Brit Future

[Matski]

Tom - a unified system of leagues is not the reason for the success of Joy, the Russians and countless US teams. Why would it help us?

Saying 'let's sit back while some alturistic, not-for-profit orientated super league organises us in to killing machines' is exactly the attitude problem our culture has.

 

[Tom Allen]

Quote "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. " Quote


If we looked for a "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 - " we would get bogged down in the same situation we're in now, with no new players to fill the spaces that eventually happen in every team.
We need to improve the conditions for every uk player to improve the skills to get to the ultimate team. Think about the whole picture not the end result.

 

[Exile]

If we looked for a "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 - " we would get bogged down in the same situation we're in now, with no new players to fill the spaces that eventually happen in every team.
We need to improve the conditions for every uk player to improve the skills to get to the ultimate team. Think about the whole picture not the end result.

Yes - ultimately. But you also have to have role-models in order to inspire people to commit and we simply haven't got a single Team that fits the bill atm. There are awesome players like Tommy gun, Clint, Sam Keats, Dan Maskell and a few others but there is no one or two teams to aspire to anymore.
I mean no disrespect to Shock, Nexus, Kellys, Tigers et al. but as good a job as you guys are doing it, it simply isn't enough to lead a nation overseas.

I cannot for the life of me see how having a UK league will produce anything other than a Domestic champion - not a world-class Team.

Having a couple more venues like D7's and the NQ would do far more to bring the level of play up than a UK league - esp. if there was genuine Industry backing in the form of subsidised Pro Coaching (sponsored by Paint companies) and Coaches employed by those sites (maybe financially assisted by Gun/Clothing Manufacturers?) who would hold regular workshops/clinics and also have structured drills already set-up that teams or individuals could do all day.
If (for example) you took one of the fields @ Dartford and turned it into a couple of running and gunning alleys, and another field was several snap-shooting lanes, and you had one or two coaches at each field, offering advice on posture, form and technique then you could get far more actual training and improvement done than would happen in a thousand years of Unified UK leagues.

The Russians and now Swedes have clearly shown us that the correct training techniques count for far more than a huge player base or "structured league format" and it is to this model we should look to implementing, not trying to unify all the UK formats.

 

[Tom Allen]

Tom - a unified system of leagues is not the reason for the success of Joy, the Russians and countless US teams. Why would it help us?

Saying 'let's sit back while some alturistic, not-for-profit orientated super league organises us in killing machines' is exactly the attitude problem our culture has.

The Joy example bears no relation to us at all, what i'm saying is, until we can get our players motivated and give them a national goal to achieve, then nothing is going to improve.
It's all very well winning the PA, Masters, Koth, D7's, but it's not the best in the UK, is it?

 

[beanbag83]

Huh? You're kidding right?

On avarage, the standard weekend in the US lasts 48 hours. Same as here... So no extra time there.

Here in Europe, we, on avarage have shorter working weeks than our US counterparts. Most West Europeans do NOT work 40 hours a week. Most people in the US work that plus change. On avarage, we get over twice the number of days of as the US does....

Where do you get this crap from?

Guess it Depends where in Europe you are from, UK has some of the longest working hours in Europe, Personally i work 6 days a week anywhere from 55-65 hours a week. As far as i know the UK is the only European country where people can opt out of the european legislation regarding maxmium working hours (could be wrong there(Often am ))
We also have some of the highest taxes, and cost of living.

 

[Tom Allen]

The Russians and now Swedes have clearly shown us that the correct training techniques count for far more than a huge player base or "structured league format" and it is to this model we should look to implementing, not trying to unify all the UK formats.

But isn't the strongest paintball base in the USA.

If you try to make a super team, where are you going to get the players from. You need to primarily improve the player base to get the better players.
This isn't an instant fix, but there just isn't an instant fix available.

 

[KitsuneAndy]

But isn't the strongest paintball base in the USA.

If you try to make a super team, where are you going to get the players from. You need to primarily improve the player base to get the better players.
This isn't an instant fix, but there just isn't an instant fix available.

Agreed.

I think we probably have a huge amount of untapped potential in the UK.

Not many sites promote Walk On's as they make less profit on them, even sites that support and run Walk On's don't generally advertise them to the masses. So there will be a lot of rec baller's out there who would love to get more involved but don't even know anything else exists.

I believe that is this which must be addressed first. The step up from rec-ball to Sup Air is huge and although showing a dvd of a tourney to a punter might get a great response of "that looks awesome" or whatever. The reality is that not many people will step up from Rec to Tourney without there becoming a "walk on" in between.

Before we can look at producing teams that can compete with the US, we first need to build our pool of players right at the bottom level. This will inevitably lead to more people wanting to play sup air and give teams a much greater pool to pick from.

I do have a plan to atleast do what little I can about this, it's just taking a little while for me to sort. My day job keeps getting in the way!

 

[Exile]

Ok then.

Assume that we get a unified UK League.

How exactly is that going to improve UK paintball? I mean, do you honestly think that becoming the best in the UK is going to inspire everyone to drop that fag and get jogging? Or give up a night with the boys so that they can get up early to train?

Never gonna happen - and you know it won't. Paintball ain't football - being the best UK footballer/team = ca$h. Being the best UK baller = zero.
There are plenty of kids out there to be harnessed, all you need to do is give them training opportunites - which could easily be done if the major (and minor) companies stopped pouring money into sponsoring UK leagues, and gave it to the training grounds/coaches instead.

As for inspiration - how about the opportunity to go be the best in world? And get the training to help you get there?

Then we would be just like all the other sports that don't have the big, fat TV dollar ruling their schedules/agendas. Except cooler/nerdier (depending on your viewpoint)

 

[Tom Allen]

Becoming the best UK player, or be in the best UK team, is got to be better than being the best in the local series.

A unified league would give the major (and minor) companies, somewhere to concentrate their efforts, whether it's cash or some other form of sponsorship.

 

[Matski]

Urghh just go with your league, at least if it dosn't work or nobody turns up we can blame Robbo. I'm kidding Pete, put the car keys down.

If we assume that Kelly's are the best UK team, what does this league then do for them though? Surely playing against lesser mortals when they could be refining their plays, zoning, techniques etc etc would be detrimental if they wish to compete outside the UK.

At the end of the day if the value of something is the some of its parts then being the best in a UK league is not of very much value, and to compete in it would not make any sense...no offense everybody. If you mix people with differing objectives some people are not going to like the outcome. Likewise, mixing teams with international objectives with those that have UK objectives is going to affect what both parties can achieve.