I think we're f'ked.
Originally posted by Al Woods
I posted a while ago that if we didn't do something about X-Ball over here (Europe) then we will be in the same talent boat as we are now and will never bve able to compete with the yanks.
The land of milk and honey and all that, they are pioneering the X-ball series and the costs and logistics of it all seem just too far out of most of our reaches....ever. All the major backers are based in the states so we will only get the left overs, this kinda leaves us in a ****ty situation.
I think this could possibly mean the end of the Millennium series as we know it, maybe, depending on whether we take up the X-ball format or not. As mentioned before, we could try and take up the X-Ball game as a series but who can afford to play that AND a Mileennium series???? Not many teams as far as I can see. It all seems to going just like most US based sports, baseball, hockey, basketball, with all the top leagues developed and almost horded by the yanks. This leaves us out in the cold.
Personally I think something has to give, it can only be one or the other, perhaps run the Millennium as is with a showcase event at one or two of the bigger tourneys, X-Ball day only or something (??), it would probably only work as a non-league deal until we can catch up and learn more about it all AND gain some experience and perhaps get some decent NEW teams together, I doubt most of our current teams could ever cut it at that level.
It's looking bleak (at the moment) in my eyes and I'm fair gutted coz I'd love to play it at a decent level and not be there as a bunch of no-hopers just having a laugh on X-Ball 'type' fields'.
Help us Robbo one, you're our only hope. 
Al, I'm not sure looking to me is gonna help matters because what lies at the very heart of all this is money and lack of direction and I'm afraid as you have already recognised, Europe is a poor second cousin in both.
When I went to that meeting with Richmond, Laurent and Sergei, us three Europeans all knew what was at stake.
Unless we secured some European involvement in X-Ball, then we would get left behind.
That is why we constructed the World Series as a possible template which included Europe as an equal partner and would also allow our game, or rather skill levels, to develop alongside that of the Americans and therefore not get left behind on any front.
That model was subsequently deemed to be unworkable because of our relative lack of finances but an alternative construct is now being considered which may be practical for us to assimilate.
But this only scratches at the real problems, firstly there is really only one team in Europe able to compete with the US at present, The Russian Legion.
Secondly, the existing dogmas and philosophies that paintball teams in Europe adopt are practically useless, out of date and unprofessional, and hold no real hope of any of them being able to compete with the Yanks or the Russkies.
Make no mistake about what I am saying here, I don’t care what some idiots out there may be saying, the Russians, and the Yanks will pull away from us in quantum leaps unless we start to do things properly when it comes to organising our teams.
When I look at what teams are doing over here in England in approaching training, I just give up sometimes.
No other team I know of over here trains properly, that is, trains to develop and refine their game so as to make improvement the main goal.
Sergei has nailed this to a fine art, almost created a science out of it.
When are we going to realise that we need to get serious if we wanna play hardball.
Instead of playing stupid ass little tourneys that nobody cares about, get out there and train, practice, sprint, get fit because this is what it now takes to become a top-flight team.
Do anything else, and you got no right to bitch and moan about anything !!!
Now some people might say, ‘Well, it’s alright for you Robbo, your team has got bundles of sponsorship, it’s easy for you to say and do’.
Well, it ain’t easy for us to do, we have to work really hard at what we trying to do and as for sponsorship ?
Well, the fact that you might not have such support does not preclude any team from training the right way. You could get away with 10 boxes of paint per training session and easily learn and refine so much more than going to some stoopid ass tourney that means nothing to nobody.
But you have to utilise that paint correctly and herein lies the reason why so many teams are just gonna go thru the motions of calling themselves pros when in reality, they are anything but.
The paintball landscape is changing before our very eyes, if we don’t try to keep pace and readjust the way we do things as teams, then the cherry picking Yanks, along with the technical genius of the Russkies Machine, are gonna leave us in their wake and we only have ourselves to blame.
Pete
