Spectators
You have all made some valid points, raise a few issues, and a lot of you seem to thank me for the tournament .
So before I air my views and respond, I would like to point out that the Midlands Masters is a team effort, I alone could not possible run an event of this scale or any other for that matter, without the help of some of the most genuine people on the circuit, who care about the game with a passion. They are Les, Jinxy and Matt(our tech and paint crew), Jono for organising the marshalling crew, and trouble shooting all weekend, Phil for sorting all the mailshots, and bills, hotels, and for putting up with all of us, to all the marshalls, Kerry-Anne for keeping the tourny scores and chasing all the teams, Sparkie for the fantastic facility, and for being a tremendous host, Trevor and Tim the little and large of paintball(H-Pac). To all of the series sponsors, see below. And finally to my wife for letting me out to play on Sunday, Happy Easter.
Now so far you have raised a few issues, so I'll add my opinions then we'll take it all away to our next meeting before round 5.
Netting, how high do we go, the netting all around the four permanent plaing arenas was three metres high, and there was a problem with paint coming over the top, not all from bounces, but as the average height of the bunkers on field 2 was no more than 1 and 1/2 metres there must have been a few appalling shots out there, that asiide, the problem was compounded when the wind gusted and the net sagged only by 1/2 a metre, myslef and Sparkie spoke about this, and have agreed that an intermediate post will be erected, and a further 1 metre extension to the net height, as for fields 4 and 5 announcements were made at the captains meeting, spectators and players that this area was a goggles on zone, several further announcements were made throughout the day, and it was signposted, but I suppose that we should have made them bigger, had more of them, and had marshals stationed there handing out free goggles to all who did not have any.............
As for the netting on field 5 as it was over 150 metres away from the staging area, and people are supposed to respond to reasonable requests to wear googles in this area, coupled with the fact that there was over 250 metres of spectatable fields, we saw no problems with the situation, however, again after speaking with Sparkie is planning to extend the permanent set up to six and possible eight zones.
A few complaints about the standard of marshalling, well we take that on the chin, I agree with Phils previous statement, when you the player have 8 games to play, how focused are you? These guys had to judge 40+ games, and make how many calls, I saw players who were knackered after playing only one or two games, and yet you demand for these guys to respond to people who shout and swear and insult them, who question their integrity, you want them to run around all day, when the standard of request is something like "check him, check him, check him, f@ckin check in him, you f@ckin .......................
Maybe you guys should offer to marshal one leg, these guys do put a lot in, and they will make mistakes, but isn't it funny how we never hear about the hundreds of gods calls, only the ones that you think are unfair.
Toilets, how do we win this one, there were in total, 5 portaloos, and 6 flushing toilets on site.
If any one has nay other feedback or suggestions on how we can improve the Midlands Masters please post here.
Finally, my turn to rant, firstly the mess, you say what a fantastic site, great fields, etc and then you leave the place looking like a complete sh#t hole, thanks to Kristian, and the lads from Storm yg who stayed behing to help clear up all of your mess, it's amazing what you folks throw on the floor.
St Johns were booked, where were they....................?
One last moan, who was the childish moron who saw fit to light up three roadsigns on the way out of the site???
If any one knows please pass on to me, and they will be banned from the MM for life, just the kind of image we need.
Round four for me was another learning experience, thanks to allmost all who attended, round five will have to be something special.
Thanks Guys,
Blakey, one of the team behind the Midlands Masters.
