The Full Circle.
We started out as the ‘Rushers’ in tournament paintball in the early 90’s as a 5 man squad. You know the score, get the bug and find a few others, next thing you have a team, a name, and a Journey.
We would play most of the Woodland events from that era, Holmbush, Sidcup, Eurosplat and Campaign. Occasionally a road trip up north to Kooh dow, Nottingham, Hull and later on the odd indoor and the epic Hyperball!
At the time you played open format against the ver...y best teams, one of the few sports you could do that. The draw was a huge deal, who you got good or bad. On the day (that started in the dark) the buzz, the atmosphere all added up to an amazing experience, new teams finding their way, the Pro teams setting up fully expectant and everyone had the sense of being part of a story to be written (PGI).
Anyone from this era, that played or watched great Teams such as Preds v Nam in the woods, near dusk with hopper lights flashing and Evo’s singing will know there was something very special about this time, so nostalgic to look back on.
Post Hyperball and with the advent of Sup Air we started training, got a lot more serious and started to travel. The unique Toulouse world cup had us hooked on a whole new format of 7 man with glitz and glamour. We did really well and gained some great industry sponsors as this was an expensive fix compared to a day in the woods. For the next several years we did all the Major events we could, Sweden, Germany, Toulouse, Portugal, Denmark and the US. What a ride, the glory days of paintball and made great friendships with players from all over the world.
With life things take precedent, and paintball as addictive as it can be became a thing we used to do. Some of us carried on, some guested every once in a while, others quit.
Many years on and the fantastic Woodland Masters scene makes a comeback with many old school teams competing again and some new. Looks fun but do we do it? Maybe we held off too long with out playing anything, even a walk on. Would it be as good as before after the stadium buzz of the last decade?
It is, it’s great to be back where it all started in the woods. It makes you realise that you started playing paintball for fun with your mates, you got quite good and shared a goal of being the best you could be. We had a saying back then that one day the chalk on the board will be gone but the memories last forever. Well, we're so glad to have added some more and if your not sure whether to, all I can say is that Woodland Masters have done an incredible job in recreating that Buzz that the story started with!
GI Sportz Paintball #paintball Raza Paintball Bunkerkings Virtue Paintball Vantrition Europe @energypaintball UK Woodland Masters
Disclaimer: I borrowed this from the Rushers Facebook page but this is a great story and something Paintball needs to do generally is tell its story... no one else is going to tell it if we can't
We started out as the ‘Rushers’ in tournament paintball in the early 90’s as a 5 man squad. You know the score, get the bug and find a few others, next thing you have a team, a name, and a Journey.
We would play most of the Woodland events from that era, Holmbush, Sidcup, Eurosplat and Campaign. Occasionally a road trip up north to Kooh dow, Nottingham, Hull and later on the odd indoor and the epic Hyperball!
At the time you played open format against the ver...y best teams, one of the few sports you could do that. The draw was a huge deal, who you got good or bad. On the day (that started in the dark) the buzz, the atmosphere all added up to an amazing experience, new teams finding their way, the Pro teams setting up fully expectant and everyone had the sense of being part of a story to be written (PGI).
Anyone from this era, that played or watched great Teams such as Preds v Nam in the woods, near dusk with hopper lights flashing and Evo’s singing will know there was something very special about this time, so nostalgic to look back on.
Post Hyperball and with the advent of Sup Air we started training, got a lot more serious and started to travel. The unique Toulouse world cup had us hooked on a whole new format of 7 man with glitz and glamour. We did really well and gained some great industry sponsors as this was an expensive fix compared to a day in the woods. For the next several years we did all the Major events we could, Sweden, Germany, Toulouse, Portugal, Denmark and the US. What a ride, the glory days of paintball and made great friendships with players from all over the world.
With life things take precedent, and paintball as addictive as it can be became a thing we used to do. Some of us carried on, some guested every once in a while, others quit.
Many years on and the fantastic Woodland Masters scene makes a comeback with many old school teams competing again and some new. Looks fun but do we do it? Maybe we held off too long with out playing anything, even a walk on. Would it be as good as before after the stadium buzz of the last decade?
It is, it’s great to be back where it all started in the woods. It makes you realise that you started playing paintball for fun with your mates, you got quite good and shared a goal of being the best you could be. We had a saying back then that one day the chalk on the board will be gone but the memories last forever. Well, we're so glad to have added some more and if your not sure whether to, all I can say is that Woodland Masters have done an incredible job in recreating that Buzz that the story started with!
GI Sportz Paintball #paintball Raza Paintball Bunkerkings Virtue Paintball Vantrition Europe @energypaintball UK Woodland Masters
Disclaimer: I borrowed this from the Rushers Facebook page but this is a great story and something Paintball needs to do generally is tell its story... no one else is going to tell it if we can't
