To all concerned...

[onasilverbike]

I'm with Missy on this one, except the bit about Robbo with a Brazilian, that made me choke on my dinner!

Bluey, if you are convinced the £100 tournament is a feasible and viable option then why don't you break the mould and run it yourself, you already have the Sup'Air field and I'm sure promoting it wouldn't daunt you. You could further keep the cost down by limiting paint, a pot & a hopper per game per player should limit the paint bill to about £25 per player tops per event. You could apply a handicap system for player using a current model year gun etc. I'm also fairly sure that if you approach the industry you'll get the support you deserve.

 

[biigjim]

I doubt there are many people that post on here that have tried more alternatives than I have pal. Notice I said 'tried' and not 'offered' - that means I spent the money, I didn't just talk the talk...

...and I think it was for the main part a very contructive post. It was constructive to add the perspective of the business operator, which had been completely ignored. This (well-meaning) care-bear guy needs to understand that if he is is waving a 'don't play here - play tournaments!' sign outside someones field, then thats not a productive use of time, and its also bang out of order. If he's attracting police attention by riding around with a gun, then thats not productive either, in fact it's most definitely counter-productive to the sport as a whole.

Obviously I couldn't resist the Robbo one, and surely someone had to speak out against there being a brazillian new Robbo's worldwide. The earth is barely big enough for one!
Actually, the collective noun for a brazillian Robbo's would be a 'Roberto' - and you said I wasn't constructive!!

touche' i have been suitably reproached.
Lesson to self do not post straight after stupid long day at work. The brain does not always engage correctly.

 

[ReservoirFrog]

This is just a thought so please be gentle when you inevitably rip me apart, but is there no scope for making the transition from woodsball to tourney type ball easier and less daunting?
The only way to do so I hear people mention is 'find a team, ask to train...etc'. Maybe more open days at 'airball fields, more like walkons at woods fields, where scratch teams are made for the day and a little coaching offered would be good.
I think the northern quarter do something like this with the 3man tourney they hold no and then, but as far as I'm aware it's not so widely known.
If I'm wrong I'm sure someone will tell me......alot.

RF

 

[Biscuit]

try bullys no battle pack series reservoir this is still in the woods but has alot of walkon players making up new teams to play this,and is a very cheap days balling

 

[Care_Bears]

If you look at most of the replies here, there are daunting negative replies like
“It’s all been done before” or “The bus has been and gone”
Pick yourself up man…and remember it rubs off onto people that are also unsure!! This is still a fantastic game!!

Care Bears Alpha = Bristol was N. Hampshire
Care Bears Bravo = Wiltshire
Care Bears Charlie = Berkshire
Care Bears Delta = Oxfordshire
Care Bears Echo = Bognor Regis
Each team has double team players, now you know who we are!!

If you rent a field, I fully understand you wanting to make money (Who doesn’t?) if you however, own a field, then your making good use of it by letting your team train free.
We are lucky enough to have 2 fields, Chippenham and Bristol, and after sup’air & nets, all we pay for is petrol for the generator and compressor, and of course pay for paint. You don’t need to win the lottery to have this, so what’s the big fuss?

We don’t have boards outside rec-ball sites; sometimes we play rec-ball ourselves. Before we even go in, we meet some rec-ballers, and we talk in a very excited state of the game, in general, which in turn, enriches the IQ of tourney to them.

Where ever my sons and I go together or independently, we sometimes have our equipment in our cars, we show willingly after talking to them and raising their curiosity. We have done this, even to the police because they were interested themselves! After all, this is for the love of the game, or is it in some cases, the love of money?

We have been toying with the idea of promotional clips of our teams (All teams) to cinemas; it’s amazing how much of an impression a 30 second blitz can give. I have also made enquiries of a few seconds blitz for adverts on TV that alone is good promotion.
All this to promote my teams, because when I get asked, “Who is the governing body of tournament paintball?”
Who should I say? You? Him? Anybody?

