I haven’t been to that many regional tourneys over here in the past year or so but I think I have been to enough to now realize something I hadn’t really thought about before.
Whilst other threads on this site bemoan the fact we just don’t cut it when it comes to producing enough players / teams who are serious enough and look to ways for helping this situation out, I now believe we could well be missing something over here.
I will explain :- We can theorise all we like as to the reasons why we don’t seem to produce a lot better teams and we can also come up with a myriad of solutions but in the end, if we haven’t identified the root problem, then we have little chance in solving the problem.
I don’t want what I am going to say next to be received as disrespectful in any way, I am just making an observation and certainly not a judgment.
I went to the Ambush site yesterday to see the last leg of the southern league; and recently I also saw a few of the games of the PA in that Sky production a few weeks ago.
What is immediately obvious to me is the level of play and this is where I want you to remember this is not a criticism….. because the level of play is nowhere near, and I mean NOWHERE near what the Div 2 / novice level is in the US.
This sounds ridiculous but it is true and I might have an idea why.
When I was at Ambush yesterday, I went with Jamie Abbott who as most of you will know is one of my players on Nexus and as the day wore on, he leaned over and remarked, ‘ Pete, I haven’t seen one player who even looks right’.
I have always maintained that players who have ability, even a raw ability, have a certain ‘look’ about them and it was this that Jamie was referring to.
He was right, the more I looked, the more I realized the complete absence of any real or potential talent.
We then began to discuss the problem along with Jamie Brandon who was standing nearby and it also became obvious to us all that the ‘actual’ look of the players was different from that of our US counterparts.
The contrast was just as stark in the safe zone suggesting the demographic of our player base is completely different.
Just so’s you realize what I am saying here, not only did players look differently whilst playing but they looked a different sort of person altogether.
On our way back to London Town, I couldn’t stop thinking about what the fcuk was going on because there are always reasons for differences and perhaps what we had noticed was indicating something.
Our paintball demographic is different and thus what comes out our paintball pipe is different and that’s the bottom line here.
The ingredients are just so different in our paintball pie.
In the US, players are younger, fitter and more driven, that is a given.
When I look at the guys who make up our tourney teams (I am talking generally here) they are older, bigger and less motivated.
Well there is one thing in acknowledging the obvious but quite another to try and explain why.
I think the almost total absence of recball over here goes some way to explain this phenomenon.
If we look at any particular country, we will have people who are interested in playing paintball; their normal entry point is putting the cammo on running around some wood somewhere as a punter.
If these people then ‘get into’ our sport, they obviously will want to increase the number of times they are gonna play, that’s a no-brainer.
Well, over here what choices have they got?
They can continue paying top dollar as a punter or…….?
See, now there’s the problem…in the US they have recball to service that middle tier of player who don’t wanna pay the 6p per ball etc as a punter.
And so over here, the choice is made simple, they either continue playing as a punter or they play tournaments, there is really no other choice as a general rule.
This situation then funnels all the people who get into paintball onto the tournament scene and this becomes our player demographic for tournament players.
Within that number we self-evidently have the serious baller who goes to make up the likes of our top tourney teams and serious Amateurs but the majority are the very players who would normally go to make up a recball population, if in fact there was one…but there ain’t.
Now without going into too much painful detail here, this demographic goes some way in explaining why we haven’t got sufficient quality players over here.
In the US, if you wish to take paintball to the next level (from punter days) you go and play Rec, if you wanna compete as an athlete, you go play tourney.
Each natural step along the paintball road is catered for in the US and because they have this distinction between tourney and Rec the eventual demographic that goes to make up the tourney player is already going to be more dedicated, more committed and more suited to the tournament scene and thus the competitive environment.
Over here, the catchment for tourney player is artificially wide in that it is catering for that middle tier of player (rec) and for the tourney baller.
The casual player, and the player who plays just for fun is now taken on board our tournament scene and it would be unfair of us to look to him (or her) to have the necessary drive and dedication to take our sport forward.
And so, the top US teams are an emergent property of not only a vastly increased tourney player base but also reflective of a more dedicated player within that tourney base.
Our tournament scene is merely reflecting what goes in at the front end in that a significant number of players just aren’t bothered enough as is evidenced by certain other indicators.
A few months ago, Markie C had XSV over here for a seminar; the response was fcuking abysmal considering some of the rhetoric I was seeing on the boards regarding how we should improve our tournament scene.
If you got XSV doing a seminar over in the US, the cost would be probably around 150 bucks and it would be rammed out, over here…well you know how that one goes, we just don’t care enough, well some do but if we remember the demographic we have, it shouldn’t surprise anybody.
As for whose fault this all is?
Well, it certainly has nothing to do with our player base as all they are doing is playing a game they enjoy in the only place they can.
