Saul Kirsch - European Jewish IPSC Marksman and Activist

As some readers might have noticed, the Jewish Marksmanship blog has yet to claim a Jewish IPSC shooter. This is odd, because next to Cowboy Action (we've discovered quite a few of those), practical shooting games like IPSC or IDPA are probably the most popular in the US. I'm sure there are many Jews competing in clubs that we just haven't learned about yet.

But now, thanks to a reader tip, we learn about Saul Kirsch, and it turns out he needs our help! According to one bio:

Saul Kirsch is the founder and director of Double-Alpha Academy. He is consistently ranked as one of the top International IPSC shooters in the world today.

Saul was born in South Africa and grew up in Israel. He now lives in the city of Waalwijk in the Netherlands.

Saul’s involvement in the shooting sports began at the age of 12. He joined the local Olympic Air-rifle club and at age 15 qualified for the Israeli Junior National team. He went on to win multiple National Junior championships in all 3 Olympic rifle events (Air rifle, 60 prone Free rifle and 3-position Free rifle).

While studying Industrial Engineering at Tel Aviv University, Saul coached pistol and rifle shooting and gradually shifted his shooting activities from Olympic rifle to IPSC pistol. Not a common transition, and Saul attributes much of his mental management knowledge to those 10 years in Olympic shooting. It is, he says, the best possible background for any shooting sport.

Since moving to Europe, Saul has focused on his IPSC shooting career. With the support of his sponsors, he has achieved some significant results, and established his place as one of the top competitors in this sport. Through Double-Alpha Academy, he now shares his knowledge and experience with other shooters. He has published 2 books about competition shooting, and produces DVDs covering the major events and related topics.

But shockingly, his sport is in trouble in Europe. Recently, an email from Saul was posted on the popular TTAG Blog run by Jewish Marksman Robert Farago:

Dear fellow IPSC shooters and friends,

As many of you have heard already, IPSC shooting (in fact all Dynamic shooting disciplines) are about to be prohibited in the Netherlands! This new law will be voted on in a matter of weeks, and if it passes – will mean the end of our sport in Holland, and who knows – this decision may well spread quickly across the EU. As you can imagine, the NPSA (the Dutch IPSC organization) is mobilizing every possible resource to fight this unjust proposed law, but it is a desperate battle. The odds are stacked against us. We need your help! You can help by going online and signing this petition. Please also take a moment to forward a link to this article to anyone who could generate more signatures: your shooting range, your club, your federation, your local gunsmiths. Post it online on any website you have access to. We want to show that IPSC is a serious sport, with thousands of participants worldwide. Many thanks for your participation in our fight.

Best Regards,

Saul Kirsch

General Manager

Double-Alpha Academy B.V.

The petition he refers to can be found here: http://petities.nl/petitie/dynamische-disciplines-moeten-blijven Please check it out and sign if you agree.

You can also see his on line store and youtube videos here: http://www.doublealpha.biz/