Pro Tour Team Captains #2

[crazed666]

If you wanna play the top teams then you should of entered the PA

It aint the best of set up though is it, and an arse to find.... not to mention all the bad press it had last year

I'm pretty sure th PA will continue to run

Teams have nearly half since last - i wouldn't holdm uch hope....

I think what that Oli guy is doing is a fair idea and i tottaly agree and understand AB point of view!

And yeah as always Robbo is right, it jus amazes me how no one evr listens to him.. the guy makes sense

peace out

 

[DANIEL]

I think the PA has an awesome set up.. good fields, great players area, runs well.. all fields start at the same time to remove the having to play on two fields at the same time, has managers meetings where things actually get discussed and amended.

There are fewer teams this year partly because some teams can't afford 14 games in one day and the PA needs teams that can commit to the whole series and not dip in and out when they feel like it.

I thinkit is the hardest domestic league in the UK (I assume the pro-tour is not running), just look at the teams in Div 1 !!.. We play this for the level of competition.

The PA is in it's third year so has some staying power.

The PA was bitched about last year mainly due to the ramping issue.. then the teams drop out and some go and play the millenium that also allowed ramping !!

I can see the PA continuing for next year.. especially as they have plans for a new set up at Ancaster

 

[Mario]

Originally posted by Robbo
Instead of talking, we seriously need to do some walking guys.

if only, eh robbo?

 

[yatesy]

Originally posted by crazed666
It aint the best of set up though is it, and an arse to find.... not to mention all the bad press it had last year

Teams have nearly half since last - i wouldn't holdm uch hope....

I've gotta say with regards to set up and directions its as good probably better then any other domestic series. They have official brown signs directing you to the site!!!

And with regards to them carrying on, i agree with what Daniel said but also I know they have big plans already for next year so there at least planning...

I think last leg was really good a few changes have made it better like start gates and a few problems rectified like teams dropping out, you get 14 games!!!

Apologies for taking this off topic (I hate it when people do that, although i did just read that thread about the ion, quite funny in parts)

 

[Matski]

I really don't see the point in UK tournaments at all really, there's usually a flaw somewhere in the framework which exagerates whatever the winners have really achieved in the wider context. Teams are much better off just training, training and then bashing heads with their closest rivals to test out their development (assuming it's kept clean)...certainly those who aim to win European+ events anyway.
The PA for example uses rules, fields, and judging design that obscures it from the MLT's...it's not an acid test for anything other than PA league achievement. Not having a dig at PA in particular, it's the same for any domestic event.

D7 and NQ all the way!

 

[Robbo]

Matt is dead right here, people like to exaggerate the relevance of some domestic tournaments; it happened in the PA , it happened in the pro league, the reality is, they mean little in the wider context and only serve to perpetuate the small mindedness of some people.
The results are insular and pretty meaningless in the wider context.

Until such time as there is a coherent feeder league structure (into the Millennium) then there can be no reference points on which to base anything other than itself.
And I'm afraid that ain't gonna happen in the near or mid futures.

We have to basically live with the fact we all inhabit a mutli-tiered sporting structure with most teams playing locally, some playing the occasional Millennium, even fewer playing all the Millenniums and only one playing pro at the top level on both sides of the Atlantic.
it's a varied mix of abilities and ambitions, much like the circuits we have over here with these domestic circuits in some cases only going to serve Monday morning bragging rights when in reality, the aspirations of most teams should be focused a lot, lot higher.
In my opinion, there are but two reasons people indulge in sport, firstly because they enjoy it and secondly because they not only enjoy it but aspire to improve with the latter providing the bedrock to any country's competitive player base.

With that in mind, it could be reasonably argued us Brits are hugely successful in that the vast majority of people who play tournament paintball fulfill the first criterion in that they enjoy playing.

