Article: Thoughts on the NZ Tournament Scene

[dannefaerd]

For those that are wondering this is from 1999 ... so almost 10 years old.

Nothing much has changed has it.

[Souse]

in another 10 years we will still be arguing the same points......once self interest is taken out of paintball it will thrive

[dannefaerd]

in another 10 years we will still be arguing the same points......once self interest is taken out of paintball it will thrive

I see peace in the Middle East before that happens Souse :)

[BGD]

This is a good article, and I know I've only been in the sport a couple of years, but a number of the things mentiond here are being done... ie. going from 7s to 5s, standardising on rules and more consistent refereeing. But because this is such a small country (market wise) I don't think we can reasonably expect to see the "self-interest" component (which seems to come down to paint supply) to be removed from the local game. Reason: field operators need to recover investment in the airball fields, compressors, chronos, etc. and we simply do/can not attract promotional interest from overseas companys to offset this. My experience in this has been that the cost of paint from the field operator at tournies has not been outrageous or overly inflated and if you want to play at a competitive level, expect to go through a fair amount of it!

I believe if we can set and maintain reasonable expectations within the playing community (and shut the whingers up) competitive paintball has a chance of succeeding. One area I think we can improve our chances for survival is to improve our promotion of the sport (drag friends, who don't play, out to open days, and to tutor new teams). Now this next idea will definitely be controversial... bring back the NZPPL! Register members, administer and promote the sport professionally!

...well that's my sound off!

Brian
AssassinZ

[stick]

I was like, no way . . . Jo Pitt is back. But then reading the comments I see he ain't. That is all.

[Simo]

"bring back the NZPPL! Register members, administer and promote the sport professionally!"

Totally agree.

Just to add,
1. Most funding agencies will only look favorably on grants to sporting groups with a "National Body"
2. No sport in New Zealand has ever reached more than "novelty" level without a national body (from a phone conversion with SPARC)

At the risk of starting another p1ss1ng competition, can someone tell me how was the old NZPPL structured? (PM me please)

[ANTSMAN68]

"I was like, no way . . . Jo Pitt is back. But then reading the comments I see he ain't. That is all. "

all that proves Mr Stick, is that ur wayyy older than you look

:)

[ANTSMAN68]

Brian, you have lot of good points there.

Some of the maaaaany probs with tournament paintball as i have seen it..

1. some pple spend far too much time posting on the two forums, and getting into shit fights. (i dont mean here, or this thread, but in the recent past)
2. as tournament paintball community is soooo small, people who genuinely want to do good things, seem to bang heads, where personal opinions come in to play, which includes near everything.
3. you cant have a governing body and expect to be taken seriously in order to recieve funding(yeah right), when the membership base is around 30 or 50 people....... think about it. if you got every single regular tournee player to join, that would number 50 ppl= 10 serious teams of 5 ppl per event.
4. growth comes near fully from rec/bushball.We are not living in the states where a persons first impression of paintball may be tournamentball on airfields. if that happens here it is not the norm. our growth comes from bush.look after the bush players, dont be an ass on field. support the local field op. and still play tournament paintball by choice. its got to be a symbiotic relationship. field ops got to make money=tournament players got to get growth from field ops.

and as much as everyone wants to help and has great ideas, and dont take this the wrong way, but any ideas i have read on here or the other forum, are not new, but have been talked to death over and over, and tried and tried,

best thing we can do, is get out there, support local fields, dont be an ass on field=dont paint urself(tournament players) out to be my shit dont stink wankers, and try cut back on the negative side of things,

far as i can see, with all the doom n gloom in the media, IF things do get worse, job wise, financially for ppls, property prices goin down, etc etc, there will be less people starting to take paintball up,

so make the most of what is left

Ants

[martyb55]

Its nevr an easy thing to grow a sport as most of you know.
Best way is to stay positive!
Bring a mate next time you play. Next time get them to bring one of their mates and so on.
If people see us as ignorant wankers why would they want to join us...?
Even if your a top tourny player, pop into your local rec feild and spred the good word so to speak :bow:
If young players talk to a tourny player they will get the interest. Its the younger up and coming players that are the future of the sport.
Look after them and they will come.

[dannefaerd]

A lot of what will flow - as Ants says - is the experience that people have on the field when they play.

B2 in Dunedin is great at that - and look how strong the 'regular' Dunedin scene is at the moment. Testament to the hard work/fantastic product that he is offering down there.

Auckland - not sure how it's going up there, but assuming that Actions will be leading the local charge there via Kyn.

