CMA Shooting Career
CMA provides a clear career path from beginner to competitor, onward to Safety Officer and, finally, to Instructor. All roles have a standardized and objective education, certification and renewal process. This allows for a well structured foundation for responsible firearms handling, safe and enjoyable shooting events, high skill levels and demanding challenges. CMA certifications and licenses can very well be used as a quality seal also outside of the sport.
Competitor
Competitor Steps
1. Get your CMA ID number
The number is composed of your country code followed by a serial number. There's the possibility to be assigned a custom number, depending on availability. Take contact if interested in that. The ID number will stay with you throughout your CMA shooting career.
2. Become a CMA member
Next, you should choose a membership plan. At the moment, there are 1-year or 3-year memberships implemented to choose from. An active membership is required for all shooters and it will get you access to more pages and functions on the website as well.
3. Become a certified competitor
Once you have become a member, you should proceed to obtain your CMA shooting license. The way to do this is to attend and pass the Pistol Intro course. After the pistol course you can additionally do the 2-Gun Intro course if you are planning to compete in 2-Gun matches.
In those courses you will learn about the rules and their application on the range, about specific shooting techniques and you will pass the pistol or 2-gun skills test and get classified accordingly. The intro courses are specifically about CMA sports shooting. You will need to already have a solid basic pistol and rifle shooting education prior to attending the respective courses.
As CMA is still young and expanding in many countries, some shortcuts may be possible for experienced competitive shooters, depending on the concrete situation.
4. Compete in CMA matches
​After having passed the proper education and skills test, you can attend CMA competitions worldwide. Your digital ID card, downloadable on your dashboard, will always show your up to date membership, certification and classification information.
5. Keep things valid and up to date
Renew your membership when it's due and shoot the skills tests at least once every 12 months. ​This ensures that you remain certified and eligible to attend CMA events.
You can update your pistol and 2-gun classifications by shooting the skills tests more often of course. This allows you to check your personal progress and climb up the classification ladder.
Safety Officer
Become a certified safety officer
The next step after competitor is to become a safety officer. Safety officers run and score the stages in a competition and they can renew the skills tests of competitors. In order to obtain the safety officer certification you need to be an experienced competitor and successfully attend the safety officer course. In the course you will learn about firearms safety, as well as about setting up, running and scoring stages. You will acquire the skills to be on the staff team of a competition. Doing a safety officers job is a lot of work but it can also be very rewarding. Safety officers are the backbone of the sport. Without them, no events are possible.
You will have to be on the staff team of at least 4 competitions during a renewal period of 2 years in order to maintain your certification. In this way, safety officers are encouraged to keep current in practical terms.
Safety officers have additional functionalities available to them on the website, such as, for example, uploading skills test results or registering a new event or a new club.
Match Director
Become a certified match director
Experienced safety officers can become match directors. The MD takes responsibility for organizing and carrying out CMA competitions. This includes for example planning, stage design, leading the staff team, marketing, finances, leading the event and also administrative work before and after the event.
To become a new match director, you will need to successfully attend the match director course. You will then need to be on the staff team of minimum 4 matches during a renewal period of 2 years, of which a minimum of 2 matches have to be in the MD role.
The match director has the duty to upload his staff team on the website in order that all team members get the credits of having worked the match.
Instructor
Become a certified instructor
CMA instructors are responsible for the education and certification of new competitors. They teach the basic firearms education for handgun and for rifle and the handgun and 2-gun intro courses. A CMA instructor shares the principles and values of the sport and acts as a representative of CMA dynamic sports shooting. He or she is an example of responsible behavior and sportsmanship.
Instructor candidates must be experienced competitors and safety officers, preferably with prior teaching experience in a similar field.
Senior Instructor
A senior instructor teaches, in addition to the basic education and licensing of new competitors, new safety officers and match directors. Senior instructor candidates must have a proven track record in the roles of safety officer, match director and instructor.