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Attracting new (younger) shooters into the game?


J.D. Lee

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Folks I don’t post often but read the wire daily.

One of the comments that seems to come up in varying posts is that our membership is getting on in age. (I am 51. ;) )

What in your opinion can be done to attract new (younger) shooters to the game?

 

Thanks,

J.D. LEE

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Not likely. CAS is based on TV westerns, B grade movies and playing Cowboys and Indians as a kid. None of todays generation were raised in this environment. I think the next shooting craze to catch on will be GAS, gangster action shooting, or Zoot Suit. It looks like a lot of fun with costumes and more guns to choose from.

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We need to convince Hollywood to make lots of western movies and TV shows with starring folks like Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Robert Pattinson, Daniel Radcliffe, Li'l Kim and Usher.

That's about the only thing that would do it. ;)

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WE are starting to get some young shooters in at Orange .Some of the ones comeing in ,are young and have kids that want to shoot. It is great.We have a young lady that is 13 and she spanks me most of the time. She and her dad are a lots of fun to shoot with and are a joy to be around.One member that has a son that has been shooting, now one of his daughters and his wife are starting to shoot.We really have a great club that seems to bring in people.Three of the new ones are a dad and 2 grown sons.

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it is darn near impossible

 

mOST young ens

they dont want to get out of bed early

they dont have the $$ for guns and ammo

they dont have the patients for the down time

 

most young new SASS shooters

come from established SASS shooters personal contacts and or family

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We need to convince Hollywood to make lots of western movies and TV shows with starring folks like Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Robert Pattinson, Daniel Radcliffe, Li'l Kim and Usher.

Who are they?

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Always glad to hear about the young ones shooting with their families.

I guess I was thinking more in terms of the Cowboy/Wrangler age group that currently do not have anyone in their family that is currently in SASS.

Guess it makes sense that most folks kind of stumble upon it (like I did) or get introduced through a member/acquaintance.

 

Thanks,

J.D. Lee

 

(Utah, I don’t think I could take westerns made with anyone from that line up. :lol: )

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Dang near impossible to promote a gun sport to youngsters without promoting it to their parents or extended family first. Promote CAS in general and I think some youth will come along. Invite folks to matches, encourage your club to hold clinics and promote them. Approach existing gun friendly or neutral youth organizations about putting on a safety seminar and demo. Invite the local media to your annual match and tease them with videos of some of your matches. Use the internet! A good club website and vids on youtube go a long way, and give you somewhere local to point people who might be interested in checking it out.

 

But in this day and age, anyone you allow to pull a trigger at your club or range needs to sign a liability release.

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Always glad to hear about the young ones shooting with their families.

I guess I was thinking more in terms of the Cowboy/Wrangler age group that currently do not have anyone in their family that is currently in SASS.

Guess it makes sense that most folks kind of stumble upon it (like I did) or get introduced through a member/acquaintance.

 

Thanks,

J.D. Lee

 

(Utah, I don’t think I could take westerns made with anyone from that line up. :lol: )

 

the cowboy / wrangler types

are usually working, rasing little ones

disney land type stuff

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I have asked teens and twenty something kids to come out and check out our game. They would get to shoot for free, with our guns and ammo. They showed little to no interest. Yes, there are a few, most are family members of current shooters. Heck, we can't even get middle aged guys to come out.

 

By the way, I'm 51. I did grow up watching some westerns. Gunsmoke, Bonanza, High Chaparal(sp), and Virginian. Most guys grew up watching Roy Rogers, and Gene Autry. They were before my time. I did grow up watching Clint Eastwood westerns, most JW movies were reruns. I always liked shooting regardless of the type of gun. Cowboy was just the most fun to me because we used multiple guns. Also, the targets are big, easy to hit, they're steel and you get instant gratification.

 

Get the kids involved in the shooting sports first, if we can keep their interest long enough they might want to step into CAS. The best method of getting folks out to the range is to have a free open house. Get the folks out,let them watch different disciplines, and let them shoot alot.

 

LL'

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I am 67 going on 68 and I never heard of CAS or SASS until about 6 months ago and I joined, I was looking at a CHEYTAC Rifle on you tube and just started looking at differant shooting Vids.I found a Cas vid and then the SASS site went to clubs and found Orange.The First name I got was a member of Orange and he invited me to his house and there was Capt Hill,Texas Gator,Cajun Queen and Nate Jones.Thats how I got started.Nate took one of my 92 and I was invited to a shoot I was hooked.

