The Saviours of UK Paintball ?????

[Robbo]

As always, Missy is bang on the money with his alternate view on proceedings that cuts right to the heart of the problem.
He implies tournament paintball played on Air-Ball fields is a mutually exclusive format when we place it alongside woodland tournaments.
Previously, the two have been able to flourish alongside each other but in troubled times such as these, it seems that one feeds off the other.
It's a 'dog eat dog' world for sure, I just don't like the thought we turn to feed off each other.

 

[shoaibaktar]

Really????
I wonder why

"You keep your friends close,you keep.........." .Were Ainsley to go 2 day ,Copenhagen Ducks and Poison Ivy would only be the start of an overseas invasion . Better value ,better venue ,better atmosphere . The French league plus DPL and CPPS ,actually form a bigger threat to Mills (inadvertantly ) as they offer top draw at basement prices.

 

[Spikerz]

DPL is a force to be reckoned with. Growing from 250 teams to over 400 in the last 2 years. French league is very strong as well.

 

[Ainsley]

We're no threat to Millennium or ever intend to be.

There needs to be a hierarchy within the architecture of tournament paintball. We've initiated our UK Paintball League system and plan on expanding that further in the next 12 months, in order to allow for a clear progression for player within the UK, not dissimilar to that of the DPL. We're unique in a sense of Geography and that teams can easily travel to play for a day and head home if they wanted to thanks to our tiny island.

However, whilst we are obviously attracting teams, there are also 2 strong leagues in the north and south under Bricket Wood and Nick's Skirmish site.....both of which attract the same amount of teams as the main DPL German legs attract.......it's just that Germany (and France) are so much bigger geographically, so a high number of smaller sites make more sense. In our case however, teams are using these other events (in most cases) as a practice for the CPPS and are priced accordingly. We plan look more closely on how to develop this and help clearly define a path for the players.

If we are to truly grow paintball, we need well spaced smaller sites up and down the country with single fields allowing ease of access for players, especially younger ones. Our game is expensive enough, so the last thing it needs is a parent then travelling 2 hours to take their son/daughter to a field and adding more cost.

In turn, our events are aimed to help the aspiring player practice for the Millennium events. It's great to be able to play against teams from other countries, allows trade from all over Europe share ideas and promote product etc etc. It's an essential part of the industry and a big European event series is needed.

 

[Robbo]

The CPPS is NOT threatening the Millennium in any way whatsoever nor should it do. I'm certainly not going to downgrade the CPPS by suggesting it's a stepping stone event series toward the Millennium - we absolutely/categorically need the CPPS and the Millennium.

What we do need are more domestic events run in the UK to the CPPS standard.
Ainsley makes mention of Brickett Wood and Nick's Skirmish site.
Whilst on paper, they are altenate events but the thing that puts the CPPS apart from those two sites/leagues is the investment made into the site itself. Not everyone can afford to invest big money in their sites but you can at least start walking in that direction.

I haven't been to Nick's site at Nottingham since I was up there coaching Nexus in 2003-6, and from memory - I'm pretty sure Nick had a lot of aspects in place to provide events that would approach the standard of the CPPS but I'm not altogether sure of what the Notts' site looks like now or indeed the standards adhered to in the events he promotes.
Knowing Nick, he won't be short-changing anyone.

As for Brickett Wood?
I was up there a few years back and from what I can remember, if it wants to see itself as a site to hold events of the same calibre of the CPPS, then there's an awful lot of work to be done in that area.
I might be talking out of my ass here but the last time I was there, they needed a better playing surface on their fields and so if these have been replaced, then my apologies.
The problem is I suppose, the CPPS has set the bar really high for promoting events in the UK and I'm damned sure the sort of investments committed to by Ainsley on his site aren't being made elsewhere.
Ainsley has produced a business model that is hardly unique and best summarised by stating, 'Improve and they will come'.
And were anyone to doubt that business model's mantra, get your ass down to the CPPS and see for yourself and learn something.

Money will always be the defining mechanism that separates the top from the 'not-so-top' but let's not fool ourselves here, money don't come cheap these days but I know this much .... yes, you can do [some] business if you're the only game in town but if you wanna attract more customers and from further afield then you dip your hand in your pocket - failing that, if there's a gap in the marketplace in your catchment area and beyond, if you don't address it, others will.

 

[shoaibaktar]

The CPPS is NOT threatening the Millennium in any way whatsoever nor should it do. I'm certainly not going to downgrade the CPPS by suggesting it's a stepping stone event series toward the Millennium - we absolutely/categorically need the CPPS and the Millennium.

What we do need are more domestic events run in the UK to the CPPS standard.
Ainsley makes mention of Brickett Wood and Nick's Skirmish site.
Whilst on paper, they are altenate events but the thing that puts the CPPS apart from those two sites/leagues is the investment made into the site itself. Not everyone can afford to invest big money in their sites but you can at least start walking in that direction.

