Shooters around the world head out to the range and shooting different scenarios or groups. Many strive to attend one or more schools in hopes of learning and improving their shooting with the aid of instructors. However, I keep running into shooters of all experience levels that won't attend competitions. None of these snipers or shooters are looking at the training value of competitions. They seem to be more worried about personal and professional perceptions than improving their skills.
Competitions are an often-overlooked form of training.
Think of most competitions as just another way to improve and test your shooting ability. Everyone always has room to improve. As a military shooter, most of the time you train to hit a man size target. There are usually no scoring rings and a hit in the shoulder is just as good as a hit in the waist. Police shooters on the other hand mainly train for shots at 100 yards or less.