From Tin Cans to IDPA: My Unexpected Competition Journey
How It All Started
My path from casual shooter to competing in IDPA (International Defensive Pistol Association) is a little bit of a winding trail. Many years ago, I went to a women’s-only shooting event, and one of the classes was competition shooting. I honestly believed that I would never be part of that world but took the class anyway. A few years later, I went to what I believed to be a class about defensive shooting. Turns out it was not a class, but a competition. Everyone was incredibly helpful, made sure I had all the gear I needed, and walked me through every step! This was my true introduction to the sport of competitive shooting.
After the first match, the guys invited me to more matches. I quickly found out that there was a match every weekend in my area, if I was willing to travel to different ranges. And so, it began. I quickly became a regular at every local match I could attend. I was able to spend a lot of time at the range and started to see the value in training with my firearm this way. My skills and confidence were quickly improving.
From Tin Cans to Formal Training
My casual shooting experience involved everything from shooting tin cans as a child to shooting at outdoor ranges with a variety of people. Up until 2015, I had never had any formal education in shooting. In 2015, I started attending a women’s-only group and began shooting at indoor ranges and taking formal classes. I wanted to know more and become more independent with firearms. I was still very infrequent with how often I trained, and my knowledge base was stagnant. I was not retaining the information I needed to be a well-informed shooter, let alone a competitor. Honestly, competitive shooting was not something I was interested in. I did want to be proficient with my firearm, but I saw competition shooting as something experienced, professional people would do — not your average, everyday person.
The Welcoming Competition Community
The competition world is a very friendly community of people with a wide variety of skills, as well as day jobs. You meet people from a variety of career fields and make friends with people you never would meet in your normal day-to-day life. In my personal experience, people were very welcoming and ready to help. As with anything new, there are lots of questions and different supplies that you need. Everyone at the range has always been quick to loan me anything I needed as I started out, until I had a better idea of what I needed to pack for each match.
How You Can Get Started
All these factors made the transition from casual shooter to competition shooter extremely easy. So how can you do it? You can go to your local range and ask about matches, or go to the IDPA website and find a local range that hosts matches. All you have to do is show up. You will need a few supplies. For club matches, you need:
- around 100–150 rounds of ammunition,
- a sturdy holster that does not collapse,
- a belt,
- a concealment garment,
- eye and ear protection,
- your firearm,
- and 3 magazines,
- plus a willingness to have fun and an open mind to learn something new.
The people at the match can help you decide what division you should be in based on your firearm. Then just show up, follow the safety and range rules, listen to the instructions given for each stage, and have fun!