Announcement from International Defensive Pistol Association
A Message to All IDPA Members from Executive Director Joyce Wilson.
USA –-(Ammoland.com)- In 1996, the International Defensive Pistol Association was formed as a grassroots organization to fulfill a need not addressed by other shooting sports.
The initial membership was ~30 shooters.
In the intervening years, our membership has swelled to 18,000 and continues to grow. With this growth comes the desire to serve our members while retaining our commitment to the grassroots nature of our sport.
After much groundwork, I am excited to announce an initiative to bring in our members to provide input and guidance for our sport.
For the past few months, we have been working on an effort to examine how we can best serve our membership by addressing changing needs in IDPA using the Tiger Team methodology. The term Tiger Team has been described as ‘a team of undomesticated and uninhibited specialists, selected for their experience, energy, and imagination, and assigned to track down relentlessly every possible source of opportunity’ for success in a project.
We will create Tiger Teams to look at various aspects of the sport, including but not limited to:
- Classifications
- Divisions
- Rulebook
- Marketing
- Safety Officer Education
- Equipment
- Rule Change Process
- And other identified areas.
Team members will represent our rank and file based on a combination of their activity in and passion for the sport; expertise and skills they bring to the group; geographic diversity; class and division diversity; understanding of the rulebook; and willingness to work in partnership with the team and with HQ.
With this goal in mind, I have tasked Terry Burba from Texas and Kitty Richards from New York to facilitate this process and act as liaison for the Tiger Teams and HQ. I selected Terry and Kitty based on a combination of their world wide experience as Safety Officers/Safety Officers Instructors and their overall passion for IDPA.
No one has worked more matches this year than Terry and Kitty.
Additionally, their knowledge is compounded through their professional careers, as they both act as facilitators and agents of change for large international organizations, and have years of experience in delivering successful project outcomes within the Fortune 500 world.
Each Tiger Team, focusing on a single area, will include one or both of the Facilitators and a Leader. The Leader and Facilitators will work in conjunction with HQ to select members to examine that area of the sport and deliver their recommendations to me; once vetted, I will present them to the Board for discussion, approval, or future consideration. Not all recommendations can or will be implemented, but ALL information will be considered!
Since almost every principle in IDPA hinges on the rulebook, we have created our initial Tiger Team to look at how we can make our rulebook more straightforward without massive rule changes and without creating a new rulebook. This team will kick-off next week and will investigate methods of streamlining and/or clarifying the rulebook and will present recommendations to me after the first of 2012. As part of this look into the rulebook, we may break the rule book up into multiple Tiger Teams. To ensure consistency, some of the initial Tiger Team members may be asked to act as Leader for subsequent Teams.
This is an exciting time in IDPA as we work together to improve our guiding principles. You will be kept abreast of the progress through quarterly communications from me to the membership – these will be posted on the idpa.com website, our Linked-In Group, and our IDPA FaceBook Page. As always, please reach out to me if you have questions or concerns.
It is my honor to serve you, JoyceAbout IDPA:
The International Defensive Pistol Association is the governing body of a practical shooting sport that simulates self defensive scenarios and real life encounters. IDPA is uniquely geared toward being friendly to the new and/or recreational shooter and yet fun and challenging for the experienced competitor. The sport was developed so that practical “everyday” guns and gear may be used competitively. IDPA is the perfect sport for the CCW holder to add experience and proficiency to his or her gun handling skills. IDPA has over 17,000 active members and more than 300 clubs in the US and around the world allowing members to safely exercise their shooting skills. IDPA also has members in 50 countries outside the US. For more information please visit www.idpa.com.