Our future

[Spikerz]

So here's a pie in the sky view.

As someone who started playing in Cali in the woods 25 years ago...hanging out in Army/Navy stores.. to buy Tippman SL-68's and Nelson Orange 10 round tubes.

What's next? Where do we go?

We see an incredible turnout for the nations cup, Panama, Gabon, South Africa, USA, etc.

Where do we go? Olympics? TV?

What is our saviour?

I honestly believe it's out there. I think that one day televised tournaments are the norm.

But how do we, as stewards of the game, help ensure the success? Our legacy?

 

[Spikerz]

Also I'm going to call out @Robbo and @Ainsley as they are closer to this than I am. A sport that has ebb'd and flowed and seen ESPN, and gone again...as people who's soul drives us forward...
Also the fact that I and 1 other teammate knew who @Robbo was during the event at Basildon last year, and had to explain it to our younger teammates...damn you youngins..
My suggestion...get the Americans...get everyone.

"When you need to win an event you call the on the Americans"...it's true. Look at the SPL and CPL teams in the Mills.

Why? Because I don't care what the F the field says, we will jam our barrels down your throats. We will always move forward. 9-8 is a better score than 2-1.

I was asked by Firm players "why do the US do better?" Because we charge down your throat and then pull the trigger...and laugh while we do it.

So...my friends in the UK!...Sup?

 

[Tony Harrison]

Keep playing as much as you can, everywhere you can.

Try to set a good example.

Help new players out.

Don't go to Walk-On days just to shoot up new players. That's what c**ts do.

If you're playing a tournament, don't just sit there and shoot a lane.

 

[Robbo]

We're in real trouble if I'm closer to what's going on in paintball than most others - I'm off the front line now thankfully but we're up against the same old problems.
I'm afraid, we will never make it mainstream and so we just have to suck it up and move on.
It's hard to accept especially for the more recent members of our fraternity but that's just nativity rearing its head.
I'm not really sure where we're heading because we're still bottoming out .... most people in our industry seem to be treading water and waiting to see what happens.
I know this much ...... we need a new direction but the problem is we have no candidates coming forward with the necessary credentials/ideas to lead us out of this mire.
It's gonna be down to people like [in no particular order] Gino, Richmond, Billy Ceranski, Dave Youngblood, Ledzy, Laurent Hamet etc.
The reason I've selected those guys is because although they have vested interests in the evolution of our sport/industry, I genuinely believe that one of them can lead us out the rut we now find ourselves in.
The reason I say this is because even though all of them are businessmen, and extremely successful business men at that, I believe they have the best interests of our sport/industry close to their heart.
I would love to have stuck my name in amongst that lot but I've got no fuhking idea what to do to improve our position.
We should cross our fingers and hope one of them has his Road to Damascus ...

 

[Gieberto]

I know I'm late to the conversation , Robbo do you think that maybe re - introducing 7man or even 10 man might help ? As in bring back older / not as fit players to the game ? I personally found that 7 and 10 man were much more fun than 5man ! ? I saw Carl Markowski's ( Chicago Aftershock ) today saying that he much prefers 7man ! I'm sure I heard the now retired Ollie Lang say that as well ! What are your thoughts ?

 

[Robbo]

Gieberto, I think adopting a five-man format brought with it a few problems not least of which is the contraction of game time.
Games are over far too quickly leaving players feeling they're not exactly getting bang for their buck.

That aside, I'm probably biased in preferring the 7-10 man format because at least you can have some semblance of getting value for money when it comes to game-time.
I think our sport has been condensed too far, far too much and it may have been appropriate when we had the mainstream TV being dangled in front of our faces but that's a train that's long gone and we need to get back to putting the customer's experience at the forefront of our minds when structuring the game itself.
And not just for our present customers, if we adopted the 7-10 man formats again, it would provide a much better attractant for new players to come over because at present, this 'wham bam thank-you mam' of a game of paintball isn't too attractive for the potential customers.
I have ZERO doubt that should we go back to the 7 or 10 man formats, it would begin to attract much-needed new blood into our sport and we really do need to stimulate regrowth.

I'm not really too sure what the hurdles are in this because I'm know I'm not alone in believing a move away from 5 man over to 7-10 man would prove beneficial.
Maybe it's time somebody thought about organising some form of lobby group to put these ideas to Tommy but I'm also not sure just how many players would like to go back to the 7-10 man formats from yesteryear.

I'll give Tommy a call and ask for his views and any problems he has with the idea of the 7-10 man formats.
I'll post his answers up as soon as I got his views ....

 

[Gieberto]

Cheers Robbo ! An excellent thought out piece, one in which I 100% agree with you as I know many others do !

 

[Dantethevamp]

Also I'm going to call out @Robbo and @Ainsley as they are closer to this than I am. A sport that has ebb'd and flowed and seen ESPN, and gone again...as people who's soul drives us forward...
Also the fact that I and 1 other teammate knew who @Robbo was during the event at Basildon last year, and had to explain it to our younger teammates...damn you youngins..
My suggestion...get the Americans...get everyone.

"When you need to win an event you call the on the Americans"...it's true. Look at the SPL and CPL teams in the Mills.

Why? Because I don't care what the F the field says, we will jam our barrels down your throats. We will always move forward. 9-8 is a better score than 2-1.

I was asked by Firm players "why do the US do better?" Because we charge down your throat and then pull the trigger...and laugh while we do it.

So...my friends in the UK!...Sup?

Well, I've only just gotten back into the sport after being out of it for 15 years, but at least you've got another American in the UK to charge down the field with you!

 

[Missy-Q]

That's great.
So what do you guys do? Show up halfway through the match and just do some sweet American-style charging for the last few points, then claim the win all for yourselves and rewrite history to tell school-kids that the match was really only 3 points long the whole time?

 

[Spikerz]

Yep.
Although...some of us *won't name names* end up asleep in the paint truck from too much fun in Bas Vegas the night before.