Going Down?

[PaintBaller.ie]

I can't comment on the UK scene, but the basics would be the same. Taking things back to the grass roots.

Firstly, give people a reason to play.
Why should a person spend their Saturday morning running around dressed like a power ranger getting welts?
Why should they spend a weeks wages on playing kit?


Give options for levels of play
If a group of mates want to play but only at a local level, then have a local league structure in place
If a team gets the bug and want to be the best in their country, then have that structure in place.
Then bigger things e.g. millennium for the teams interested can be thought of.


With in these levels of play, its important to maintain the reasons why people wanted to play in the first place.

Might not make much sense on screen.... but it made sense in my head .

Keep the fun in paintball and remember why you play

 

[Syd (NSPL)]

Hi Syd. Is great to get some debate.

I totally hear what you are saying, ... but the problem as I see it is that people always want to copy what the big boys are doing. i.e.

A good analogy to paintball I heard recently was the comparison to Motorsports. Motorsports are another activity that involve a human being and technology in order to compete. Paintball is the same in that aspect.

I'm no expert on Motorsport, but they have made the combination of human and technology elements work...

- Go-Karting
- Formula 3
- Formula 2
- Formula 1

...or something like that - forgive my ignorance.

Just because the majority of guys who compete at the go-karting level may not ever seriously aspire to enter Formula 1 does not mean that they don't enjoy karting or enjoy watching Formula 1.

Similarly, competitors at entry levels of tournament paintball can enjoy participation at that level and also enjoy watching "the big boys" play a higher divisional format with less limits on the technologies allowed.

Paintball needs a similar model with differing limits on the technology at various levels and additional elements such as paint limits, etc.

Before now, this was almost impossible to achieve because everyone was working independantly and had their own ideas. Now, the paintball world is trying to unite and if this comes to fruition, establishing this model is very high on the agenda and it will encompass all levels of competition and participation in paintballing.

 

[SimonGiles]

Just because the majority of guys who compete at the go-karting level may not ever seriously aspire to enter Formula 1 does not mean that they don't enjoy karting or enjoy watching Formula 1.

Similarly, competitors at entry levels of tournament paintball can enjoy participation at that level and also enjoy watching "the big boys" play a higher divisional format with less limits on the technologies allowed.

Paintball needs a similar model with differing limits on the technology at various levels and additional elements such as paint limits, etc.

Yes, ... but :-

Formula 1 does not rely upon people go-karting to provide it's income. The top echelons of paintball do rely upon there being enough people in the sport for the sport to exist.

In fact, Formula 1 is not really a sport at all is it - in that it is totally closed ranks. It is more an organised spectacle - a bit like Hollywood and movie making.

Forumla 1 is a spectator sport - people watch it - they don't take part. Paintball has failed to model itself as a spectator sport. We NEED more people taking part, otherwise our sport will collapse. Forumula 1 is paid for by outside sponsors and car / engine manufacturers - it does not need any more people taking up Formula 1 for it to exist. Indeed - it does not want anyone else taking up the sport !

Paintball does not have any outside sponsors, and by creating a Formula 1 style model of closed ranks, non-attaintable due to cost entryship into the club of 'real paintball', it has actually choked off the only source of income it has - the majority of people who would like to play tournament paintball.

By showing the 'best' we have to offer as being such high cost that most people would never want to do it anyway, we are actually shrinking our own market.

Formula 1 was never about trying to impress people to go out, buy a Formula 1 car, and start racing. It's not about trying to get people to take up karting either.

But I think we need the higher echelons to do just that job for our sport - sell it. They have to be participating in the same product that we are trying to sell to others.

Saying - here is Nexus, they are great, they play xball - but you cannot afford that. Why don't you buy a Rail and play KOTH - I honestly question whether that marketting model for our sport works to any great extent.

 

[Syd (NSPL)]

The analogy had nothing to do with sponsorship or funding. It had everything to do with format and technology limits which are, I believe, your main arguments.

We could go on all day discussing various different subject and their comparisons to different sports, but the point here is that yes, you are right - we do need limits imposed on rof, paint allowed, etc.

But to impose these same limits across all levels of the sport seems overkill to me.

 

[SimonGiles]

Also with regard to the price snowboarding, Rc car racing, mountain biking and god knows how many other sports are far more expencive than tournament paintball but yet they are still more popular.

I disagree mate, ... a mountain bike can be bought for under £200, and you can go riding where ever you want for free - as often as you want. I would claim mountain biking is massively cheaper than paintball. Plus, you go for a day's ride (it costs nothing) and you ride for 4 hours. Go to a tournament, it costs you £80, and you play 5 mins paintball. The value for money difference is massive (almost infinite ).

Also you mention car racing. I used to race 1/10th scale electric buggies as a kid. When I started up all the kit would cost less than £100, and everybody had the same thing (Tamiya Hornet or Boomerang etc). It was an excellent hobby. What seperated the best from the rest was how good they could drive. By about 8 years later, with the growth of 'technology' in the sport, you had to spend a startup cost of £1000 to have any chance of being able to compete. Then you had to spend hundreds of pounds each season on new motors and batteries to be able to compete alongside other racers who were replacing these itesm several times per season. The cost became prohibitive. Membership at my local track dwindled. Dads who brought their kids along to see what was going on asked what stuff cost, guffawed, and never came back. Guess what happenned - the sport died. My local buggy track is long gone, and I believe 1/10th scale electric buggy racing is pretty much dead in the UK now. This is where tournament paintball is going, and the causes in effect are the same. The companies that 'drove' the technological race experienced massive growth for a few years (from nothing to a little something), then stagnated, then folded !

This is what we need to find a way to prevent.

 

[SimonGiles]

But to impose these same limits across all levels of the sport seems overkill to me.

Fair enough. I respect that. I never expected to win many advocates to the idea Indeed - I am not sure it is even possible. Just expressing my view.

 

[onasilverbike]

I think the analogy that Formula One doesn't rely on people Go Karting is a bit oversimplified and misguiding.

It does rely (or the manufacturers do) on people buying the product, look at the state Honda is in, the racing team could be bought for £1 as it isn't economically viable for the parent company to finance the racing programme when they are not selling new cars to the man in the street.

Making Pro teams shoot basic equipment is therfore like the starting grid at Monaco consisting of 20 Vauxhall Astras, not much glamour there.

 

[Robbo]

It is the nature of 'change' that it has to be done systematically and methodically; it does us no good to radicalise what's in front of us in terms of getting UK paintball back on its feet.
You can compare us all day long to whatever sport takes your fancy but it's only when we take a real good look at ourselves and the way we have been functoining that we'll be able to come up with any sort of rescue plan.

We will change our paintball scene, I have no doubt of that, but it will be done in its own time and we will not be rushed into radicalising anything, least of all this sport of ours.

 

[SimonGiles]

We will change our paintball scene, I have no doubt of that, but it will be done in its own time and we will not be rushed into radicalising anything, least of all this sport of ours.

Didn't mean to rush ya fella.

 

[Robbo]

Didn't mean to rush ya fella.

Just ain't gonna happen ................we are gonna try and do it right or not at all.