I have been part time practicing and following both Paintball and Snowboard for over 10 years now, and I must say that Snowboard has found it's winning concept but Paintball is still struggle in the dark.
Snowboard is still big at X-Games and it is an olympic sport. The young ones have idoles to look up to, they show it on Eurosport and so on.
Paintball has been referred to as the 'fastest growing sport in the world' before it was a common marketing saying in the years of 94-98.
Most people can afford to buy a snowboard and the kids can practice day after day as long as there is snow on the ground. That the core essence of how you build a sport, people like it and by practicing hard year after year you can become really skilled and be a name in the sport.
The kids love paintball, make no mistake about that, every boy (yes there are very few girls) between the age 8-20 just love the thounght of shooting paintballs at each other with a marker.
But they can only afford to do it as a game as a hobby and not as a sport. Becouse the sport tells you that a real panitballplayer is a guy - there he goes again- from USA with a 1500$ marker who shoots 800 balls per match.
A kid or a for that sake m o s t p e o p l e can't afford to play Spray n' Pray paintball. If you can't play and compete in something that looks and feels like the thing that is going on at the big tournaments then it wont make it all the way to become a sport.
I hate to bring you guys down but Paintball is still far, far behind 'sports' like Dart (drinking beer, smoke cigarrs and tossing arrows against a board). Meanwhile our heroes are running around in Amsterdam and ruining themself with Spray N Pray paintball are 130 competitors competing in Bolton in dart in front of TV cameras.
First price to the one who wins? 50 000£
Paintball in this format cannot become a real sport, that is my doomed opinion. Proffesional teams running round playing a format of paintball that the kids also can afford to play will be a blast for the sport. X Ball with severe restrictions in what markers that are allowed to be used might be the future of the sport, BPS limits, Boll limits or even the come back of the pump
as the final sulution for a sport with skilled and athletic competitors..
But until then, we have to accept that Eurosport broadcast Curling, Pool, Dart, Snowboard, MTB on a regular basis and not paintball.
