Good Stuff About UK 'Ball

[Syd (NSPL)]

I am sick and tired of reading negative threads about the state of UK Paintball. What is it about us Brits? Do we actually like to beat ourselves down and basically spit in the face of all those individuals who are breaking their backs to help us?

I realise that there is plenty of room for improvement in the UK scene. I realise that talking about the issues and exploring ideas can be constructive, but it seems to me like we are developing a cancer-like way of thinking of late that will eat at us from the inside out if we let it continue.

Well, whatever it is that's wrong with us at the moment, I feel like its time we had a break from self-loathing and pessimism. So, I thought I'd start a new thread where I would ask everyone contributing to it to comment ONLY on the good things going on in the UK Paintball Scene at the moment.

I'll start. Down here in the SW, we're growing from strength to strength. There are regular walk-ons and team training available at Bristol Skirmish, with good facilities, quality air, two sup'air fields and good access. We have a healthy newbie scene with the NSPL Academy and the Proto KotH series, both of which have been hugely successful so far this year. In addition, there are several venues which operate member schemes and actively encourage customers in to the competitive environment; UCZ, Hamburger Hill and Pirate Paintball spring to mind straight away. I also see more and more teams taking their training and competitive paintball more seriously all the time. To top this off, we have a healthy domestic 7-man series in the form of the NSPL and a couple of Millennium squads hailing from this neck of the woods too.

I could move into the Southern and SE areas and give plenty more examples of good things happening. I am also aware of good works being done in the Midlands and the North. But rather than me list everything that I think is good about UK 'Ball, maybe some of you guys could contribute and encourage some positive thinking about paintball in the UK.

Who knows, instead of everyone depressing themselves and wrists being slit nationwide, a little bit of positive thought may well motivate other individuals to join in the huge effort that is already being made to ensure paintball in this country continues to grow? Yes, let's keep the areas for improvement in mind, but who the hell is going to be motivated to make those improvements if everyone on the scene is so damn negative and full of resignation?

I don't have a magical solution. I just do my bit and would like to highlight what is good in order to counterbalance the stream of bad comments we've subjected ourselves to lately, AND to give those efforts that are being made to help out paintball in this country some recognition.

Is that such a bad idea? Anyone care to join me?

 

[jim]

Paintball is growing in Ireland

We now have a good 5/6 people turn up to train/practice, a few months back it was 2/3, we're on the up

 

[sabianfan]

as i said in the thread of robbos where everyone collectivly wined about the lack of teams in the millenium series, who cares how many teams we got in there cos at the mo the teams we have got are doing pretty good on the hole.
D7's is the place to be in uk ball tho.

 

[Magic_8ball]

Great idea Syd, every tournament I go to theres more and more people not playing, but spectating, a lot of the time these people tend to be people looking at the sport with a view to getting involved, this can only be healthy for the uk scene surely?

Also I think some credit should go to people not only getting new players involved in the sport, but improving relations between established 'ballers. These forums are a great means of doing that, and so is Mikey's Forum Battle! Bringing together players from across the country who have not necessarily ever met each other to play ball for fun has got to be a good thing!

People always complain about the low interest levels UK teams apparently show in tournaments, but looking at the Euro 5 man teams list, theres a lot of UK teams on there, some of them fairly small and inexperienced - that seems like interest to me...

As Syd says, theres clearly a lot of work to be done on the UK scene, but perhaps its not QUITE as bad as people can make it out to be

 

[Markie C]

I think things are looking up to be honest...

I think the main problem is that we are trying to run before we can walk...


Some one made a top quote saying along the lines of

"Why don't you lot just take care of business in house before you start to worry about what is going on else where" may not be word for word but it was along them lines.

And i really feel we are...

I think Dave at D7's is doing a great job by taking a load of kids under his wing and getting them the best training to make a team up from the ground not trying to get all the best players about...

same with Sid with his cynergy boys...


One of our lads has just gone over to Nk and we wish him the best of luck because it he is making a go of it to live the dream (sorry if that was cheesy)



we are getting there but i still think paintball is in its infancy so we just have to make the best of what we have and get on with it....


To many people on here can talk a good game.

 

[Lump]

as me and the good woman travel all around most of the uk events.and get a good feel for uk ball at the moment.we have both said to each other that the uk is on the up.06 was talked up at the start of the year.and from every thing we have seen its looking good.lots of younger players that are keen as mustard.

the corner has been turned but there is still a long road ahead

 

[Robbo]

as i said in the thread of robbos where everyone collectivly wined about the lack of teams in the millenium series, who cares how many teams we got in there cos at the mo the teams we have got are doing pretty good on the hole.
D7's is the place to be in uk ball tho.

You guys seem to be desperately missing the point here and I cannot imagine why the penny hasn't dropped with you because it's not exactly rocket science that's being discussed in that thread.

Anybody can stand up and scream, 'let's stop being negative, ra, ra, ra' and ostensibly usurp the moral high ground from the doomsayers.
The problem ISN'T the fact we got people decrying the state of UK ball as some of you are implying here, all that tells me is you don't fully understand the problem we have with Brit ball

This is not some cheap bandwagon you guys can jump on to look like saviors of our game because it's gonna take a lot more than a few words and a veiled attack on me and others to sort this sh!t out.
I happen to believe in UK ball, more passionately than you guys obviously think I do.
I believed in it so much I took on the guys from Nexus in 2003 and invested over 3 years of my Paintball life into that team and all this because I believed (and still do) in Brit ball.
I have spent many hours talking to the real powerhouses of our sport, the industry men, the real money men, on just how to revitalize our tourney scene and trying to develop ideas whereby these companies can perhaps invest some marketing money in our domestic scene.

The success of Brit tourney ball isn't determined by how many teams go to this site or that (especially when you look at my comments re displaced recballers populating our tourney scene) the success of Brit ball is however measured by how many teams we got going to Campaign (and other Millenniums) and how well they do.

And the reason this is true is because :- If you are truly competitive then 'improvement' as a sporting ethos runs thru your blood, it will drive you forward and inspire you.
This is why we train, this is why we commit hours and hours to this beloved sport of ours.
We focus everything on improved results and the competitve arena and that competitve arean is focussed, and rightfully so, on the Millennium series, the highest level we can play in Europe.

Once this premise is accepted then it is inevitable that the competitive spirit will be focused toward the premier tournament in the UK and as an indicator to that competitive environment, is the number of teams entering, and how well they do.
Please do not try and tell me otherwise because it's complete hogwash if you do.

If you want a bunch of lard arses running around some local tourney with an Angel hanging out of one hand and a hamburger hanging out the other and believe if there are enough of them, then this is a healthy situation for competitive Paintball in this country then you really need to get your ass into woodsball.

The rhetoric on this page thus far is doing nobody any good because it subverts the real things that need to be done and appears to be a cheap shot and intended to make heroes out of people who just talk the talk at the expense of people who REALLY understand the problem.

 

[Dusty]

well there is a conversation killer for you..................

 

[mikey601]

well there is a conversation killer for you..................

yup...lol

 

[Magic_8ball]

I dont think anybody was trying to undermine anything you were saying Robbo. I think people were just looking for some positive aspects to focus upon, even if they dont fully (or even partially) grasp the problems UK Ball faces.

I dont think theres a member of these forums who would claim - with any real conviction - to better understand the situation than you do, and thats no real fault of their own, you have a fairly priveledged position to gain an insight into the sport.

I think that everyone here's read what you have to say about the state of paintballing in the UK, and the vast majority seem to agree with you, myself included, though I dont see the problem with relishing the improvements, however minor.