15TH ISSF CHAMPIONSHIP ORGANIZERS WORKSHOP MUNICH 2017 10M AND 50M RIFLE AND PISTOL QUALIFICATION DAVID GOODFELLOW MEMBER OF ISSF RIFLE COMMITTEE
SCHEDULING, STAFFING AND SQUADDING For the purpose of this presentation, I will begin with addressing the issues of Scheduling, Staffing and Squadding of the Training and Qualification rounds of Championship events. I will then cover the conduct of PET and Qualification competitions, and some suggestions concerning the following matters: Rifle gun box management on the Field of Play; Playing of music in qualifying rounds; Post-Competition testing management.
SCHEDULING The Preliminary Competition Program will have been prepared by the Organizing Committee and submitted to the Secretary General at least eight (8) months in advance, (for World Cups), for examination by the Technical Committee and approval by the Executive Committee. The Final Program must be prepared and submitted, as above, at least 3 ½ months in advance for World Cups, and notified to Federations at least three (3) months in advance. For Continental Championships and other ISSF Supervised competitions, this Program shuld be sent to the ISSF at least four (4) months in advance, for information only.
1 SCHEDULING 6.6.1.2 The office of the ISSF Secretary General, the Organizing Committee, and the Technical Delegate appointed for the Championship must prepare a detailed Official Schedule. This should include the Official Arrival day, at least one day of Official Training, the necessary Competition days and an Official Departure day. World Championship schedules, including Official Training days and the opening and closing ceremonies, should not exceed 16 days. Ranges may be open for additional Unofficial Training before the Official Training day at the option of the Organizing Committee.
SCHEDULING 6.6.1.2 Official Schedules must provide dates and times for Official Training, Pre-Event Training, Elimination Relays, Qualification Relays, Finals Reporting Times, Finals and Victory Ceremonies. They must be published on the ISSF website as soon as possible after the annual ISSF Workshop for Organizers in November of the year before the Championship. Schedule changes, as approved by the Technical Delegate, must be made as soon as possible after the Final Entry Deadline and distributed to all participating delegations.
SCHEDULING Official Training: For World Cups, one full day of Official Training must be scheduled on the day following the official arrival day. Unofficial Training: In addition to Official Training and scheduled Pre-Event Training, athletes should be given additional Unofficial Training opportunities when the shooting ranges are available. If Unofficial training is allowed, care should be taken to ensure that every Delegation is informed of the opportunity, to avoid any suggestion or allegation that some Countries or athletes have been given preferential treatment.
SCHEDULING Pre-Event Training (PET): Pre-Event Training must be provided for every event on the program on the day before Elimination or Qualification competition for that event starts. For Rifle, Pistol and Running Target events, each athlete must be allowed to train on his allocated competition target for a minimum of 40 minutes per relay, (30 minutes per relay for Rapid Fire Pistol, 15 minutes per athlete for Running Target) on a day before the event.
STAFFING Shooting on all ranges must be conducted under the supervision of a Chief Range Officer, assisted by his staff of Range Officers. These NTO s will normally be provided by the Organizing Committee of the host Country but could be supplemented by qualified officials from other countries if necessary. As all commands are given in English, a good level of spoken English by the CRO is essential so that international athletes will at least recognise the commands and understand basic instructions. On 10m and 50m ranges, apart from the CRO, there should be one Range officer allocated for each section of ten (10) athletes.
STAFFING The nomination and designation of Jury Members is made according to the Constitution of the ISSF. The Secretary General and the Chairman of the Judges Committee of the ISSF will nominate to the Executive Committee the required number of Jury Members and substitutes for World Championships, Olympic Games and for World Cups in accordance with the Guidelines for World Cups. The Executive Committee designates the Juries. All Jury Members must hold the applicable current ISSF Judge s license for all competitions where world records may be established. From 2018, for all newly appointed Rifle, Pistol and Running Target Jury Members in these competitions, an ISSF EST license is required.
STAFFING The Continental and Regional Confederations recognized by the ISSF should nominate and designate the Jury Members for their Championships and Games. The Organizing Committee, or the Organizing Federation, is responsible for the designation of Jury Members for other international championships and national championships held under the ISSF Rules. In championships where world records may be established, Team Leaders, Officials and Athletes must not be members of a Jury. If possible one (1) Member, but not usually the Chairman, must be from the National Federation organizing the championships.
STAFFING It is desirable that senior officials participating in the organizing of major competitions should possess an appropriate ISSF license. Particular tasks and duties for which ISSF licenses should be held are: Chief Range Officer, Chief of Classification, Chief Referee, Chief of Equipment Control. Range Officers, Classification Officers, Referees and Equipment Control Officers should also be encouraged to undertake official training with a view to obtaining ISSF licenses. Competition Officials designated by the Organizing Committee must not be members of any Juries at the same championships.
