IDPA held 3 different new shooter orientations in 2007 and will hold another one in the Spring of 2008. Since we are moving indoors and have limited time and range space we believe we had to alter how we accept new shooters into our club.
Note that this is a club rule and our sister club at Minnetonka can and does follow a different practice for introducing new members to our sport. Also, the match directors and I are willing to approve other training on a case by case basis if we have not listed an organization. An example would be if Don L tells us X shooter attended his holster class or Farmer J say Shooter Y did well in their classes, that's fine with us.
What we do in IDPA is not that hard or they would not let me compete, but is is different than standing in a bay and putting lead downrage from the bench or low ready position. We encourage folks to come down and watch a match and work thru our process described below.
http://twincitiesidpa.com/newmembers/
We encourage and support new shooters. However, unless you meet our exception criteria, do not just show up at our match and expect to shoot. IDPA is accident free as a sport in the metro area and our officers want us to stay that way