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[leachy]

Sup'air paintball is a hybrid that has now has its own identity and existance and to return their would do more harm than good for the growth of the sport.

I think you are very wrong on that point. Reading through the posts on here, I am guessing that the guy's that have voted for the return of the woodsball tournys are like myself, a little over 25 They have grown with the sport and moved with the sport but we can remember when we loved the sport more than anything. We are all involved with Sup'air, be it X-ball or race to 2, whatever but we started in the woods and we are still here now. I have been playing and enjoying the game for over 18 years now. I don't think we will be playing X-ball in 18 years time.
Most new players first pick up a marker in the woods at birthday party's or stag do's. Woodsball will never harm the game

 

[Soul Doubt]

Hmm
I dont see how you can say that a return to the woods would be more harm than good for the sport you only have to look back to see while woodsball was about paintball was booming and supair came in with everyone thinking it was good for tv so xball took over .
Whats happened now it has not grown at all and in fact its dying at this stage i would say it would be quite the opposite.

What im getting at is the identity of sup'air in its own right has become ingrained in piantball, to remove it and return to playing in the woods would undo all that work in establishing sup'air paintball, it pushes itself away from the military, war simulation styled games related to woodsball, and offers a more "sporty" style of play. This is what attracts those players (like myself) who dont wish to run around the woods in camo gear etc
This idea that because X-ball, or 7 man is flawed and therefore un repairable is unproductive, this sport is what 25-30 years old? thats half a blink of an eye. Many more developments are on the horizon, Formula 5 is an example of that evolutionary step in sup'air.
Going back to the woods is a not going to push the sport of paintball forward, merely patch a delemma we are current witnessing.
Some players may wish for this, however the sport of paintball, from a sup'air perspective along with an economic one, does not as the current stats show.
If TV will only have a limited value in paintball, and that is a given in this theory, then the only way our sport is to develop is to concentrate on the creation of regional domestic academies and institutions as in other sports. A grass roots player base can be generated through such infrastructures. This current path of the industry leading us in development has seen the commercialisation of paintball in a bid for Television I.e. X-Ball this failed in its attempts, So now we have an expensive format which people are now considering to be the wrong path. The industry needs to generate profit, this is also a given and X-ball does this, but the value for money elements is driving people away from paintball. From my rather naive and utopian perspective it appears that mirroring structures in other sports, gathering that infrastructure would alter paintball dramatically for the better, and we would see something on the lines of Rugby or football in terms of organisation. This would in turn give the validity needed to class paintball as a "sport" officially, and try and get funding elsewhere, the options that would open up to paintball if it was validated as a sport would grow. Also this growth would naturally be profitable to the industry, meaning sponsorships and support packages to those successful teams would be far more valuable, instead of buy "X" amount and we will sponsor you type deals
.
Such institutions such as the Federation is a good starting point, sadly as always its easier said than done, and circumstances in reality seem to get in the way So I feel going back to woodsball would be another digression in our development.

 

[Soul Doubt]

I think you are very wrong on that point. Reading through the posts on here, I am guessing that the guy's that have voted for the return of the woodsball tournys are like myself, a little over 25 They have grown with the sport and moved with the sport but we can remember when we loved the sport more than anything. We are all involved with Sup'air, be it X-ball or race to 2, whatever but we started in the woods and we are still here now. I have been playing and enjoying the game for over 18 years now. I don't think we will be playing X-ball in 18 years time.
Most new players first pick up a marker in the woods at birthday party's or stag do's. Woodsball will never harm the game

Hey Leachy, iff you read my long boring post i just put up, what im getting at is that going back to the woods would be counter productive, for the industry and the creation of paintball as a sport, without catering to that large majority (which the stats show) who want to play sup'air and not woodsball would harm the industries in and around paintball, and also deter people like myself and others from wanting to play.

I understand paintball came from the woods, and as i pointed out people tend to start from there, but they soon move onto sup'air paintball in a bid to play that fast, agressive sporty side of paintball.

 

[Big Mac]

I think the problem we have is that a majority of us that play some form of sup-air are taking things for granted and we are expecting trickle-down growth when really we should be looking to expand at a grass roots level and start building a bottom-up approach. Or at least that was the case a couple of years back, though i'm sure little has changed. I'm also sure there has been much talk in this area but its been a long time since i checked in around here.

And on a slight aside - is part of the problem that the game in general is a minority "sport" (cant think of a way to describe it otherwise) and does not catch the interest or the approval of the majority? People seem quite happy to go once or twice for a birthday or stag etc but whenever I have explained to friends when asked about sports and saying that I "play" paintball, many at first seem intrigued that there is another side than just the "punter days" but once I get past the stage of telling them that there are teams and tournaments they lose interest and I generally give up before even trying to explain sup-air.

 

[spangley_special]

Xball lite, for the simple fact that i enjoy a single m7 match more than an entire day of other formats.

 

[niallist]

sorry to snip your post but I have a couple of things I'd like to say.

The large majority you are talking about is limited to the members of a forum that, even by it's owners admission (sorry robbo, i can't find the quote), caters largely towards sup air/tourney so is a skewed sample at best. It is a good sample of players who play such formats.

Everyone heading back to the woods (which is unlikely) might not have such a negative effect as you may think. Anyway TBF it's unlikely, the sup air genie is out of the bottle and even if it's poorly I don't think it will ever go away. Which is a good thing IMO. We need each other.

As regards point number 2. teams such as the Scottish Warriors, BZ, Shoreline Rangers, Renegade Rebels may not show up on here very often but you can be assured if you want aggressive sporty play, come and spend a sunday with them and us and you will see the new woodsball way.

Anyway, I don't want to divert the thread onto a scenario/sup air ding dong so I'll leave it there.

 

[Hawks]

My Vote goes to F5, i dont have to say anymore as it ticks all the boxes.

 

[SabreWolf]

I understand paintball came from the woods, and as i pointed out people tend to start from there, but they soon move onto sup'air paintball in a bid to play that fast, agressive sporty side of paintball.

I think alot of people go over to sup air because it is currently the only competative side to paintball, if there was a proper woods ball league i think many new players would stick with it.

 

[Donk]

I think alot of people go over to sup air because it is currently the only competative side to paintball, if there was a proper woods ball league i think many new players would stick with it.

I went over to sup air from woods ball for 2 reasons.

1. Playing in the woods used to prematurely destroy my kit by scratching lenses, tearing clothing, losing pots & fluffies & constantly getting covered in that fine paint spray.

2. I couldn't give it 100% in case I twisted or broke an ankle on an uneven surface, or impaled myself on a branch at full sprint.


I found sup air I could push harder without fear of injury (I'm no pussy but being self employed no one pays you sick pay when your injured) & I instantly got the buzz...

 

[Lump]

I still enjoy Xball and continue to want to play it. But I would love to see the top div at a Millennium play F5s format. I think that has to be the best play vs £ format, and the best to watch