I'll try not to drop too many names in this post but there's some big news coming out the US with regard to who parks their ass in the big seat at Gi-Sports which just happens to be the largest paintball conglomerate in the world, by far.
I've been really fortunate in my so-called career because I got to meet, and make friends with, a lot of the Yanks while I was playing over there back in the day and we meet up every time they come over the pond which is cool, cos I can't afford to fly over there anymore.
In the Pic
For those of you who don't know, I'm on the left, I'm the token eye-candy for the female population of the Western World whilst in the middle is none other than Steve Baldwin who used to own the Millennium circuit and Gi-Manic over here in Europe; On the right is Billy Ceranski, a mate of mine from when he was my teammate on Aftershock back in the late 90s.
As some of you may know, Steve Baldwin owns, or at least used to own Gi-Manic down near Tunbridge Wells but the original owner of Gi is a guy a lot of you will know of and that's Richmond Italia - he's been one of the top dogs in our industry since the mid-late nineties and has only just relinquished his tenure in our industry a few months back.
Over the past ten years or so, Richmond had steered Gi into becoming the largest paintball interest in the world.
Richmond had been quite aggressive over the years in acquiring a lot of companies in the US, companies such as Tippmann, Kee, JT and so on … all of them under the Gi banner.
For some time now, rumour has been circulating that a change was coming at Gi and sure enough the paintball grapevine was on the money because I just spoke to Richmond and he told me that Billy Ceranski is now the president/CEO or whatever they call the boss-man over there.
It'll be seen as a popular move because Billy is well regarded within our industry - everyone likes Billy mainly because he's a likeable guy, and if you don't like him, it says more about you than it does him - Normally, nice guys don't get the nice jobs but this is one exception.
I knew that Richmond had been moulding his successor for sometime now and it comes as little surprise to those in the know that Billy has emerged out of the industry masses to be appointed as the big boss of the biggest company.
But … what changes will this appointment bring to Gi and the industry as a whole?
Billy's no fool, far from it, he'll be making the decisions that need to be made, one of which is at the top of his list of 'Things to do' and that is to appoint me as his right-hand man on a six-figure salary …… or was it celery … I'm not quite sure, I'll have to get back to you on that one.
In the meantime, I just got hold of him and he's gonna do an interview with me tomorrow for P8ntballer.com and so I'll try and squeeze a few news-gems out of him.
In the Pic Competition !
All you gotta do is guess what Billy Ceranski's drawing on my head and if you get it right, you'll have a bull's-eye on its way over to you ….
I'll offer a prize of 50 quid if anybody can guess what Billy was drawing on my forehead ….
Now, I ain't rolling in cash, nowhere frikkin near it but there's only one other person who knows what was being drawn on my forehead and so if someone does get it right, I'll know who's been cheating ….
But I won't taunt you relentlessly, I will give out clues as and when ….
Addendum:- Billy, no impersonations, I'll know it's you …. !!!
And just to finish up here - Billy is giving us [p8ntballer.com] his first in-depth interview upon taking over as the new boss at Gi - I'll be calling him tomorrow to do the interview and so if you're interested in what he has to say for himself, I'll post it up as soon as I've done it..
I've been really fortunate in my so-called career because I got to meet, and make friends with, a lot of the Yanks while I was playing over there back in the day and we meet up every time they come over the pond which is cool, cos I can't afford to fly over there anymore.
In the Pic
For those of you who don't know, I'm on the left, I'm the token eye-candy for the female population of the Western World whilst in the middle is none other than Steve Baldwin who used to own the Millennium circuit and Gi-Manic over here in Europe; On the right is Billy Ceranski, a mate of mine from when he was my teammate on Aftershock back in the late 90s.
As some of you may know, Steve Baldwin owns, or at least used to own Gi-Manic down near Tunbridge Wells but the original owner of Gi is a guy a lot of you will know of and that's Richmond Italia - he's been one of the top dogs in our industry since the mid-late nineties and has only just relinquished his tenure in our industry a few months back.
Over the past ten years or so, Richmond had steered Gi into becoming the largest paintball interest in the world.
Richmond had been quite aggressive over the years in acquiring a lot of companies in the US, companies such as Tippmann, Kee, JT and so on … all of them under the Gi banner.
For some time now, rumour has been circulating that a change was coming at Gi and sure enough the paintball grapevine was on the money because I just spoke to Richmond and he told me that Billy Ceranski is now the president/CEO or whatever they call the boss-man over there.
It'll be seen as a popular move because Billy is well regarded within our industry - everyone likes Billy mainly because he's a likeable guy, and if you don't like him, it says more about you than it does him - Normally, nice guys don't get the nice jobs but this is one exception.
I knew that Richmond had been moulding his successor for sometime now and it comes as little surprise to those in the know that Billy has emerged out of the industry masses to be appointed as the big boss of the biggest company.
But … what changes will this appointment bring to Gi and the industry as a whole?
Billy's no fool, far from it, he'll be making the decisions that need to be made, one of which is at the top of his list of 'Things to do' and that is to appoint me as his right-hand man on a six-figure salary …… or was it celery … I'm not quite sure, I'll have to get back to you on that one.
In the meantime, I just got hold of him and he's gonna do an interview with me tomorrow for P8ntballer.com and so I'll try and squeeze a few news-gems out of him.
In the Pic Competition !
All you gotta do is guess what Billy Ceranski's drawing on my head and if you get it right, you'll have a bull's-eye on its way over to you ….
I'll offer a prize of 50 quid if anybody can guess what Billy was drawing on my forehead ….
Now, I ain't rolling in cash, nowhere frikkin near it but there's only one other person who knows what was being drawn on my forehead and so if someone does get it right, I'll know who's been cheating ….
But I won't taunt you relentlessly, I will give out clues as and when ….
Addendum:- Billy, no impersonations, I'll know it's you …. !!!
And just to finish up here - Billy is giving us [p8ntballer.com] his first in-depth interview upon taking over as the new boss at Gi - I'll be calling him tomorrow to do the interview and so if you're interested in what he has to say for himself, I'll post it up as soon as I've done it..
