he was mesing around there mate, although they do train more days in a week than us.
UK Teams and NPPL...
- Thread starter mikey601
- Start date
Paint is not a big deal cheaper, it was $30 a case when I played over there a couple of weeks ago, and it seems that was quite cheap from what I was told. Some places its much more.i think the tigers could have done ok, was watching them train at mayhem paintball and they were pretty good!maybe later in the year! but yeah paintballing is the u.s is so much bigger than here, plus paint is a hell of a lot cheap!! not fair
The Americans put in alot of effort to go and train against bigger and better teams, and essentially this is the only way to get better as a team. Players can do all the drilling they want with reballs, but if your team gets shot, you aren't going to snapshoot a player who is behind you.
I wonder if we'll see Robbo in this thread flogging the same old dead horse about getting out what you put in etc.
Hardly a dead horse...they're prepared to drive for 6+hrs to a normal bog standard training session. Most UK teams wont look at more than a couple of hours travel for anything.
The US is NOT "filled with Reball centres" - there's a lot but considering it's size there aren't many, they are just prepared to put in the effort to travel to them. Fireball closed because people who lived 30mins away didn't use it...
The average UK session starts at 10, first game about 11 and everyone goes home around 2 after playing 5 games and thinking that's a hard days work. That doesn't cut it.
They have a history of college sports, hell you can get through university on the basis of throwing a football if you're good enough. They want it more when it comes to sports and because they have more teams/players their average team is going to be better than ours as they have the passion and drive to set up scrimmages and practice better teams. Their sports culture breeds excellence, ours breeds tall poppy syndrome and people more interested in image than playing.
So you do get out what you put in...
The UK can improve, it is improving and it will improve. As long as there are decent training venues that are properly supported by teams that are prepared to put in real effort, then the UK will do better. Our top teams are doing things better now then they have done in the last few years, look at Shock's results last year to see that progress is being made. But to think we're on some parity with the US? that's a long way off.
I'm going to be saying something here, that might piss a lot of people off... but I actually think it is correct....
I think you need to dig deeper, to find out why US teams are so much more succesfull.
Yes, there are way more players - but that is no longer an excuse - Joy Division has proven that over the past year.
Yes, the big US Pro teams have far better sponsorships - but they don't in Div. 1-2-3.
In my experience, the real difference between US and European paintball, is the mentality.
9 out of 10 tournament players in the US, take paintball very seriously - they do not play paintball for fun but to become the best, no matter what the cost - and they hate everyone standing in their way with a vengeance - opponents and teammates alike.
9 out of 10 tournament players in Europe play paintball for fun - they go to events because it is a laugh, and even if they think they take paintball seriously, they don't really... their aunts birthday, illness in the family, work or whatever, is getting in the way of paintball all the time.
Now, I do not say one thing is right and the other wrong - people should prioritise their lives the way they want... but if you are not prepared to be a paintballer 100 %, and put EVERYTHING else in the background - and if you are not driven enough to do what it takes to reach the top of the sport - don't moan about it - it is your own choice.
Nick
I think you need to dig deeper, to find out why US teams are so much more succesfull.
Yes, there are way more players - but that is no longer an excuse - Joy Division has proven that over the past year.
Yes, the big US Pro teams have far better sponsorships - but they don't in Div. 1-2-3.
In my experience, the real difference between US and European paintball, is the mentality.
9 out of 10 tournament players in the US, take paintball very seriously - they do not play paintball for fun but to become the best, no matter what the cost - and they hate everyone standing in their way with a vengeance - opponents and teammates alike.
9 out of 10 tournament players in Europe play paintball for fun - they go to events because it is a laugh, and even if they think they take paintball seriously, they don't really... their aunts birthday, illness in the family, work or whatever, is getting in the way of paintball all the time.
Now, I do not say one thing is right and the other wrong - people should prioritise their lives the way they want... but if you are not prepared to be a paintballer 100 %, and put EVERYTHING else in the background - and if you are not driven enough to do what it takes to reach the top of the sport - don't moan about it - it is your own choice.
Nick
Nope - Attitude is outward - and something which plenty of European players have... too many actually, because they can't back it up onfield.
Hell - I am 40 this year, and can still play circles around 95 % of the youngsters out there - and that is not because I am fantastic (anymore) - it is because they do not play the sport seriously, not really.
Mentality is the right word.
It's about wanting it enough and doing whatever it takes
It's about letting nothing stand in your way
It's about believing, in your core, that you can become the best
It's about training like professional even if you pay your own way
It's about playing the game with a mindset that everyone else is beneath you.
IMHO
Nick
Hell - I am 40 this year, and can still play circles around 95 % of the youngsters out there - and that is not because I am fantastic (anymore
) - it is because they do not play the sport seriously, not really.Mentality is the right word.
It's about wanting it enough and doing whatever it takes
It's about letting nothing stand in your way
It's about believing, in your core, that you can become the best
It's about training like professional even if you pay your own way
It's about playing the game with a mindset that everyone else is beneath you.
IMHO
Nick
Playing in this?
And from the CFOA report this issue....
Nick's right (you only get one more Nick... ) If you want to know what's possible purely with hard work - look at Joy
And from the CFOA report this issue....
That's for a regional 5-Man series, who wont attend an NSPL leg in Dartford because it's "too far"?
Nick's right (you only get one more Nick...
) If you want to know what's possible purely with hard work - look at Joy
Ahhh thats a fair point
The points you make i couldnt direct at many uk ballers i know and i know a few.
So do you think its a cultural thing? Something that would take the UK an age to rectify if at all?
Hmm - In some parts it is cultural, but only in very general terms.
The US has a history - both in sports and business - of letting things be more cutthroat than in good old cultured Europe.
But, that having been said, any individual can surpass those cultural boundries.
This is not only about how you practice - it is also very much a question of your mindset stepping onto the field.
Most European teams and players step onto a tournament or practice field thinking "let's go out and WIN this game"
Most US teams and players step onto a tournament or practice field thinking "I HATE those mofus, I want to rip off their heads and.... (you get the picture)"
The difference may seem marginal, but it is important, because it goes directly to how you play the game.
Paintball is 90 % a mental game
Nick
The US has a history - both in sports and business - of letting things be more cutthroat than in good old cultured Europe.
But, that having been said, any individual can surpass those cultural boundries.
This is not only about how you practice - it is also very much a question of your mindset stepping onto the field.
Most European teams and players step onto a tournament or practice field thinking "let's go out and WIN this game"
Most US teams and players step onto a tournament or practice field thinking "I HATE those mofus, I want to rip off their heads and.... (you get the picture
)"The difference may seem marginal, but it is important, because it goes directly to how you play the game.
Paintball is 90 % a mental game
Nick
Just noticed i keep refering to the uk and you to europe, you think the rest of eiropeans suffer from the same problem as much as the uk?