First up, i want to say good job to Kirean for running this event, and to Dave for setting up this site in the first place.
The Dartford 7s fill a gap left by the M25 league, and the old Temple site, i really want to say well done guys. You diserve top marks for simply going out there and running a much needed event.
I'd like to start a thread to offer constructive critisim, things that would help you improve on your event even more!
First things first, there were some really nice touches that i'd like to point out.
Staging: Superb job of setting up the staging, nice and close to the fields, and lots of space for kit. Only having to go a few yards to get to the field was really good.
Dead Boxes, Really nice touch too, good work.
Chrono Stations, again well set up, and nice to have a chrono range that can accomodate more than 5 people.
Parking, nice and close to the staging area, room for everyone!
Food, nice to see an alternative to burgers, and fresh fruit... wow!
High Netting; we were still getting balls bouncing into the staging area, but the netting seemed to be secure, and very high, so i'm not sure if they were bouncing over or comming thru a gap, but the netting looked very good, properly pegged down, and fairly safe.
Check in, went very smooth, no problems there. Nice to have Liz in the admin tent, she does a great job!
Hpac, quality, not much else to say!
So what can be improved on?
Field Layout: i'm not sure what the field dimentions are, but they looked a bit square to me. Millennium Series (and NPPL) fields are strictly 30 meters by 55 meters as of 2004.
Ok, so the perminant netting means that you can't change this, so you need to be very careful about how you set up the field.
Please, Please, Please, put a snake on the field. There isn't a single field in the Millennium Series that dosn't have one. There were clearly enough bunkers for a snake on all three fields, please use them to build a snake, instead of some useless bunker complex that no one bothers to play.
If you need some ideas i have a complete listing of all the Millennium field from this year, and i've also put some fields on my web page
mojo paintball nppl fields page
The severe field, what a piece of junk. Some of the bunkers were deflating between games. I've got a field you can use Jiggy, you have my number...
I'd also consider the judging to be a serious problem. Here's why:
This season in the Millennium series the judging has taken a big step up. I fear for british teams who come to Campaign Cup or travel to Toullouse and think they are going to get away with some of the stuff they got away with this weekend.
But that aside, the judging was adiquite at best, and appaling on the Draxxus field. I understand from talking to Ralph that a game even had to be replayed on that field due to Judging errors!
I think this has been suggested before, pay for some proper judges. I'd gladly give up any prizes to use that to bribe proper judges. I'd even pay more money if i knew it ment i was getting proper judges.
Having said that, there's no way i'd judge a tournament for £50 a day. The going rate for Millennium series is £100. You're never going to get proper judges if you pay them peanuts.
Judging is a serious issue, it needs to be delt with.
But then maybe we're just upset because we had to work very hard to learn to play to millennium series rules this season, and we've been penalised for it... now we come play our first event in england, and it's not much better than a game of rec-ball for judging during some games.
To be fair, there were some good judges on some of the fields, and they diserve to be credited with trying their hardest.
Playing Surface, it looks like the grass is pretty worn out in some places, i don't know if there's much you can do about it. Eventually all the grass will be gone, and i assume you'll have to shift the fields or something.
Anyhow, thanks for putting on the event, we look forward to playing the next one.
I'd encourage anyone else who has any positive feedback or constructive critisim to post it on this thread, hopefully a few changes can be made and Dartford 7s can establish it's self as the premiere 7 man league in the UK.
The Dartford 7s fill a gap left by the M25 league, and the old Temple site, i really want to say well done guys. You diserve top marks for simply going out there and running a much needed event.
I'd like to start a thread to offer constructive critisim, things that would help you improve on your event even more!
First things first, there were some really nice touches that i'd like to point out.
Staging: Superb job of setting up the staging, nice and close to the fields, and lots of space for kit. Only having to go a few yards to get to the field was really good.
Dead Boxes, Really nice touch too, good work.
Chrono Stations, again well set up, and nice to have a chrono range that can accomodate more than 5 people.
Parking, nice and close to the staging area, room for everyone!
Food, nice to see an alternative to burgers, and fresh fruit... wow!
High Netting; we were still getting balls bouncing into the staging area, but the netting seemed to be secure, and very high, so i'm not sure if they were bouncing over or comming thru a gap, but the netting looked very good, properly pegged down, and fairly safe.
Check in, went very smooth, no problems there. Nice to have Liz in the admin tent, she does a great job!
Hpac, quality, not much else to say!
So what can be improved on?
Field Layout: i'm not sure what the field dimentions are, but they looked a bit square to me. Millennium Series (and NPPL) fields are strictly 30 meters by 55 meters as of 2004.
Ok, so the perminant netting means that you can't change this, so you need to be very careful about how you set up the field.
Please, Please, Please, put a snake on the field. There isn't a single field in the Millennium Series that dosn't have one. There were clearly enough bunkers for a snake on all three fields, please use them to build a snake, instead of some useless bunker complex that no one bothers to play.
If you need some ideas i have a complete listing of all the Millennium field from this year, and i've also put some fields on my web page
mojo paintball nppl fields page
The severe field, what a piece of junk. Some of the bunkers were deflating between games. I've got a field you can use Jiggy, you have my number...
I'd also consider the judging to be a serious problem. Here's why:
This season in the Millennium series the judging has taken a big step up. I fear for british teams who come to Campaign Cup or travel to Toullouse and think they are going to get away with some of the stuff they got away with this weekend.
But that aside, the judging was adiquite at best, and appaling on the Draxxus field. I understand from talking to Ralph that a game even had to be replayed on that field due to Judging errors!
I think this has been suggested before, pay for some proper judges. I'd gladly give up any prizes to use that to bribe proper judges. I'd even pay more money if i knew it ment i was getting proper judges.
Having said that, there's no way i'd judge a tournament for £50 a day. The going rate for Millennium series is £100. You're never going to get proper judges if you pay them peanuts.
Judging is a serious issue, it needs to be delt with.
But then maybe we're just upset because we had to work very hard to learn to play to millennium series rules this season, and we've been penalised for it... now we come play our first event in england, and it's not much better than a game of rec-ball for judging during some games.
To be fair, there were some good judges on some of the fields, and they diserve to be credited with trying their hardest.
Playing Surface, it looks like the grass is pretty worn out in some places, i don't know if there's much you can do about it. Eventually all the grass will be gone, and i assume you'll have to shift the fields or something.
Anyhow, thanks for putting on the event, we look forward to playing the next one.
I'd encourage anyone else who has any positive feedback or constructive critisim to post it on this thread, hopefully a few changes can be made and Dartford 7s can establish it's self as the premiere 7 man league in the UK.
