there are 5 players in a x-ball squad so small minibus divide the cost by 5 should be realy cheap then
University Paintball 2009
- Thread starter Frenchman117
- Start date
But then you need someone with a license to drive a minibus, and not only that but you have to convince the minibus agency that you're going to be responsible with it!
I'd like to see any agency approve a group of uni students on a tourney tour.
And I'm pretty sure you have to have to be over a certain age, or have a certain amount of experience before you can rent transport.
Sorry to be a killjoy
Im sure the uni has transport for sports teams and if they are willing to provide transport for rugby and football teams then they should provide transport for al teams
you get one with a driverBut then you need someone with a license to drive a minibus, and not only that but you have to convince the minibus agency that you're going to be responsible with it!
I'd like to see any agency approve a group of uni students on a tourney tour.
And I'm pretty sure you have to have to be over a certain age, or have a certain amount of experience before you can rent transport.
Sorry to be a killjoy
OK yes I used to run the league.
Last year we opened it up to colleges and we had a great responce. 19 teams came forward, I was in the states so asked someone who will not be named to follow up with them to source money. Said person did a runner and never sent any comunications.
So there is demand for it and in the past I think they have averaged around 12 teams.
Now...... if a few people want to get together and organise something I will mroe than happily help and advise from a distance.
BUT you need to be good at following up....... students and ballers are lazy....... mix them and you need a good hard whip to get them into shape.
Now if people want to step forward I will help - we have the promotional packs ready to go and I can show you how it was done in regards to cost etc.
Last year we opened it up to colleges and we had a great responce. 19 teams came forward, I was in the states so asked someone who will not be named to follow up with them to source money. Said person did a runner and never sent any comunications.
So there is demand for it and in the past I think they have averaged around 12 teams.
Now...... if a few people want to get together and organise something I will mroe than happily help and advise from a distance.
BUT you need to be good at following up....... students and ballers are lazy....... mix them and you need a good hard whip to get them into shape.
Now if people want to step forward I will help - we have the promotional packs ready to go and I can show you how it was done in regards to cost etc.
I'm pretty much dedicating my next year before uni to try and get this set up so I will appreciate the advice and an information pack if possible please.
The inter uni league was great fun (when it was running smoothly), and yes there is support available from the student unions if you get serious and commit a lot of time to getting a society up and running. We at UWE have the benefit of 5 years histoy to use as leverage (and the fact that we've had a member on the budget committee since our inception ), but if you are willing to put the time in it's perfectly doable. The weakest link in the chain, as Kat has pointed out, is the people involved. If someone is prepared to do the leg work and get things organised well in advance, chase people up for money, etc. then I'd be happy to get the UWE crew involved and lend a hand myself. It'd be nice to have something to play over the off season after all.
Once you've gotten through all the red tape of getting your society started up, there are lots of ways to get students involved in paintball if you can just let them experience it. At UWE we're starting a "give it a go" scheme to give new guys a go for free at our reball sessions, running cheap walkon/rental days, etc. It's a lot of work, but it's worthwhile to meet new ballers and have fun without all the retarded politics.
), but if you are willing to put the time in it's perfectly doable. The weakest link in the chain, as Kat has pointed out, is the people involved. If someone is prepared to do the leg work and get things organised well in advance, chase people up for money, etc. then I'd be happy to get the UWE crew involved and lend a hand myself. It'd be nice to have something to play over the off season after all. Once you've gotten through all the red tape of getting your society started up, there are lots of ways to get students involved in paintball if you can just let them experience it. At UWE we're starting a "give it a go" scheme to give new guys a go for free at our reball sessions, running cheap walkon/rental days, etc. It's a lot of work, but it's worthwhile to meet new ballers and have fun without all the retarded politics.
I played for UEA last year. I was new to paintball and after taking the gamble to buy the gear I was dissapointed when everything fell through and decided to sell up.
The problem with uni teams is the cost. I know UWE have got a good set up but not all unis are as supportive. UEA covered our paint/entry costs to the league last year but wouldn't help with transport, subsidising trips or much else. When they don't give you enough support to run events/trips for people who don't want to play Sup'Air or the ability to provide places to train then there is nothing to offer the paintball society members. Nothing to offer -> No members -> No funding -> No team.
I forked out over 350quid for gear. This is a lot of money when you only get £1000 per semester without any other financial support and are trying to budget. Most new players will be put off by this.
I don't mean to sound defeatist but paintball is an expensive sport and students don't have much money. It doesn't mix. UWE's good facilities for paintball obviously greatly aid the societies cohesiveness but speaking from my experience with UEA paintball, without the trips and the financial support its very hard to keep going as a society. Without the society the team doesn't have funding and without the funding the players can't usually afford to play.
I accept the comment about snowsports being expensive and attracting interest, but snowsports is a vastly more popular sport and not comparable to paintball. People are willing to pay 300-500 pounds on a holiday but not near to the equivelent on equipment followed by entry fees and then the continuous strain on cash from forking out for paint. At the end of the day, going snowboarding is seen as a better use of cash in most peoples eyes than splashing out on loads of money on equipment they might only use a couple of times a year.
Perhaps an active league would give more incentive to uni teams and I'm all in favour of that and I wish you guys luck if you're trying to get it going again.
