UK Paintball

[Robbo]

Originally posted by Syd (NSPL)
......First of all, to counter-balance some of the negativity in this thread, I would like to suggest to Pete that he attends some more domestic events before coming to a final conclusion about the talent level we have. There are some very driven and talented players out there and it is improving all the time. Having said that, Pete is absolutely right with his original observations and his explanation about what he believes is causing the problem...........

Syd, I would love to believe that what you suggest is the case mate but the more I talk to people the more I am becoming convinced otherwise, if you care to look at the final Millennium rankings there is no such evidence of any resurgence in Brit ball and if you are telling me your assessment is based upon what you have seen in-house, then I am afraid it remains untested until these players / teams venture outside this UK sphere.
Now what’s very important here is that I don’t want people running away with the idea I am dissing anybody, I am just making an observation on what I have seen.

None of it is personal and has no agenda behind it other than to try and find a way of improving our situation but I keep coming up against the idea that players / teams can only improve if they want to, ‘you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink’…….
And the bottom line is, I just don’t think people want to…
Look at the responses seminars get in this county; in the US, they are rammed out.

We either think we know it all or just can’t be bothered mate.

I reckon I get ten times more emails asking for seminars from people outside this country than I do from here and the irony is, I would much rather make sure our guys are on the right road than the frogs or the krauts or whoever.
But as I just said, you can lead a horse to water……..but you can’t make them go to a seminar’

 

[Markie C]

Originally posted by Robbo

But as I just said, you can lead a horse to water……..but you can’t make them go to a seminar’

I hear ya

 

[Robbo]

Originally posted by pestilence
Yo Robbo -
If Brit ballers are not in the same league as the states - and therfor you have had to change the roster to headhunt established players; dosen't this go against your founding principles of founding Nexus in the first place? (if me memory serves correctly..) - that msut ahve been a difficult decision.
I understand why you have been forced down this road, but cant you scout UK talent into a feeder team like you had before? I understand this is a drain on resource, but what are your international players costing you to recruit??
Curiously
P.

Pesty-Piles, the majority of Nexus will ALWAYS be Brit otherwise I would pack it all in but I just haven't got the time to recruit and train anybody from the UK.
The NPPL next year is gonna be even harder to play in and as I said, I had to hit the 2006 ground running otherwise I compromised my position in the league and risk relegation.
I have to be firing on ALL cylinders from day one and if i picked up some UK ballers to try and train them up so as to be ready to play in the NPPL, I could be exposing the team to an unnecessary risk.
Not much point in having 100% Brits on board if we end up getting relegated mate.
As for what the international players are costing?

 

[Nick Brockdorff]

Chuck:

If you are looking at reball in terms of being a viable business based on walk on players alone, you have the wrong perspective.

Rental customers LOVE Reball - they get the same experience, but are nice and clean afterwards

The whole point is that you can have your cake AND eat it - with Reball

Nick

 

[Steve Hancock]

Having read all of this over a few days, I've been a little uncertain on what people have meant when they are talking about rec-ball, hobby-paintball and sport-paintball. I always think of rec-ball as woodland paintball, including everything from rental up to playing with your own kit every weekend in the woods. However the impression i have got is that people are using the term recball to describe anything more than infrequent rental 'punter' play, but less than sport-paintball played at sup'air tournaments. What i was unclear on was whether casual hobby sup'air paintball was included in this definition of rec-ball. I've assumed that it was, so correct me if i misunderstood.

But definitions cleared up, my thoughts on the matter are:

I'm inclined to agree that we need paintball as a hobby, in order for paintball as a sport to succeed. By paintball as a hobby i mean walk-on, both woodland and sup'air, so 'Recball' provided my understanding of the term is correct. Paintball as a hobby is stifled meaning that the hobbists have no where to go. I guess a lot of them quit, but some creep into paintball as a sport. Tournament organisers see a potential customer and make room for them to come into paintball as a sport. As the hobbyists are included, they dilute the sport side, meaning that the prevailing attitude is, as ben put it, crap+1. Sudenly the whole sport side is corrupted. People who might have developed a sportsman like drive to train and improve in the right enviroment, have too long been able to beat hobbyists playing crap+1. As a result they become lazy. They don't need the sportsmans attitude to be part sport paintball in the UK. So no sportsman attitude -> no drive to improve -> we suck.

Imagine we had convienient good quality provision for the hobbyists, plenty of walk on sites with a sufficient scene/community like there is in the tourney world. Hobbyists wouldn't need, and therefore aren't likely to bother, trecking out the tourneys. If you want to get rid of the idle offer them something easier to do instead. Not only would this scene be a good way of making the development from rental, it would also prevent the sport scene being poluted.

Also it would allow everyone to have a clearer distinction between hobby and sport. Both are valid, just to muddle them up or think they are the same thing. If you are playing paintball as a hobby you should be under no illusions of grandure, you should be happy and enjoy what you do. This would kill the expectation of companies to pay for your paintball, that most teams seeking sponsorship wants. It would also make it clear to kids currently playing hobby ball exactly what they need to do to play sport ball.

That's the problem. Sites not providing for the recball market.

So whats the solution? - How do we get sites to make the provision of Recball?
(Both Woodland and Supair, but ideally a focus on sup'air or at least hyperball)

EDIT: Having read through that it could appear that i'm taking a shot at the Hobbyist. That is not my intention at all.

 

[Nick Brockdorff]

As for Nexus:

If people want a spot on the squad, they need to get serious and prove they can hack it at top level.... before expecting Pete to take an interest.

Tryouts are fine, when you want to build a squad from scratch - or want to start a feeder team.... but for a top team, it is simply not cost effective, compared to hiring players already at top level.