As far as commitment is concerned, I buy all of the jerseys + pay for the printing. Care Bears Alpha had E-Vents and markers given to them by me! I also offered to all teams, if they won the Freekz Summer Series, I would give them £5000 bonus on top of whatever the prize was.

I would like to add, if this is so big a game and not only here in England, how is it there are so few replies to this thread?
It should be bursting at the seams with the input and embattled thoughts of enrichment, not fortuitous flippancy.

We try to be friendly to everybody we meet, anyone who’s knows us would tell you that.

These are the last words that I am going to say on this post, I would like to see how many, and what responses, good or bad is about to follow.


Bluey
Owner / Manager
Care Bears
Wiltshire

 

[ReservoirFrog]

try bullys no battle pack series reservoir this is still in the woods but has alot of walkon players making up new teams to play this,and is a very cheap days balling

Thank you and I most certainly will, but I wasn't specifically talking about me. If I understand what I read on here correctly then tourney type ball needs more numbers to progress and possibly to have a future at all.
It's been discussed on here that now is not the climate to start attracting new players because we're all one step from the bread line and have no jobs.
So how about making an effort to channel some of the people that are already hooked from the side of the sport that seems to be struggling less. I don't mean by kidnapping them from the gates of woodsball sites, but by offering a product that is more accessable.
Turn up with your kit, get put in a team of people who don't know much more than you, get coached a bit, then play against another team of people that have just learnt the same as you.
Some would like it, some wouldn't and go back to the woods, but it would offer a taste without having to take the step of approaching a team and I think would see pretty good numbers.

I'm not a site owner or in any way involved in the industry other than that of a consumer, but hey it's our dollar that counts right?

Any thoughts?

RF

 

[newboy]

We have been toying with the idea of promotional clips of our teams (All teams) to cinemas; it’s amazing how much of an impression a 30 second blitz can give. I have also made enquiries of a few seconds blitz for adverts on TV that alone is good promotion.

Have you any idea of the costs involved in advertising on television?

I just love it when I stand outside entrances to woodsball sites to demonstrate and still get asked to leave by owners / staff.

So,Please enlighten me as to which sites you visited and to how you benefited Uk paintball during these “protests”. Did you make up little protest signs out of boards and 2x1?

 

[HPUKer]

Im trying to grasp what this thread is about but there are many walls of text to climb over

Skimming through, is this not just SSDD?

Have these things not been said for the good part of a few years now?

Also getting quite a "crusader" feeling from it...

 

[Devrij]

I'm gonna add my 2p to this thread because, after reading the whole thing through my eyes hurt, and I feel like I need to to make it worthwhile.

Yes, the idea that being proactive and friendly is going to save our sport is a bit naive. This does not, however, make it a bad idea. I'm not gonna kit up and walk around my local Tesco scaring the natives, but it's a bit of common sense that putting in a bit of time to chat to punters at your local site isn't gonna hurt and might even be a good thing. Mainly, I agree with the OP's point that we shouldn't be such naysaying negative people. There's nothing wrong with trying to do some good and putting in time to do it. I know that how UK ball goes depends mainly on what happens with the PSP/Mills and these talks that are going on over here, but I'm still gonna whip out a copy of PGi and show it to the poor b@stard who asked me what I do for fun. I play on a team that hates cheaters and wants to support the industry in any way they can (yes, even at personal expense to themselves ), I'm polite and enthusiastic with punters, I help run a paintball society at my uni, and I think having a proactive attitude is a good thing. None of that will save the industry or restructure the leagues, but it's not BAD. Basically, I agree that the OP isn't full of wise new ideas, but the spirit should be encouraged not shot down. It's like telling a kid that santa's not real: you may be right, but does that make Christmas more enjoyable? Not really rant-worthy, but I was bored.

 

[Dave284]

I'm polite and enthusiastic with punters,

and devrijly hansome.


see it was a play on words, devlishly..devrijly... im awesome.

I still think the best way to move forwards is at your local site, encouraging punters. or at your walk on, giving the new guys a helping hand, be it setting up there marker, showing them how to air safely or helping fix what ever problem they have. just showing a nice face