State of UK paintball

[LATHAM]

Maybe there could be a capped devision for people who don't want to spend the money?

Still don't think that would really work though. What price would you choose? Is it just for the gun or all the kit? Who's gonna check that they're under the limit and police it. If the guns all shoot 10.5 anyway would it really matter or is this just for mechanical guns etc etc etc.

It just gets too complicated. I think the current rules and divisions are pretty much fine. I mean series like the Masters already have entry level divisions like king of the hill to try and introduce players into tournaments.

The hard thing I think, is that how do players get in in the first place? I was lucky that me and my best mates all decided at the same time to start to play. Kelly's took us under their wings and then that was that, we were into tournament ball! Don't think many people will have it this easy though.

How do new players find teams, or people to start playing with? Must be a bit tricky? I want my eldest lad to play, but at 12 and only having played a walk on and a customer day once, even I don't know what his first step into competition paintball should be? Maybe a training day or something? I do know though that telling him he can only use kit to a max value of 200 quid isn't going to make this dilemma any easier at all.

 

[Biscuit]

Limit should only be on marker, or do we do an age limit.as you have said,your lad wants too play,but do you put him in against guys twice his age.you know that some body will shoot the crap out of him,would this put him off playing again ,this is where tournie ball is failing.

 

[Dusty]

Limit should only be on marker, or do we do an age limit.as you have said,your lad wants too play,but do you put him in against guys twice his age.you know that some body will shoot the crap out of him,would this put him off playing again ,this is where tournie ball is failing.

If my lad wants to play he will know well in advance what he will be up against, he will go to training like everyone else and get some practice in.

Age has nowt to do with it, some great young guys out there making fools of the old men, and vice versa too....

 

[Biscuit]

Dusty your lad is one of the lucky ones what about the kids that don,t have anybody too guide them

 

[LATHAM]

To be honest I'd probably just chuck him in. Your right though, he could get the crap shot outa him. But paintball only stings for a min and kids are a bit nuts these days anyway

The problem is though who would take a 12 year old kid? If there where some kids teams, maybe he could get on, but no bunch of blokes would want him. Plus he would probably feel a bit strange playing with guys twice his age. I think Dusty's idea of proving themselves at practice is probably a good one though.

I've no idea what the full solution is to this, but I know if he was starting out I'd like him to start with something like an Ethan cos like Dusty said, there's no way I'd get him a mechanical gun then within a year, be upgrading it! I'd know that at least using something of Etha level he could keep for quite a bit and that it wouldn't hold him back. I could even pick him a second hand one up for the price of most mech guns out there and it'd probably be lighter for him as its composite.

I'm not totally dissing your idea Biscuit, I just think it wouldn't necessarily bring more people in. I've no idea what we can do to actually remedy this problem, but I don't think this restriction idea is gonna work either.

 

[Biscuit]

Chris these are just ideas that i,m throwing out there,because what we have at the moment just is not working

 

[Al Woods]

Now when we say not working, are we saying people just aren't wanting to get into the sport? Whether that be money or commitment or whatever?

Biggest untapped area I've been made aware if by coming back on here is the College/Uni series' now there's a heap of potential right there to promote the sport.

I think there's one HUGE thing that can be done, and that's to shift corporate activity from not only selling product but to actually sell the sport. The essence of why we do it is never really put across, we nail that, we get more players.

 

[odins-sidekick]

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How do new players find teams, or people to start playing with? Must be a bit tricky? I want my eldest lad to play, but at 12 and only having played a walk on and a customer day once, even I don't know what his first step into competition paintball should be? Maybe a training day or something? I do know though that telling him he can only use kit to a max value of 200 quid isn't going to make this dilemma any easier at all.

loving the recent posts guys and finding it all very entertaining.keep up the good work.
just thought id throw my views up from a new player point of view.
went to a few punter days at delta force back in london, which got me wanting to buy my own gear and get into tournament ball, bought a cheap pmr07, halo b loader and pure energy bottle for £250, bought a cheap proto rental mask and gear and went to my first walk-on at asylum paintball in stockport.
after the first walk-on i got chatting to a couple of new guys and we would play on the same team at walk-ons and had a laugh,
upgraded to an etek 3lt and loads more new gear (much to the girlfriends annoyance) and we entered ourselves into a 3v3v3 tournament at outpost in chester and came 3rd.
less than a year later ive had 4 different markers, currently rocking a sl94, and the team-Lethal Formula- has just finished 3rd in the championship division of cpps,
all it took was 3 new guys meeting at a walk-on and having a laugh to set up a team and train hard and have fun. keep telling everyone i meet to get into paintball, glad i did!

 

[Liam92]

simple solution for introducing kids to the sport:

especially listen to what matty is saying about it working like a feeder system. as mentioned above the problem is knowing how to move kids in to a tournament setting without scaring them off of it.

 

[Ainsley]

Without sounding like Jimmy Savile, "kids" are another area we're looking to help develop next season........again, don't want to give anything away but we have some cool, FUN ideas for this all of which will be revealed in due course.

We will also be supporting the student cup again next season and are currently looking at ways to help grow this further.