No Tom, it's a dodge around the ultimate goal. "A step in the right direction" is the same as saying "I'll wash the Car/Dog tomorrow". The intention may be good, but we all know what the road to hell is paved with.
The ONLY way to even have a slim chance of getting back on the world stage is to find a bunch of guys willing to train 2/3/4 times a week, week in and week out and who are prepared to fit their Work and Social lives around their paintball, just like in EVERY other Sport - Rowing/Sailing/Athletics/Football/Rugby etc. etc. This seems (to my outsider eye) the Swedish model employed by Magued to great success.
As a further example, I used to sail against Ben Ainslie when I was 14/15, and I know the sacrifices he made to in order to get where he is today (two Gold medals in the Laser and Finn classes from the last two Olympics). He didn't whine on the 'net about how he couldn't afford to sail or there wasn't enough done to help him - he got out there and did it.
I also did everything I said in my last post - from Late Feb to October, my social life was practically non-existent. I trained EVERY weekend @ D7's and the only time I played an Event that was non-Millennium was when the Captain of my Team deemed it necessary to fufil sponsorship requirements. My teams results weren't good at the beginning and this unfortunately caused several players to seek other teams where less was demanded from them, and from there it became progressively more difficult to hold the squad together, which was a shame because I still firmly believe that had they stayed and worked harder to combat the shortfalls in our game, we would have still been around today.
I'd like to think that there are enough Players in the UK willing to make that step, but I ain't gonna hold my breath.
