How to get new players in to the sport?

[tiffyman]

So iv been thinking about this for a while now. How do we encourage new players into out beloved sport?
Everyone is always saying how paintball needs to get bigger, paintball need to be in the Olympics......etc but i haven't seen many ideas on how it can grow before we can get to that point.sorry if i have missed them)

The other day i had a thought. What if as a community we can put together some newbie starter packages?

We all have gear that we cant sell because its old, tattered or maybe damaged. I know i have. So what i am trying to get at is we all donate our old gear and make some starter packages.

I am thinking along the lines of everything apart from Guns, Hoppers and bottles as they will always sell and cost a bit more.
Jerseys
Playing pants
Pads
Gogs
Packs
Gloves

Paintball is a very expensive sport to start up, so maybe if we can put together a few of these starter packs together and offer them to new players it might spark a new coming of players. This will not only help us as a sport it will also help the companies. so in my eyes it seems like a win win!

I know this may have its floors but for the time i would like to hear feedback and anyone that would be interested. I would also like feedback from the mods. It would be great to see what you guys think of this as well.

Thanks

 

[Care_Bears]

I used to think along these lines and spent a heap of my money , then giving all the stuff to anybody that came to the teams :- Care Bears, for the whole team Players, even New guys, such as Empire Event Masks, Guns, Hoodies, Jerseys,gloves, Hoppers, even sometimes a few pairs of trousers thrown in .. For the whole teams, this went on for a few years before I woke up.
I can tell you since 2005 there`s been a whole Heap of guys coming and going through the Care Bears Teams,
I can Openly say It was a Complete Waist of time, effort, and Money, on my behalf, as I never saw anything .. EVER !! come back to me when they left to go to other teams or to become a Ref, or just disappear.
Hence , Now I give Nothing !!! they can buy their own !! this way they have more respect for what they bought and paid for themselves. even if it`s the cheapest stuff on the market.
If there`s a for or against on your thread.. Then I`m Against.

Ps , I would like to say you Tiff are one of the good guys, and It`s been a pleasure to know you, but there`s plenty out there that all they know is Me ! Me ! Me !

 

[tiffyman]

I used to think along these lines and spent a heap of my money , then giving all the stuff to anybody that came to the teams :- Care Bears, for the whole team Players, even New guys, such as Empire Event Masks, Guns, Hoodies, Jerseys,gloves, Hoppers, even sometimes a few pairs of trousers thrown in .. For the whole teams, this went on for a few years before I woke up.
I can tell you since 2005 there`s been a whole Heap of guys coming and going through the Care Bears Teams,
I can Openly say It was a Complete Waist of time, effort, and Money, on my behalf, as I never saw anything .. EVER !! come back to me when they left to go to other teams or to become a Ref, or just disappear.
Hence , Now I give Nothing !!! they can buy their own !! this way they have more respect for what they bought and paid for themselves. even if it`s the cheapest stuff on the market.
If there`s a for or against on your thread.. Then I`m Against.

Ps , I would like to say you Tiff are one of the good guys, and It`s been a pleasure to know you, but there`s plenty out there that all they know is Me ! Me ! Me !

I can see where you're coming from bud and understand completely. How ever i am not asking you lot to spend money on other people.

The only reason i thought of this was because the other month i as going though my kit and then posted up a gearbag sale, but some of the items just would not sell such as old halos and what not. So i ended up tossing them out. Which then got me thinking why not donate them to a new player. But me being me it was to late as they had already been collected by the bin men

 

[tiffyman]

Ps , I would like to say you Tiff are one of the good guys, and It`s been a pleasure to know you, but there`s plenty out there that all they know is Me ! Me ! Me !

Also thanks man, means a lot to hear that

 

[Liam92]

Every now and again people crop up on the forums who try to sell the starter packages they bought on as a package again. problem is for every 1 person looking for a complete kit there is about 50 people looking to buy individual bits and pieces. My best suggestion is to guide new players as best as we can on what kit to buy and where to buy it from (be it new or 2nd hand).
As for donating kit to then give to new players, bluey said it right that when you get something for nothing there is no respect for you or the kit you get.

 

[digitalman]

I agree with Care-Bears, although not a team player I have in the past given older kit to guys who expressed an interest in joining me at walk on days only to find that when interest dwindled they were quite happy to pop it on ebay and the like rather than give it me back so that I could hand it on again. These days I just hold onto kit and lend it out as and when required.

This year once again I'll be bringing 3 relative newbies to play at NvS, and I'll kit them out with all that will be required for two great days of playing paintball. If they then want to take playing further they know I'll be happy to advise them on what to buy and where to look.

 

[F3Z]

I tend to offer new team mates kit for a token gesture payment of say £5 - £10. That way they get kit for almost nothing and have some respect for it. generally they pass it onto the next newbies for a similar token gesture and it tends to work.

 

[Dusty]

Funny I was thinking of writing an article for the newbies section here, I'd planned to buy a few cheap bits like a bottle, marker capable of 10.4 and a loader just to see HOW cheap I could get it. What's the bare minimum you need to spend to get a fully functioning tourney ready package? I reckon for full shebang less than £200 will do it. Gun, bottle, loader, mask, pack, pods, trousers and top. Pads are a luxury, we played for years without them.

there's too much emphasis on kit. I've a shocker here which I've advertised for sale, hasn't sold and I'm not one bit sorry because it's a good un, shoots as sweet as the day it left the factory.Paid less than £100 for it.

Foot has a perfectly good and practically new mask on sale for £18.

Best way to get new players in the game is invite them down, have a communal spare setup which can be HIRED to them for £20 for the day, the point them to the classifieds here.

 

[Cook$]

We don't need any new players until we are finished with the ones we've got.

 

[James ECI]

Chris (Tiff)

you need to start at local sites, where there are walkons and take the old kit you dont want and just look for the new guys

Ive done this at holmbush and the easyG day, normally im doing it just for space, but who ever gets it, u know its appreciated.

easier to start giving stuff away where you play plus no shipping cost and you know whose getting it