Too many teams?

[Robbo]

Yet another Abbott reference perchance? .

To drag this thing to somewhere near on-topic - is it time to have a structured/registered coaching scheme (as well as a refs one?)?

Who would run it? You volunteering Mr Robinson? Could be a nice 'ikkle e'rna! Maybe a 'Federation' backed coaching course, with a genuine qualification at the end of it, is something that could be worked towards.

Maybe it could even set the new standard for UK tourney ball?

I, for one, would attend. I fancy being a 'UK Paintball Federation' trained coach. This is actually a little step towards getting UK ball organised in to something worth having.

This could also extend to a refs course.

Hmm - little acorns....

Nice little earner eh???
You think I'm involved in this nutfarm sport to have a nice little earner???

Come on Raff, I thought I mighta deserved a little more than that mate.

It would certainly make sense for the federation to back any initiative whereby coaches and refs were professionally trained, the problem is, making sure we get the right people to do it.
Now I know we got the right people to train the refs and that wouldn't be that difficult to arrange in terms of logistics but I just wonder how many guys would wish to do it...still, let's tag that one for the time being.

As for coaches???
I don't think our sport is anywhere near developed enough to warrant coach training mainly because we haven't generated sufficient expertise in terms of numbers of guys who know what they are doing.
I would certainly trust people like Mark Toye, Nicky T, Ledz and a handful of others who would be up to the job of coaching but no more than that.
But these guys I would earmark as being sufficiently experienced to coach, and not train to coach.
To train a coach is something we just don't have the ability to do.

 

[Raffles]

...Come on Raff, I thought I mighta deserved a little more than that mate...

Errr - it was a joke. I've yet to meet anyone who has made real money from UK ball.

Anyway, do you really think that there is no-one in the UK who has the ability to train coaches? I'll have to bow to your superior knowledge on this one.

Also, does this mean that UK ball is doomed to a life of 'nearly' players? Something, obviously, needs to change - but what?

 

[Robbo]

Errr - it was a joke. I've yet to meet anyone who has made real money from UK ball.

Anyway, do you really think that there is no-one in the UK who has the ability to train coaches? I'll have to bow to your superior knowledge on this one.

Also, does this mean that UK ball is doomed to a life of 'nearly' players? Something, obviously, needs to change - but what?

I've made some real money out of paintball .....just not a lot

I suppose we have guys who can train others to a 'certain' level but don't bet yer house on having people of sufficient calibre to train coaches to take players from hos to pros.
The problem is made worse because we haven't got the calibre of ex player who has played at the very top and is at the same time sufficiently qualified to coach.

And all the time our top teams ain't playing against the world's best, the situation is inevitably getting worse because we are not generating that top end experience that is so needed when it comes to teaching our game.

 

[Missy-Q]

Pete's right,
when I look at the coaches in the states, they are a dozen light years ahead. SK, Baca Loco, Telford, Trent, etc. take coaching to a whole different level. I think you have to be immersed in the game for several seasons, not missing a thing, before you can even try to emulate those guys. It would be easier to pay one of them to come show you how to coach, and even then, you would have to have an existing understanding at a very high level.

 

[Raffles]

So - it's a bit like American Football, Ice-hockey and Basketball then. The only way to improve 'our' game is to employ some Yank to come over here to do it. Anyone got a few grand spare?

Who coached RL when they first started kicking ass? Oh, and some team called Nexus (back in the day) had an English coach I believe .

Joking aside, this paints a very sorry picture for UK ball. It means that we are never going to get better - and are destined to plateau to our domestic events. Is UK ball really that stale?

 

[Robbo]

Pete's right,
when I look at the coaches in the states, they are a dozen light years ahead. SK, Baca Loco, Telford, Trent, etc. take coaching to a whole different level. I think you have to be immersed in the game for several seasons, not missing a thing, before you can even try to emulate those guys. It would be easier to pay one of them to come show you how to coach, and even then, you would have to have an existing understanding at a very high level.

