Afraid to say Ollie, paintball has contracted - yes there are pockets of growth but these aren't the norm.
That growth come at a cost and players dont want to suck this up even though it is for their beloved hobby/sport to get bigger.
Walkons / training venues are smaller - Bricket wood was affluent back in 11 - 13 but the cost of that was to Yorkie and sadly he is no longer running the site.
Until paintball from the ground up decides to work as a business - not giving sponsorships or support deals to what i class as starter / new teams and only giving them to top level teams that support REAL growth*, things will continue the way they are.
Might seem a bit dull but thats the reality.
If the cost of paint was to go up by 3 pounds a case or all supply of paint in the UK would stop, Im sure we would see those who actually play for the love of the sport continue and those who feel entitled would leave.
*By real growth i mean giving back with a bigger picture in mind than just yourself / the team you play for
Paintball in the UK may be contracting in some areas and growing in others but it's a large jump to assume that because a site had to sell it's tournament field that paintball overall is dying. People seem to have said this continuously since 2006 and yet we have new teams and tournaments popping up all over the country. However, with the rise in quality of events and venue such as the CPPS and UKWM people are a lot more demanding in where their hard earned money is spent. They're no longer willing to drop down £150 to travel and play at sites like Bricket wood. Not when they can spend the same money and play on a field at cpps that has well maintained bunkers, excellent turf, well established pits, good parking and the chance to play well established teams. Considering how poorly the Bricket site is maintained it's no wonder they don't have a tournament series there anymore. Paintball players are astronomically fortunate to have the opportunities they have today. They have a high quality events that are stupidly cheap, a diversity of different events (ukwm, cpps, skirmish, GCC, Pro Tour etc) and paint that is at an all time low price. You look back to as recently as 2012: you had Southern Masters at Bricket (with a max of 15-17 teams there on a good day) and the CPPS (and then there was only 4 fields plonked in a square. A couple of trade stands and not much else. Nothing compared to what it is today) and that was about it. Players today are blessed to be able to play 3 man, 5 man, woods, mag fed, and mechanical at a price that doesn't break the bank. Compare that to the yanks who have to pay eye watering prices to compete plus air fares, hotels, food and we have it really, really good.
So yes, certain areas might be down but the fact that cpps are seeing consistent attendance and UKWM are seeing more and more teams wanting to play your events suggests that players are choosing to spend their money on quality events because they have the luxury of a choice of quality events. No longer do they have to pay money to pay sub standard paintball at sub standard sites.The fact that foreign teams (CPH ducks, All As, Joy Division) are choosing to take part in our events is also another really positive sign. It's easy to take a singular event and take that as a sign that paintball is dying and sadly people seem keen to do that but all I'm seeing these days is progress and positive moves to high quality, well attended events.
Part of the problem is that paintball players are creatures of habit and don't respond well to change. Look at m500 for example; that was touted as the end of both paintball and life as we knew it and yet when they played it the majority of players enjoyed it. We've seen players reject new things like 5.5 mech and 7 man simply out of hand because it's not what they know and thus they assume it'll be crap but when it's forced on them the majority have a great time. Personally I'd love to see an event of UKWM done as 5.5 mech and see what the players had to say about it. I almost guarantee they'd love it. They just don't think they would.
Overall there needs to be more Goddamn positive mental attitude towards the opportunities we have today and people need to stop with the doomsday prophecies because of something they read on pbnation