The fact that most players aren’t that dedicated isn’t their fault at all, it’s just the way they are, they enjoy their paintball and frikkin good luck to them all is what I say but we can’t look to this demographic to produce a healthy tournament scene in terms of high end quality players in sufficient quantity.
I put the blame for this firmly and squarely on the site owner (not all but most) and the industry over here.
The site owners generally are not really good businessmen, far from it, their shortfalls in business acumen, investment and imagination are made up for by some of these site owners believing good business to be screwing the ass outa the paint wholesalers.
They change supplier in a heartbeat for a tenth of a penny per ball whilst charging 6p per ball on site, work it out here guys, they pay sometimes as low as 13 quid per box and sell it on site at between 100 and 120 quid, that ain’t a bad mark up.
I am in no way criticizing that mark up but what I will criticize is the way a lot of these site owners go about their business with little to no loyalty and even less imagination when investing in paintball as a mid to long term investment instead of their adherence to the present short term strategy of punter servicing.
People HATE to be highlighted if it puts them in a negative light and that’s why you won’t get many, if any, site owners holding up their hands in agreement with what I am saying but I get to speak to ALL the industry people who have come over here from the US and set up shop and they have all remarked on the almost tragic way we do business over here.
It is unarguable the US model of site business methodology is more advanced than ours, their markets are better developed and healthier and yet, we choose to ignore that model and go for the quick buck in the back pocket.
In my opinion, it’s cheap, small minded and short sighted.
Nobody is asking our site answers to be philanthropic or to take on some responsibility for our flagging tournament scene, (they are in business to make money remember) but to deny they are part of the problem is like trying to tell me black is white.
The contrast between the US site owner and the Brit one says it all.
I get sick of hearing the rhetoric of some of these site owners come up with when it comes to justifying their business practices but in reality, it’s just a cheap defence of an untenable position.
The wholesalers have to take some blame in all this because if site owners over here show little to no loyalty then a resolute pricing structure for paint has to be adhered to otherwise anarchy ensues and a spiraling downwards of margins occurs which is EXACTLY what we have now.
It is not cost effective to sell paint over here, that is the simple truth of the matter and because of that, the knock on effects are felt right across the entire paintball spectrum.
I like the ‘cause and effect’ universe we live in because it infers there are always answers to solutions if we look hard enough; I ain’t saying I got the answers here but there is no doubt we suck when it comes to producing sufficient high end paintball teams (pros, top ams and progressive novices) and if anybody can come up with another suggestion, then I’m all ears.
Of course not all site owners are like this but if the majority weren’t then how come we are in this position?
I’m all ears again………
Whilst other threads on this site bemoan the fact we just don’t cut it when it comes to producing enough players / teams who are serious enough and look to ways for helping this situation out, I now believe we could well be missing something over here.
I will explain :- We can theorise all we like as to the reasons why we don’t seem to produce a lot better teams and we can also come up with a myriad of solutions but in the end, if we haven’t identified the root problem, then we have little chance in solving the problem.
I don’t want what I am going to say next to be received as disrespectful in any way, I am just making an observation and certainly not a judgment.
I went to the Ambush site yesterday to see the last leg of the southern league; and recently I also saw a few of the games of the PA in that Sky production a few weeks ago.
What is immediately obvious to me is the level of play and this is where I want you to remember this is not a criticism….. because the level of play is nowhere near, and I mean NOWHERE near what the Div 2 / novice level is in the US.
This sounds ridiculous but it is true and I might have an idea why.
When I was at Ambush yesterday, I went with Jamie Abbott who as most of you will know is one of my players on Nexus and as the day wore on, he leaned over and remarked, ‘ Pete, I haven’t seen one player who even looks right’.
I have always maintained that players who have ability, even a raw ability, have a certain ‘look’ about them and it was this that Jamie was referring to.
He was right, the more I looked, the more I realized the complete absence of any real or potential talent.
We then began to discuss the problem along with Jamie Brandon who was standing nearby and it also became obvious to us all that the ‘actual’ look of the players was different from that of our US counterparts.
The contrast was just as stark in the safe zone suggesting the demographic of our player base is completely different.
Just so’s you realize what I am saying here, not only did players look differently whilst playing but they looked a different sort of person altogether.
On our way back to London Town, I couldn’t stop thinking about what the fcuk was going on because there are always reasons for differences and perhaps what we had noticed was indicating something.
Our paintball demographic is different and thus what comes out our paintball pipe is different and that’s the bottom line here.
The ingredients are just so different in our paintball pie.
In the US, players are younger, fitter and more driven, that is a given.
When I look at the guys who make up our tourney teams (I am talking generally here) they are older, bigger and less motivated.
Well there is one thing in acknowledging the obvious but quite another to try and explain why.
I think the almost total absence of recball over here goes some way to explain this phenomenon.
If we look at any particular country, we will have people who are interested in playing paintball; their normal entry point is putting the cammo on running around some wood somewhere as a punter.
