which universities do paintballing?

[KitsuneAndy]

What AJ said was

"Uni paintball in the UK will not contribute to the pool of 'high caliber paintball players' for quite a while I feel"

Note the 'for quite a while'.

He's not having a go at uni paintball as so many of you seem to think, he's pointing out that it's in it's infancy and you wont become a top class player simply by going to a university that has a team.

 

[Simon Menashy]

Oh dear. Please, PLEASE choose a subject you have a real interest in studying, a university that offers a good course in it and scores high in other important factors (reputation, quality of teaching/research, accommodation standard/price, quality of student union and student life etc.) and a town/city that you'll be happy living in for three or more years. Forget about paintball as a factor.

The fact is, unless you live next door to a decent tourney site then you're going to be travelling a lot to find quality paintball anyway, with or without a team. Obviously it's great if there's a group of like-minded players already up and running where you go, but it doesn't matter if there's not. The University Barbarians are a great opportunity to find others to play with even if you're at a uni where there are no other paintballers. If your chosen uni doesn't have a club, it's not too difficult to start a student society, wherever you are. If you need to do that there's tons of experience in doing that on these forums, the UKPSF University Paintball Federation ones here and elsewhere - give us a shout here at Brum or at any of the other big paintball unis and we'll be happy to offer plenty of help and advice.

University paintball clubs are a fantastic way to introduce and develop new players. If you're already playing, you'll seek it out and manage fine wherever you are.

studies can seriously get in the way of paintball

Fixed!

 

[johnmassive]

Where else in life are you going to be able to dedicate the time and effort to a sport? In the "real world" there are going to be many other commitments that will *have* to take precedence over paintball i.e. work, rent etc.
At uni there will be lots of times and places where you will be able to train and learn to hone your skills.
Also, i dont know if this is true at other universities that portsmouth, there will be a lot of help and funding available for teams.
Now paintball is a fairly expensive sport, and every bit of help that is given monetarily means that we, as a team can train more, and therefore improve our skills.
Before you go slamming uni paintball would it not be worth asking if many top players picked up paintball at university, and then moved on to playing for an outside team?

Dante, there has never been a time where paintball has been so affordable as it is now. Because now I have a job. At uni rent is still an issue, if anything students get overcharged due to location. Work commitments also exist when at uni, however its easier to book a day off work than to have an assignment extension approved. Regardless when at uni I also had to work part time as the student loan only went so far. This will also apply to most people anyway so I disagree with most of your comments if (by reading clearly between the lines) your suggesting a student will have an advantage over a non-student when it comes to improving, you will find its a mortgage and kids that allow that. Although John (Clayton) thinks your right about freedom to play and lack of responsibily other than coursework, and were having quite a bit of debate now.... but look at his haircut compared to mine.

Inter-Uni tournaments seems a fun idea. Having a paintball club/society at a university is good for general promotion. No one is contesting that, the accuracy of AJs post still applies from my experience and IMO.

For those to who it applies, dont forget to look up courses for Salford University (apparently inter uni champions 2001), its literally 5 minutes from Manchester city centre and with the other Manc uni's it offers good student facilities and a large student community.

[edit] ^^Good post Simon.

 

[Ion]

Oh dear. Please, PLEASE choose a subject you have a real interest in studying, a university that offers a good course in it and scores high in other important factors (reputation, quality of teaching/research, accommodation standard/price, quality of student union and student life etc.) and a town/city that you'll be happy living in for three or more years. Forget about paintball as a factor.

Not a truer word in this thread, oh and Kent Uni paintball soc right here

 

[Maddogwhitey]

hmm, Since the blatant plugging is going on. here is a list of the unis that have paintball clubs just to settle this. sorry if ive missed you

Aberdeen UNi
RGU (aberdeen polytechnic. AHAHAHA)
Aberystwith (University of wales)
Birmingham UNi
Kent
Conventry
UEA
UWE
University of Teeside
Southampton
Portsmouth

unis that may have clubs, or had clubs.
Imperial college london (PAIN??)
Plymouth

 

[oobermybeer]

haha, thanks whitey haha

 

[Dante]

Apologies for my earlier post, i was pissed off with something else when i wrote it.
However i still stand by what i said.
In no way was saying that uni students will have an advantage, just that it is a good place to start.
Short of trying to find a team, and then rocking up to their training session, I can't think of an easier way to find people who are interested in your sport

AndyDane: you wont become a top class player simply by going to a university that has a team.

Where else are you going to start?

 

[KitsuneAndy]

Apologies for my earlier post, i was pissed off with something else when i wrote it.
However i still stand by what i said.
In no way was saying that uni students will have an advantage, just that it is a good place to start.
Short of trying to find a team, and then rocking up to their training session, I can't think of an easier way to find people who are interested in your sport



Where else are you going to start?

KOTH, local teams, start your own team.

But by the same argument, you wont become a top class player just by joining a team.

A paintball team being at a uni is the LAST thing you should consider when deciding which uni to apply for, no matter how good their team is.

 

[oobermybeer]

ok, andys right, and i think every one has said what they need to say,

dont choose a uni for pb,

uni pb is passionate fun and a brill start,

find a team,

remember pb gets in the way of studys and money

and money and studys gets in the way of pb

keep moving up,



any thing else, or is that it all wrapped up

 

[Robin Hood]

Bunka Munky - I'm not meaning to be patronising, I'm just putting accross what I feel strongly about. That's awesome that your training a lot and with some top players too. I am totally in support of the UK Uni Pball scene and want it to grow. But at it's current stage I don't think it should strongly influence anyones decision.
Your post kinda confused me though - as for the time aspect, not really sure where that came from. You say you have all this time to twiddle your thumbs yet train 'at least' every 2 weeks?
With good time management it's possible to play at any uni on any course - even the ones where you DO have to work the first year. Like Law, Medicine, Engineering - most of the sciences take up a fair bit of time from my experience, as can a lot of more English based/arty courses, depending where your studying of course.

ooobermybeer - I'm not saying that uni isn't a great environment for players to improve themselves - it is! It's the perfect place for young people in their prime to excell, there's lots of money available for clubs if you look for it hard enough. We got a grant of about 1500 quid the first year the club started in London!

BTW, I am a 'present day' uni baller (although I prefer to play outside of uni at the moment). I have been the treasurer of a Uni club, and I'll even state right now that I when return for the next academic year after the summer I will found another club and have it up and running at the University of Nottingham before Christmas.

For all those who think my comment's are damaging or I'm slagging off university paintball, please re-read what I've posted as this is not the case.
I've already said that I feel the players coming out of the univisities over the next few years are likely to be real killers and a decent source of UK talent.
I am genuinely glad to hear that a lot of the clubs are really getting their act together, getting descent training equipment etc. BUT I personally feel that it would be downright rediculous to allow the uni paintball scene to influence your decision about where to go.

There are many many reasons that people go to university. I'm sure most will agree the number 1 reason is to get an education in (hopefully) something your interested in, but this is closely followed by a large list of equally important factors, but the presence of paintball club certainly isn't one that would be in my list at this time.

There are probably a few people out there reading this in a similar situation to Sumo, and I do feel strongly about this. I hope it makes them question their reasons for going to uni, and help them prioritise what is important now and what will actually be important to them while they're there.

My bottom line is choose your course and uni based around all of the other standard factors. Then work the paintball around it.

oobermybeer - sounds good to me