The new UK board of representatives had our second meeting on the 28th of last month and the following topics were discussed.
To make sure we had a manageable and wholly accountable league series, it was felt, we should invite Chris Pelling and Wendy to promote and run two separate leagues, one covering the north and midlands, the former being run by Wendy and the latter, in the south, by Chris Pelling.
This demarcation between event series was confirmed and both promoters will consequently be sanctioned by the new board.
However, Chris and Wendy won’t be full board members and allowed to be part of any vote because they can never be in a position whereby they vote on issues that directly affect themselves.
The reason we had to change was things was because, if take a look at our tournaments being held in the UK at the moment, it was inevitable there were huge problems centred around the dilution of resources and teams; events were degrading and customers (teams and players) were turning their backs on tournament paintball in increasing numbers.
Something had to be done, and our new federation was given the brief to pull together our industry’s resources and provide a structured, fully supported event circuit.
Jim Frensham was rightly vocal at this meeting in detailing the decline our tournament scene has undergone of late, his passionate prediction bought home to everybody wrapped round that table just what the real problem was, he left nobody unconvinced that unless we addressed the problem, our tournament scene was doomed.
The painful part of any cure is firstly to recognise the obvious, and in this case, it was self-evident, the paintball tournament product, just wasn’t good enough to either nurture new teams or even to keep the ones it had.
As part of our opening strategy, Chris Lacy from Lips, has been charged with the responsibility of drafting a basic set of requirements for all sanctioned events that the board will subsequently review when completed.
Both Chris Pelling and Wendy are keen to work with the board to improve the tournament product whereby teams and players are much more likely to stay than leave, because, this is the bottom line we are now forced to work with.
We also discussed the viability of an end of year event; this will be an open tournament where everybody is invited.
The industry guys present now have a vested interest in making sure this event meets everybody’s requirements, especially their own, this arrangement, whereby the industry guys on the board are also supporting this event, is almost a guarantee of its success.
We are looking at possible dates for this event and one that emerged was the 26th and 27th of September, this is by no means definite and will have to be decided upon by the board.
We are in the provisional planning stage of this event, and as of yet, we haven’t assigned anybody on the board to oversee it, I have an idea who may well be more than suitable, but this will be confirmed one way or the other at our next meeting.
The location of this event is obviously critical to its success, it has to be accessible and provide us with the facilities for our new and improved event protocols; the board will obviously take due care in the selection of this venue.
As mentioned previously, these protocols are now being drafted by Chris at Lips and this will be another topic for discussion at our next meeting to finalise the board’s tournament requirements and protocols.
A somewhat tricky point was discussed at the meeting and this was the problem in aligning with the UKPSF; I say ‘tricky’ because Steve Bull has committed so much time and resources to keeping the federation going over the years and we needed to respect just how much he has done for UK paintball and just how much a part of UKPSF, he is.
We certainly don’t want to assimilate the UKPSF in terms of imposing the board’s mandates upon his federation but the reality of the situation is, we both need each other if we are to make any inroads into putting UK paintball back on its feet and taking that next step up the evolutionary ladder.
I think Steve Bull fully appreciates what opportunities lay ahead for us all as the world paintball scene emerges from the mists of disorganisation, and with the help of the PSP guys in the US and the Millennium mob over here, our new federation will now necessarily align itself to this world Initiative.
I am pretty sure Steve and the board will be able to manage any transition of responsibilities and we will do everything needed to respect his wishes.
This is a technical problem and as such, doesn’t really concern the players and teams at this stage but obviously further down the line, we will have to formalise the alignment but I think it’s worth flagging up for you guys.
We have yet to come up with a working title for our federation but that is a minor point at this stage and is a ‘work in progress’.
We have a slight problem in maybe having too many people present in terms of it being practical when we all meet up, at times it got a little confused resembled a cattle auction but the alternative is to thin the herd out..... I ain’t going down that road and leaving us open to accusations of favouritism or it being an old boy’s network; we begun this federation by inviting everybody who we felt could contribute, and those who bothered to turn up are the ones who have the votes, it’s as easy and as fair as that !
The board is now set with I think 15 board members, now that may be too many but it’s a lesser of evils as far as I’m concerned.
As we move from one meeting to the next, we will keep you guys informed of decisions made and ideas proposed, we are getting there slowly but surely.
