Spotting vs Coaching - Proposed wording to address the issue

[Dave Groves]

Dear All,
                I have drafted some proposed changes to the Rulebook to address this issue further.
 
Rather than leave a grey area regarding spotting and coaching I have done my best to define what a spotter is and what a coach is.

I have tried to make this something that would not disadvantage anybody and capture that which is the "Spirit of the Fly" when it comes to having a friend work alongside you as a spotter.
 
I have made a small change to 2.4.2 because if we define what is coaching and what is spotting, we don't need to determine what constitutes "excessive coaching". This removes a grey area as follows:
 
2.4.2   Sportsmanship
Competitors shall behave in a sportsmanlike manner as befitting membership of the SSAA. In the observation of any competitor behavior that the Range Officer or match organisers deem contrary to the spirit of the event, the Range Officer shall caution those involved once, and, if there is any repetition of the conduct, the competitor/s may be asked to immediately leave the firing line and or the target being shot scored as a zero or the competitor/s may be disqualified. Coaching or deliberate crossfires to gain an advantage may come under this clause.
 
I have defined "Spotter" as follows, note I have not stated it has to be another competitor.
 
“Spotter” means a person who, with the aid of a spotting scope, rifle scope or the naked eye, observes weather conditions, mirage, wind flags and fall of shot and collaborates with a competitor in that competitors participation in the Fly Shoot.
 
I have added a new rule 3.12 that deals with the whole Spotting vs Coaching matter, tying this back to the Sportsmanship rule.


3.12         SPOTTING OR COACHING
 
3.12.1   A spotter may, without the permission of the Range Officer:
Call fall of shot, bring attention to changes to wind flags, weather or mirage conditions, advise the shooter to correct elevation settings on their scope, advise a shooter to stop shooting or continue shooting ("Stop, that third flag has changed" or "It's in the 10 ring! Keep doing that!") and draw the shooters attention to remaining time.
 
3.12.2   A spotter may not, without the permission of the Range Officer:
Coach a shooter, ie adjust the elevation, windage or parallax settings of a shooters rifle scope, advise the shooter specifically where to aim, give the shooter specific firing instructions by spoken word or physical signal ("Shoot Now", "Go On", a shoulder touch or other signal)
 
3.12.3   Where, in the opinion of the Range Officer or match organisers it is deemed that a shooter has taken advantage of any instruction provided by a spotter in contravention of rule 3.12.2, the Range Officer shall caution those involved once, and, if there is any repetition of the conduct, the competitor/s may be asked to immediately leave the firing line. The matter shall then be referred to the disputes committee by the Range Officer and dealt with under Rule 2.4.2.

[Rob Eager]

Dave, this is a good compromise between FUN and FAIRNESS.

As long as the shooter is unaided in point of aim and when to fire, the shooter still has to judge the conditions and will be rewarded for skill.

[Stuart Pethy]

nice work Dave , i like that

[Keith Dowel]

Onya Dave, that should do it!!!

Keith

[Dan MacDonald]

That looks okay Dave, however, I think that still leaves a bit of ambiguity. Telling a shooter to " stop shooting " due to a condition seen by the spotter and then telling a shooter " okay,  shoot again ", which you are saying is okay  and   an  instruction to "fire" or "shoot now", which you are saying shouldn't be allowed, could be seen as the same thing.
It all depends I suppose on how the spotter phrases it.  An instruction to "go ahead, shoot when you're ready" is a lot different to an instruction along the lines of "fire now!"
Not everyone can afford a top of the heap, high power scope to shoot this game and therefore still need a spotter that can see fall of shot. While I have very much enjoyed the couple of Flys I have attended, I have a lot tied up in the 10 different categories of silhouette I shoot and need to be able to use that equipment to shoot fly.
Ask Les about my "vintage" 8X  scope I used at Mudgee on the .22/.45-90 Stevens.
I am definitely interested in the "fun" side of the match, rule 10 is it?

[Dave Groves]

Hi Dan, the rule is specific enough that if the spotter is doing something untoward and the RO isn't happy with it, what is happening  can be referred to the disputes committee. Putting it to the DC protects the RO from any perceived bias as they are usually competitors too.

As someone who administers these events in Canberra on behalf of the shooters I am comfortable that the distinctions I have drawn will be a good balance and could be understood by the majority.

For the most part if this stuff happens then a quiet word from the RO to the person involved referring them to this section of the rule book will fix the problem. If it continues then there are options to escalate the matter and if the people involved are silly enough to ignore a warning there are appropriate sanctions to be applied.

I hope to never have to refer anything like this to the disputes committee as that would mean I'm not enjoying myself and Rule 10 may apply!!

Cheers.

Dave

[David Dundas]

Hi Dave

Proposed rules look good.

I thought I would chip in a funny story about my Spotter and how helped me NOT.

My son Scott was just 8 years old and I took him along to the range for a Fly shoot. At first he was interested in what was happening and I was pleased to have my son at the range, great father son thing!

Around the start of the 3 target my son found the Johnson baby powered I have left on the bench, he squeezed it and then started to bang it on the side of the concrete bench. I was on a great condition and had got off 3 great shots all the while the baby power is flying everywhere, it was all over the bench, the rifle and scope and even up my nose!
I tried to stop him by yelling quietly but he thought it was great fun and just kept doing it, I ended up with baby powder over every piece of gear on the bench but I did manage to finish card with one of the best group I have ever shot.

It something I will never forget,

All the best

Dave Dundas