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I don't think it's that "we" watched it more on TV....I think it's the fact that many folks under 30 don't have the time, money or interest to pick up an expensive hobby like SASS. As they (or at least for me) get older they get more nostalgic and then the money and time fall into place as well. IMO that's why you see people joining in their 30's 40's and 50's more than the 20’s. I could be wrong....but I hope not I would hate to have to shoot by myself.

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We need to convince Hollywood to make lots of western movies and TV shows with starring folks like Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Robert Pattinson, Daniel Radcliffe, Li'l Kim and Usher.

That's about the only thing that would do it. ;)

Jeez, I just spit up in my mouth . . . DON'T SAY THAT!

 

SC

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Gumbo Joe's mom here- Here in Jackson Parish in Louisiana we have a 4 H Shooting Sport club. Slick and all the members at Jackson Hole Regulators have gone above and beyond helping out the kids in the club. He invited the senior .22 rifle and senior .22 pistol shooters to come to a match one Sat. and all of the cowboy shooters took them in and loaned them the equipment and ammo, instructed them on how to shoot the stages and just made them all feel like they had been shooting with them forever. As a result my son, Gumbo Joe, with Slick's help has acquired most of the equipment needed to shoot every month at the match. He just turned 18 in January and loves to shoot. He says that the .22 rifle and .22 pistol target shooting is more work because you have to hit that little bullseye to make it count but with cowboy shooting you just have to hit the big target to have fun. Thank you to everyone on here that contributed to his collection of items needed to shoot. In fact he is in his room now getting stuff ready for tomorrow.

I forgot to say that it doesn't hurt to be raised on watching western movies. When he was about 4 or 5 his favorite movie was McClintock.

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what about having annual matches on a Saturday and Sunday instead of Friday and Saturday. I realize people like having their awards banquet and dress up on Saturday night after the last stage is shot that day. My problem is taking my 14 year old son out of school for that Friday to shoot the first half of the match. My wife is understanding and lets me take him out of school as at least one of the matches here in Texas is at Old Fort Parker and at least he gets some history lesson out of going there. Another few matches are in Fredericksburg, TX and we try to go to the WW2 museum there so he gets a sense of history there too. a few years ago some of the matches took a vote and voted for the Fri/Sat match so that they would not have to drive thier RV's at night going home. I can understand that and that the match directors also must clean up and drive a distance to thier homes and then have to get up early the next day for work.

I know some people will say that we can just shoot through on Saturday...but let me tell you that shooting through is hectic when you got a kid along and trying to get both of you to rush through the shoot...that is when mistakes are made and neither of us can relax and enjoy the shoot.

 

There is no compromise that will make everybody happy.....but I do hear people say that the boy and girl youth shooters are the "future of our sport".

 

We have to pick and choose our big matches we go to as I feel I am cheating him out of much needed education for a match. Summer matches are okay except for the heat here in Texas. One good match in Abilene in July...the pool does feel good after that one.

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I think like many others have said that getting all the equipment is probably the biggest hurdle for younger folks. And then finding the time to shoot enough to make that investment worthwhile. That's probably why most of the younger SASS members have parents or other relatives that got them into it.

 

I'm 29 now and just started shooting (CAS and in general)a couple years ago. I saw a mention of it when looking at guns online after deciding to buy my first gun. I've always been interested in the old west and western movies, so I knew it was something I could get into. And now I'm thoroughly hooked. But in my case I don't have a wife or kids yet so I can spend my money on whatever I want :D Provided I get the bills paid at some point as well.

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We will get more kids by getting more adults, particularly more grandpas and grandmas into the sport. This is an expensive adult sport. Yes it is good for our long range prospect to have a healthy crop of young shooters, but we will not get them by focusing on young shooters. Play to our strength. Play the sport up to retirees. They have time and some money. If they enjoy themselves they will bring their families into the sport.

 

Let's not deny who we really are.

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We will get more kids by getting more adults, particularly more grandpas and grandmas into the sport. This is an expensive adult sport. Yes it is good for our long range prospect to have a healthy crop of young shooters, but we will not get them by focusing on young shooters. Play to our strength. Play the sport up to retirees. They have time and some money. If they enjoy themselves they will bring their families into the sport.

 

Let's not deny who we really are.

Amen. The unfortunate reality is we're not going to attract a large number of young shooters to our game period. Almost without fail, those we have are here due to the direct influence of a parent or grandparent. Even then, the majority falls by the wayside as they mature and find other interests.

