After having this thread swill around in my head for the past few weeks, it provokes two entirely different emotions, one of pride, the other of regret.
I'm kinda proud I was part of some fantastic UK success in a US created / dominated sport which gave our country some real recognition in international paintball but at the same time this pride sits uncomfortably alongside a very deep and real regret.
A regret that has its foundations rooted in how our national sport is being represented now at tournament level internationally.
The real tragedy is not so much we have declined so far but the fact I know damned sure we have the talent out there to go do the Yanks again …am I bullshihtting?
Could be … but I ain’t .. leastwise I honestly believe I’m not.
There are two main obstacles to this with the first being, unless the Millennium go back to open events and allow pro teams from the US to attend on a casual basis as against being locked into a league, then our teams can’t even get to play the top Yanks.
And so, any team who plays for the most part in the MS can never say they are a top team .. all the time the top Yank teams ain’t playing against you, you cannot declare yourself as a top pro team .. all you can do is believe you are a top European team .. I’m afraid this is a sad and very resisted truth though some people will argue the point only for the truth to look down on them with a wry smile.
We could of course get a team to go play the pro bracket PSP or even NPPL but that takes some real dosh but thankfully there is now some movement toward open events and I think in a few years time, event promoters in Europe [whoever they may be] will be forced to go back to open events anyway.
The other obstacle is putting a team together with the necesssary talent to actually take it to the Yanks' and I mean, really take it to them. The easy thing with this is ironically going and finding the players.
I use the word ironically because amid all the depressive talk about the state of our teams and events, I know, full well we have the playing talent, I have seen them and I have only been to about three events in the UK this year. I saw sooooo many talented young guys just looking for some real opportunity.
Our top player, Justin Wheeler is but one … he is a true pro, along with Tommy Pemberton [since retired thru injury
] two guys who embody what it is to be British, proud and fuhkin talented … I wish we could have used them two guys to their full potential but alas the situations never presented themselves but those two guys alone would have provided a bedrock of experience and talent that all great teams need but more importantly, they were always willing to learn … always.
Their characters were pro thru and thru ..
Jason has now got himself a trial with the Russian Legion and subsequently had to leave Nexus and I can only wish him well, I wrote to Sergey, the guy who owns the Russian and told him about Jason and now his fate is in his own hands; we can only hope he achieves his destiny.
Back to our hypothetical team, I tell ya something … you get someone who will fund such a team, and within about three trial games of prospective players, I’d easily pinpoint a group of ten players who we could take to the top of our sport and I’d get them there within 9 months …
Now, you could read that and react in a few ways, some might think, ‘big headed *******, who does he think he is’ .. others might think, ‘what a dick, couldn’t be done, Robbo’s lost his mind’ or you maybe couldn’t care one way or the other.
I learned some real painful lessons with Nexus, real painful ones and there is no way I'd alllow the same sort of mistakes I made to be duplicated.
The management of men is a real necessity, you have to be their dad, thier coach, their inspiration, their big brother even their mother .... it is a combination of psychological and social chemistry and has to be done so carefully otherwise you'd end up creating what I did in the end.
I ain't saying any of this to look big, I'm telling you like it is because it’s really possible and if I can do it other people can …… as for who?
Not many I grant you, less than a handful in fact. We have a few people who no doubt think they can but the reality is they haven’t got the experience at the top end and at that top end, games are decided upon edges, and those edges need to be trained accordingly.
I have seen little to no evidence of anybody being able to do that but as I say, I do know some people who could if they were asked to do it.
There is one man we have over here who has the ability, experience and knowledge to do the same and I think I’d place a couple of helping hands with him to help him on his way.
Before I get to their names, this venture is of course all predicated upon some rich guy parting with his heard-earned money .. which as we know is a rare occurrence.
And so, all this rhetoric means zip all the time nobody has come forward with a need to fund such a team.
Times are hard at the moment as we all know and spare money like that isn’t hanging around people’s banks like it used to.
We can all wish though, and so let’s do that !
The man I would think could do the job is Ledz, he played at the very top of our sport with the original Nexus and has the necessary experience and character to motivate men in the way that would be needed.
His two right hand men would be Nicky Truter and Mark Toye, both hugely experienced and both hugely respected by myself and others who know them and their capabilities.
I could guarantee that combination would give us back the pride we once had; thinking back to those times, I’d love two entrepreneurs to come forward, one to fund Ledz and another one to fund me and Marcus … two teams vying for the top .. two teams with different coaching staff, competing against each other, learning and developing .. what a ride that would be.
I always promised myself I would never get involved in coaching again after what happened with some certain individuals but I think working with Marcus in a situation like the one just described would certainly get me wanting to get involved again.
And I know Marcus would jump at the chance to get involved, he could be the coach at the events coz I’m useless at that, I get too emotionally involved and fuhk things up and so I could do the ‘out of event’ stuff like training etc. and Marc could do the rest.
Blimey, I’m getting excited thinking about it but alas .. we have no money
I wonder if someone in UK paintball would want to help give us Brits back some pride in our teams …. Just a couple of guys who got a few quid in their back pockets and like the idea of supporting two teams vie for supremacy thus catapulting us Brits back to the top of world paintball like we once were .. a pipedream ?
Of course it is but even pipedreams can come true …can’t they?
I live in hope .....
PS Apologies for length of post, for some reason they always seem to be a bit wordy
