Is This A Pivotal Moment? It's Up To You.....

[Tony Harrison]

I shouldn't be up typing this now. I should be in bed because I need to be in work for 6.45am, but I can't sleep because I'm thinking about this.

Bear with me. It was 4.30am when I starting typing and this post is kind of "out there".

There have been many pivotal moments in paintball since the first game. The force fed hopper, the electronic marker, Hyperball, Sup'Air, lenses you can change without cutting your hand......you get the idea.

You might have heard of the UKPSF. They have been around since 1990 - the year I started playing paintball, but then they were known as the EPSF. They have protected and promoted UK paintball since inception, including preventing the sport possibly being banned through a rewording of the Firearms Act. Steve Bull was the man who ran the organisation for many years.

What the UKPSF can do is get paintball recognised as a sport. I know many of you have heard this before, and it sounds like it's never going to happen. But it could, with the help of each player reading this.

The first step on the road to recognition is numbers. That is, members. The UKPSF needs a minimum of 1850 members to take the first step.

The CPPS typically has approximately 110 teams typically attending a single event. That works out at around 550 potential members. Of course, some of those players will already be members. We have many more potential members playing as rentals, walkons, at big games and so on, so reaching the magical 1850 number is, in my opinion, very possible.

If you're reading this, you can sign up to the UKPSF here:-

Register as a Player | UKPSF

ukpsf.com

Membership costs £5 for a year, or £15 for 5 years. I spent £5 on some terrible food once at a paintball site.

My point is that by signing up, you could be part of the next pivotal moment in UK paintball. You could be one of the players that made something incredible happen, and all it takes is £5, or if you feel generous, £15.

I'm not trying to tell you what to do. Well, I am really. I don't have any motive for doing this except "growing the sport". I'm not a site owner and I don't have any sponsors. I have people in the industry who keep trying to help me now and again despite my many faults, and I am forever grateful to them. You know who you are, if you're reading this. I do too much sometimes, and sometimes I do too little. A lot of the time I get it wrong.

Some of you may disagree with becoming a member, and I can't force you. There's nothing I can do about that.

You might think this post is a bunch of crap, but to quote a line from a movie......."That's how you become great, man. Hang your balls out there."

I haven't proof-read this, it's all just spilled out onto the page.

It's up to you. Thanks for reading this.

 

[MetaControl]

First thing I did after ordering some gear, was to sign up to the UKPSF.
No man is an island...

 

[Tony Harrison]

First thing I did after ordering some gear, was to sign up to the UKPSF.
No man is an island...

Thanks - I appreciate that!

Now, if everyone on here does the same thing, we'll be sorted.

 

[BOD]

Personally i don't think there's the numbers of own equipment players out there to get to that number required, though the 5 year membership might help, that way when players pack it in after a couple of years they'll still be counted, there was no chance with the single year membership as it was before. What's the total now, i suspect it isn't even near 1000 .

 

[Tony Harrison]

Personally i don't think there's the numbers of own equipment players out there to get to that number required, though the 5 year membership might help, that way when players pack it in after a couple of years they'll still be counted, there was no chance with the single year membership as it was before. What's the total now, i suspect it isn't even near 1000 .

You might be right about "own equipment" players, so I may well be on a fool's errand. But I'll give it a shot anyway.

My "outburst" has been shared on FB and has generated a few more members. I believe total membership is still in the low 500's.

So, getting to 1800+ is a challenge, but I have a cunning plan.

It's as cunning as a fox that's just been appointed "Professor of Cunning" at the University of Oxford.

 

[Stan]

The simplest way to get the numbers up would be to do a recreational level membership for £0.01p and automatically signup every player who goes on a stag do, birthday party, hen do, team building exercise... You'd need the site owners to back it but it would be by far the simplest way of doing it...

You then have a walk-on membership at £5

and a tournament one at £10.

 

[Tom]

The simplest way to get the numbers up would be to do a recreational level membership for £0.01p and automatically signup every player who goes on a stag do, birthday party, hen do, team building exercise... You'd need the site owners to back it but it would be by far the simplest way of doing it...

You then have a walk-on membership at £5

and a tournament one at £10.

Those have pretty much been tried.

Rather than 1p there was free membership, this meant UKPSF volunteers putting up stands at events, signing people up and also giving branded freebies. I believe the events provided space for free so there wasn’t a cost there, but the people still put up their own travel & accommodation and the freebies cost money.
Even free membership and the offer of free pens, lanyards etc didn’t produce numbers.

This free membership still didn’t count for anything - just names on a list, but they could have resulted in a later renewal.

Random rental players are also meaningless. If we go on a track day experience we don’t sign up as a racing driver.

Delta Force have tried this - every disclaimer goes onto their mailing list (unless you find a box refusing that)
which is pretty much standard business sense.
They use the disclaimer list to claim their fake UKPBA is the paintball representative body covering x number of players and have (for publicity) made an Olympic bid that was laughed out

Sites have participated in signing up players many times - tournaments marking membership compulsory (but players lied and made up membership numbers or ‘forgot’ their card today)
Retailers have paid for membership on gun sales
Events and sites have given ticket discounts - often equal to the UKPSF fee
CPPS would be the clear contender as this is both the primary tournament series and Ainsley is on the UKPSF committee - but he then has to have access to the membership database to verify, have staff checking membership, sign up on the day etc - he has posted that CPPS registered IDs are planned and would link to UKPSF but there’s a lot of work required, and with Covid everyone’s got much more on their plates

Regular players just need to sign up if they want a representative body

 

[Tony Harrison]

I have had quite a positive response to the post I made on FB, and it has generated a few more members.

I intend to speak to Ainsley about ambushing people at CPPS and throwing them in the back of a van. I mean, signing them up.

I'll do a similar thing at any big games and walkons I go to, and see how I get on.

 

[Stan]

Tom- the OP just wanted 1850 members. He mentions nothing about active, paying members.

I work in an established sport with Sport England funding. We’re still chasing “numbers” of members as it still remains one of the biggest metrics that Sport England and UkSport base their funding on.

If we want active, engaged, paying members in the UKPSF then that’s a different story. The OP doesn’t say that. He just says he wants to hit 1850. The simplest way to do that is the Delta Force model you illustrated.

 

[Tom]

Tom- the OP just wanted 1850 members. He mentions nothing about active, paying members.

I work in an established sport with Sport England funding. We’re still chasing “numbers” of members as it still remains one of the biggest metrics that Sport England and UkSport base their funding on.

If we want active, engaged, paying members in the UKPSF then that’s a different story. The OP doesn’t say that. He just says he wants to hit 1850. The simplest way to do that is the Delta Force model you illustrated.

@Tony Harrison just states 1850, but that’s related to the UKPSF target which requires ‘real’ members, and covers both growth of membership and their work over the last few years on Sport England and also wider government recognition