Wellers - Thunderball are doing some great things, and we're slowly fixing some of the major issues at TAG and with some great customer feedback we're starting (even in the first 3 months we've been running) to see some real repeat business.

[B2]

One of the most game changing and I guess thoughts on Paintball is the length of time we have now had ball in NZ.
Some of the old school guys will relate to this and it isnt old school v new kids.
Back in our day lets say mid to late 80s..The Vietnam War even tho finished was still a popular movie and in the minds of lots of players and as such Playing Paintball in the bush even with our limited weaponary was so damn good..
When ppl turned up to play ball thats what they mentioned so many times..Christ even I had Tigers as my Cam of choice...Oh for those days again.
Anyhow..as time moved on and the PC ppl of the world said..NO you shouldnt play war games..we need to televise this sport/game and show the multitudes how good it is...ahhhhhhh if only the plan had worked totally.
What the early days did was cement the players together into a cohesive unit..yip a TEAM..
Having your patch on your arm felt good...Guys wore patch jackets..best I saw was Gramps jacket .
It gave the team an identity but it also gave the Field you played at recognition..
We played for our Field ..our city...still do.
Once you become seperate from that you lose Identity..
How can you talk to ppl about ball when if they ask whats your local field and can I come and play with you guys when all you can offer is a Blue/Yellow Taco..
Noobs want the feeling of Fear..Fear of the unknown as they hear the siren start the game..Knowing out there some where is a group of guys shaking in thier shoes just like they are..But also knowing they will feel the adrenalin rip thru them as the first crack of a marker rips thru the air..the whack of a ball as it smashes into a tree or barricade next to them..They will be transported in a world of Jungle warfare..They will think Vietnam/Iraq...
Fear transforms to Adrenalin...then to fun..then if its done right..more sales to the field op..So its a win win situation on both sides...
But whats even better is when they come off and you hear them recalling the stories of how one guy had a"machinegun" and just never stopped firing..the fact he just shot his hundy balls of quicker than they did...How they got the flag and did a massive sprint thru the "jungle" to the base to win..only to be boned out by an over zealous defender..
Thats Paintball...Thats how it should be...
Operators need to be responsible...But also Players need to remember thier first game..most would be bush games..go back to your roots...If they look deep within they will know how much fun it is.
Ok so this is something I penned awhile ago..I stand by my views.

I will say this...we can ill afford to lose the likes of Ants from ball...I know we all have different reasons why we quit and believe me I have had those thoughts over my years..
I dont think you ever leave..I think you quit but inside your head you still want to play but just like a noob taking his/her first step..you too are a tad scared to pick a shoota and go with it.
In Dunedin..Yes we have a bona fide club...
Then we have Bman
I give everything I have to make sure we dont get too big for ourselves..
I dont tolerate my guns bigger than yours nor do I let little girly squabbles get bigger...
It may sound like me me me...and yes im proud it is..But behind me I not only do i have my long suffering Paintball wife...But the best bunch of guys Field Op could ask to be associated with..cept Dalton cos hes a girl;)

[LintMan]

Here are my views from a new player.

My group of friends decided months ago to start playing a new sport. Weeks before we had attended the local indoor paintball field and enjoyed it greatly. We were playing in the typical enviroment that was run. We shot heaps of paint but no one "won" the game but we had heaps of fun.

Since then we have come back several times, first with our own Masks and gloves now with our own collection of markers, some new, most 2nd hand mechanical markers off trademe. We have reached a point where shooting 300 rounds of paint with no result is not what we are after. We want a winner and a sense of victory.

Our last trip to the field gave us this. We got a relatively new person as the field supervisor, he kept trying to make us play games like we first did, no winner, no loser just a lot of paint being used. I understand fully this is to sell us more paint but we are beyond that and wanting more rewarding experience.... a tourament style game.

Our field is trying to support the sport. There are signs advertising their Wednesday nights games, a great idea. I look forward to coming along and playing against and with other people interested in the sport.

That I believe is the future, converting the people like us who just played a one off game for a stag do into regulars. More people in tournaments makes for a more diverse and better tournament. Use of rental gear in a tournament enviroment is a good start, a strong and motivated person/people running the local fields is key.

[Spike]

^ Out of curiosity what field are you talking about? Or where are you?

[LintMan]

Paintball Adventure Challenge (Petone), I am based in Wellington.

[Frodo]

Its up to the fields to support the tourney scene and promote it as much as it is the Tourney players job to support their local fields.

Thats all Im going to say, I just like havin fun playing paintball, and I'm going to concentrate on being positive and keeping the people local to me positive also. Everything else we try ends with no gain to the sport or ourselves. :)

Jono

[dannefaerd]

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