I haven't been to Nick's site at Nottingham since I was up there coaching Nexus in 2003-6, and from memory - I'm pretty sure Nick had a lot of aspects in place to provide events that would approach the standard of the CPPS but I'm not altogether sure of what the Notts' site looks like now or indeed the standards adhered to in the events he promotes.
Knowing Nick, he won't be short-changing anyone.

As for Brickett Wood?
I was up there a few years back and from what I can remember, if it wants to see itself as a site to hold events of the same calibre of the CPPS, then there's an awful lot of work to be done in that area.
I might be talking out of my ass here but the last time I was there, they needed a better playing surface on their fields and so if these have been replaced, then my apologies.
The problem is I suppose, the CPPS has set the bar really high for promoting events in the UK and I'm damned sure the sort of investments committed to by Ainsley on his site aren't being made elsewhere.
Ainsley has produced a business model that is hardly unique and best summarised by stating, 'Improve and they will come'.
And were anyone to doubt that business model's mantra, get your ass down to the CPPS and see for yourself and learn something.

Money will always be the defining mechanism that separates the top from the 'not-so-top' but let's not fool ourselves here, money don't come cheap these days but I know this much .... yes, you can do [some] business if you're the only game in town but if you wanna attract more customers and from further afield then you dip your hand in your pocket - failing that, if there's a gap in the marketplace in your catchment area and beyond, if you don't address it, others will.

It seems the word "(inadvertantly)" seems to have been missed. But the fact that CPPS delivers a ,high quality ,low cost opportunity to experience the best of paintball tournaments ,is a de facto "threat". It was asked and obliged to move the leg before Campaign further away to minimise the reduction of GB teams who may feel they had had their fill and not go.Ainsley offers cut price entry to winners to play Millenium.I repeat there is no conscious attempt to undermine the Millenium.But Copenhagen Ducks choice to play CPPS and not Mills is indicative of people's choice in spending and value .Syndicate play the DPL ,but not Mills .I know they lost their main sponsor,but still made the domestic choice.There is only a handful of GB teams playing the full series . Only Topcats and Thunderducks are new arrivals to my knowledge.While the CPPS elite and Div 1 have had their numbers swell to 12 Elite and 15 Div 1 (at first round at least). Robbo you're knowledge of the early Mills will be far better than mine ,but were'nt the teams in early years predominantly home teams playing each home event? When I look around the Elite field ,I see many Mills experienced players ,playing on now domestic only teams. When every baller has a budget and picks events he feels will give him the best experience for that dollar ,footfall and team numbers are telling the same story across Europe.

 

[Robbo]

Shoab, good post !
We seem to have ended up painting ourselves into a corner here because it's forced UK teams to make a choice based [virtually] on financial reasons or at least 'bang for your buck'.
And de facto or otherwise, the CPPS is in effect doing the impossible, giving our players a high quality/low cost tournament option.
Furthermore, it is an option flying in the face of the Millennium that hosts fewer and fewer UK teams.
Normally, competition is supposed to be a good thing in sport and business but in this case, the last thing we need is for the Millennium to compete with the CPPS.
It makes no sense and is ultimately injurious to U.K. paintball.

I can only see one resolution to this dilemma and I suggest it for one reason and one reason alone, it feels [leastwise to me] the right thing to do and that's for Steve Baldwin to sit down with Ainsley and figure out the direction to head - I ain't gonna spell it out because I know Steve and Ainsley are well able to read the writing on the wall.

 

[Missy-Q]

It's not just cost, it's more so commitment.
Travelling to play in Europe uses up vacation days so fast that by the time your wife/GF wants to go to Shagaluf for a weekend in the summer it's all used up. Being able to play a weekend event without taking Friday and Monday off is a huge draw, especially to older players, who have kids/jobs/real-life stuff to navigate. The Millennium could even drop their pants and be cheaper to play, even half the price, and they would still be asking for a much larger commitment from the players than the CPPS does. Sometimes it's not about money.
The answer is long term. The CPPS needs to grow and thrive, as do the German and French leagues. Once these leagues are healthy and thriving, the top teams in each division will emerge with a wish to compete at an international level, and the Millennium will be fed these teams as they mature to that level. I am sure the Millennium realise that the CPPS is not a threat in the long haul. When combined with other healthy domestic leagues, it is more likely their salvation, but a few years down the road...
I would like to see a resurgence of local limited paint events, like the ones Ged ran at the NPF in the 90's. That's the gap in the system. If we had those events firing too, we could actually have a clear and navigable path from recreation to competitive paintball for the first time in a long time.

 

[Ngamer]

Ainsley what a legend. Personally i find it sad that air-ball is dying and refused to believe it when i was told, till i found myself at npf (the old stomping ground) and noticed that the A ball field had gone. Not so sure about the tourney side of things. When i came into the sport it was huge but it has become way more of a casual thing here. Paintball will die if we let it and we will not let it happen ever !!!

 

[Mark Vickery]

Taking notes and adding Ainsley to my list of interviewees.