Euro-Teams In The USA

[Jack Wood]

OK, so why has nobody really had a good chat about the level that all the Euro teams achieved in Vegas?

I mean, let me spell it out for you:

4 OUT OF 8 TEAMS IN THE PRO 1/4 FINALS WERE EUROPEAN TEAMS!!!

Now that has to be something to talk about, heh?

Cheers
Jack

 

[cjohns]

Jack- I hyped up the Euro teams best I could on the front page. I did my part

 

[Baca Loco]

A big up to Nexus and it's definitely cool to have some bigtime Euro teams playin' but--
Is it a reflection of the level of play or the absence of the majority of the best teams in the world?
Plainly y'all can't play who ain't there so in that respect it's great but I'm not sure it's big news or indicates some sudden huge improvement, is all.

 

[Robbo]

The absence of the NXL teams is an obvious factor, we would be fools to think otherwise, but to counter this, we can only play the teams who are there.
I think there has been some signifcant improvements in the Euro teams and this is because guys like Magued (Joy) and Laurent (Ton Tons) have realised they have to ratchet up their training to be able to compete.
Dynasty are without doubt the world's best regardless, Naughty Dogs are also without doubt up there with them as are Bad Company (who got 4th place in last year's world cup).

Joy Division have proved their pedigree by beating Strange in last month's Millennium and Ton Tons are also a class outfit.

The Russians need no qualifying having beaten all the NXL sides at one time or another.

We can speculate all we like, but I tell ya this much, it's hard to compete in this series, frikkin hard, there are World class teams in the NPPL and it's gonna get bigger and better.

The main point to note for me was the quality of the Am and novice teams, they are up two or three notches from their Euro counterparts that's for sure.

 

[cjohns]

I have to agree with Pete. A lot of Pro and Am teams got beaten or came damn close to getting beaten by there Nov and Rookie teams. The competition is intense in the NPPL in all four categories and has opened my eyes since playing the last four years in Europe as a Pro. The Novice and Rookie teams in the U.S. could roll a lot of European AM and Pro teams. I give mad props to the Euro teams who come over and compete in the U.S. where the difficulty level is twice as hard. I am not knocking the Euro teams at all, as there are some excellent teams and a lot of them I have friends on. All I am saying is, now that I have played both sides, I would say the Euro's have some catching up to do. I would like to see more European Nov and Am's playing against U.S. Nov's and Am's and see the outcome.

 

[shamu]

It was great to see more international teams at this event. Not just the big name pros like Nexus and Joy, but a number of am/nov/rookie teams as well.

While most of the am/nov/rookie international teams didn't place well, it was good to see them there. Hopefully, this experience will help them to become stonger teams.

I'm in agreement with Pete and Chip. Right now the talent pool in the pro division isn't as deep as it was in the past. There are some american pros who are building/rebuilding their teams (Avalanche, Redz). Where you really saw the depth of talent was in the am and nov classes. Many of these teams gave the pros a run for their money (Dynasty losing to BK Dogs?)

 

[Munkeh]

Maybe im wrong but from what ive read (which i admit is limited) the main advantage we have over the US teams is a structured approach to training Russion Legion style! But i see one major problem with this, eventually the US will adopt this approach. This is when catchment area of players comes in to full effect. Not wanting to knock this seemingly good result for the euro teams but im pretty sure its not going to last for long!

 

[Gyroscope]

I have said before that you need more camoed-out rec players in Europe. Your population density is sufficient, you just don't have as many players in your base. The way to get them, I think, is a strong rec scene.

We have American pro teams that can cherrypick because we have Am, Nov, and even Rookie team that cherrypick. Some of our Rookie squad guys play rec once every month or two and come back with recruits.

All respect to Russian Legion, Joy, Nexus, and the Ton Tons for the professionalism the adhere to. Those training schedules and attitudes are showing the way to the future. But as Munkeh said, American teams can adopt that approach, too. The performance of the Am and lower divisions is evidence that we are catching on.

This all suggests to me that you need to get the kids playing, and get all the kids playing. Paintball is a little like soccer in reverse, where talent pools and public interest are concerned. America has few kids who play soccer, Europe has many if not all. Rec is like sandlot baseball or playground basketball. Those guys are at least getting the basics in their heads. When one out of the thousands shines, you have effectively had a tryout with a thousand hopefuls, while eliminating the fluke factor a one day tryout has.

Don't be American soccer, Euros.

 

[Roland]

The Euro teams did well but how many would have made the quarter finals if the NXL teams had been there?

Its true to say you can only play the teams that are there but to get a real idea of how good you are you need to answer the above question.

 

[Roland]

Originally posted by gyroscope
I have said before that you need more camoed-out rec players in Europe. Your population density is sufficient, you just don't have as many players in your base. The way to get them, I think, is a strong rec scene.

We have American pro teams that can cherrypick because we have Am, Nov, and even Rookie team that cherrypick. Some of our Rookie squad guys play rec once every month or two and come back with recruits.

All respect to Russian Legion, Joy, Nexus, and the Ton Tons for the professionalism the adhere to. Those training schedules and attitudes are showing the way to the future. But as Munkeh said, American teams can adopt that approach, too. The performance of the Am and lower divisions is evidence that we are catching on.

This all suggests to me that you need to get the kids playing, and get all the kids playing. Paintball is a little like soccer in reverse, where talent pools and public interest are concerned. America
as few kids who play soccer, Europe has many if not all. Rec is like sandlot baseball or playground basketball. Those guys are at least getting the basics in their heads. When one out of the thousands shines, you have effectively had a tryout with a thousand hopefuls, while eliminating the fluke factor a one day tryout has.

Don't be American soccer, Euros.

We have a problem, certainly in the UK, that it is far more expensive to play here than in the States.

A lot of sites here only cater for punters and do not encourage players to take the next step and become a rec-baller.

We need all sites to actively encourage punters to play more often and buy their own kit. Until that happens we will have a limited player base.

The tourny scene is the healthiest it has ever been and should start to provide some good recruits for our top teams but it does not help increase the numbers playing regularly.

Its down to the sites to do that but its not in their interests to turn someone into a rec-baller unless they hold walk-ons, which very few of them do.