This is semantic foolishness, IMO. If you play basketball, you don't have to be an NBA player to be participating in a sport. You are not a professional athelete unless you are paid to play, maybe not even unless you support yourself by playing, but I think that this self flagellation is silly.
It isn't a sport until the government says it is? Right, because something isn't real until it is codified by a ruling body that citizens feel little ability to influence (based on what some people have told me about UK laws and the ability to be a successful activist or lobbyist).
You have to practice/ train a certain number of times per week to be participating in a sport? Right, because whether or not you are any good describes the activity. A sport is a sport, even if you are a dilettante. I'd say that my personal aptitude at football has little to do with its validity as a sport.
Besides, according to what you guys have written here, it seems that the British have a standing in these Sunday footy league that is not commensurate with the time spent in training. Native ability has as much or no, that's also ridiculous, much more to do with successful competition than time spent preparing.
You guys can beat up on yourselves all you want, but the reason that the European teams don't have teams at the top of the rankings in paintball is not because you aren't serious enough. That is a half-assed motivational speech at best. The reason you don't stand at the top of the rankings is due to the smaller player pool. Robbo teased me once about the lack of pro teams from Colorado. This is not because Co0lorado paintball players don't train right, or aren't "sportsmen," or any such nonsense. There aren't any pro teams from Colorado at the moment because the player pool is too small. California has tons of pro teams, and it isn't just the weather. The populatiopn of players in California is huge compared to Colorado (or the UK) and there is a greater chance that someone with amazing talent is playing paintball, rather than doing something else like footy. You don't have as much participation, the barriers for players moving from casual recreational play to serious competition are greater, and because the UK is isolated from the larger local community (Europe) a greater commitment is required before playing in a larger competitive population.
My notions of the typical paintball experience may be outdated, and I may be wildly off base on that subject, but lacking companies local to Europe, a large player base with a statistically greater chance of hosting a Michael Jordan of paintball, and more obstacles in the way of progressing from casual play to serious competitive play account for the lack of success that Euros currently experience. You guys aren't outplayed by teams from Iowa, you are outplayed by teams from California, Peensylvannia, Florida, and other areas with large local populations and eaier access to players from different regions.
Not sportsmen. Bah. Who cares what you call it?
