell 19.5 short." November 9, 2019 and "What we learned and Fragmentation." July 3, 2019.