As each and every decision is made, we will let you guys know as soon as we can.
To make sure we had a manageable and wholly accountable league series, it was felt, we should invite Chris Pelling and Wendy to promote and run two separate leagues, one covering the north and midlands, the former being run by Wendy and the latter, in the south, by Chris Pelling.
This demarcation between event series was confirmed and both promoters will consequently be sanctioned by the new board.
However, Chris and Wendy won’t be full board members and allowed to be part of any vote because they can never be in a position whereby they vote on issues that directly affect themselves.
The reason we had to change was things was because, if take a look at our tournaments being held in the UK at the moment, it was inevitable there were huge problems centred around the dilution of resources and teams; events were degrading and customers (teams and players) were turning their backs on tournament paintball in increasing numbers.
Something had to be done, and our new federation was given the brief to pull together our industry’s resources and provide a structured, fully supported event circuit.
Jim Frensham was rightly vocal at this meeting in detailing the decline our tournament scene has undergone of late, his passionate prediction bought home to everybody wrapped round that table just what the real problem was, he left nobody unconvinced that unless we addressed the problem, our tournament scene was doomed.
The painful part of any cure is firstly to recognise the obvious, and in this case, it was self-evident, the paintball tournament product, just wasn’t good enough to either nurture new teams or even to keep the ones it had.
As part of our opening strategy, Chris Lacy from Lips, has been charged with the responsibility of drafting a basic set of requirements for all sanctioned events that the board will subsequently review when completed.
Both Chris Pelling and Wendy are keen to work with the board to improve the tournament product whereby teams and players are much more likely to stay than leave, because, this is the bottom line we are now forced to work with.
We also discussed the viability of an end of year event; this will be an open tournament where everybody is invited.
The industry guys present now have a vested interest in making sure this event meets everybody’s requirements, especially their own, this arrangement, whereby the industry guys on the board are also supporting this event, is almost a guarantee of its success.
We are looking at possible dates for this event and one that emerged was the 26th and 27th of September, this is by no means definite and will have to be decided upon by the board.
We are in the provisional planning stage of this event, and as of yet, we haven’t assigned anybody on the board to oversee it, I have an idea who may well be more than suitable, but this will be confirmed one way or the other at our next meeting.
The location of this event is obviously critical to its success, it has to be accessible and provide us with the facilities for our new and improved event protocols; the board will obviously take due care in the selection of this venue.
As mentioned previously, these protocols are now being drafted by Chris at Lips and this will be another topic for discussion at our next meeting to finalise the board’s tournament requirements and protocols.
A somewhat tricky point was discussed at the meeting and this was the problem in aligning with the UKPSF; I say ‘tricky’ because Steve Bull has committed so much time and resources to keeping the federation going over the years and we needed to respect just how much he has done for UK paintball and just how much a part of UKPSF, he is.
We certainly don’t want to assimilate the UKPSF in terms of imposing the board’s mandates upon his federation but the reality of the situation is, we both need each other if we are to make any inroads into putting UK paintball back on its feet and taking that next step up the evolutionary ladder.
I think Steve Bull fully appreciates what opportunities lay ahead for us all as the world paintball scene emerges from the mists of disorganisation, and with the help of the PSP guys in the US and the Millennium mob over here, our new federation will now necessarily align itself to this world Initiative.
I am pretty sure Steve and the board will be able to manage any transition of responsibilities and we will do everything needed to respect his wishes.
This is a technical problem and as such, doesn’t really concern the players and teams at this stage but obviously further down the line, we will have to formalise the alignment but I think it’s worth flagging up for you guys.
We have yet to come up with a working title for our federation but that is a minor point at this stage and is a ‘work in progress’.
We have a slight problem in maybe having too many people present in terms of it being practical when we all meet up, at times it got a little confused resembled a cattle auction but the alternative is to thin the herd out..... I ain’t going down that road and leaving us open to accusations of favouritism or it being an old boy’s network; we begun this federation by inviting everybody who we felt could contribute, and those who bothered to turn up are the ones who have the votes, it’s as easy and as fair as that !
The board is now set with I think 15 board members, now that may be too many but it’s a lesser of evils as far as I’m concerned.
As we move from one meeting to the next, we will keep you guys informed of decisions made and ideas proposed, we are getting there slowly but surely.
As each and every decision is made, we will let you guys know as soon as we can.
