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2500 Shades of Play ...

shoaibaktar

Well-Known Member
Jun 14, 2011
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To prove Sid and Dusty's assertion about the level increasing ,you can look at factors from other sports that hint at improvement and growth. The number of 2nds,3rds and multiple team clubs .This leads to a permanence that solo teams can't sustain .One key player leaves and the solo implodes .The Bluey of Care Bears ,Andy Freeman of Fearless and the other stalwarts across the ranks are owed a deal of gratitude as they are one of paintball's pillars. The Cpps and a clear definable pecking order that gives teams recognition for their efforts.Thus creating that reward for the exta grind. The average age of lower league players is definitely falling .The improvement in refereeing and recognition through clinics that these guys count and non players and older ones can still contribute to the game and feel part of the community.Being from a long term football background ,seeing these elements growing in paintball are signs that the improvements have indeed been continuous. You are all correct that ,like myself,it's sometimes it's too easy to spot the bad ,rather than herald the good going on in the sport.
 
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olliewidd

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Jul 5, 2012
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To prove Sid and Dusty's assertion about the level increasing ,you can look at factors from other sports that hint at improvement and growth. The number of 2nds,3rds and multiple team clubs .This leads to a permanence that solo teams can't sustain .One key player leaves and the solo implodes .The Bluey of Care Bears ,Andy Freeman of Fearless and the other stalwarts across the ranks are owed a deal of gratitude as they are one of paintball's pillars. The Cpps and a clear definable pecking order that gives teams recognition for their efforts.Thus creating that reward for the exta grind. The average age of lower league players is definitely rising .The improvement in refereeing and recognition through clinics that these guys count and non players and older ones can still contribute to the game and feel part of the community.Being from a long term football background ,seeing these elements growing in paintball are signs that the improvements have indeed been continuous. You are all correct that ,like myself,it's sometimes it's too easy to spot the bad ,rather than herald the good going on in the sport.
 

Biscuit

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Mar 21, 2006
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Totally agree with a lot that is being said. But 2 things I would add to all events is a mechanical beginners division so guy's can play with site markers. Also the bunkers. No disrespect Robbo but could you have played as well as you did behind the bunkers that are used today. There not built for the bigger guys, before people think fat , some people are naturally big and athletic,
 

Robbo

Owner of this website
Jul 5, 2001
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Biscuit, when I was playing pro for All Americand and Aftershock, I was weighing in at about 13 stone.
It was only in the latter months of my final season with Aftershock that I grew somewhat bigger with a little chemical help.
And so, for the vast majority of my pro career I was but a slither of what I became.
My only skills was being able to shoot straight and keep tight and that enabled me to achieve what I did, I was never a bunker-monkey like Ollie though I wish I had been.
As for playing today?
I think a big guy could contribute in the modern game with a similar skill-set as mine but let's face it, it would be easier for a slim player than a roid-head bulging out the side of a bunker.
 
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Peter Martin

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Feb 3, 2015
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It's been a long time since I posted on here and with no disrespect to the board, mainly because as this post suggests, nothing of real consequence and change has happened in the sport I felt worth throwing in my two pence for.

All of the points made about the changes arising from the advent of the WBPO are valid and I believe the changes that have been made are excellent and can do nothing but promote the sport and bring it back on track to a growth rate that is necessary.

One of those points however has not been mentioned and it will be huge if it pulls off. I know over the years that people have talked about paintball hopefully being an Olympic sport and the like, which I don’t think will ever happen, for many reasons, not the smallest of which is the fact that we are firing projectiles at other human beings but that a whole other story and quite frankly not a necessary outcome for our sport to grow.

However, paintball being recognised as a sport but the international sporting bodies is a HUGE point and one which I believe is part of the plan as far as the WBPO is concerned.

Years ago I looked into this and did my best to begin the process but failed, end of story. However although I can’t remember the exact requirements it goes something like this.

For a sport to be recognised as a ‘sport’ by the National and international bodies including the like of the Australian sports federation and Australian institute of sport and of course other countries sporting bodies. It must meet certain criteria and they are (roughly) as follows.

The ‘sport’ must have an international governing body and a worldwide set of rules. The governing body must have representative and incorporated sporting bodies in a certain amount of countries around the globe (can’t remember how many) and those national bodies must be organising sporting events around their respective countries using those set rules (again a certain number per year) there are other regulations to that, set AGM’s, certain amount of members etc. etc.

One this is achieved and paintball is recognised as a ‘sport’ it then opens up all sorts of opportunities in the form of local government grants and assistance for people to be able to operate local ‘paintball clubs’ the grants cover things like land being provided for very cheap rents, assistance with planning and building, the ability to raise funds as a not for profit club and the list goes on. All the benefits that other sports clubs such as soccer, hockey etc. are afforded at a local level.

So this allows more people (on a financial level) to form more clubs and get more people playing our ‘sport’ the more people playing the sport then of course in turn means more product sold, more money flowing into the industry and then in turn feeding the higher levels of the sport.

It’s a long process but one, I believe is absolutely necessary for the real, ‘viral’ growth of paintball.
 
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Spikerz

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Mar 25, 2014
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They only did for this year. They have a D500 format that's it's own division. I think next year if they come back together and either agree to M500 or add another 200 to give you 5 pods and an empty hopper getting on the field. I bet the NXL will be more likely to adopt it.
 

niloc65

Aka Colin
Oct 4, 2013
319
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Worthing - West Sussex
Personally I really enjoy the new format. As a more mature student of the paintball sport (played the world cup in 94/95), I've seen many changes and not all for the good.
I was about in the early days when it was everyone's ambition to pump / slam fire as quickly as possible - which was mainly, gunmanship, practice and skill, followed on by semi auto kits, which took skill to setup, and then board driven markers, then came ramping and lanes, my enjoyment lessened, the cost rose, at which point I took a 8 year sabbatical from the sport.
Having come back recently, first as a walk-on, and now with Team Unlimited on SupAir, I'm really enjoying the new M500 format. It allows me (and my team - some of whom due to disabilities cant cover ground that quick) the ability to compete. My old skills of pump and semi are coming to the fore. Communication, angles and moving when there is a lull in the paint are again useful.
So I'm a thumbs up for the new format, and hope it encourages many more older players like me that the game can still be played and more importantly enjoyed.
 

Robbo

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It's very rare in any sport to wind the clock back in an attempt to address issues akin to stimulating growth especially when one of the major causes of the initial problem is a world-wide recession.
It's like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic leastwise on the surface it does [pun intended] and it's difficult to expect a recovery when the underlying economy is still recessive.
Come to think of it, I'm hard-pressed to think of one example where another sport has made such a fundamental change to an existing format that effectively winds the clock back in such a fashion.

But does this mean we're now locked in to a self-administered death spiral?
I don't think so because even though we've decided to follow a path seldom trod, if ever, I'd like to think the changes made have now addressed the inevitable constriction of new blood into our sport..
It has been a long time coming though and one could argue it should have been done years ago because it's not as if we couldn't see what was happening FFS.
In these last 8 years or so, we [industry] were all so busy discussing the nature of the downward trend, and offering up half-assed solutions, we forgot to actually deal with the problem itself which tends to suggest we were either completely devoid of ideas or we were all waiting for someone else to do something.
I suppose that 'someone else' looks like being the Three Musketeers, Baldrick, Laurent and Richmond - fingers crossed, eh ?