STAFFING Range Officers, RTS Officers and Referees appointed by the Organizing Committee are responsible for the actual conduct of the competitions while Juries act in an advisory and supervisory capacity. It is not a requirement to have Jury Members present during Unofficial Training, therefore if such Training is available before the Official Arrival day, that does not require international Jury members to arrive earlier. Jury Members must be available for Official and Pre-Event Training. This presentation is not intended to cover the duties and responsibilities of the NTO s or Jury Members (ITO s).
SQUADDING Squadding is defined as, The assignment of athletes entered in an event to relays and firing points in Rifle-Pistol events or the assignment of athletes to specific squads in Shotgun events. This process produces Start Lists. Start lists with firing point and relay allocations must be published and distributed not later than 16:00 hrs on the day before Pre-Event Training for Rifle-Pistol events and the day of Pre-Event Training for Shotgun events;
SQUADDING Sustainability option: If the organizer provides a comprehensive email distribution system or a wireless internet system that is generally available throughout the venue, and a public access information station, the organizer may, with the approval of the Technical Delegate, use a paperless system where printed start lists are not distributed
SQUADDING The principles of firing point allocation are described in Rule 6.6.6 a-i, and takes place under the supervision of the Technical Delegate with a computer program designed for the purpose or by the drawing of lots. For 50m or 300m events, if the number of entries exceeds the useable capacity of the Range, then Elimination relays must be conducted. Elimination relays should be scheduled on the day before the Qualification round is scheduled. Qualification athletes must consist of a proportional number of highest ranking athletes from each Elimination relay, taking the number of starts on the start-lists into account.
PRE-EVENT TRAINING As already mentioned, Pre-Event Training must be provided for every event on the program on the day before Elimination or Qualification competition for that event starts. If possible, the schedule should be compiled so that PET takes place at the same time of day as the Elimination or Qualification stage. This is so that the athletes have an opportunity to train under the same light conditions as in the competition, weather permitting. Although each athlete must be allowed a minimum of 40 minutes of PET, longer times are beneficial, especially for threeposition events, where at least one hour should be scheduled. However, ensure that each relay is permitted same amount of PET time.
ELIMIATION AND QUALIFICATION ROUNDS The Chief Range Officer must ensure that all necessary maintenance of targets, changing of backing targets, control cards, and Jury checking is completed and that the range is clear before calling athletes to the line. This should be thirty (30) minutes before the published start time for the competition. Athletes are allowed to remove their rifles from the cases and do sighting and aiming exercises from that point, although safety flags must not be removed before the start of Sighting and Preparation time, fifteen (15) minutes prior to the start time. The Range officers must complete their checking of athletes and equipment during the fifteen minutes before S &P time starts.
GUN BOX AND EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT When the schedule is tight and athletes from consecutive relays are congregating behind the Field of Play so as to be ready to place their equipment down as soon as possible, space will be at a premium, especially on ranges constructed with little room behind the FOP. Rifle athletes, particularly those in three-position events, tend to have a lot of equipment which they like to have close at hand, including gun cases and equipment bags. On ranges that have limited space behind the FOP, a system may be devised to avoid the athletes equipment from congesting that area:
GUN BOX AND EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT In Rio, the 10m, and 50m ranges were in that category: There was very little room behind the FOP and it would have been very difficult to walk along the range if that area had been cluttered with rifle cases and equipment bags.
GUN BOX AND EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT To make matters worse, an area at the rear had to be reserved for the media. Additionally, the Coaches wanted to be seated behind their athletes.
GUN BOX AND EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT The situation was managed by issuing every athlete with a large plastic box No rifle-cases nor equipment bags were allowed to be brought into the Range.
10M RIFLE AND PISTOL QUALIFICATION GUN BOX AND EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT Tables were set up in the corridor outside of the range. Athletes were required to assemble their rifles and leave their bags and cases on the tables, then bring all their equipment to the FOP, in a similar manner to that used in 3P Finals.
GUN BOX AND EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT Furthermore, as the entrance to the range was by way of a single door at each end, a one-way circuit was introduced whereby everyone entered at one end and exited at the other end of the range. This eliminated the problem of the outgoing relay clashing with the incoming relay in the narrow entrance. A similar system was used on the 10m range. This also improves the look of the range for the public and media. Such a system should be considered on ranges where there is restricted space behind the FOP, especially at major championships where there is likely to be substantial media interest.
MUSIC DURING ELIMINATION / QUALIFICATION ROUNDS Under the heading of Sport Presentation, Visual, audio and information enhancements such as announcements, music, colour and educational media are used in the conduct of Shooting events to make them more interesting and informative for spectator and TV audiences. We are concerned with putting on a show to entertain spectators and compete with other sports that have already moved substantially in that direction to attract audiences. The old-fashioned notion that music will distract athletes has long been disproven. In fact, most athletes prefer to have background music as this can make them focus and concentrate on their shooting.
