I would also suggest that using quality equipment is the better option. You can do a years worth of contests with the leader 480. That will give you time to work on just the basics of the sportsman pattern and get you used to being judged and performing on demand. Please do these with an airplane you have a good comfort level. Spend the winter putting together a good set-up. You get what you pay for. Electronics can fail and paying a bit more for support and better quality control can do a lot to help you. It is my opinion that flying pattern well has a lot to do with stick time. Flying your sequence over and over till you have all the maneuvers memorized and have good ideas how to handle things like a bit of a breeze in your maneuvers. Quality equipment will keep you flying vice fixing.