Moving UK Paintball Forward

[Baca Loco]

Onward and upward, Talley Ho, What, What (and so on)

Upon request I am pleased (kind'a) to offer a poll on how to advance the interests of UK Paintball. The poll will remain open for one week so don't wait to cast your all important vote.

 

[kris]

A single governing body that oversees all tourney pball

Isnt that mr cha ching.....

 

[MrPink]

International Experience - look at the rapid improvement in teams that suck it up and go abroad for the Mills/NPPL and the like, playing better teams makes you more focused on getting better, cos if you've spent ££££'s just getting there, you want to do the best you can.

 

[jeff]

...best way to move UK paintball forward...???

Stop talking and start doing.

All the time people are waiting for someone else to do something....nothing is actually being done.

 

[stongle]

Legalise Handguns.

 

[Tom Tom]

I voted for the Single body, but surely it will take elements of each.

I mean look at the FA as the governing body, however without the talent, People like Man Utd would never get that far, its not because of the FA they are doing well,

However the FA can draw on all aspects and is not biased towards a club team or event.

 

[Stan]

OK - voted for last option. More traditional sports approach to player development.

Presumably, key factors for UK Paintball Development are:
1 access to training facilities.
2 training facilities located close to large populations of paintballers.
3 the training that is being done.

Factors that would be nice:
4 more sponsorship/cheaper paint.

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1 - majority of training venues are only open at weekends, majority are also not necessarily of superb quality. From what we hear, US players have access to better facilities, support, weather (?) which allows better play or at least encourages it and makes more people want to train. How many UK venues are indoors, heated, with a sensible floor surface, are cheap to access and are available 7 days a week?

2 - how many training centres are located in the middle of the countryside that takes a couple of hours for people to get to? Flipping it on it's head, how many teams are regionally based and how many have players who live 200miles apart?

3 - it appears that more and more teams are "training" but are they doing the right training? How good would it be to have a South West training centre run by Shockwave, a South East centre run by Tigers, a Midlands centre run by Nexus, etc? Once a month (to start off with) you set aside one weekend to hold a Nexus style training weekend and each of the teams hosts a seminar in their centre. Get 4 teams at each seminar and suddenly you have 12 teams all training the same as Nexus, Tigers, Shock, etc... As a spin off from this those 4 teams in each region then become feeder teams for the regional teams. (Not necessarily great for the short-sighted local team captain but good for British Paintball)

4 - yeah right! Why is that going to happen?


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Limitations - sites are run by people who need to scrape a living off punters who spend between £30 and £60 per person per day to shoot their colleagues, mates, etc. As a result, punters don't move to tournament paintball due to cost and site owners don't want to make their sites open to training 7 days a week. Remember, there's no money in Paintball

If paintball was treated by those involved as more of a sport than a hobby then a few things could happen... the trouble is, as in most volunteer sports, currently, the people who are prepared to make things happen aren't always the best people to actually do the job. They are the guys who are prepared to give up the time.

I realise this may upset some people.

 

[Robbo]

The fate of UK ball seems to be hovering around a few teams here and that can't be right.
Sure, Nexus, Shock, Tigers and Kellys can go bash heads somewhere and consequently bring their game up but this has no real effect on the rest of UK ball other than maybe inspirational but we need more than just inspiration going on here, we need people to do something, to get up off their ass, stop moaning about things and just do something positive.

I don't know if Tigers have decided or not whether they will play the NPPL next year (I hope they do) but it seems to me if they don't then it leaves them, Shock and Kelly's as the leading domestic teams with Nexus going to the US as our sole representative and according to Ben Frain, now being subsequently reclassified as an 'international' team.

My point here is, we need to take these teams out of any consideration loop if that loop is centered on improving the fate of the UK team base.
Any forward direction the UK needs to take must be done from the ground up with teams being formed around a collective notion of improvement and not just playing for the fun of it.

Of course some people do and should play for just the fun aspect but this doesn't create a conducive environment for our evolution.
Having fun means just that, improvement means we have to dedicate ourselves, they may not be mutually exclusive but sure as sh!t, they ain't complimentary in some instances.

Teams need to be more serious about their goals, their aspirations and their training and until that sea change takes hold, all the rest is academic bollocks.

 

[Syd (NSPL)]

Interesting one this. I believe that moving UK Paintball involves a whole variety of different developments and requirements. However, this thread is asking us to narrow it down to the most important development and that is a difficult one.

After thinking about it for a while, I would say that we need co-operation and a top-down approach to unifying the tournament scene. There is a meeting tomorrow between the UK tourney organisers and I have requested items be added to the agenda to discuss making this happen. I'm happy to say that we have the right people attending the meeting to at least try to get some answers.

The problem we have at the moment is formats and rules are very much up in the air. There is talk of X-Ball, X-Ball Lite, Pro-Tour type formats, 7-man, 5-man and so on. Before Europe reveals its intentions for next season, in my opinion, it needs to look to the needs of national domestic scenes as well as what is happening in the States at the moment. Then and only then can we hope to unify tournament paintball across the board and develop a natural order of progression for teams from entry level events such as the King of the Hills, right through the domestic scene and on to international level.

Co-operation from the major UK Domestic Leagues is then required to make this a reality. I say put aside individual aspirations and work together for a greater good that will benefit all in the long run.

That aside, out of the options given in the Poll, I choose "More traditional sports approach to player development." Why? Because this is something that the whole community can work at and doesn't require a good result from this meeting tomorrow. That's in your hands, not the organisers'. Stan makes some very valid points and there are plenty of motivated individuals in this sport to make a difference in that area.

 

[Robbo]

Looking at the votes so far it seems to be suggesting people think that 'A single governing body that oversees all tourney pball' is the way to go but if we reduce the problem to its basics, what the hell's the point of having any overseeing body if we ain't got the teams and individuals to work with, the sea change must begin at ground zero and not half way up.