Look around. What age shooters do you primarily see? Everybody knows that most shooters are in age based categories or could be if they chose to do so. Now consider the percentage of the population that fits that age group who have never heard of cowboy action shooting. I believe the untapped market is that group. I stumbled upon CAS six years ago and I routinely talk to people who have never heard of it. How big would CAS be if everybody had heard of it? I think it would be huge.

It is my understanding that the T.V. show Cowboys has been cancelled. If that is true, I think it is a sad day as I believe it was many people's first introduction to CAS. What can be done to make more of this target group aware?

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We have several parents and grandparents,uncles etc in our club that have involved the younger family members.Most have stuck to it with a few falling by the wayside due to puberty and hormones arriving.Some have started shooting again,some not.We also have 2 4H clubs established in the state that shoot at our range regularly(sp).We have the advantage of owning our land the club is on so we can let them shoot on weekends we don't.The 4H "overseer's" provide all the firearms for the ones who don't have their own,and ammo.They also have made arrangements with a reloading company to do the reloading for them at a reduced cost.Aparently 4H has a rule about not using home reloads.Commercial reloads are ok.I know of several in both clubs that have said this is something they want to keep doing.So that's a glimmer of hope for getting younger people in.I just hope they start dragging some of their friends along after 4H has past as a part of their lives.

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Well I'd first start promoting the game as something other then a way to re-live your childhood...that worked 20 years ago...

 

Then I'd try and get folks to understand that being a grouchy old fart doesn't help.

 

Third, I'd stop with the expensive bs. Have any of you folks ever participated in other sports before...I mean other then when you were in school?

 

Forth, I'd start using the young faces of SASS more in promotional materials...including the CC. And I mean more then just a photo of a real young kid wearing chinks...action photos...fun shooting photos. Pitures of little johnny standing there in his cute little outfit don't work for attracting younger folks.

 

I think I'll just stop here...fer now.

 

:FlagAm:

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Well I'd first start promoting the game as something other then a way to re-live your childhood...that worked 20 years ago...

 

Then I'd try and get folks to understand that being a grouchy old fart doesn't help.

 

Third, I'd stop with the expensive bs. Have any of you folks ever participated in other sports before...I mean other then when you were in school?

 

Forth, I'd start using the young faces of SASS more in promotional materials...including the CC. And I mean more then just a photo of a real young kid wearing chinks...action photos...fun shooting photos. Pitures of little johnny standing there in his cute little outfit don't work for attracting younger folks.

 

I think I'll just stop here...fer now.

 

:FlagAm:

 

 

Yup...downhill skiing and Drag Racing.I spent more on a race motor than I have in ALL of my SASS guns combined.

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Gumbo Joe's mom here- Here in Jackson Parish in Louisiana we have a 4 H Shooting Sport club. Slick and all the members at Jackson Hole Regulators have gone above and beyond helping out the kids in the club. He invited the senior .22 rifle and senior .22 pistol shooters to come to a match one Sat. and all of the cowboy shooters took them in and loaned them the equipment and ammo, instructed them on how to shoot the stages and just made them all feel like they had been shooting with them forever. As a result my son, Gumbo Joe, with Slick's help has acquired most of the equipment needed to shoot every month at the match. He just turned 18 in January and loves to shoot. He says that the .22 rifle and .22 pistol target shooting is more work because you have to hit that little bullseye to make it count but with cowboy shooting you just have to hit the big target to have fun. Thank you to everyone on here that contributed to his collection of items needed to shoot. In fact he is in his room now getting stuff ready for tomorrow.

I forgot to say that it doesn't hurt to be raised on watching western movies. When he was about 4 or 5 his favorite movie was McClintock.

 

Glad to hear Gumbo Joe is still shootin regular. I had the pleasure to meet you and Gumbo at Hellfire last year. It's a tribute to you as well for encouraging him, and allowing him to shoot. He appeared to be a very squared away young man, very polite, that's why I had no problem sending him "some goodies" to help him get started. He even sent a thank you note, now thats saying something. He is the type of "young adult" that is the future of our sport.

Kudos to you both. I was the one with the Winchester Gun Crate guncart, and snakeskin grips. Hope see ya'll at Hellfire and Cypress Creek this year.

 

Capt Hill

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We go out of our way anytime we have visitors or spectators at our monthly shoots. We all introduce ourselfs, tell them what it's all about, answer "any" questions, andthen invite them to shoot our guns after the shoot. This being said, we have increased our number of shooters by a great amount. We now have more young people, ladies, and new shooters overall, than we ever had. We welcome any and all to come visit anytime.

