Sponsorship

[child of science]

Well hopefully if i can get god enough qualifications i will be able to go over to america get into a college/ uni and get on a college ball team and try and get into the american pro scene. Because its going to be a fair few decades before england can even get upto the standards of america. I mean its like paintballing is a secret society in england you have to search to find anything. over in the states its seems like its about to go major and become big especailly with x ball

 

[Robinator]

one problem...

America is full of Americans!

 

[Mikey D]

uh oh. i sense a big old argument coming along.
one big reason, not the only, but makes big contributions, is the prices were having to pay. one of the threads about the new LCD angel showed this, think it was paul collier, some1 sed the price would be about750dollars. which turns out to be about 900quid. whereas 750dollars is more about 500quid. so we pay more, or even worse, ppl are put off by the prices, so lower followings. whereas in USA they pay less, ppl are encouraged to play, bigger following, more ppl to choose from, better players etc etc need i go on

 

[Robinator]

no point getting het up about it...

just buy 2nd hand... you need to learn the Jedi mind tricks mate very useful!
robin

 

[Beaker]

Originally posted by child of science
I mean its like paintballing is a secret society in england you have to search to find anything. over in the states its seems like its about to go major and become big especailly with x ball

A disturbingly accurate observation.

But it's more down to the general attitudes and culture than anything else. In the states winners are celebrated and congratulated .....which isn't always the case over here as we just seem to knock whoever is on top until they fall off

A trait of the british culture that I rather dislike.

 

[SPARKLIE CHICK]

Guys just my two pence worth and not meant as an add.

When I first got in to the industry I wrote an article about incoraging younger players into the sport and making it reasonable priced so they could play ect........... I backed it up and the site went from 4-5 junior games a year to 50 and it just keeps on increasing. The next step was accademy ok it''s not free but it has helped a lot of players get spoted, practise the skills they need, not make expencive kit mistakes and meet a lots of friends.

M25 is comming the dates are now set the press release written and it is all simmering very nicley One of the aims is to make paintball more accessable to the public. Any one ever visiting my site gets shown PGI and international tourney paintball. I have a few other plans too.

My site is currently reviwing the sponsorship packages we are offering teams, most of which are new young teams. I belive in them or they would not have been invited to submit their details. I know I am the exception not just because I am femail. But the tide is turning.

If we are ever to have all the advantages of the ammericans we also need to have a much higher % of the population playing and more rec ballers they are what make up the back bone of the ammerican $ and it's subcequent power.

Good luck with your team if you want to play badly enough and are good enough it will happen. Good keen young players can move up the ranks suprisingly fast but you have to get known or be seen.

 

[Gyroscope]

In response to the post regarding knocking the winners down...

Isn't the only real way to do that by beating them? I mean, picking on them just doesn't matter at all. Chris Lasoya doesn't care if you like him, he just wants to win.

I am a bit dubious that abuse of successful players is the real problem.

Sparklie is on to something. The pool of players must expand in order to make hosting a tournament worthwhile. Also, respect and admiration, or at least props to the big dogs only come from within the sport.

I would love to go on, but my employees are having some kind of civil war... I must investigate...

 

[Beaker]

Gyro,

I meant the general attitude to sports "stars" or just those that are generally successful.

In the US personal success seems to be celebrated a lot more, yeah there are haters but you can never please everyone. You just have to see the UK press to see the difference. If you look through the sports pages it's all "what he did wrong", "why should they do that" the Beckham thing coming up to the World Cup was one of the very few times that it appeared we were behind players. But then when we were knocked out (To Brazil.....the best damn team in the world who won the thing) the players were critisied (sp?) for losing rather than going "well 18 months ago we weren't even going to qualify, then Sven pulled that out, then we got through the group of death inc beating the Argies and we only got knocked out by the winners". Perhaps we did better than we are giving them credit for.

Same thing in paintball. Too many haters that aren't prepared to give teams fair credit for what they achieve and instead b1tch and moan that they don't get more when they haven't actually done anything to warrant it.

Case in point elsewhere there is a thread about training techniques where teams are giving excuses that they can't afford to train like the Pro's. Imagine if people:

Went out for a run every night to improve fitness
Kept their gun out around the house and practiced snap shooting behind the sofa, left handed grip for an hour each night
Lifted weights to improve strength at home
Went to training and actually trained (which can really not be fun at times) rather than playing each other. The drills are easy to find or work out, you just run them over and over and over again rather than stopping because you are bored.

Most of that is free and if teams did that it would probably actually cost them less per month than what they currently do, but they would improve dramatically. It's all about dedication and an attitude change for the vast majority of UK ballers.

I have spoken to many US players and people taking that kind of dedication isn't that rare because (and hopefully my post comes full circle) the general attitude is one of supporting those that succeed (inc by parents and their $$$) and they strive to be the best rather than just knocking them off to laugh at them on the way down to their level.

I know I'm gonna get flamed to sh1t for this post but I really don't care anymore, the apathy that pervades UK paintball REALLY bugged me and I think will at worst kill it, at best mean it stays this secret society child said.

 

[brian]

i find...

Originally posted by Robinator
the best thng to do is sit back and let them come to you, worst thing you can do is go nagging if you have nothing to back it up with... try to commit to a site or shop so that you become well accuainted... if they like you as people then they are far more likely to sponser you! get as many connections as possible... if at a tourny talk to people... you might just find they have that golden connection. who knows? all i know is that our team is yet to play a single tournament together and we already have 2 sponsors with another in the works... amazed? i certainly am!!! i think that the main reason for this is that we have put our name out and spread the word, that we are young, fit, eager, willing to train and want to win!

just my 2p, hope this helps
robin

p.s i would like to thank my sponsors: Ground Control PBG and A-team paintball...

...............................ROBBI,you,ve just hit the nail on the head,we hang/hung around our local shop and site/s,got friendly and now get free training,discount on stuff,gun servicing,advice and all sorts of stuff,oh,along the way,picked up more sponsors as these people are normally connected to the people we hang around with!result!!!see sig...Niiiiiice......Brian......top gun for Red Heat

 

[Roland]

Look out for my thread soon on getting sponsorship from outside the industry.

We are about to sign a large sponsorship deal with none paintball company.