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The 2023-2024 drill season has come to an end, and with it we have a plethora of new champions, memories, friends and more to bring with us into the new year. This year saw many ups and downs both on and off the pad that shaped the vision for the future of independent rifle exhibition drill. One that garnered attention due to its focus on the future was the Rifle Exhibition Invitational (referred to as REI). This event welcomed individuals solely through invitation to compete at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Knoxville, Tennessee in an competition hosted by the Rifle Exhibition League (REL) alongside the Pershing Rifles NATCON college national championships. The Rifle Exhibition Invitational brought a sense of newness to the community, re-introducing a scoring system and setup that was tested prior through the MassDrill Online Drill Classic. Much like its predecessor this competition focused on showcasing performance through the lens of bladed rifle exhibition only. Although a trial run within its own right, the REI set itself to become a showcase competition that hosted the “best of the best” - only inviting certain world’s level competitors and judges to assist in the competitions debut. The invitation list was set by the league's interim board of directors and reported by the American Drill Report on February 24, 2024. At its announcement, the community was made privy to the seven (7) competitors that had been invited and were planning to take on the challenge in Knoxville. In this list we saw names such as River City Drills own Jackson Rainwater [1] and Trey Davidson [8], with Trey Simmonds [2], Noah Calvert [4] and Isaac Rodriguez [11] representing the Texas Lone Guard. We were also slated to see the unofficial debut of the American Independents through Adam Jeup’s performance with Angell Rodriguez being the only confirmed independent on the competition roster. Come competition day - due to different circumstances and such we only saw 6 competitors perform, with one being a last second addition in the form of Mack Weisz. (sans Angell Rodriguez and Noah Calvert.) The American Drill Report was lucky to have the opportunity to both provide media coverage for the competition and to catch up with some of the performers and staff after to hear how they felt about the event from their points of view! Arianna Guerin, who served as a part of the judging staff had this to say: “I loved being a part of the judging “corps" as the only woman. It was a big moment for me professionally to be able to judge performers I've admired for so long.” When interacting with the competitors - we asked them questions such as What does REI do well?: “Allows the competitors to have fun and not be stressed “ - Isaac Rodriguez (competitor) “Format of competition and judging/win conditions. “ - Neriah Guerin (competition staff/announcer) “Adding Disqualification Clauses and the idea of having only very experienced drillers participate” - Mack Wiesz (competitor) What were your least favorite parts of REI? (Before, during, after?): A main pain point for competitors was REIs connection to Pershing Rifles NATCON (the venue, the audience, etc.) with one competition staff member saying “A well designed competition format deserves to be spectated in a well curated event space.” One individual stated their thoughts of REI “needing more participation from competitors and audience members.” solidifying the prior thought. What were your favorite parts of REI? (Before, during, after?): “The freedom we had to do what we wanted. No stress at all. No uniform. I was relaxed the entire time. “ “The performers were all obviously talented and I felt that announcing rifle weights was a nice feature of the spectacle.“ - Although a trial run, the debut of the Rifle Exhibition Invitational has set up a solid foundation and future for the Rifle Exhibition League. No person or competition is perfect but in its current state we can confidently say that we are excited to see the debut and formation of the Rifle Exhibition League. Recently announced by Andrew Schuster (interim head of the REL, founder of MassDrill) the league is looking to launch and host its first elections sometime in June. With the by-laws available to the public we look forward to covering the future of rifle exhibition drill through this new platform. You can watch the 2024 REI Competition videos here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epzPR9v8MKs&list=PLjm-hCyfAwSMh9IKXVSAyWwf6ETcqeef9
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