 

 

Capt. Stephen D. Hill

 

I LOVE THIS SPORT AND THE PEOPLE IN IT!! B)

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It's hard I've been into guns my whole life and just stumbled across sass and realized how cool it is.. And it takes alot time,patience...and of coarse money,im 32 with a career and it's hard to balance everything,and I think you have to be a cowboy at heart too and not a sci-fi space boy haha.the good thing is everybody is very friendly supportive and full of knowledge willing to shared and better you..that helps alot..thanks cowboys

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Howdy Wire

 

I agree 100% with Phantom here!

 

I am 36 and in this game for 7 years now.

 

I tell you, todays attractions are not as imaginary as they were 20 years ago. Today the young folks get flooded with visual attractions. I mean videos, pictures and that stuff. If you want to get the young involved, make advertising with the cool kids, dressed sharp, wearing shades storming down a stage blazing away.

 

Cowboy as we perceive it, is reliving our childhood! Cowboy as they (the young) see it, is boring stories that grandpa tells.

 

Conclusion: You attract the folks that you advertise for!

 

CAS has everything that even an adrenalin-junkie seeks. They just don't know about it!!!

 

My humble oppinion!!!

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I think it's partially who the sport promotes itself toward, but also the cost. For someone not already into CAS style firearms it's a "neat but I'm not spending that much to get started." kind of thing. Once they're IN they might be able to swing it, though money's rather tight in my age group, too many other demands, not enough career growth. CAS is great because folks are so willing to lend stuff, but it only goes so far and when the person just can't see themselves spending a few grand on it they just don't bother. This is why I think the clubs that have alternate categories do well. Getting someone rolling with one revolver, a rifle and a club shotgun (and allow 22's) would open it up a lot. The club shotgun would be at just one stage, or maybe two, just so the shooters got to try that part of things out. As they get more gear they move closer to a normal category or borrow just the items they don't have to fill a set. A few matches later they're hooked and have made some friends and that's all she wrote.

 

I'm a sci-fi kind of guy, but also a westerns watching classics guy. The Firefly and Harry Potter dvd's are sitting next to a John Wayne collection. The problem is that day to day the younger set doesn't have stuff that gets us revved up about cowboy stuff. I find my interest in getting back to CAS fluctuates a lot depending on what I've been seeing and doing lately. I have friends I'd love to bring into the sport but they're a lot more interested in modern firearms. Give them a few more years though and the FUN aspect might persuade them to give it a try.

 

Howdy Wire

 

I agree 100% with Phantom here!

 

I am 36 and in this game for 7 years now.

 

I tell you, todays attractions are not as imaginary as they were 20 years ago. Today the young folks get flooded with visual attractions. I mean videos, pictures and that stuff. If you want to get the young involved, make advertising with the cool kids, dressed sharp, wearing shades storming down a stage blazing away.

 

Cowboy as we perceive it, is reliving our childhood! Cowboy as they (the young) see it, is boring stories that grandpa tells.

 

Conclusion: You attract the folks that you advertise for!

 

CAS has everything that even an adrenalin-junkie seeks. They just don't know about it!!!

 

My humble oppinion!!!

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I think there should be more advertising in the local area. I found out about SASS from a friend that I went to high school with on facebook. I went to the range to meet him and I have not looked back. I have tried posting notes on my facebook page to see if any of my friends want to learn more about shooting CAS but I have only had one person that wants to start but has not done so yet. I guess i need to go pick them up and drag them to the range. :lol:

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We need to convince Hollywood to make lots of western movies and TV shows with starring folks like Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Robert Pattinson, Daniel Radcliffe, Li'l Kim and Usher.

That's about the only thing that would do it. ;)

 

 

Aren't they in that new movie.....Cowboys and Aliens...........you guess which ones are the aliens :blink:

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I agree, Firefly!

 

Anime like Trigun would attract younger people to the mix and they wouldn't necessarily be teenagers or younger. The twentysomethings and thirtysomethings are into these genre and can associate with the characters.

 

The wardrobe collections would be amazing. Red dusters and such!

 

One of my choices for the alias was Vash the Stampede and I'm 45 years old. LOL

Trigun

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I agree, Firefly! Firefly youtube fan collection

 

Anime like Trigun would attract younger people to the mix and they wouldn't necessarily be teenagers or younger. The twentysomethings and thirtysomethings are into these genre and can associate with the characters.

 

The wardrobe collections would be amazing. Red dusters and such!

 

One of my choices for the alias was Vash the Stampede and I'm 45 years old. LOL

Trigun

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