Thoughts Please ...

[Gee Tee]

MissyQ makes a valid point

The age group of sport paintballers (as in X-ball) has fallen dramatically since I started playing back in the late 80's. Then average age was 20-25 with a lot of ballers in the 30+ bracket, but we had jobs + disposable income and could afford what was a very expensive hobby. Paint cost 6p a ball then, with 12g CO2 around 35p each in bulk, and even with the pump markers we could easily spend £100 on a days play.

Many ballers now play at school age, expecting parents to pick up the tab for kit and paint, and still complain that the game costs too much!

I've never really got into X-ball, as I've always been a woodsballer at heart. It's where I got started and my competition years were in the woodsball tourny scene of the 90's. I enjoy watching X-ball but there's no incentive for me to get stuck in nowadays.

 

[evoonline]

ive had alot of markers and kit in general. i dont remember mentioning that i cant afford playing? i dont smoke, dont do drugs, dont drink. alot of my spare cash is put into playing the sport i love and i also have a second job to fund it. i have one day off every two weeks or so due to working enough to fund my addiction. i dont go on holiday as i class my tournaments as holidays, ive possibly spent thousands on gear but im still in the black and have sold all my gear on once ive finished with it for the same or greater than i paid for it (very few instances have i lost out). i travel to the PA, masters and local sites for games with friends and team mates. this coming weekend im travelling to NQ in manchester due to team training being cancelled. in speaking of funding i wasnt so much talking of myself but i play on a team with alot of kids who are still in school or college who find it hard to fund events and training. im being vocal because it says in the topic "Thoughts Please..." not "Thoughts Please... *if youve played for longer than 10years and are recognised within the industry*" no bitchiness(SP?) meant by this reply.

i'd love to play 1 big league, working our way up through divisions. i wouldnt mind the travelling if the tournaments were top notch and i'd welcome playing the new teams along the way.

 

[SimonGiles]

On the subject of trying to attract new tourny players via the rec-ball woodland scene ... my team has trained at a woodland site for years. We often train on the speedball field whilst the punters are in the woods alongside us; we share the base area and we have posters up advertising the team, directing them to our website and inviting people to join us for a day to tryout competition paintball. The site owner also supports us and tries to point potential players in our direction when they show an interest. In 3 years the takeup of new players has been 5 people, most of whom have subsequantly retired within 12 months.

I'm not too sure why this is

I think 'back in the day' punters (I was one of them) would see the team players wearing desinger camos and sporting mean looking guns and want to 'be like them'. The fact we were all playing in the woods meant they could envisage what the teams were doing as an advancement of what they themselves were doing, rather than something completely different.

I wonder if the punters of today look at tourny players with our variety of multi coloured kit, and clown pajama outfits, playing with bouncy castles, and reckon their tigerstripe overalls and matt black Infernos are actually way cooler !

Did we miss a trick somewhere along the line ...

 

[Ralph]

Nice try pump-guy, but I think we may be better sticking to a format that doesn't also require everyone to buy a new gun (except you)

Damn. I've only got my pump grey ghost left.

 

[Edwards]

mmm

Well i better try and explain my self a little me thinks

I will put a small detailed post in a bit, want to this now before this thread goes completely off topic !!

 

[ListerOfSmeg]

Before I say anything, are my thoughts as an outsider to tournament 'ball valid here?

 

[PreacherMan]

Before I say anything, are my thoughts as an outsider to tournament 'ball valid here?

paintball is paintball, tourney or woods mate

 

[Karlito]

I not sure what my offering / take on this will present to the folks of PGI, but here goes...

I'm going back to my days of Ski racing. Where the UK was divided into 'Regions' for example the LSERSA (London and South East Regional Ski Association) and ERSA ( Eastern Regional Ski Association) to name but two of however many there was. With these races held at designated slopes in your region, you competed and earned yourself seeding points. These points would eventually go towards your placing in a National competition/ standings. The race days would all normally always fall on the same day as each other as well. This always promoted a bit of healthy competition. There was also the prospect of earning the title of 'Regional Champion'.

Now if this were to be applied to paintball, if there was going to be a national league, a suggestion could be to divide the paintball series into regions. Teams that form and play would have to commit and compete in their region, which can be determined by set boundaries, and play at x, y and z designated sites in their region.
Depending on placings, teams would also earn them seed points. These events would all be played nationally on the same weekend/ day. This could be spread over the course of a couple of months.
Once every 3 months lets say, you could then hold the National Competition. All the teams nationally would be collated, and depending on seed points, this would determine what Division you play at on a national level, with each division having a fixed number of teams allowed.
Format would remain the same across the board.

Then at the final event overall Champions can be decided for their respective Divisions.

If this format was adopted, I believe it will promote healthy competition. Not only on a regional basis, but then again on a National basis. I believe it would make teams go that extra distance, and be proud of what they achieve, especially when they can monitor their progress.


Hopefully this may provoke some constructive criticism. Lets see.

 

[Buddha 3]

I think everybody needs to look outside the paintball box a little more.
Most, if not all, problems that paintball is having now, are the same for all other teamsports. Albeit somewhat worsened by the cost of paintball.

Why is recball growing? Not only for the reasons Missy pointed out, but also because of the simple fact that it is a recreational thing. No need for teams, just turn up and play whenever you feel like it, not because the team says you have to.

As I said earlier, other teambased sports have the same problems (although the problem is usually less accute, as the player base tends to be larger than paintball's), but individual sports, particularly those that can be done at any moment, like hitting the gym, go from strength to strength. Gyms are popping up all over the place, while all the smaller soccer clubs are having to shut their doors, with only the larger ones surviving.

It ain't just paintball guys, think larger.

 

[Robbo]

We have all this talk of leagues etc but I am reminded of an old saying that goes something like ..... 'you can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink' .....could it be we can set up an entire league and event infrastructure that would, if adopted, rescue our situation ..and the teams and players stay away?

For people whose knee-jerk response is, 'of course they wouldn't' ..... think about it a little more ...... maybe the problem lies deeper ......