The End Of ECI Paintball Team
- Thread starter Twizz ECI
- Start date
From what little I now know, it seems as though the demise of ECI was partly due to too much ambition, if indeed you can have too much, and maybe in this case it was.
ECI certainly set their stall out early on by the way they organised and conducted themselves. They wanted to get to the top, that was their goal, that was their entire reason for competing.
Sounds good, really good, but for one thing, the 'top' is by definition an elite location and only a privileged few can ever hope to inhabit it.
ECI certainly went about it the right way in terms of training, organization and aspiration but I'm afraid the path to success is littered with those of good intention.
Basically, ECI seem to be a victim of one of their own virtues.
Ambition is a virtue, especially with the competitively minded, it provides goals and sustenance for the long haul ahead.
But in ECI's case, the driving ambition paved the way for a huge disappointment in just missing out on qualification to the SPL.
Dave, the team's owner and driving force was the focal point of the team, it was his ambition that infected and drove the team forward but he proved to be a double-edged sword.
As much as he was the team's inspiration, he was also the guy who was most affected by his team's failure (as he saw it) to qualify for promotion.
Truth is, they didn't fail at all, they were just unlucky in that a couple of their key players got injured at a critical time and as everybody should know, losing two key players out of a five man team is gonna kill ya.
And so, circumstance and maybe too much ambition provides the answer to yet another UK demise.
I did wonder if the team could continue by maybe lowering their expectation and in that way being able to accept disappointment a little easier but it seems Dave felt unable to do this.
I don't really know this Dave but I do know we need people like him in the UK paintball, he inspires others, he leads people, he has direction, all he needs is to slide back down that ambition scale a little.
Not a good day for UK ball
ECI certainly set their stall out early on by the way they organised and conducted themselves. They wanted to get to the top, that was their goal, that was their entire reason for competing.
Sounds good, really good, but for one thing, the 'top' is by definition an elite location and only a privileged few can ever hope to inhabit it.
ECI certainly went about it the right way in terms of training, organization and aspiration but I'm afraid the path to success is littered with those of good intention.
Basically, ECI seem to be a victim of one of their own virtues.
Ambition is a virtue, especially with the competitively minded, it provides goals and sustenance for the long haul ahead.
But in ECI's case, the driving ambition paved the way for a huge disappointment in just missing out on qualification to the SPL.
Dave, the team's owner and driving force was the focal point of the team, it was his ambition that infected and drove the team forward but he proved to be a double-edged sword.
As much as he was the team's inspiration, he was also the guy who was most affected by his team's failure (as he saw it) to qualify for promotion.
Truth is, they didn't fail at all, they were just unlucky in that a couple of their key players got injured at a critical time and as everybody should know, losing two key players out of a five man team is gonna kill ya.
And so, circumstance and maybe too much ambition provides the answer to yet another UK demise.
I did wonder if the team could continue by maybe lowering their expectation and in that way being able to accept disappointment a little easier but it seems Dave felt unable to do this.
I don't really know this Dave but I do know we need people like him in the UK paintball, he inspires others, he leads people, he has direction, all he needs is to slide back down that ambition scale a little.
Not a good day for UK ball
I agree with some of what is said above, yes we had a few injurys that didnt help things but at the end of the day we had a good squad so still had good players on the field. The whole ambition side of things i dont really get, we wanted to be the best, with the amount of work we put in we wanted nothing less. and settling for anything less than SPL this year wasent good enough. A team with no ambition is a team that is going to fail from the start. We wanted to be at the top and had the ambition to try and get there, unfortunatly we fell just short. thanks to the teams that helped us this year, you guys kept that ambition alive right to the end
Stu, I was trying to explain it in terms of expectation (ambition) and what was actually achieved; I never once suggested that having no ambition was an option, if you read what I wrote again, you will notice that I suggested too much ambition can cause too much disappointment and am I wrong to suggest it was the disappointment with non-qualification that became the main reason for Dave pulling out?
It was only one of the factors, theres a lot more to it than not getting into spl. I see what you put now, we did expect to get into there this year. and not doing so was a contriubuting factor but not the only reason at all. Sorry for the miss post
....Stu, was it not the main factor as far as Dave was concerned?
And if you read my post once more, you will also notice I used the words 'partly due'......
Not getting promotion did break hearts this year.
It does not look like many of us will be playing for a number of reasons anymore, not all though. There is and was no team as well run and dedicated as ECI was. Therefore i cannot even imagine playing for anyone else - ECI 'till i die.
Richard ECI Player 2008
It does not look like many of us will be playing for a number of reasons anymore, not all though. There is and was no team as well run and dedicated as ECI was. Therefore i cannot even imagine playing for anyone else - ECI 'till i die.
Richard ECI Player 2008