My advice to uni teams would be don't expect your union to pay for you to play. I expect most unions are similar to ours in the sense that they give money out in relation to how much a society is and how much they need it. The problem is that people won't join a paintball society to go play woodsball once or twice a year which is what most people want to do. This limits the member base considerably. The only way to entice people is with considerable discounts so they can go play more often. These discounts are rarely offered and you'll find if you ask for them the sites will probably just give you their usual group discount which won't equate to much. Members will still be looking at £50+ per trip when you factor in travelling, food and paint. A lot of money, which puts people off.
I think I fell guilty to expecting too much from our union. Hopefully other unions are more accomodating and I'm wrong. I would say if you want to play in a uni team, get a devoted bunch of people together willing to pay their own way. Think about entering exisiting leagues and tournaments to get your regular play in. Then perhaps approach the uni to get things like reball training facilities set up. Then you can look into making official societies, with a more sporting based approach (which is what paintball needs) rather being a society providing for a team with occasional woodsball players to make up the required numbers as a society.
Sorry, if I'm putting a dampner on things. I'm just trying to be helpful by letting you know the problems we faced which inevertably brought us to a halt. Hopefully, you can avoid them and make more of a success of it than we were able.
Thanks for reading, good luck.
The problem with uni teams is the cost. I know UWE have got a good set up but not all unis are as supportive. UEA covered our paint/entry costs to the league last year but wouldn't help with transport, subsidising trips or much else. When they don't give you enough support to run events/trips for people who don't want to play Sup'Air or the ability to provide places to train then there is nothing to offer the paintball society members. Nothing to offer -> No members -> No funding -> No team.
I forked out over 350quid for gear. This is a lot of money when you only get £1000 per semester without any other financial support and are trying to budget. Most new players will be put off by this.
I don't mean to sound defeatist but paintball is an expensive sport and students don't have much money. It doesn't mix. UWE's good facilities for paintball obviously greatly aid the societies cohesiveness but speaking from my experience with UEA paintball, without the trips and the financial support its very hard to keep going as a society. Without the society the team doesn't have funding and without the funding the players can't usually afford to play.
I accept the comment about snowsports being expensive and attracting interest, but snowsports is a vastly more popular sport and not comparable to paintball. People are willing to pay 300-500 pounds on a holiday but not near to the equivelent on equipment followed by entry fees and then the continuous strain on cash from forking out for paint. At the end of the day, going snowboarding is seen as a better use of cash in most peoples eyes than splashing out on loads of money on equipment they might only use a couple of times a year.
Perhaps an active league would give more incentive to uni teams and I'm all in favour of that and I wish you guys luck if you're trying to get it going again.
My advice to uni teams would be don't expect your union to pay for you to play. I expect most unions are similar to ours in the sense that they give money out in relation to how much a society is and how much they need it. The problem is that people won't join a paintball society to go play woodsball once or twice a year which is what most people want to do. This limits the member base considerably. The only way to entice people is with considerable discounts so they can go play more often. These discounts are rarely offered and you'll find if you ask for them the sites will probably just give you their usual group discount which won't equate to much. Members will still be looking at £50+ per trip when you factor in travelling, food and paint. A lot of money, which puts people off.
I think I fell guilty to expecting too much from our union. Hopefully other unions are more accomodating and I'm wrong. I would say if you want to play in a uni team, get a devoted bunch of people together willing to pay their own way. Think about entering exisiting leagues and tournaments to get your regular play in. Then perhaps approach the uni to get things like reball training facilities set up. Then you can look into making official societies, with a more sporting based approach (which is what paintball needs) rather being a society providing for a team with occasional woodsball players to make up the required numbers as a society.
Sorry, if I'm putting a dampner on things. I'm just trying to be helpful by letting you know the problems we faced which inevertably brought us to a halt. Hopefully, you can avoid them and make more of a success of it than we were able.
Thanks for reading, good luck.
I used to run Warwick University's paintball society.
When I took over it was essentially just a club that went to a rec site every other weekend.
I spent a year trying to get a team set up. I had the players, but money was always the issue especially on student loans. We managed to get the students union to buy us several sets of kit and subsidise a couple of tournaments (said we wanted to compete under the uni name and they were very helpful!).
We managed to enter a couple of tournaments and had some great fun, however then my time in charge was up and I left the uni (as did several others who were in the team). After we left there were no longer enough "tournament minded" players in the society so it went back to being a club which went to a rec site every other weekend (just with a bit more equipment)
Thats the two main problems with paintball at university: The cost and fact that every year the membership changes dramatically.
When I took over it was essentially just a club that went to a rec site every other weekend.
I spent a year trying to get a team set up. I had the players, but money was always the issue especially on student loans. We managed to get the students union to buy us several sets of kit and subsidise a couple of tournaments (said we wanted to compete under the uni name and they were very helpful!).
We managed to enter a couple of tournaments and had some great fun, however then my time in charge was up and I left the uni (as did several others who were in the team). After we left there were no longer enough "tournament minded" players in the society so it went back to being a club which went to a rec site every other weekend (just with a bit more equipment)
Thats the two main problems with paintball at university: The cost and fact that every year the membership changes dramatically.