If these people then ‘get into’ our sport, they obviously will want to increase the number of times they are gonna play, that’s a no-brainer.
Well, over here what choices have they got?
They can continue paying top dollar as a punter or…….?
See, now there’s the problem…in the US they have recball to service that middle tier of player who don’t wanna pay the 6p per ball etc as a punter.
And so over here, the choice is made simple, they either continue playing as a punter or they play tournaments, there is really no other choice as a general rule.
This situation then funnels all the people who get into paintball onto the tournament scene and this becomes our player demographic for tournament players.
Within that number we self-evidently have the serious baller who goes to make up the likes of our top tourney teams and serious Amateurs but the majority are the very players who would normally go to make up a recball population, if in fact there was one…but there ain’t.
Now without going into too much painful detail here, this demographic goes some way in explaining why we haven’t got sufficient quality players over here.
In the US, if you wish to take paintball to the next level (from punter days) you go and play Rec, if you wanna compete as an athlete, you go play tourney.
Each natural step along the paintball road is catered for in the US and because they have this distinction between tourney and Rec the eventual demographic that goes to make up the tourney player is already going to be more dedicated, more committed and more suited to the tournament scene and thus the competitive environment.
Over here, the catchment for tourney player is artificially wide in that it is catering for that middle tier of player (rec) and for the tourney baller.
The casual player, and the player who plays just for fun is now taken on board our tournament scene and it would be unfair of us to look to him (or her) to have the necessary drive and dedication to take our sport forward.
And so, the top US teams are an emergent property of not only a vastly increased tourney player base but also reflective of a more dedicated player within that tourney base.
Our tournament scene is merely reflecting what goes in at the front end in that a significant number of players just aren’t bothered enough as is evidenced by certain other indicators.
A few months ago, Markie C had XSV over here for a seminar; the response was fcuking abysmal considering some of the rhetoric I was seeing on the boards regarding how we should improve our tournament scene.
If you got XSV doing a seminar over in the US, the cost would be probably around 150 bucks and it would be rammed out, over here…well you know how that one goes, we just don’t care enough, well some do but if we remember the demographic we have, it shouldn’t surprise anybody.
As for whose fault this all is?
Well, it certainly has nothing to do with our player base as all they are doing is playing a game they enjoy in the only place they can.
The fact that most players aren’t that dedicated isn’t their fault at all, it’s just the way they are, they enjoy their paintball and frikkin good luck to them all is what I say but we can’t look to this demographic to produce a healthy tournament scene in terms of high end quality players in sufficient quantity.
I put the blame for this firmly and squarely on the site owner (not all but most) and the industry over here.
The site owners generally are not really good businessmen, far from it, their shortfalls in business acumen, investment and imagination are made up for by some of these site owners believing good business to be screwing the ass outa the paint wholesalers.
They change supplier in a heartbeat for a tenth of a penny per ball whilst charging 6p per ball on site, work it out here guys, they pay sometimes as low as 13 quid per box and sell it on site at between 100 and 120 quid, that ain’t a bad mark up.
I am in no way criticizing that mark up but what I will criticize is the way a lot of these site owners go about their business with little to no loyalty and even less imagination when investing in paintball as a mid to long term investment instead of their adherence to the present short term strategy of punter servicing.
People HATE to be highlighted if it puts them in a negative light and that’s why you won’t get many, if any, site owners holding up their hands in agreement with what I am saying but I get to speak to ALL the industry people who have come over here from the US and set up shop and they have all remarked on the almost tragic way we do business over here.
It is unarguable the US model of site business methodology is more advanced than ours, their markets are better developed and healthier and yet, we choose to ignore that model and go for the quick buck in the back pocket.
In my opinion, it’s cheap, small minded and short sighted.
Nobody is asking our site answers to be philanthropic or to take on some responsibility for our flagging tournament scene, (they are in business to make money remember) but to deny they are part of the problem is like trying to tell me black is white.
The contrast between the US site owner and the Brit one says it all.
I get sick of hearing the rhetoric of some of these site owners come up with when it comes to justifying their business practices but in reality, it’s just a cheap defence of an untenable position.
The wholesalers have to take some blame in all this because if site owners over here show little to no loyalty then a resolute pricing structure for paint has to be adhered to otherwise anarchy ensues and a spiraling downwards of margins occurs which is EXACTLY what we have now.
It is not cost effective to sell paint over here, that is the simple truth of the matter and because of that, the knock on effects are felt right across the entire paintball spectrum.
I like the ‘cause and effect’ universe we live in because it infers there are always answers to solutions if we look hard enough; I ain’t saying I got the answers here but there is no doubt we suck when it comes to producing sufficient high end paintball teams (pros, top ams and progressive novices) and if anybody can come up with another suggestion, then I’m all ears.
Of course not all site owners are like this but if the majority weren’t then how come we are in this position?
I’m all ears again………
