How to: fix UK tournament ball

[onasilverbike]

4. Forget about playing the MS. Only a small percentage of UK teams play it consistently anyway, so they won't miss us much.

If the MS is such a 'bad' thing why do Dynasty (or Vicious when it clashes with NPPL) come over and play it, along with so many other US players? All of them pretty much rate it as as good or better to the majority of events they have at home. Its certainly not due to 'sponsorship obligations', as we all should know by now there just isn't the money in the industry to fund such jollies. OK, some Euro teams will be 'paying the way' for their imported players, but these guys are still taking time out from their jobs/schooling to attend, and spend their own money on entertainment/sightseeing when they get over here. As can be seen, just importing a US player or two doesn't necessarily dramatically improve a Euro team's chances or ability either.

However, the reality of fixing UK paintball requires a great deal of unravelling the wool and re-knitting the jumper.

I agree to Jonathan's statement that only a small percentage of UK teams play it consistently, many aspire to, or at least, are obsessed with the format and field layouts. If you want to play MS and are prepared to put in the commitment and cash, go do it!

 

[scott_peters]

I would have to agree with pete if you ever get the opputunity get over to these events and play them ! best thing i ever done and i love them and will never look back now

 

[Robbo]

As can be seen, just importing a US player or two doesn't necessarily dramatically improve a Euro team's chances or ability either.

Not sure about this sentence Pete ... in fact, I'd have to go further than that and say in general, it's wrong.

For the most part, UK teams are only ever gonna invite Yanks playing for them because the UK captain or whoever feels the Americans are gonna be an improvement otherwise what's the point in bringing them over?

As to how you can say, 'As can be seen' ...impying it's obvious that Yank players do not make a difference to a team's performance; I'm struggling to think how you could ever conclude that bearing in mind you don't know how a particular team might have played had the Yanks been absent and so you are left merely speculating as to the might have beens.

 

[onasilverbike]

I think we both digress from the Fixing UK paintball theme here. Yes, I agree that the right players if chosen for the team can have an impact, e.g. Pete & Ollie with Bullets, Glenn and Davey/Chad with Dogs D Amour, but just inserting a random Yank in the team who has little or no contact with the team away from the events is, in my view, not the panacea many might believe.

As an integral part of the team, yes they can make a difference, as a 'guest' not necessarily.

 

[Biscuit]

one of the problems in uk ball is that we are obssesed in playing the MS
we play on fields that are designed for the minority of players,i,m not saying get rid of these fields but only,have them set up for the teams that are going to play these events.
just look at the PSP,they are now making field layout for the guys that are not athletes or members of the top teams or older players to get players back
we need to do the same

 

[Tony Harrison]

If the MS is such a 'bad' thing why do Dynasty (or Vicious when it clashes with NPPL) come over and play it, along with so many other US players? All of them pretty much rate it as as good or better to the majority of events they have at home. Its certainly not due to 'sponsorship obligations', as we all should know by now there just isn't the money in the industry to fund such jollies. OK, some Euro teams will be 'paying the way' for their imported players, but these guys are still taking time out from their jobs/schooling to attend, and spend their own money on entertainment/sightseeing when they get over here. As can be seen, just importing a US player or two doesn't necessarily dramatically improve a Euro team's chances or ability either.

However, the reality of fixing UK paintball requires a great deal of unravelling the wool and re-knitting the jumper.

I agree to Jonathan's statement that only a small percentage of UK teams play it consistently, many aspire to, or at least, are obsessed with the format and field layouts. If you want to play MS and are prepared to put in the commitment and cash, go do it!

I agree with you to an extent.

My view is that the US teams play the MS for a number of reasons. A couple are that they enjoy coming to Europe and like catching up their Euro friends. It's the paintball road trip thing.

I may be mistaken, but the likes of Dynasty will probably have their expenses covered by their sponsors and/or by winnings from other events. Some hired guns get the team they are playing for to pay for their trip, others sell guns, jerseys and gear before they come over or while they are here to fund it. Some may do clinics to fund the trip.

Most importantly, I think US teams play the MS because they are more or less assured of a win or a podium place. This may sound like a sweeping statement, but the results speak for themselves.

They play at a higher standard in the US, so the MS is easy pickings for them.

Turning to UK teams, they play the MS because there is no other Euro circuit offering a similar standard of event or level of play.

If there was, they would have a choice. As it stands, the MS has the monopoly - for the time being.

So, the MS can charge a premium for teams to play and introduce, shall we say, unusual fees for media uniforms. And so it goes.

 

[Tony Harrison]

And speaking of sweeping statements, how does 7 man race to 3 10 bps ramping limited paint sound?

 

[Robbo]

I think we both digress from the Fixing UK paintball theme here. Yes, I agree that the right players if chosen for the team can have an impact, e.g. Pete & Ollie with Bullets, Glenn and Davey/Chad with Dogs D Amour, but just inserting a random Yank in the team who has little or no contact with the team away from the events is, in my view, not the panacea many might believe.

As an integral part of the team, yes they can make a difference, as a 'guest' not necessarily.

Pete, I think there is a huge difference between yank players providing the panacea for any team, and those same players just improving the team's overall performance; after all, not all these Yank Players are gonna be Ollie Lang or Brandon Shorts .... I will still maintain that having a Yank pro in the team will give any of our teams a better performance.

You have to remember Pete, several of the benefits of having these Yank players in the team are not always direct influences. Their playing level is of course better than ours and so their playing input is an obvious benefit but an indirect benefit is where it can lift and inspire a team; I've seen this influence in action many times and it's extremely hard to ignore these effects Pete and I can only conclude they have a positive effect on a team's performance mate.

As much as irks me to concede this but I am honour bound to give credit where credit's due and these Yanks can really play ball, with the average Yank knowing considerably more about our game than our average player.
Their culture is seems to be a lot more focused upon competitive sport and as such they seem prepared to work considerably harder at whichever sport they choose to take up.

Perhaps we should just resign ourselves to playing second fiddle to the Yanks, Frogs, Krauts and Timbuktooians [no disrespect intended at all] but if you feel like doing this any time, take a time out and go look the interview I did with Marcus Davis for a sharp does of inspiration .... that man would cast his evil eye across our present state of affairs and say in his usual gruff tone, 'I ain't aving none of this sh!t, let's get started on putting a team together to go smash them Yanks' ...... we need more of him, we really do.
He would lead, he would inspire he would grab our game by the scruff of the neck and start organising .... I have little doubt, that given the resources, he is one of the few who could do it .. and he'd do it with pride, a pride for being English and for being a competitor.

 

[Tony Harrison]

So is Marcus available for Coaching or Captaining?

 

[Biscuit]

we may be have to ask for help by asking the frogs and krauts or dare i say it ask the guys from joy what makes events click over there
but the end of the day we need to start again
yes we have teams that play the MS but we need to get away from this
we need to concentrate on building teams ,as they say the cream will always rise to the top
build the foundation then pick the cream ,that is why we need to keep the old guy s involved