State of UK paintball
- Thread starter LATHAM
- Start date
Comparison of mark ups on tablets to paintball kit is crazy.. tablets sell in the millions and paintball kit in the thousands. If we had a sport where a 10 million brand new Egos were being made and sold every year they could probably knock them out at £500 a piece. Companies like Planet give a lot already, probably too much because people have come to expect free **** from everyone. We all knew the costs when we got into it, so you either love it enough to forfeit that beer with your mates or you don't.
It's interesting. Your average Joe parent who wants their kids to become active and live a healthy lifestyle will buy a £2 football and maybe a £15 pair of boots and send their kid off to the local park for a kick around with their friends, total investment in their childs well-being 'under £30' that child will go on to enjoy the sport of football, play for a local sunday team, or maybe even a professional team.
It's a fact that playing tournmant paintball at any level is will require the costs to come down and for the industry to be supported as a basic level, by getting more cash flow into the recreational sites and flooding the industry with money.
It's a fact that playing tournmant paintball at any level is will require the costs to come down and for the industry to be supported as a basic level, by getting more cash flow into the recreational sites and flooding the industry with money.
Don't see many parents though compaining to the major sports companies about sponsoring poor little Jimmy with free golf or winter sporting equipment, and helping him pay his golf club or lift pass fees. Yet thousands of people spend a fortune every year on those industeries for themselves and their children and what do they get out of the end of it.......
A hobby they enjoy.
A hobby they enjoy.
Which comes around to....
Is paintball a hobby or a sport?
If it is a hobby, then I guess it is fine as it is.
If it is a sport, then prices need to come down in order to encourage takeup.
Is paintball a hobby or a sport?
If it is a hobby, then I guess it is fine as it is.
If it is a sport, then prices need to come down in order to encourage takeup.
Paintball is a luxury hobby, not a mainstream sport.
Except to those chosen few at the top who damned sure worked their skinny arses off to get there and paid more than their dues on the way, they spent the money training EVERY week and competing when they weren't training and they did what they had to do to get the money, extra work, overtime, sacrificed the nights out on the lash and saved that cash to pay for a flight or another box of paint.
I personally disagree with those who say make it cheaper, we don't want every Tom, Dick and Harry playing now do we? Simply wouldn't do to allow the riff raff through the doors and spoil the ambience.......
The onus should be placed on the player to make it, not the companies or the industry as a whole to give you a free ride. You can't expect to jump in to anything, play for a month and get free stuff (although anyone wanting to send me free sh*t, knock yourselves out)
Get out there, serve your time and show that you want it more than the next guy. If your team is holding you back from moving to the next rung, jump ship to those who will help to further your career but don't EXPECT people to recognise you. Put yourself out there and make them notice you.
Except to those chosen few at the top who damned sure worked their skinny arses off to get there and paid more than their dues on the way, they spent the money training EVERY week and competing when they weren't training and they did what they had to do to get the money, extra work, overtime, sacrificed the nights out on the lash and saved that cash to pay for a flight or another box of paint.
I personally disagree with those who say make it cheaper, we don't want every Tom, Dick and Harry playing now do we? Simply wouldn't do to allow the riff raff through the doors and spoil the ambience.......
The onus should be placed on the player to make it, not the companies or the industry as a whole to give you a free ride. You can't expect to jump in to anything, play for a month and get free stuff (although anyone wanting to send me free sh*t, knock yourselves out)
Get out there, serve your time and show that you want it more than the next guy. If your team is holding you back from moving to the next rung, jump ship to those who will help to further your career but don't EXPECT people to recognise you. Put yourself out there and make them notice you.
Going to put the cat amongst the pigeons here; people complaining about the price. Get over it. Everyone on this site knows what their doing, if their unhappy about prices then what are you doing here?
Some very valid points put forward already in this discussion.
Here are two of mine ive taken from it, and two points i constantly see players moan about;
1. Price of gear?, theirs nothing wrong with the price of gear, if your prepared to pay for it then you'll pay for it in my opinion, if you cant afford it then you'll have a moan about it. £160 for a rotor?, you dont NEED a rotor do you?, tournaments and the majority of events are capped at 10bps, hell you could go out an rock a revvi.
If your skint theirs a huge range of second hand gear which goes through this site monthly, playing gear, gats, hoppers etc. If you cant afford new gear then get older gear, an ego06/07 shoots just aswell as an ego-S, im a firm beleiver that its about the player, not the gear. An ego-S and a rotor wont make you play better than using an ego07 and a revvi.
2. Paint and training. People complaining about the price of training, what do you constitute as training?. Playing games all day? then yes your going to spend alot of money on paint.
Drills, you can easily do a full day of drills on one box of paint, playing games isnt really training in my opinion anyway, not unless your trying out game plans on a field you know you wil be playing. i.e. the millenium fields in an event 2 weeks away etc. Drills are cheaper and are a better platform for training. Too many teams have this idea that training is about playing games against each other.
And finally, seperate from the two points above, (and Dusty has just made good reference too it already) Sponsorship, nobody owes anyone anything in this world, unless your at the top of the game your not getting sponsorship, manybe a discount, but seriously you dont get anything. To many people in this game expect to get sponsorship, please call the mothership and get back down to earth, realistically it doesnt exist down at an amatuer level.
Some very valid points put forward already in this discussion.
Here are two of mine ive taken from it, and two points i constantly see players moan about;
1. Price of gear?, theirs nothing wrong with the price of gear, if your prepared to pay for it then you'll pay for it in my opinion, if you cant afford it then you'll have a moan about it. £160 for a rotor?, you dont NEED a rotor do you?, tournaments and the majority of events are capped at 10bps, hell you could go out an rock a revvi.
