Whats happened to the UK tourney scene?

[Robbo]

would I be wrong to ask how many sites that offer walk on days have sup air fields. Certainly in the South West I can only think of one. Do you think the addition of an air ball field at a walk on day would introduce more players to this format therefore encouraging more to consider a competitive slant on their game. I know I definitley would. ?? Would I also be wrong to suggest that many site owners cant really be bothered with the walk on player due to financial reasons preferring guests who hire equipment, pay inflated prices and never come back?

I think when the federation was created, I immediately knew we had the required expertise to put things right.
Whether or not we had the will was another matter, but as time went on, it became obvious to me at least, we all wanted the same thing, for the UK tourney scene to get back on its feet.

With any reconstruction program, it has to start with a focus on the fundamentals, not least of which was improving the paintball product on offer, the tournament itself.

We will not achieve this overnight, and on the way, we will experience political hurdles as we have done but I think we will overcome them all eventually.

I cannot think of one person, not even one, who we need on our board to give us a better chance of doing the job in hand.
We got who it takes and we have the will to do it ...... we also have our detractors but I can honestly count these on one hand; thankfully, the vast, vast majority believe in what we are trying to do and are behind us .. and we need that support because without it, we are sunk.

 

[Fisz]

would I be wrong to ask how many sites that offer walk on days have sup air fields. Certainly in the South West I can only think of one. Do you think the addition of an air ball field at a walk on day would introduce more players to this format therefore encouraging more to consider a competitive slant on their game. I know I definitley would. ?? Would I also be wrong to suggest that many site owners cant really be bothered with the walk on player due to financial reasons preferring guests who hire equipment, pay inflated prices and never come back?

You see, there's a bit of a misunderstanding going on there in your last question.

When you consider the statistics, the typical paintball player is a person who goes to a field, rents equipment and pays what you call "inflated prices" for a bag of paint. You, me and many others who own their own equipment and play regularly - we're not the majority. Another thing that I believe is a common misconception among both players and field operators is what kind of "product" the fields offer. What they are in effect doing, whether they realise this or not, is selling FUN. It's very important to understand this, because when you do, you open your eyes to a completely different view on paintball. There's a field operator who owns and runs a field in Canada, his name is Reiner Schafer and he's also a member on this forum. Throughout running his business he learned, that customers are willing to spend a certain amount of money on a paintball outing, and that paintball's pricing is directly related to the amount of paintballs "in the air" and that the higher that number is, the less fun his customers have. Some people who are used to shooting high volumes of paint will call his pricing outrageous and say that he is crazy and will be soon out of business - but the exact opposite is true. His business is going really well and he has higher attendance numbers than his "competition" in the area.
Regulating the price of paintballs means his customers don't get overshot, that they have fun playing the game and use their amount of paint in about the same time as people who shoot a case or two. Higher prices mean he has a higher margin. This means he can reinvest some of that money back into the field to make it attractive and keep the customers happy. And what's also important, at the end of day he can feed his family and not hate working there.

 

[timmyh007]

Fisz, I am not sure you understand what I am getting at. You are talking about a field owner in Canada. I am talking about introducing players into the UK scene and sourcing more players into sup air ball and tournament play, not guests at a site in Canada. I am sure his business plan works beautifully but it wont improve the state of the competitive scene in the UK will it? My question is based on talking to non paintballers who have occasionally played at a corporate event or a stag/hen do and felt they have been fleeced.
I am asking if field owners in this country could or should do more to introduce air fields into walk on days or even hire days to try and encourage more people to turn their hand at tournament paintball but wont because they cant be arsed or it is too cost prohibitive

and noone has actually answered the question about how many sites in the SW offer Sup air

 

[stongle]

My question is based on talking to non paintballers who have occasionally played at a corporate event or a stag/hen do and felt they have been fleeced.
I am asking if field owners in this country could or should do more to introduce air fields into walk on days or even hire days to try and encourage more people to turn their hand at tournament paintball but wont because they cant be arsed or it is too cost prohibitive

Well, you've completely missed the main motivation most people go to a days Paintballing in the first place. People go to play simulated war with their mates and not loose a leg or a head in the process. No one goes to a customer site to play bouncy castle ball. There's little correlation between the Dirty Dozen and dressing in pink motorcross gear and playing a game with too many rules, ridiculous penalties that's over in 30 seconds (and looks sh*t when you're sitting on the sidelines).

People feel fleeced if they've not had a quality entertainment experience for the money, not because they haven't been introduced to Super Air Paintball. If the game scenarios and arena's are good, the marshalls polite and attentive and the site a "nice" place to be, then the value perception for the average customer will be very different.

Unfortunately this is a lot harder to do than type. Too little cheddar and too many parties involved, I mean why invest when it's easier to take a bullseye of each "punter" for most site owners?

The Federation, is a very good thing for Tournament Paintball, it's participants all have a vested interest. The biggest issue paintball in the UK faces is getting the site owners (or the majority customer interface) to act in a similar fashion.

 

[Fisz]

Timmyh007,

I perfectly understand what you're asking about. While I may not be the best person to answer that question, the reason why I posted what I did, is because there's an inherent flaw in your thinking.

What your question implies is that you feel the prices charged at those fields are too high and that the people who offer the service are not doing a good job.

You are not the customer that the paintball sites want to cater to. "Your paintball" is not the norm of how paintball looks anywhere in the world. You, me and the majority of people on here are not the people who keep paintball afloat - we're minority. A minority that is catered to by only a handful of site operators out there in UK and in most cases they're not making a living out of that, instead they do it for the love of the game. So in effect, what we're playing can be considered subsidised hardcore paintball.

 

[Lovetone]

I keep reading about the decline in the UK competitive scene but can some actually explain to me what has happened, perhaps why and what the scene at its healthiest used to be like?

Been away for a a while

Cheers

wow you must be bored

 

[timmyh007]

???

 

[Robbo]

Actually, Lovetone does care [I think], it's just that maybe he has been hammered into an unashamed cynic like a lot of us.

You'll have to excuse the doom and gloom that surrounds and compounds our demise but a lot of us here remember days of old when our players demanded respect.

Nexus demand such respect but they pretty much stand alone in the UK and if it wasn't for Dave Youngblood's support for that team, it would have had very real problems and possibly fallen by the wayside.

Things will get better in the UK, of that I'm sure but unfortunately this is a default analysis because I don't think they could get much worse....well they could, in that I could make a comeback but let's leave that in the realms of fantasy and disaster.

All our young aspiring players should look towards Nexus and at least respect what they have achieved, and then, if you really love this game, try to emulate what the likes of Tommy Pemberton, Leigh Digard, Dunny, Clint Moore and Jason Wheeler have all done to get where they are.

It didn't come easy I tell ya that ......

 

[timmyh007]

Pete Robinson plays again. Imagine that for a moment!

 

[Piper]

Pete Robinson plays again. Imagine that for a moment!

No thank you I have just eaten!