This month we talked to Amanda Fisher and Laura Seitz; IPSC, USPSA and Steel Challenge competitive shooters. We’ll talk about how they got into the sport, their success stories and maybe some flops and what they learned from them.

Amanda Fisher

Amanda Fisher is a competitive shooter from Alberta. IPSC (International Practical Shooting Confederation) is what she predominately competes in but also dabbles in a bit of 3 gun, USPSA and Steel Challenge.

Her love and interest of firearms began in 2015 when she shot her first pistol. To better understand the working of a handgun, she took the Black Badge course. This is a holster training course that is a prerequisite to shooting IPSC. Although Amanda had no interest in competing, she wanted her Black Badge certification so she competed in her first IPSC competition early 2016. Well, she was hooked and the rest is history.

Right now, Amanda shoots a CZ Shadow 2 in the Production Division in IPSC but will be transitioning to the Standard Division in the near future. In 2018 Amanda successfully completed the Range Officer course and has RO’d several major matches Nationally. Her accomplishments have been a wonderful journey for her; currently she is the Top Production Division Lady in Alberta, Top Production Division Lady in Saskatchewan, the 5th place overall in Production Division in Alberta and the 5th Lady in the Production Division in Canada. With her strong finishes and her will to keep going forward, Amanda has recently been accepted to represent Alberta on the Alberta Gold Team at the Canadian Nationals 2022 and Canada at the IPSC World Shoot Championships in Thailand, November 2022.

In preparation for the World Shoot, Amanda is loading a ton of ammunition and doing regular dry fire sessions for when the weather is better, and she can put her dry fire training to the test on the range and in provincial qualifying events.

Laura Seitz

Laura was first introduced to firearms when she was about 12 years old, by her Dad and her uncle. She loved it! However, there was a large gap in time that she didn’t think about shooting. Time passed, she got older, went to school, pursued a career, participated in other sports and got married. 

One day at the end of 2019, out of the blue, her husband asked me what she thought of guns and she shared her childhood memories. This began an exciting and fun filled passion that she and her husband, Devon, share to this day. 

Laura’s journey with shooting began again when she joined a Steel Challenge league night. It was so gratifying to hear that steel ring! Soon after, they both got their Black Badge and started going to as many International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC), United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) and Steel Challenge matches as they could. 

She shot both Alberta (AB) and Saskatchewan (SK) Provincials last year and then went on to the Canadian National Steel Challenge Championships. This led to an opportunity to write an article with a friend and competitor, Amanda Fisher, in the USPSA magazine published in 2021.