i think there should be both sup air and woodsball in the olympics as they represent 2 different aspects to our sport. both require different types of game play and different sets of abilities.
Olympic recognition.
- Thread starter Bon
- Start date
Because it probably is the only true defenition of our sport where two teams are opposed on an EQUAL field of play where, in theory, the better team wins.
The problem with paintball is there is no singular point of focus in play, like ball games or races, one ball, one finishing line. Unless you know what you are looking at with paintball, games can be very similar to the untrained eye. The olympics is a media event, and the sports it shows have to draw viewers or the sponsers go away......
Tournament ball may not be what most players do, but it is the best way of showing what we do to the world without being branded 'army wannabes', and being dismissed at the first hurdle. Everyone that plays for the first time goes to the woods (generally) no matter what format we saw on TV or heard about in another way.
So in short, it is difficult to televise and we will always suffer from the 'military' aspect of the sport, though none exists in our view as ballers.
Recognition as a sport is possible, but the sport is somewhat driven by the industry behind it, until it starts to attract outside sponsors and televised events in a more consistant fashion, we will not get to this first stage.
A. Exile is on to something.
B. Because it's an entertainment medium first and a sport second, not only to the slobbering uniformed masses, but also to the vast majority of paintballers themselves. Because of this, moving beyond the stigma and becoming recognised as anything more (by the people who count) will be very difficult.
hmm
I dont see why there has to be SEPERATE areas of paintball for it to becaome olympic , badminton has mixed gender matches , so it shouldnt be compulsory.
I dont see why there has to be SEPERATE areas of paintball for it to becaome olympic , badminton has mixed gender matches , so it shouldnt be compulsory.
Yes it is... You never see women competing against men, it's a woman and a man versus a woman and a man. Or women versus women and men versus men.
Besides, with the current controversy surrounding paintball (justified or not), there's no way on God's green Earth that paintball will ever become Olympic.
Besides, with the current controversy surrounding paintball (justified or not), there's no way on God's green Earth that paintball will ever become Olympic.
Yep the German view is the usual knee jerk reaction to the events. But the fact that we are associated with any (real) gun crime, although ridiculous, means we have a mountain of stigma to climb before we even get to the people that count.
School shootings are more related to the access to weapons and the fact that the individuals involved were to some extent loners. Hardly the type that we usually find involved in team sports. But that the media and politicians for you.
School shootings are more related to the access to weapons and the fact that the individuals involved were to some extent loners. Hardly the type that we usually find involved in team sports. But that the media and politicians for you.
Not the Olympics but i am in the process of talking to the Transplant Sports UK outfit and seeing about Paintballing becoming part of the National Transplant Games. Who knows where it will lead.
The essence of it is that paintball is too close visually to war for people to cope with watching on tv. Israel vs any arab country? America vs Iran? Russia vs Georgia? Those could just end up in fist fights or worse.
Paintball is recognised as a sport by the paintball community and only us. This is reason why I have to make a paintball society @ uni and not a paintball team, this is also the reason why the majority of people who hear paintball think woodsball.
Until we work harder to have paintball recognised as a sport and not just a game it probably won''t get much more popular than it is now.
My 2p.
A lot of "us" don't even consider it a sport...
No, let me rephrase that. A lot of us that say it's a sport, refuse to approach it as a sport.