Beth Alcazar: The Well Armed Woman Instructor
Dr. John Woods 05.12.16
Can women shooters effectively train other women shooters? Of course they can, especially if they happen to be Beth Alcazar with The Well Armed Woman organization. Beth has numerous certifications as a shooting instructor, but what she has most is a natural, real life communications connectivity. She quickly bonds with other shooters, either sex and at any training level.
I was fortunate enough to witness both her training skills to a class of TWAW women in addition to a performance demonstration of her on-range shooting skills with both a pistol and an AR rifle. Beth shoots competitively in Steel Challenge events as well as other organized speed, accuracy, and timed shooting events.
What strikes you most about Beth’s approach to her class training is her honesty. She is facing lady shooters, many just getting into the game and frankly, nervous and tenuous about the whole process. Her demeanor puts everyone at ease immediately, because right up front she tells the group she is not the best shot, not the fastest, not the most accurate and is still learning. There is simply no brag about this lady that I could see, though she certainly would be justified. Forget that with the male shooter counterparts.
During the training session and shooting demonstration I observed, Beth coached the women through the whole process. She talked about the guns she uses, the caliber choices, the competition rig she put together and wears at every match. She walked through the whole process point by point and took any and all questions along the way.
When we left the benches to head to the range, again she helped each participant understand the process and procedures she would follow during the demonstration shooting. She would walk through all the motions of the demo shoot and field questions from the class. She would stop at several points to make sure everyone understood what was going on. And truthfully, many of these lady shooters will never shoot competition games, but now they know what is involved.
Beth shot several rounds of tactical “slicing the pie” shooting around stacked barrels at torso targets beyond at a fairly close range. These are defensive moves for the most part and that is what most TWAW are interested in, protecting themselves and others.
The shooting sports are well served by instructors like Beth Alcazar. You can Google her by name or find her on LinkedIn for a detailed resume or on the TWAW site.
