DFSniper
01-13-2009, 05:36 AM
found this on pbn (of all places!) http://www.pbnation.com/showthread.php?p=55024695#post55024695
I came across a link via PBNation relating to the dramatic changes our sport is undergoing and I must say I couldn't have felt more in tune with what was said by the author John Amodea
. I started playing renegade paintball at the age of 15. Of course in 1988 I couldn't play legally anyway with most fields requiring you to be 16 with signed and notarized waiver. Here I am at 36, well into my 21st year of play, and I can't help but feel the crunch of the industry shift. I have been at every level of the game from player, to local field ref, field manager, field owner, store owner, manufacturer, national tournament player, and PSP and NPPL certified head judge.
So what am I doing lately? Well, I have put back on my camos and started playing with a pump again. My team, which has been a highly successful and well sponsored D2 team continues to pursue the dream of X-Ball and PSP glory. However I have had to get in touch with my inner child...that place where my love for paintball began. For me I am transcended back to 1988 and playing with friends in the woods, playing with a pump I certainly couldn't afford then. I am simply having a blast.
I wanted to write an article entitled "where have all the tournaments gone?." On come level we must take ownership of the fact that the reason tournament paintball has taken a serious downturn is our own mismanagement of the sport. Frankly, it isn't fun anymore to go to an event, where i have to deal with the complaining and political plays from the parties in charge. Even now as my personal tournament play comes to a slow but eventual close, I find myself happier about the sport as a whole. I enjoy playing again. I remember why I play. I play because this is a sport where you are measured by your ability to think quickly on your feet and where you can be the hero for the day, everyday. You play because an afternoon at the paintball field with friends is the best place to be. You can swap war stories and poke fun at the welts you each have received during the day, or recall how you almost died ruining back the flag while adrenalin carries you ever closer to victory.
We are the stewards of the sport Bob Gurnsey and his friends gave to us. We have not taken good care of it. We have made it something more than it was ever meant to be. We have tainted the sport with our own greed and desire for false successes. What is an NPPL Title anyways? We make these professional players our role models and for what? What truly have they done to give back to this sport? The image continues to drive the tournament paintball scene further and further into obscurity.
All across this country kids will be getting their first paintball marker this holiday season. More of them will be getting that BT, Tippmann, or Spyder that have wanted because their next door neighbor has one. They will return to play with their friends in the woods behind their neighbor's house. Paintball will be simple again. A game of tag and capture the flag. A game played among friends on a warm Sunday afternoon.
Thanks for listening.
Your brother in arms - C.E.H. paintball class of '88
I came across a link via PBNation relating to the dramatic changes our sport is undergoing and I must say I couldn't have felt more in tune with what was said by the author John Amodea
. I started playing renegade paintball at the age of 15. Of course in 1988 I couldn't play legally anyway with most fields requiring you to be 16 with signed and notarized waiver. Here I am at 36, well into my 21st year of play, and I can't help but feel the crunch of the industry shift. I have been at every level of the game from player, to local field ref, field manager, field owner, store owner, manufacturer, national tournament player, and PSP and NPPL certified head judge.
So what am I doing lately? Well, I have put back on my camos and started playing with a pump again. My team, which has been a highly successful and well sponsored D2 team continues to pursue the dream of X-Ball and PSP glory. However I have had to get in touch with my inner child...that place where my love for paintball began. For me I am transcended back to 1988 and playing with friends in the woods, playing with a pump I certainly couldn't afford then. I am simply having a blast.
I wanted to write an article entitled "where have all the tournaments gone?." On come level we must take ownership of the fact that the reason tournament paintball has taken a serious downturn is our own mismanagement of the sport. Frankly, it isn't fun anymore to go to an event, where i have to deal with the complaining and political plays from the parties in charge. Even now as my personal tournament play comes to a slow but eventual close, I find myself happier about the sport as a whole. I enjoy playing again. I remember why I play. I play because this is a sport where you are measured by your ability to think quickly on your feet and where you can be the hero for the day, everyday. You play because an afternoon at the paintball field with friends is the best place to be. You can swap war stories and poke fun at the welts you each have received during the day, or recall how you almost died ruining back the flag while adrenalin carries you ever closer to victory.
We are the stewards of the sport Bob Gurnsey and his friends gave to us. We have not taken good care of it. We have made it something more than it was ever meant to be. We have tainted the sport with our own greed and desire for false successes. What is an NPPL Title anyways? We make these professional players our role models and for what? What truly have they done to give back to this sport? The image continues to drive the tournament paintball scene further and further into obscurity.
All across this country kids will be getting their first paintball marker this holiday season. More of them will be getting that BT, Tippmann, or Spyder that have wanted because their next door neighbor has one. They will return to play with their friends in the woods behind their neighbor's house. Paintball will be simple again. A game of tag and capture the flag. A game played among friends on a warm Sunday afternoon.
Thanks for listening.
Your brother in arms - C.E.H. paintball class of '88