I suppose I would just like to have thought we had more substance to us than just turning up to play for a fun time (though I am in no way condemning this) and I suppose I'd like to think a lot more of us would be competitive.
I suppose it all comes down to how we judge our sporting ethics, are we deemed successful just because we enjoy or is that success hollow because sport should be about aspiring to improve oneself and competing?

In essence, i think it all comes down to what I said in that thread a a few months back when I suggested our tourney ranks are filled with displaced recballers, perhaps that's why we have this dichotomy between those who care who those who seem not to with the latter being the vast majority.

 

[LV 4 26]

Robbo, I am probably going to get slated for this but I seem to remember a few years back that we did not seem to have this problem. The NPPS in this country was full of Pro teams (granted alot were domestic Pro) but I remember going logger heads with the Preds, Nam, Shades, Eagles, Banzai, Storm etc etc. Even later you still had Preds, Nam, Shades, Banzai, Shockwave, Iron Wolf and Storm. This was a good base of quality teams for the top teams who regularily traveled across the pond to play against. We also had good amateurs behind these teams also pushing for spots in the pro divisions. We seemed to have teams comin outta our ears at the time. I am not saying anything like oh the teams of yesteryear were much better than now, what I am saying is that we seemed to be alot more structured, more hungry, more willing to travel and more commited.

Do you think the state of paintball was alot more healthier then, than now in this country.

My opinion guys feel free to slate.

Millsy

 

[Robbo]

That was because paintball in the UK in those days was less stretched.
Teams really only ever played in the UK and had no Millennium, let alone NPPL and thus any tournaments held at that time pretty much defined the hierarchy.
The modern game has created greater divides in ability and resources and also created greater divides in aspirations.

If we look at the two top teams from that era, we never really ventured outside of the UK and thus paintball for all of us was UK orientated.
The participants of any league that had Preds and Nam or whoever in could easily match themselves against the best and the league would consequently produce a hierarchy that not only had relevance but substance.

Basically the difference between the top pros of yesteryear as against the middle order and below from that time wasn't as great as it is now with our teams, let alone resource wise.

Also, we had a fair degree of walk on opportunities then which would have filtered out a lot of the players who play tourney now.
I think these factors contribute to what you are highlighting.

 

[Iron Lions - Ed]

Just a note to any who may be considering PA as this thread is seeming to indicate some Pro-Tour teams may be looking for a domestic series I think there may be a couple of spots available still if you can commit to the rest of the series.

Until such time as there is a coherent feeder league structure (into the Millennium) then there can be no reference points on which to base anything other than itself.

It would be nice if when Millenium locks Div one in 2007 they make one of the routes in for 2008 sufficiently high placing in accredited domestic tourney series as well as doing well in Div 2. Would be even better if as a domestic series prize in such a scenario was paid entry into Div 1 Millenium for a season.

For anyone who plays Poker it's like doing a satellite tournament and if you win you go to the next tournament with that higher fee paid by those who lost in the satellite. Might be a way to get some good teams who can't afford to play the whole series normally there.

 

[Robbo]

Ed...attitudes will have to change if this is ever gonna happen.
The PA has in the past, proved to be isolationist and intractable in certain areas and if it's looking to 'feed' into the Millennium then it has to negotiate the political landscape a lot more professionally than it has done previously.

Paintball at any level, is all about dealing with people and if you ain't 'in the loop' then you gotta make damned sure you don't piss the 'loop' off if you wish to integrate in anyway in terms of any feeder series.

National leagues are not only about well organized events, which the PA seems to be, they have to reflect true hierarchies and have common formats and rules.
All this takes negotiating and compromise and with the PA sitting at any negotiation table as the minor player, the greater compromise will necessarily have to come from then if they wish to have any affiliation with the Millennium.

And as I suggested earlier, the PA in the past has not really indicated any real sense of humility or pragmatism and unless the mentality changes there is little chance of what you suggest in taking place.
I am most certainly not having a dig here, I am merely making observations on what I have seen so don't anybody start pulling their hair out.