History of IPSC

This exciting style of shooting had its origin in California, USA in the early 50's. It quickly spread over the years to many other continents including Europe, Australia, Asia, Central and South America and Africa.

The International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) was officially founded at the International Pistol Conference held in Columbia, Missouri, in May 1976. Forty people from around the world were invited to attend this conference to determine the nature and future of IPSC marksmanship. Col. Jeff Cooper was acting chairman and was acclaimed as the first IPSC world president.

The intention of this conference was to form an administrative body which would develop and regulate worldwide rules for the sport, and sanctioning of international matches. As IPSC grew, member nations developed their own national sanctioning bodies to administer matches in their countries (called IPSC regions). These local sanctioning bodies are commonly called the National Range Officers Association (NROI).

Today IPSC consists of 64 Regions (including the Philippines) led by its President Nick Alexakos. There is also the IPSC Council who serves as the President's Advisory Board. PPSA past president, Chepit Dulay, is currently a member of this council. Directly under the President is Dino Evangelinos, President of the International Range Officers Association (IROA). This is the IPSC body responsible for the training, certification, and maintenance of an international set of range officers; advising the IPSC President on the rules; in addition to administering international sanctioned matches. Range officers are the "referees" and "umpires," of the sport. They are there primarily to ensure safety at all times. Aside from keeping matches safe for everyone, range officers ensure that an equal opportunity to solve the shooting problem is given to each and every competitor by enforcing the rules of competition firmly and fairly.

Today, a number of Filipinos are prominent members of IROA. They are led by VP for NROI Vin Lava and Chepit Dulay, who both hold the rank of International Range Master. Filipino range officers had been invited to Hong Kong, Australia, Indonesia, USA, PNG and other IPSC regions to assist in their matches.