This has really made me think about how I think of paintball and I actually realise that, despite the fact it's a competitive activity, it actually can't be classed as a sport in the current form. IT just can't when you compare it to existing sports and what they all have in common.
Despite the fact that I actually consider this isn't something realistic in the near future, doing it in this manner isn't the way to attempt it anyway. There are just so many issues that would need to be addressed first, and then you don't get a sport into the Olympics by getting players to sign a petition. Do you imagine that is how any of the other sports became part of the Olympics?
An application to the IOC has to be made by the international federation for the sport concerned, and then vai the proper channels and demonstrating it meets the criteria required.
Working backwards here:-
1) There is no such federation for the sport of paintball internationally
2) There is no such federation for the sport of paintball in the UK
3) Paintball isn't recognised as a sport in the UK by Sport England
The first thing you'd need to do is just establish paintball as a sport in the UK, by getting it recognised by Sport England..
So, how do you define paintball as a sport? What are the standard rules and format by which the sport of paintball would be played nationally and internationally? You can't even play at a site in London now and then Edinburgh next week and expect rules and format to be the same. How would that work on an international scale?
So, as I see it, you'd first need to define and agree a standard format (or formats as different disciplines) for paintball as a sport. This ensures that, like soccer, tennis, long jump, javelin etc, everyone plays the same rules and format.
If you could achieve that then it may well cover it as a participant sport, but what of a spectator sport? If you just look at the breakout of a 5 man tournament game, you have action around 10 players on the field. Where does the spectator or camera look to ensure no important action is missed? Think of a football match with 5 or more balls in play at once? All other spectator friendly sports tend to have a single focus point, either a sportsperson, an object, or group(s) of competitors that is manageable and able to be followed.
Thinking of getting paintball into the Olympics as a way of fixing all the other stuff is like thinking of putting the roof on a house before you've designed and built the foundations and supporting walls.
We don't have a single standard format. Every site is free to establish it's own variant. There are so many variables in how different sites around the country run games that it would be the first obstacle to defining exactly what the sport of paintball is. The only common rule is that the aim is to shoot the opposition. Imagine football where the common element was to score goals, but otherwise different sites had different rules, as they see fit. Maybe they have 3 teams at one location. Maybe another doesn't recognise fouls, handballs, offside, corners, penalties, or any manner of combinations. You'd have to define the rules of the game every time you ran one. That's exactly how we play paintball isn't it?
So, the first thing you'd need to do is have all sites, organisers, players, agree on one national governing body that sets the rules of the game. Before you even think of aligning international play and addressing the criteria for IOC, you've already got a very daunting task when you look at paintball overall.
Squash is an established sport that can be spectator friendly, meets the other criteria of the IOC, and has been campaigning for the Olympics for a while now. Despite it being in a much stronger position, it hasn't yet succeded.
Paintball, unfortunately, doesn't even touch first base in my opinion.
Despite the fact that I actually consider this isn't something realistic in the near future, doing it in this manner isn't the way to attempt it anyway. There are just so many issues that would need to be addressed first, and then you don't get a sport into the Olympics by getting players to sign a petition. Do you imagine that is how any of the other sports became part of the Olympics?
An application to the IOC has to be made by the international federation for the sport concerned, and then vai the proper channels and demonstrating it meets the criteria required.
Working backwards here:-
1) There is no such federation for the sport of paintball internationally
2) There is no such federation for the sport of paintball in the UK
3) Paintball isn't recognised as a sport in the UK by Sport England
The first thing you'd need to do is just establish paintball as a sport in the UK, by getting it recognised by Sport England..
So, how do you define paintball as a sport? What are the standard rules and format by which the sport of paintball would be played nationally and internationally? You can't even play at a site in London now and then Edinburgh next week and expect rules and format to be the same. How would that work on an international scale?
So, as I see it, you'd first need to define and agree a standard format (or formats as different disciplines) for paintball as a sport. This ensures that, like soccer, tennis, long jump, javelin etc, everyone plays the same rules and format.
If you could achieve that then it may well cover it as a participant sport, but what of a spectator sport? If you just look at the breakout of a 5 man tournament game, you have action around 10 players on the field. Where does the spectator or camera look to ensure no important action is missed? Think of a football match with 5 or more balls in play at once? All other spectator friendly sports tend to have a single focus point, either a sportsperson, an object, or group(s) of competitors that is manageable and able to be followed.
Thinking of getting paintball into the Olympics as a way of fixing all the other stuff is like thinking of putting the roof on a house before you've designed and built the foundations and supporting walls.
We don't have a single standard format. Every site is free to establish it's own variant. There are so many variables in how different sites around the country run games that it would be the first obstacle to defining exactly what the sport of paintball is. The only common rule is that the aim is to shoot the opposition. Imagine football where the common element was to score goals, but otherwise different sites had different rules, as they see fit. Maybe they have 3 teams at one location. Maybe another doesn't recognise fouls, handballs, offside, corners, penalties, or any manner of combinations. You'd have to define the rules of the game every time you ran one. That's exactly how we play paintball isn't it?
So, the first thing you'd need to do is have all sites, organisers, players, agree on one national governing body that sets the rules of the game. Before you even think of aligning international play and addressing the criteria for IOC, you've already got a very daunting task when you look at paintball overall.
Squash is an established sport that can be spectator friendly, meets the other criteria of the IOC, and has been campaigning for the Olympics for a while now. Despite it being in a much stronger position, it hasn't yet succeded.
Paintball, unfortunately, doesn't even touch first base in my opinion.
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