How does one join the ISSF, or is that even a thing?

[Rune Kanstad]

I only see names from my national team in that list last year @ Rune

maybe too expensive for a private person? I also see Thomas Rink in the list, who makes grips

What I did was that I booked my flights and hotel as soon as the date was confirmed, i.e. in November (IIRC) and that was quite a lot cheaper than booking a month or two before the competition. Early April the hotel cost twice as much as I paid for it. Planning is the key!

[Pheyden]

Houngan,

Boy does your story sound familiar!! I went, and to some extent still do, through a series of slumps related to competition. It led me to develop the "10 Meter Pistol Competition League" (PCL). You can find it on Facebook, by looking up that name.

PCL holds 10 competitions per year, with march rules that participants are asked to comply with. These run very close to ISSF rules, but it is an honor system. One of this forum's members, George Siordian, was the 2016 Champion. PCL competitions are designed to give you some of the match pressure that you might experience in a major live competition.

I shoot in veteran competition (I'm 69) events, and started shooting 3.5 years ago. I shot well in practice but not so well in live competitions. The PCL was one step that I took that really helped me lift my live competition game. Note: The other thing that I did was utilize a shooting coach, using Skype to talk to the coach that I used in Australia. A former Olympian, and married to a former Russian national shooting coach, she has helped me work on the mental side of my game.

I would invite you to join the PCL (It is totally free) and participate in the competitions.

[AlexFromPardini]

I'd like to shoot some bigger matches

Define "bigger matches".

For the matches supervised by the ISSF, World Cups, Continental Games/Championships, World Championships and Olympic Games, Entries (up to maximum team sizes) are accepted from Governing Bodies who are members of the ISSF.

They will usually select teams based on rankings or trials (or finances)

Up to ISSF World Cup events. Am I correct in thinking that USA Shooting is our national body?

Yea you would have to join USA shooting and come to the matches. There is a big one coming up in Ft Benning Georgia..This is our nationals competition...from here there is the opportuntity to make the national team or place well enough to be considered to go to the bigger competitions and camps. What events do you shoot?

[Houngan]

Yea you would have to join USA shooting and come to the matches. There is a big one coming up in Ft Benning Georgia..This is our nationals competition...from here there is the opportuntity to make the national team or place well enough to be considered to go to the bigger competitions and camps. What events do you shoot?

Just air right now. There's still a few months before Benning, I will try to make that one. Long way to go before thinking about the team, but getting a solid kicking at a major can only help, to my mind. Thanks for all the input in various threads, very helpful and a great example of a top shooter helping out the regular folks. Best of luck to you this year.