After more than two decades with USPSA, I’m still learning valuable lessons. I recently shot my first complete match in more than a year. I know what you’re asking: How can the Director-at-Large not shoot a match in over a year? I will explain more in a moment, but competing made me reflect on my journey with USPSA and the lessons I’ve learned over the years.
So why didn’t I shoot much in 2025? Some of you know the story, but I wanted to share the lessons I’ve learned. During setup for a major match in the spring, I started feeling a little off. I would feel a little winded after easy daily tasks that I took for granted. I attributed it to getting older and not being in great shape. I am sure many of you can relate. I shared this with my wife, who strongly encouraged me to reach out to my doctor, which I did. That advice literally saved my life. The doctor discovered a widow-maker blockage in my heart, and within a few days of seeing them, I was in open-heart surgery.
Being on an operating table with your chest about to be opened will certainly put life events in the proper perspective. The surgery was a great success, and I have since fully recovered. I am no longer winded when performing easy tasks and, in fact, walk or jog six to eight miles several times a week. First and most important lesson: Always listen to your body and the people closest to you. They both know you better than you know yourself. Had I not listened to my wife last spring, I likely would not be here today.
As a result, while staying close to the sport I love during 2025, I did not compete and limited my role in setting up and working USPSA matches. Today, I am fully back with recharged batteries and a heart ready to go! During that time, I was able to reflect on what’s important and the things I enjoy most in life. While I certainly have other important aspects of my life—family and friends being at the top—participating and competing in practical shooting is high on the list. This is primarily due to the great people I get to spend time with.
While shooting is fun, the personal relationships are what bring most of us to the range. Most folks don’t care what job you have, what your house looks like or what kind of car you drive. What they do care about is if you’re a good person. The lesson I learned during my time off: Do what you enjoy the most and surround yourself with good people. USPSA may not be for everyone. If you don’t like the people or the activities of the organization, go do something else that makes you happy. Time on this earth is fleeting and spending it on things that don’t bring you joy is simply a waste.
Competing is in my blood. I have competed in various activities since I was six years old. I can’t remember a time when competition was not part of my life. I believe that continuous improvement is critical in life. If you’re not improving, you’re declining. This doesn’t mean that each of us will make Grand Master or some other level of measured achievement. What it does mean is that we should always try to be better. We can become better Range Officers, design better stages, be nicer to people, help more, etc.
During my time away from competing, I really missed it. I mostly missed challenging myself and trying hard to do better—not to win the match or a new car (just kidding, no new cars were awarded). Before I was back shooting, I was still striving to improve. When I got home from the hospital, the best I could do was walk down the driveway and then back to the house. Today, I can go more than eight miles. I’m not sure what the end goal will be, but I will continue to focus on getting better—maybe more miles or a faster time. My lesson: Continuous improvement is critical to everything we do. You should never settle for the current state being good enough.
As the Director-at-Large of USPSA, I will focus on trying new things and looking to continuously improve the organization. Some of those things will work, others will not. But in the end, we will endeavor to always be better.
While I definitely missed competing and challenging myself, the people are what I missed the most. During my first full match back, I only previously knew one person on our squad. There were 10 new people whom we had never met. I didn’t know anything about them; however, what I learned quickly is that they were all good people. They didn’t know anything about us either. We were just a couple of guys shooting with them. Every single person helped the best they could. Some ran the timer or tablet, while others pasted and reset steel. Everyone helped. Just hanging out with the squad, including the banter, made the match very enjoyable. Lesson learned: We have really good people in USPSA. With more than 45,000 members, the vast majority are down-to-earth and really nice.
As I said before, it is important to surround yourself with good people. Odds are, when you attend a match, you will be around good folks, even when those people aren’t already friends. Hopefully, by the end of the day, you will have expanded your population of shooting friends.
Lastly, I think it’s important to always reflect on why we do what we do. I encourage you to take a few minutes in the near term to think about what brings you joy and why you do what you do. Remember, listen to those closest to you and surround yourself with good people. If something doesn’t make you happy or your life better, go do something else. What I find to be true in the USPSA community is that nearly all are good people and will literally give you the shirt off their back if you need it.
Stay safe, and I look forward to seeing you on the range!
Article from the May/June 2026 issue of USPSA’s magazine.
