Improve the sport - start at the beginning

[camsmith]

So far, there have been a lot of discussions, mostly to do with TV on how we progress the sport. It is moving forward, and personally, I think that it's great we can all have a discussion about this.

Unfortunately, so far, most of the discussions have been focussed around what the players get out of it though. The sport is not going to go much further until we examine it like businesses examine themselves and try to push themselves further. The first step in this is to identify the relevant stakeholder groups.

i.e. What's needed and what can be provided by

- Players
- Officials
- Manufacturers/Suppliers
- Sponsors
- Sites
- Spectators
- Community
- Broadcasters
- Government (Local and National)

This might all sound like a load of bollocks, but it needs to be addressed, and every one of these stakeholders needs representation in discussions on the future of the sport.

Run it professionally, and hopefully we can all get what we want!

 

[Hatts]

I sometimes wonder if I live in another country or speak a foreign language...I think I might just start banging my head against the wall...

All the points Cam raisesa are 100% valid and exactly what the Paintball Association was set up to address and exactly what we have been doing since December last year....

Still, we'll just keep banging away...

 

[camsmith]

so where do I find out what you're up to?

I've only just gotten into playing the sport in the last couple of months, but this is the first time (and there have been a lot of conversations about this recently) I have heard of the Paintball Association...

 

[stongle]

shhhhhhhh it's sooo secret nobody knows about it, we could tell you then we'd have to kill you.

 

[JoseDominguez]

Originally posted by camsmith
so where do I find out what you're up to?

I've only just gotten into playing the sport in the last couple of months, but this is the first time (and there have been a lot of conversations about this recently) I have heard of the Paintball Association...

Weird, if you're that informed then surely you read the only two widely available paintball publications in the UK...PGI and PBUK......... funny you haven't heard of the PA then.

 

[ChiZZerS]

haha

i dont think we will be able to get the goverment's or the comunitys apruval!

i) the goverment would prefere paintball to disapear!
ii)the ppl round me think its...

an unsochable agun sport involving psycos who like shooting other people...... funny in'it!

 

[JoseDominguez]

check out the wheelchir paintball thread........... could be a good one. And we need support.

 

[camsmith]

Originally posted by JoseDominguez
Weird, if you're that informed then surely you read the only two widely available paintball publications in the UK...PGI and PBUK......... funny you haven't heard of the PA then.

Where did I say I was that informed? As you can see from my earlier posts, I am still getting into the sport. It's good to see that people respect the opinion of these magazines, rather than (as my personal prejudice shows here) disregarding them as commercially motivated advertising brochures. I'll be sure to keep my eye out for them in the future.

I personally prefer to find things out on the internet. It would have been very helpful if any of the previous quotes included links like http://www.pbuk.biz, so that I could find out more about this information... By the way, this was on the 5th page of a Google search for Paintball Association.

Perhaps I am still learning (as my sig suggests), but perhaps people could do a little more to let players and others who are willing to help out a bit more information.

 

[camsmith]

haha

Originally posted by Sephiroth
i dont think we will be able to get the goverment's or the comunitys apruval!

i) the goverment would prefere paintball to disapear!
ii)the ppl round me think its...

an unsochable agun sport involving psycos who like shooting other people...... funny in'it!

Seph, I'm sure this is the case, but it's these feelings that we need to overcome.

If the government supported the sport, it would be possible to get grants (e.g. for a properly set-up and run training weekend like the Nexus one seems to have been)

If the community understood what the sport was about, maybe we wouldn't have had problems such as the recent M25 relocation. We may also have a lot more teenagers getting into the sport, increasing the player base, thereby increasing the competition and having a snowball effect from there.

As I've only jsut got my PC repaired I will be looking into the replies above, hoping to find out what the PA is doing to overcome these problems. You never know... there might be somewhere I can help.

 

[JoseDominguez]

Originally posted by camsmith
Where did I say I was that informed? As you can see from my earlier posts, I am still getting into the sport. It's good to see that people respect the opinion of these magazines, rather than (as my personal prejudice shows here) disregarding them as commercially motivated advertising brochures. I'll be sure to keep my eye out for them in the future.

I personally prefer to find things out on the internet. It would have been very helpful if any of the previous quotes included links like http://www.pbuk.biz, so that I could find out more about this information... By the way, this was on the 5th page of a Google search for Paintball Association.

Perhaps I am still learning (as my sig suggests), but perhaps people could do a little more to let players and others who are willing to help out a bit more information.

One of those commercially motivated advertising brochures runs this site and the other is heavilly involved in the PA (and took a loss to make it the superb event that it was).
Yes, both are commercial ventures, and I agree with you I'd trust the internet more..........it has no advertising and everyone using it is legitimate.