OK - for all the people who either say these type threads are pointless or an indulgence in negativity, I say this :- If there were no such threads, would the situation be any different i.e. left alone and not commented upon, would the Brit Paintball scene be on any form of improvement curve ?
'No' is the undoubted answer to that I'm afraid.
And so, whether we like it or not, we are left in a position whereby our tourney demographic, when compared to other Euros sucks ass.
As an alleged commentator on paintball, I will make observations, it's part of my job, now some people have accused me of being a doom-monger, always seemingly going on about how bad we are, and I can maybe understand why some say this.
I want things to change, I hope that's obvious and if we have already acknowledged the fact that to do nothing, to say nothing, would get us nowhere, then I would hope people might understand why I will keep mentioning the situation.
It's in the hope it will prick consciences, in the hope that maybe this time I bring it up, some people might grasp the nettle and actually go for it.
If I keep bringing it up, maybe a new batch of young ballers might wanna rekindle our ascendancy and feel some real pride and train their assess off to get to the top.
Without being indulgent, I have earned the right to, I was part of NWC (playing) at a time when it was one of the top 3 teams in Europe and I started and coached Nexus, and we also got to the top 3 in Europe.
I know what it takes to get there and my whole point in this is to tell everybody out there in the UK, anything is possible if we work hard.
Sounds like a cliché I know but Magued realised he was gonna have to work to get to the top, he did just that...and succeeded.
What an inspiration to us all that should be and remember here, Magued ain't no Sergey, he ain't got zillions of bucks hanging out his back pocket.
And let me also tell you something about Joy, they ain't nowhere near as sponsored as some people would have you believe.
They got to where they are through sheer hard work and determination of player and coach.
Bejeeezus, if I were playing now, I would use that frikkin bunch of turnips as an inspiration; I would think to myself, 'I can do that, I am gonna go for that and nothing is gonna stop me'.
I have bemoaned our situation many times, I admit that, but I have also provided a blueprint of action to get our asses out this sh!t.
In another thread, I outlined what needed to be done to put us back on the road, some have taken note, most have not.
The reasons why are easy to understand, the answers however, in other words, how to change this, is somewhat more difficult.
Baca suggests we revel in the doom and gloom of it all and suggests our goal should be individual motivation with the rest falling into place as a consequence.
I'm afraid things ain't like that, not over here anyways.
It's all well and good having some people feel inspired and motivated and then hoping these will somehow aggregate to become nebulous teams or whatever but for this to happen, we need a culture change.
We need an environment for these factors to flourish and I'm afraid the Brit culture, leastwise in paintball is completely at odds with what is needed.
Our tourney culture is an emergent property of the people we have involved and as such, we are up against a very real problem in trying to change a mindset where the people are resistant to it either because they can't or because they won't.
A few pockets of isolated positivism ain't gonna do jack sh!t and provide any sort of springboard for a cultural shift.
I'm all in favour of shutting up the doom mongers (even if I turn out to be one) but not at the expense of closing down the reality of the situation.
Sport is a place for ideals not idealism and suggesting a change is just around the corner or there isn't really a problem is tantamount to hiding under the bed on the Titanic.
Flag waving is all well and good as long as it is appropriate, when it's done inappropriately, it looks foolish and indulgent.
I just hope, that somewhere along the line, that if we talk about our malaise enough, that some may get sick and tired of it all and go get serious.
As for all this talk being self-defeating, well, we have already established that not to talk will end up nowhere.
I am venturing the idea maybes that out of all this negativity, a reaction may well be evoked that provides the glimmer of a cultural shift.
I fackin hope so anyway
