Where is fly headed?

[Tyson Trotter]

Where is the future of fly going?
It seems to me that it's slowly dropping off.
Years ago I thought it may have grown out of control as it evolved.
Yeah the competition is fierce now but seems there's always some tit for tat going on behind the scenes.

What do we have to do to make fly great again?

Tyson.

[Dave Groves]

G'day Tyson,
                       I, like you, have been concerned about the future of Fly, but I m feeling a bit more comfortable about the way things are headed now.

With the way the event has grown in the last few years, I think what we are seeing is a "dilution" of the available shooters across more events, the discipline isn't losing shooters, it's just that not everybody makes it to every event.

The Rulebook thing was always going to be a bit controversial, it was going to take some bedding in as the shooters got used to the formal SSAA process for amending and agreeing the rulebook and getting that across the line. We will go through the rulebook review again in another 5 years, but the majority of the people involved will have learned from the experience this time around and will know that we just need to tweak it where it has problems and not look for reasons for change.

I for one had a great time at the Nationals in Melbourne, I was pleasantly surprised with the way you and your club-mates worked in with the main range to run the event as you couldn't dictate cease fires, I thought it would be a hassle but it turned out that it was more time for everybody to stand around and have a chat and catch up with each other, it was great.

I really like the idea of the postal shoot with the USA. The Fly has been shot overseas in Diggle (UK) that I know of, and it would be great for the opportunity to arise where overseas participants might want to visit us here in Australia or Aussies might want to go overseas to meet like minded shooters and participate over there.

I do agree with your concern, but I think the best thing we can do is push forward and try not to perpetuate any little niggles that are going on, just enjoy the sport, the companionship and the competition.

All of that said, I'm not saying we need to take this thing that is Fly Shooting too seriously, there should be plenty of s%$t stirring and we should all enjoy witnessing somebody shoot a great target rather than wishing it was us.

Cheers.

Dave Groves.

[Stuart Pethy]

well said Dave

i know over here in WA its getting more competitive and bigger but we are still learning as its only been going for about 5yrs now give or take
when i 1st started it was all hunting rifles with not a flag in sight and if you scored 100 you won.. now you need to be on the ball as there be a number of shooters who could take it out and 1 bad round will hurt you
yes we have lost some shooters as they had given up because they couldn’t win  but the guys left have improved their shooting big time and some have even spent the money to get better equipment which has also helped
but these days everyone seems to have money problems or are just time poor to be able to make it to all the shoots
i for one are trying, as with other to get more people into fly  over here, we have a few F class shooter that turn up at times but they can only do it when they are not shooting F class and they love it .
but i must say the best things i ever did (besides getting a 6BRX built haha) was coming over east for the nationals in Canberra and Little River, seeing how you guys ran them and the standard of competition is unreal and i have been using what i have learnt to make ours better  
yes not everyone is going to get along and some people will clash with ideas and what should be done but that is what happenes in every sport,
lets all keep working together to make this sport great
also looking forward to the US vs Aussies to haha

[Anthony Hall]

Hi Tyson,

Great to see you on the forum mate....Love the picture :)

I agree with Dave, and while I think that some of the behind the scenes crap with rules and proposed changes has gotten in the way of fun over the past year or so, I believe we are on the other side of that and all clubs are now working together going forward.

Numbers are increasing... there are new shooters at every event I have run in Batemans Bay,  on top of that participants at our local club shoots are clearly growing and a number of these are progressing into shooting registered matches....  My February shoot was the biggest event we have ever had and numbers look fairly healthy for the June shoot already.

Brisbane has grown its club shoots massively over the past two years, I put a lot of this down to good leadership by Vince.... And Canberra and Wagga also get good numbers every shoot.

I think that Little River can and will grow with you and Nick leading the charge.

The postal shoot will be a bit of fun and add to the colour.

The best thing we can do for ourselves and the sport is run good shoots, compete hard and enjoy the great people and great event that Fly is.....And continue to hang Sh#t on each other and laugh :)

Cheers
Anthony

[Les Fraser]

Hi Tyson once the rule book is ratified and the integrity of the fly is etched for another 5 years i think it will again be the premier benchrest sport it is. Seeing other states and now other countries trying the fly in feel it has a world of growth left to achieve. The fly is the only bench rest match were you have a spotter/ Mate friend or someone helping you out with your score even though you are the person pulling the trigger.

The fly's growth is always going to come down to the excitement of the match and the friendship that it brings, i don't feel the discussions and issues have played any detrimental effect on the fly fraternity it just demonstrates that people are passionate about keeping the fly as it has always been and has good governance. As a by product of this passion the rules of the fly will remain intact and we can all move forward.

As far as making the fly great again this comes down to the competitors themselves and what you as a competitor are prepared to put back into the sport.

As a round up of what i personally have put into the fly:

Designed and paid for the building of this website, (now Anthony Belly and I administer it)
Built a load Rifle (6k) of my own cost
Arranged sponsorship from suppliers for matches
Arranged a State of Origin Trophy (never really got of the ground)
loaned competition rifles to new shooters
Run a training weekend giving my personal time and resources
Now arranged and international Postal Match with the US

I am pretty confident i have put back into the sport what it has given me.......

Cheers

Les

Les

[Jason Rushton]

For me this statement by Les makes a lot of  sense..

"As far as making the fly great again this comes down to the competitors themselves and what you as a competitor are prepared to put back in".

I believe this  goes for any shooting discipline, we all know who the pivotal people are  at our home clubs and matches around the country  that go the extra mile to improve the shooting experience for all involved.. ( I know who the people are at the clubs I shoot at). And for me  they make the Fly more appealing, more fun, make you want to be involved more with the direction of the sport.

The Fly in WA is constantly growing in a positive direction, and that's thanks to many motivated and passionate people going the extra mile to make things happen.

What Les and others have done for the Fly on the East Coast is a great model for the rest of us to follow to ensure our sport keeps growing in the right direction.

Cheers Jason

 

[MikeCockcroft]

We have noticed a drop in numbers here in Texas at out clay bird matches  in the last year or so. There are so many shooting disciplines available now that the shooters are more spread out. The younger guys only want to shoot tactical matches. And most young families only have so much money to spend on non essential things like expensive rifles and equipment. Hard to raise a family and compete in what is an expensive sport. New shooters come to our matches and quickly realize they can not be competitive with the hunting or tactical rifle they have. No one wants to be at the bottom of the score sheet all the time. Then they realize the cost of a new custom rifle and all the other rests and reloading gear and you never see them again.  
Hoping that starting Fly Shoots here will renew interests by being something different, new and fun. When I had 600 yd group and score matches several years ago there was some issues about shooting paper at that distance. Fly Matches address those issues by giving three sighters per target and allowing spotters. We are shooting clay birds now at 600 yds and are allowing you to have a spotter. The clay birds are behind round cutouts in a steel plate so your misses show up as a splash on the plate.
This should be good training for shooter and spotter working together at the Fly shoots.
Mike