This past Saturday was a slightly different day at KR Training.
1. We held 2 Basic Pistol 1 classes. It’s common to have 2 classes in 1 day, but always different classes. We ran 2 of the same.
2. Karl Rehn (the “KR” in KR Training) wasn’t there.
Why the difference? The Rangemaster Polite Society Annual Tactical Conference was being held that weekend, so Karl was off presenting at the conference. However, demand for classes, especially Basic Pistol 1, has been extremely high. We’ve run a lot of BP1’s, it’s a pretty well-oiled machine. John (TXGunGeek), Tom, and I have things down pretty well, and we were joined by misBehavin (Mrs. TXGunGeek), the suburban dad, and Ed (the “intern”). So we took over the reigns for the day and introduced 20 new students to the world of firearms.
High number of women in the class, well over half; a fantastic thing to see. And as usual, the demographics spread from young to old, across all sorts of bounds. Sorry, but I think the only pigeonholing you can do here is people taking responsibility for themselves. I will say tho, I’m seeing more and more young women showing up in classes. I can hypothesize a number of reasons; it’s an interesting data point.
All in all, classes ran well. TXGunGeek said it best, that what’s so satisfying about these Basic classes is that “new shooter smile”. That first time they shoot, and the HUGE smile that comes over their face. I’d have to agree that while some of the “high speed low drag” classes are a lot of fun, the Basic classes are some of the most satisfying both professionally and personally.
I also enjoyed the classes because I got to do a little more direct teaching. The nature of most classes, Karl runs the show and we’re assisting. I have zero problem with that, and that’s of course how it should be. But it is nice from time to time to get to demo and show stuff. I handled the technique portion of the classes (grip, stance, trigger press, follow through, etc.), and enjoyed it. Got to play with a SIRT pistol (on loan) a little bit and I can see how it could be useful… just have to find the right places to work it in.
Students were good, asking questions, open and receptive to learning. They all seemed to enjoy themselves — lots of smiles. 🙂
And that… makes it all worth it.
Stuff From Hsoi 
Everyone lft the range with a sore face! That’s a good goal. Really haad fun for these classes but with my laptop taking a hike, not posted about it or followed up till this morning with e-mails. Otherwise great long day at the range. Fun to see all the new shooters “get it”. I think the new format worked fantastically as well.
That’s one thing I really like about working there — willingness to evolve. I like our after-class discussions so we can say what worked, what didn’t, observations from students and then how we can work to improve everything.
The new format continues to work well, especially with our continued refinements.