Nick

 

[Chuck]

So what can we do?

As a player you are the basic building block of your team. If you wish to treat paintball as a sport and compete as an athlete then you must think and train as one. Ask yourself what you as an individual have done this week to improve as a player. Is it some form of fitness or gun training or is it nothing?
Now think back to the last month and apart from maybe playing at a regional tourny have you really done any form of disciplined gun or fitness training.

If you are honest the answer will be no, and that goes for many of the "pro" players in the UK too. So fitness is one area that can be improved on for very little cost other than time.(parks and hills to run in or up are free)

We as a team have started to do a lot of one ball training at drills sessions, this involves only being allowed to shoot one ball per snap shot or post. You then have to come back into your bunker before being able to re snap or post. This drill is exhausting! If two players do this with a box between them that equates to 1000 snap shots each. A good cost effective drill that includes fitness as well.

As a team, structure your training days correctly, don't let it degenerate into just playing. If you have limited resources then make them count.

A team can only be as strong as the weakest player. If someone isn't performing or putting in the extra work to improve themselves warn them once and cut them if they do not show an improvement. Its amazing how the remainder start taking things more seriously. Flip side of this is that if you are the only one on the team training and "beasting" yourself up and down the local 1:1 hill, get the **** out of that team.

The UK Tourny scene:
Is it that there are too many series that are competing for too few teams? this has a massive diluting effect on any talented teams and individuals that would gain more from playing each other.

It's been discussed before but why don't we have Southern and Northern leagues with play offs between the two? teams can be promoted and relegated as they are within the PA, Millenium and the US series. At the moment the different leagues and series are just pulling in opposite directions which I believe is holding UK ball back. (the argument of competition being a good thing for the improvement of events is actually hindering the improvement of the teams).

There is a glimmer of hope in all this, I went to and played in the PA cup the weekend before last and witnessed an improvment in teams that I had seen at the end of last season. After discussing this with Pete we came to the conclusion that the probable reasons for an improvment in the PA teams were (1) The teams have to commit to a whole season therefore those teams by default are the more organised and commited ones. (2) there is a divisional system that involves promotion/relegation.(3)There are top AM's and Pro's mixed in the form of Manc Union that the div 1 teams get to play, which raises their standard and the lower Div teams can watch and learn from.

The Pro Tour, thank you Andy and DYE, this is an awesome format and one that any team worth their salt should be killing themselves (at training of course) to qualify for and get into.

Long term we need to increase the player pool, that's a no brainer but please if you are a Player or team that wants to improve don't just sit there watching Trauma head videos get out and improve yourselves. Work hard and get noticed.

Chuck (wearing my frustrated UK baller head )

 

[#29]

it all your fault chuck

 

[Chuck]

Originally posted by Nick Brockdorff
Chuck:

If you are looking at reball in terms of being a viable business based on walk on players alone, you have the wrong perspective.

Rental customers LOVE Reball - they get the same experience, but are nice and clean afterwards

The whole point is that you can have your cake AND eat it - with Reball

Nick

Ok Nick,
please send me a link for your local one.

Chuck

 

[Sid_Clan]

Originally posted by Robbo
You are right, I find it hard to believe too, we just seem to be devoid of ambition and drive

Look North

Robbo, I have attempted to read a few of your posts over the last few days, my god man, you never just write a little thing do you

But I have to say, for some reason all your recent post are bang on, tell it how it is no bull$hit, and I respect that.

I know we(Scotland) will never be on the same par as the rest of the UK Paintball Scene in respect of numbers, whether it be rec-ball or indeed tourney, all I can really do is speak for myself.

Maybe I'm long in the tooth, I have been a player since 1988(and still crap) and almost three years ago myself and Peds opened our own site just outside Edinburgh, the site is owned and marshalled by The Clan team, 90% of my staff are in the squad, they all play tournaments and activley promote the sport of paintball during the day, speaking to customers, explaining about paintball as a sport, we have photo's of players in our safe areas, show customers tournament kit, magazines and so on. So, to that end I use my site as a marketing tool to promote paintball as a sport, and hopefully encourage new players, for example, Fi$h and Mak D(Bad Word) started playing on my site and were encouraged into tournament paintball, 60% of my squad started playing on our site.

I would also like to add my 2p worth about loyalty, and hopefully Mr Piper will back me up here(cheque is on the way). I spoke to Andy in Malaga last year and he asked about the site, I asked for sample paint, I liked it and I have stayed loyal to RPS for over a year now and will continue to do so, I do get offered cheaper paint but rather than looking at mark up, profits etc I look at loyalty to RPS/Piper. I also try and look after my customers, if I shoot paint that is a pile of garbage it has an adverse affect on my customers, no one wants to have to shoot someone 10 times before the ball will burst on them, neither do they want to have soup coming out of their markers for the day. They want a ball that will go through the marker and burst on the other players, okay maybe not 100% of the time, but 70% is good enough I would also like to say that we have shot Menace on our site now for that length of time, up here last weekend we had 8-12 inches of snow, -3 on the old temp gauge and yet my paint still gave me little to no problems, this is another reason I use RPS, I'm not out to diss other paints, I'm just telling you what I like, RPS, leave it in my van at -3 and the next day it still shoots.....brilliant....so all you other suppliers...STOP PHONING ME!!!!!!!!

Thats pretty much it, I know it is difficult for me to comment on UK Ball and be listened to regardless of my experience, drive, passion, I'm Scottish, what do I know about paintball right??.................Wrong

Take care all, back to the beer I go....it's a schoolnight leave me alone...

Sid