Originally posted by Jasper
slightly off topic but relevant to the 3 pro teams that fielded weakers sides or didnt turn up an for what the pro tour should be used for.
No offence as i respect what you guys are trying to do in the NPPL but i remember reading something a while ago i think it was by Robbo about how poor the the UK scene is an how it can be improved.
Well personally i feel that the majority of teams are weak in the UK compared to the US because our best teams go over there to play an when they do play here they field weak sides.
Think about it teams improve by playing against better teams (and with hard work an training) thats how the Americans got better they had a few top teams that played weaker teams (probs cos they couldnt go anywhere else) but those weaker teams got better for it an started to push the top teams to improve or star losing an then it just keeps carrying on down from one team to another as they have to improve as there is always a better team.
Where as our better teams go an play the americans rather than making there own scene better. I did think that was what the pro tour was being set up for i guess i was wrong 
I totally respect the Kellys for what they have done this year in playing UK leagues as well as other things. As from it i have seen some young potentially talented ballers emerge from a team called Northern Heroes as its been their goal to improve an beat Kellys the kellys know which players im on about. Without this goal this better team to aspire to an beat they may have just mulled around an not got better.
My point is if the top 3 concentrated on the pro tour it would improve the UK scene as a whole. No it wouldnt help to improve you 3 at first but you have to look long term when the others improve by playing you they will begin to push you to improve as well or else they will surpass you. An this way we will have more class teams in the UK. Then you take on the Americans in a World Cup to see who is the best an show the Americans where they need to improve as we'd develop our own style of play that they might not be able to handle, just like the Football Premiership (England) teams play completely different to those in Serie A (Italy) Italian teams dominated europe few years ago but English teams are now regarded as better.
Sorry its so long but i feel strongly that this is what the UK scene needs.
Jasper, there is no way in this world any serious team can concentrate on the Pro League. Paintball players, like any other sportsmen have aspirations, and as such my guys wanna play at the top of the sport and compete against the best in the world.
That is where it's at for any serious sportsmen.
Do you honestly think we like spending tens of thousands of pounds on airline tickets, hotels, rental cars etc ?
We do it because it puts us in that arena and because we make this commitment, we can hold heads high and say, 'We play in the best league against the best and we can compete at that level'.
The Tigers and Nexus compete in that league where the vast majority of them use cheat markers, we don’t, take a second to think about that, we are 11th, the Tigers 13th I think, just ponder that last point for a second or two.
It would be oh so much easier for the guys on Nexus, as well as Tigers and Shockwave, to focus on the Pro tour in that we would have one hundredth of the running costs for the team and so much more time to focus but we would have a similar one hundredth of the pride we now have in being pro paintballers.
As ballers, our prime responsibility is not the UK scene, it is to ourselves as athletes, we have to be true to our own personal aspirations and as such, it is only natural for competitive sportsmen to want to play at the highest level.
Nexus, Shock and Tigers have made huge, huge sacrifices to satisfy that requirement, much more of a sacrifice than any other ballers in the UK, both financial and personal and for you to rattle the national flag and attempt to say we should refocus on the UK Pro tour is absurd mate. It would be like asking Man Utd to go play in the North West league because they have a ‘local’ responsibility.
When I first discussed the inception of the pro league with Scutty, Niall and Barry Fuggle, the overriding concept was to give the pro teams an opportunity to prepare for the big leagues and for the other teams to bounce off the pros and to that end, I think it has been a huge success but people either deliberately, or by mistake, misinterpret these results for their own ends.
And just so's some idiots try to accuse me of anything, here is what I told my players before every single pro league, either at training or by phone (because I wasn't at every event), 'I don't care if you lose every game but you must adhere to the process, I would rather you lose every game and play the way I want rather than winning every game playing another'.
That is not verbatim but it's pretty damned close to what I would remind them before every event.
Go ask any of my players if anybody thinks I am making this up.
I always viewed the pro league as continuing a process and it was the process that was important never the results.
And this is because it was soo important for us to have the process (style of play) in place before a NPPL or Millennium event than any result.
This is not a retrospective tinkering of events to suit my case, it's what I always said to my team and I am pretty sure Tigers and Shock would have viewed the pro tour opportunity in the same light.
For the Kelly's, this was everything to them and they played as such, for the pros, it was preparation.
This in no way detracts from how the Kelly's approached the game and the standard they reached, because make no bones about it, they played some truly fantastic ball, but let's not lose sight of the circumstances and the consequent interpretation of results.
Congrats to Kelly's and I also hope, they quickly step up to Pro as soon as possible so as to assume their true position in the hierarchy of the game.
They without doubt are the up and coming force in the UK and all of us pros will be looking over our shoulder and this is all well and good for the UK scene but I really do wish they had decided to go for the Millennium pro division instead of remaining Am so us Brits could then have one more in the Millennium Pro division.
Peace to All !