If your skint theirs a huge range of second hand gear which goes through this site monthly, playing gear, gats, hoppers etc. If you cant afford new gear then get older gear, an ego06/07 shoots just aswell as an ego-S, im a firm beleiver that its about the player, not the gear. An ego-S and a rotor wont make you play better than using an ego07 and a revvi.
2. Paint and training. People complaining about the price of training, what do you constitute as training?. Playing games all day? then yes your going to spend alot of money on paint.
Drills, you can easily do a full day of drills on one box of paint, playing games isnt really training in my opinion anyway, not unless your trying out game plans on a field you know you wil be playing. i.e. the millenium fields in an event 2 weeks away etc. Drills are cheaper and are a better platform for training. Too many teams have this idea that training is about playing games against each other.
And finally, seperate from the two points above, (and Dusty has just made good reference too it already) Sponsorship, nobody owes anyone anything in this world, unless your at the top of the game your not getting sponsorship, manybe a discount, but seriously you dont get anything. To many people in this game expect to get sponsorship, please call the mothership and get back down to earth, realistically it doesnt exist down at an amatuer level.
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That doesn't make sense?
Snow boarding is a sport that I love. Unfortunately I can't afford to do it so to me it's a hobby. I can't go around telling the snowboard industry to support me or give me free hand outs cos its too expensive. They'd laugh their ass off and tell me to go practice and get to the top then maybe I'd get some free stuff.
Paintball is one of the only industry's I know where people get 'sponsorship' (which can just be discount) cos they ask. If I went in Snow and Rock and asked for even a bit of discount they'd just tell you to get lost. Now maybe their industry is a lot bigger than ours, but when it started, I bet they weren't just giving boards away to anyone who had been doing it for more than a few months.
I'm afraid paintball is quite an expensive sport/hobby but that doesn't mean just the industry should fund it. There's plenty other sports that cost a bomb to take part in (cycling, rowing, golf etc etc) that draw plenty of people in. We just need to start drawing people in and once there, showing them that the competitions they compete in are worth their time and money. It's never gonna be a poor people sport, but neither are a lot of sports out there.
Unfortunately I had to stop playing for a good few years, and one of the major factors of getting back into ball was the cost of doing it again, knowing I would have to pay my own way. That's just tough though. Just cos I wasn't able to spare the money didn't mean I should get it free or cheap. I mean I love Motorsport but there's no chance of me ever doing it cos it would just be ridiculous to fund that sort of thing.
Now I'm not having a dig, I'm just seeing the sport from an outside perspective. If the companies involved blow all their money on sponsorship for every Tom, Dick and Harry, they are sooner or later not going to be around and this sport we all love will just disappear with no industry to sustain it at all.
Obviously this is all just my 2p, and who says I know what the hell I'm on about
Snow boarding is a sport that I love. Unfortunately I can't afford to do it so to me it's a hobby. I can't go around telling the snowboard industry to support me or give me free hand outs cos its too expensive. They'd laugh their ass off and tell me to go practice and get to the top then maybe I'd get some free stuff.
Paintball is one of the only industry's I know where people get 'sponsorship' (which can just be discount) cos they ask. If I went in Snow and Rock and asked for even a bit of discount they'd just tell you to get lost. Now maybe their industry is a lot bigger than ours, but when it started, I bet they weren't just giving boards away to anyone who had been doing it for more than a few months.
I'm afraid paintball is quite an expensive sport/hobby but that doesn't mean just the industry should fund it. There's plenty other sports that cost a bomb to take part in (cycling, rowing, golf etc etc) that draw plenty of people in. We just need to start drawing people in and once there, showing them that the competitions they compete in are worth their time and money. It's never gonna be a poor people sport, but neither are a lot of sports out there.
Unfortunately I had to stop playing for a good few years, and one of the major factors of getting back into ball was the cost of doing it again, knowing I would have to pay my own way. That's just tough though. Just cos I wasn't able to spare the money didn't mean I should get it free or cheap. I mean I love Motorsport but there's no chance of me ever doing it cos it would just be ridiculous to fund that sort of thing.
Now I'm not having a dig, I'm just seeing the sport from an outside perspective. If the companies involved blow all their money on sponsorship for every Tom, Dick and Harry, they are sooner or later not going to be around and this sport we all love will just disappear with no industry to sustain it at all.
Obviously this is all just my 2p, and who says I know what the hell I'm on about
You start off comparing chalk and cheese and go on to spout a made up fact.
I would love to see paintball cheaper, as a selfish opinion, but how is that sustainable. It isn't. Companies go busy when they try to offer too much. That's a fact.
Great point, effing amazing point by Latham. Snowboarding. Same kind of thing. A fringe sport for people with a few bob. Simple.
Thing is with balling, a large percentage of people/players can connect very easily with the top teams and the big cheeses in the business. Not many other hobby/sports have that. Pretty sure you can't go play a local golf tournament and get to chat to Tiger Woods about his kit or speak to mister Titleist about getting a few hundred free golf balls. Because of this exposure to the industry and the hierarchy within that we all have it kinda devalues, almost, their positions. See this as a blessing 'holy **** there's Ledz, his company actually made my ****!!' that's what we were like...in fact we still are. It's awesome!! Enjoy it!!
Thing is with balling, a large percentage of people/players can connect very easily with the top teams and the big cheeses in the business. Not many other hobby/sports have that. Pretty sure you can't go play a local golf tournament and get to chat to Tiger Woods about his kit or speak to mister Titleist about getting a few hundred free golf balls. Because of this exposure to the industry and the hierarchy within that we all have it kinda devalues, almost, their positions. See this as a blessing 'holy **** there's Ledz, his company actually made my ****!!' that's what we were like...in fact we still are. It's awesome!! Enjoy it!!