And Missy's right, the guys he mentions have struck a balance between intellect and experience because Baca has never played at the top level, not even close but that man's an intelligent son of a bitch.

His intellect has been able to overcome his lack of direct experience and he has been able to use that brain of his to observe games and interpret actions and understand fundamentals.

His intellect also not only enables him to understand those fundamentals but also to analyse the game in his head .. the old philosophers used to call this a priori thinking in that he gains new knowledge and new understanding purely by thinking about the game rather than observing.
that is a real talent and one that Baca possesses.

We have nothing over here that even approximates to that kind of skill or understanding.

 

[Dave S ECI]

The only way to improve 'our' game is to employ some Yank to come over here to do it. Anyone got a few grand spare?

Who coached RL when they first started kicking ass? Oh, and some team called Nexus (back in the day) had an English coach I believe .

Joking aside, this paints a very sorry picture for UK ball. It means that we are never going to get better - and are destined to plateau to our domestic events. Is UK ball really that stale?

The majority of teams in the UK can learn from people already within the UK. I'm sure at the top end, coaching from the states or elsewhere will help out but you have to walk before you can run.

In terms of improving UK ball, teams and players need to take responsibility for their own development. In the past couple of years my team had:

- Taken advice from Chuck (UK Jags), Mark Toye (Rushers / Nexus) in how to run a team and what drills / training they recommended
- Set up a day for Dunny and Stef from Nexus to train CPL / Millennium XBall format
- Watched Nexus's drills and copied or adapted a number of them
- Watched Notorious's drills and copied or adapted a number of them
- Approached Div 1 / SPL / CPL teams to scrimmage
- Scrimmaged against European teams, in Europe, twice

All of the above happened by asking / watching / being proactive. There are many many people out there who will happily help you but you need to make the effort and approach them for their help.

I'm not really involved in paintball anymore but team GBH approached me to help them out on sunday and I am happy to do so.

Is UK ball really that stale? Right now, yes. But there are numerous quick wins out there to get grass roots and low level tournament paintball back on track (play with a pro anyone?).

 

[Robbo]

Who coached RL when they first started kicking ass? Oh, and some team called Nexus (back in the day) had an English coach I believe .

The Russian Legion had a freak as a coach/owner; Sergey Leontiev, for those of you who do not know, owned 4 banks in Moscow (yes, owned) and his obsession was paintball.
He started the Russian Legion and set his mind to work in trying to understand our game by leeching as much as he could from others and then taking that and developing it with his own intellect.
Out of all the people I have met in paintball, and there have been many, he is the most intelligent ....

Joking aside, this paints a very sorry picture for UK ball. It means that we are never going to get better - and are destined to plateau to our domestic events. Is UK ball really that stale?

Pretty much.......and the only hope we have is the Federation, and I'm saying that not because I have something to do with it, but because of the array of individuals who sit around that board table.
They got brains, money and clout, real clout; there will be people who say they are for UK paintball but they are nothing more than bullsh!tters; the Federation is our only hope.

 

[Robbo]

Is UK ball really that stale? Right now, yes. But there are numerous quick wins out there to get grass roots and low level tournament paintball back on track.

Agreed !!!

 

[Biscuit]

so we have people good enough to coach teams and do clinics,but the problem is getting teams to these clinics especially the lower div teams,so as a thought why not run clinics at the fed tournies for the lower div teams as part of thier entry fee they get tuition on the simple things like walking a field properly,snap shooting etc,now you will say this is down to time and it will take allday but as most events are run in morning and afternoon sessions this could take place over several events.the only problem being is who would want to take this job on as we need to concentrate on the future players and not hte present as it is too late for the guys that play at the highest levels in this country as a lot will be set in thier ways of playing we need to get them as they enter thier first event and take them from there .to give you an example last year the team i play for even though we are woodland players had the chance to attend a shock clinic for free so we went,one of our guys had never played paintball at all,the guys taking the clinic were dan maskell and sam keats and they said it was a pleasure to teach the guy as he was like a sponge and listened and did everything they asked,now he is one of our best players