How to: fix UK tournament ball

[Biscuit]

we all seem to be trying to fix what we have got,sad to say it but forget it
we need to look to say 5yrs down the road.
build a stronger player base ,as has been said we need academies-clubs
we need to expose new players at site level to competetive paintball we in this country are rubbish at this,we seem to be able to create lots of new players but they are generally going into scenario ,if we want the tournie seen to progress this is where we need to concentrate our efforts.build from the bottom not the top

 

[Tony Harrison]

Three things:-

1. As far as I know, playing the Nations Cup did not mean that The Firm, Disruption & Nexus had to split up. They got together, played, won, and went back to their respective teams. They appear to be planning on doing the same thing next year.

2. The answer to converting site customers to tournament play lies with ourselves. What are we doing about it?

3. We need someone with a ton of money, outside of paintball, who is crazy enough to bankroll a UK squad. Ideally, he should be in TV & Radio. You know, connected. Stay tuned.

 

[onasilverbike]

Biscuit, you have a handle on it, if you watch the Nexus 'New Beginnings' videos, one of the things Clint says is "We have a small group of players to draw from in the UK" IIRC there were, at one point, something like 70 players booked in for the Nexus trials, some of those didn't show, and of those who did, I can bet some are currently not playing anywhere. I could probably put a fantasy SPL squad together, one that would hold its own in that league, of players under 25 who are currently inactive.

Not only do we need to encourage the crossover from rental to tournament, but retain talented players too. At the grass roots we need to either build the sites to make Sup'air/speedball a viable leisure activity or somehow convince the site owners to channel players that way. The progression from punter to walk-on to scenario is far more obvious at present.

Then we need the club/academy structure to bring on and keep these players, but, most of all, we need the people who are prepared to put all the hard work in organising it for the little or no reward that is available.

Three things:-

1. As far as I know, playing the Nations Cup did not mean that The Firm, Disruption & Nexus had to split up. They got together, played, won, and went back to their respective teams. They appear to be planning on doing the same thing next year.

2. The answer to converting site customers to tournament play lies with ourselves. What are we doing about it?

3. We need someone with a ton of money, outside of paintball, who is crazy enough to bankroll a UK squad. Stay tuned.

1. Indeed, but this was a one off at an event they were already playing. What you are suggesting is that they play for their regular squad in domestic and European events whilst also travelling to the US at least 4 times a year to compete with the 'super team' add a team training regime to that and I think you'll find it pretty untenable for most bar the likes of the Russians and the Dynabrats. Pretty much, to a man, these guys have full time jobs to hold down too, not to mention that some have wives and/or girlfriends too.

2. Are you suggesting we doorstep rental sites canvassing their punters on the way out converting them to the light side?

3. I don't think there is a UK tycoon either daft enough or with that much surplus they are looking to write off, I could be wrong. Don't argue with him though, or you might just hear the immortal phrase "And fro that reason. YOUR FIRED!"

 

[Robbo]

There seems to be a bit of confusion here between a super-team and a superman team.
You can create a UK super-team without going anywhere near those players who recently won at Basildon who presumably would be the roster of any so-called superman team.

You give me 3 months to hold trials and then another 6 to 9 months of training and I'll give you the top UK team !!!
And I could do it without a pro player anywhere near .... I'd do it with amateurs and novice players.

Bullsh!t ???
Nope ...

Big-headed???
Possibly but I haven't stated this to bring attention to myself or to boast .. the reason I have said it is because it's possible and to maybe point people in the right direction.

To some, those who are unaware of how Nexus began, they may not believe this is possible but it is, it's been done before.

The players we need for a super-team are out there, they are our amateurs and novices, they are the raw talent our country already has embedded in our teams.

I have long since stated, my front-line paintball days are over and so I'm not fishing for anything here, all I am doing is telling you what's possible ... from what I know about Twizz and Markie C ... they've got a great chance of doing it if they focus correctly.

It would be better if you could grab a couple of those players from the UK Basildon squad then all the better but it's not imperative; the point here is, Twizz ain't the sorta guy who would feel easy about taking players from teams but sometimes in life, players feel a greater need and respond to that need accordingly.
If you could get a backer then I'm pretty sure you might be able to get one or two pros on board but as I said, it's not absolutely necessary but it does help the situation.
At least this way, Twizz won't have to wrestle with his conscience too much with just one or two players coming over .. but if it does, just go ahead without them.
For some reason, and I'm not really sure why, I don't think Markie would be too bothered about taking a couple of pros from anybody; in fact, I don't think it'd bother him too much if he could make a new team outa the guys who played for UK squad.
It's academic anyway, go find a backer, cos you need one of them first, get that nailed and then you can hold trials.

This is the most crucial part of the whole thing because you MUST select the right guys otherwise the enterprise is doomed from the get go .... if the guys needed it, I'd help with that bit but no more than that .. and of course, that's if they even wanted help from me, they may well feel they can eyeball the players on their own but as I said, this is the most crucial part and you just can't get it wrong ....
It's one thing selecting best players for a uk team as was done for Basildon but it's quite another selecting raw talent ... these players will be hiding in the backwater of paintball and you need a nose for them.
Great players have this certain 'style' about them .... and I swear this next part is true coz I mentoined it before in PGi and on here many times, for most of the original Nexus players I selected out of the amatuer and novice ranks, I selected them after watching them for no more than a minute .. some a lot less.
Bowen was picked in roughly 20 secs of watching him and Tommy Pemberton in about 30 secs as I remember.
There's just something about the way great players play even when they just start playing on a team ... it's in them.
I can't really explain it, all I can do is point you to what those players achieved within a year ... that's my proof of the pudding.

Anyway, I'll shut up now and go back to my sofa .... good luck to people if anybody tries anything away; I just wanna see us guys back up there, nothing more .... Twizz and Markie are good guys ...... they're a good start if anything is gonna happen anyway.

 

[Biscuit]

i started this thread on ukscenario http://www.ukscenario.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=23635 there are some interesting answers especially
the one suggesting mixed events maybe this is the way to go
this would get tournie ball out to a wider audience in this country

 

[Tony Harrison]

Pete

To answer your questions in turn:-

1. Indeed, but this was a one off at an event they were already playing. What you are suggesting is that they play for their regular squad in domestic and European events whilst also travelling to the US at least 4 times a year to compete with the 'super team' add a team training regime to that and I think you'll find it pretty untenable for most bar the likes of the Russians and the Dynabrats. Pretty much, to a man, these guys have full time jobs to hold down too, not to mention that some have wives and/or girlfriends too.

What I am suggesting is that they can the MS and play in the US. Their operating budget for training & playing the MS is X. The additional cost of playing in the US is Y, the total is Z. The outside sponsor needs to contribute Y.

2. Are you suggesting we doorstep rental sites canvassing their punters on the way out converting them to the light side?

Pretty much. I'm not suggesting we doorstep the sites, though. I work at a customer site from time to time. PM me your home address and I'll send you what I have been doing.

3. I don't think there is a UK tycoon either daft enough or with that much surplus they are looking to write off, I could be wrong. Don't argue with him though, or you might just hear the immortal phrase "And fro that reason. YOUR FIRED!"

Well, it isn't Alan Sugar. He's not interested unless we can whittle thousands of morons down to a shortlist of 15 who are just plain stupid, then go through a tedious process of finding not the most intelligent, but the least dumb.

 

[Tony Harrison]

So perhaps the answer to converting woodland players to supair is a combined woods/supair event, where you play x number of games in the woods and x number of games on airball fields.

You know, like Bully used to put on.