I'm 16, I bought a marker (Ion) a few months ago now, and am still waiting to buy myself some more needed gear - That's nothing, what is the problem is that I've been waiting for about 3 years to finally get into paintball.
So, when I have my gear I'll be playing a few walkons and such, but I really want to get into the sup air/tournament side of paintball; But that means (obviously) I need a team
I would rather start my own team with friends and players my own age than join one, and there's the cost of buying their gear;
And then the cost of tournaments;
And then the cost of paintballs and training.
Well, enough of my self centered chatter, let me move onto more important or at least more 'changeable' things:
From my point of view (And of other 'newbies') I see no organisation which you can look at ask, and be informed by to become a paintballer.
What do I think we need?
An organsation than can take up a face for UK paintball (IMO isn't that what the UKPSF should be? I can barely see how it affects things from my stand below the mountain I want to climb) that is:
*Official - It would need to appear so, and be so.
*United - Paintball seems far too divided for it's own good.
*Public - There's always people wanting paintball to become an official sport and 'yabbering' about how we need Paintball to be on TV. It's not going to happen without funding and something to interface between the world of tourn'y' paintball and the media(this touches on another point I'll list).
*Corprate Representation - This goes along with being United, we need major paintball companies to be represented in this, but I can't say much about what needs to be shown nor where as I do not have the knowledge nor experience.
*Informative - People who start need to be able to ask the questions and get rock solid answers. There's too many grey areas and individuals spouting their opinions claiming they're facts.
Now, that'll help the sport be a sport, and it'll help people join and enlightened the unknowing. But we also need something to bring the sport together, to bind the tournament paintballers of the nation.
There's too many bitty tournaments, and they have too little effect for their effort. Fair enough, you'll get better from playing a tourn'y', but wouldn't it just be cheaper and nearly if not more effective to train with another team?
So what we need for this, is something that provides a register for teams, national and regional rankings. Something that if you run a tournament and you expect to be taken seriously you must be part of. And also importantly it must be a part of the first organisation I described or at the very least strongly linked to it (saimese twin strength)
What such a league would provided:
*Competition - You wouldn't just be fighting people on the field, but also you'd be fighting other teams in different counties for things such as national rankings.
*Incentive to improve - Robbo, I've seen you saying how people need to pick up the pace, and the weights - Well what more incentive would you need, people would see themselves on the same list as professional teams, there'd be fame involved (even if small), there'd be grudges and of course there'd be prizes!
I had some more to add, but I think I've forgotted it, or at least shoved it around in my mind.
I could be spouting more crap than a cholera patient after eating a vindaloo - But if I'm not, or even if I am, I'd like to see what everyone's take on this is, especially those high up like Robbo
So, when I have my gear I'll be playing a few walkons and such, but I really want to get into the sup air/tournament side of paintball; But that means (obviously) I need a team
I would rather start my own team with friends and players my own age than join one, and there's the cost of buying their gear;
And then the cost of tournaments;
And then the cost of paintballs and training.
Well, enough of my self centered chatter, let me move onto more important or at least more 'changeable' things:
From my point of view (And of other 'newbies') I see no organisation which you can look at ask, and be informed by to become a paintballer.
What do I think we need?
An organsation than can take up a face for UK paintball (IMO isn't that what the UKPSF should be? I can barely see how it affects things from my stand below the mountain I want to climb) that is:
*Official - It would need to appear so, and be so.
*United - Paintball seems far too divided for it's own good.
*Public - There's always people wanting paintball to become an official sport and 'yabbering' about how we need Paintball to be on TV. It's not going to happen without funding and something to interface between the world of tourn'y' paintball and the media(this touches on another point I'll list).
*Corprate Representation - This goes along with being United, we need major paintball companies to be represented in this, but I can't say much about what needs to be shown nor where as I do not have the knowledge nor experience.
*Informative - People who start need to be able to ask the questions and get rock solid answers. There's too many grey areas and individuals spouting their opinions claiming they're facts.
Now, that'll help the sport be a sport, and it'll help people join and enlightened the unknowing. But we also need something to bring the sport together, to bind the tournament paintballers of the nation.
There's too many bitty tournaments, and they have too little effect for their effort. Fair enough, you'll get better from playing a tourn'y', but wouldn't it just be cheaper and nearly if not more effective to train with another team?
So what we need for this, is something that provides a register for teams, national and regional rankings. Something that if you run a tournament and you expect to be taken seriously you must be part of. And also importantly it must be a part of the first organisation I described or at the very least strongly linked to it (saimese twin strength)
What such a league would provided:
*Competition - You wouldn't just be fighting people on the field, but also you'd be fighting other teams in different counties for things such as national rankings.
*Incentive to improve - Robbo, I've seen you saying how people need to pick up the pace, and the weights - Well what more incentive would you need, people would see themselves on the same list as professional teams, there'd be fame involved (even if small), there'd be grudges and of course there'd be prizes!
I had some more to add, but I think I've forgotted it, or at least shoved it around in my mind.
I could be spouting more crap than a cholera patient after eating a vindaloo - But if I'm not, or even if I am, I'd like to see what everyone's take on this is, especially those high up like Robbo
