Well, I gotta say, thanks for all the comments above, they are greatly appreciated.
With regard to the team, I have said all along, this year, is going to be our learning year, if we managed to do well anywhere, then that was a bonus, the only achievement I was interested in was for the team to gain experience in playing together and to conduct themselves both on the field and off in a professional and friendly manner.
I think the guys did well in those departments.
We learnt from teams like K2, got a real good lesson from Imperial and an even better lesson from Jim Kelleher's team, Twisted, so in the learning context, our visit up north was a great success for us.
As for winning, that was just icing on the cake, what was more important for me and the team was that we did not get one penalty, we didn't even get warned, we took all decisions professionally with not one argument with anybody, player or judge, and left the field when hit.
I felt more proud of the guys for that and the way they played than actually winning the event itself.
I got an email the other day and it went roughly like this, and I'm sure some of you guys and gals must have got it sent thru also but here goes.
The world is truly a strange place when :-
The best rapper is a white guy
The best golfer is a black guy
The French accuse the Yanks of being arrogant
And the Germans don't wanna go to war.....
I can now add, and a paintball team wins a tournament without recourse to cheating, bitching or moaning...the world is truly a stranger place today
A big thanks goes to my team and sponsors !
Back to my sabbatical !