MUSIC DURING ELIMINATION / QUALIFICATION ROUNDS During the Preparation and Sighting Times for all competitions, announcements and/or visual displays may be used to inform spectators about the event. During Preparation, Sighting and Match Firing Times for Elimination, Qualification and Finals competitions, music may be played. (6.11.8.a) The ISSF has an approved playlist, apparently compiled by members of the Athletes Committee, which is an eclectic mix that caters for most tastes of popular music, excluding Classical or Operatic!
MUSIC DURING ELIMINATION / QUALIFICATION ROUNDS ISSF Music Playlist 2017 (extract) Highway to hell ACDC Clever Words Airstrip & Torha You bring me Joy Amelia Lily Paradise Coldplay Upside Down Diana Ross Girls just wanna have fun Cindy Lauper I shot the Sheriff Eric Clapton Cuba Gibson Brothers Show must go on Queen Golden Eye Tina Turner Mission Impossible theme Star Wars symphony Staying Alive Bee Gees Another one bites the dust Queen Appropriate in Finals?
MUSIC DURING ELIMINATION / QUALIFICATION ROUNDS A qualified technical official must be available to operate the sound and music system during the Final. (6.17.1.10 h) Rule 6.17.1.11 stipulates that the conduct of Finals must use color, lighting, music, announcements, commentary, staging and CRO commands in a complete production that portrays the athletes and their competitive performances in the most appealing and exciting ways to spectator and television audiences. I think that anything with a good beat that the audience can clap along with is suitable.
MUSIC DURING ELIMINATION / QUALIFICATION ROUNDS However, some precautions must be observed: If music is played on your premises, for example, through radio, TV, CD, MP3 or computer speakers, or at live events, this is considered a public performance. Most Countries have regulations that mean you need to get permission from the copyright holder to perform music in public. A music licence grants you this permission. It is the responsibility of the Championship Organizer to ascertain if such licence is required in the host Country, and if necessary to make arrangements to obtain one.
MUSIC DURING ELIMINATION / QUALIFICATION ROUNDS Additionally, when installing loudspeakers, these should be fixed in positions that are not close to athletes standing on the firing-line so that they are not deafened by the sound or disturbed by the throbbing bass notes that can literally make the air move! (The large loudspeakers initially installed on every column on the 50m range in Rio were within a metre of the heads of athletes standing on the firing-line, and so could not be used for the Test event for fear of deafening them. They were moved several metres higher in time for the Games).
POST-COMPETITION TESTING MANAGEMENT Post-competition checks must be conducted after Elimination and Qualification competitions. The Equipment Control Jury is responsible for supervising the conduct of all post-competition checks and selecting the athletes to be tested. Judges of the same gender as the athletes must be available for clothing and taping checks. Athletes for testing should be selected on a random basis, but should include likely Finalists. Targeted testing of individual athletes may be done when a Jury has credible evidence that an athlete has altered or attempted to alter his gun, clothing or equipment.
POST-COMPETITION TESTING MANAGEMENT Post-competition trigger-tests on air-pistols should be conducted on the firing-line immediately after the end of each relay. The Chief Range Officer should announce the names or target numbers of the athletes selected for testing, who must not box their pistols but remain in place awaiting the test. Testing must be done by the EC officer and observed by a Jury member who will confirm that the tests are done correctly and who must disqualify if there are failures.
POST-COMPETITION TESTING MANAGEMENT Clothing checks should take place in a private area or separate room and be performed by a member of the Equipment Control Team, accompanied and observed by a Jury Member. If, upon initial testing, a possible disqualification is considered, the instruments must be checked by use of ISSF calibration testing equipment to prove that they are measuring accurately. This should be done in the presence of the athlete or his coach. A subsequent test will then be done and failure will result in disqualification. In such cases the Chairman of the EC Jury or one other EC or Competition Jury must confirm that the test was done correctly and that the athlete is disqualified.
POST-COMPETITION TESTING MANAGEMENT Rifle athletes selected for testing should not be required to walk long distances from the Range to the area where the test equipment is located, especially if outdoors where it might be very hot, or raining. Walking in shooting clothing is not easy, especially for Juniors or slightly built athletes, when carrying their rifles. Temporary screening should be erected in an area close to the range to provide a discrete and private area where post-equipment testing can take place. Testing of jacket overlap should not be done in full view of other athletes or coaches otherwise they will all decide whether or not the test was conducted correctly! This can also save embarrassment if an athlete is subsequently disqualified.
POST-COMPETITION TESTING MANAGEMENT THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION