Big Team VS Small Team

Florida seems to be constantly growing teams, more than most states, but there are a few places that are growing, and mainly keeping on pace. Southern California, Northern California, the Carolinas, Omaha, Central Texas and New York seem to have the most progression of players and teams.

This is the common Florida team structure, whether for CFPS, (the now dwindling) SPCS, and other other tournaments.

Most local, divisional paintball teams normally consist of about 5-9 players. This would qualify you as a "small team". This team usually plays for fun, or to build experience and usually plays whatever tournament fits their schedules. They sometimes practice when they're all off work, or have free time. Rarely do they have scheduled or set practices. Some teams of this size that have field or factory support, but that is rare.

Then you have larger teams, these teams consist of between 10-30 players. These teams are usually based out of a home field and might have one or two sponsors. They normally receive support from the field by reduced field fees, reduced paint, or reduced merchandise. The sponsors normally supply the teams with slightly above dealer pricing, or dealer pricing. These teams usually play a tournament series, not just single events. They might attend one national event over a year. This event might be a PSP event or USPL event that is within driving distance for them.

The largest of all is the "super-team". These teams are more like an organization. There is normally an owner, a head coach, and sometimes lesser coaches. They normally consist of 30-70+ players. It's normally like a farm of feeder team. The lower division team supports the higher divison team by building players. These teams usually have a field sponsorship much like the "large team" sponsorship, and usually have multiple sponsors. Granted these are not "free stuff" or "full factory support" sponsorships, they normally give the teams everything they need without breaking the bank. These teams might have a gun sponsorship, gear sponsorship, or playing apparel sponsorship. These teams usually play all the local or regional events they can find, and might play multiple PSP or USPL events, or sometimes play the whole series. The “super teams” are geared for progressing players up quickly through the ranks, playing local, progressing to regional, then national, from D5 to D2 in a short amout of time. Those players who can’t keep up with the grueling pace are weeded out.

Larger teams can make things much easier, or in some cases much more difficult. Players on large teams need to be just that, players. The coach or team owner needs to be able to make decisions for the team with minimal input from players. Normally upstart “large” or “super-teams” usually have issues. New sponsors can cause some problems.

With smaller teams if one person cancels last minute, the team is put in a really bad situation trying to find someone to fill in. With a larger team, given the same situation, they’ll easily fill the spot due to the size of the roster. Smaller teams do have an advantage; the players have normally been playing with each other for a while and can gel better with each other than with a larger team, where you may play with different people every week.

"Large" or "super-teams" usually end up on the podiums. One reason is, they have squads to practice with, in their own team. They can also have a better feel for layouts. If you have your whole team, (let's say 30 people and each person) is playing a different specific position, that means you'll have 6 different perceptions on how to play that layout, for that specific spot. These teams also give the player a better chance to move up in the rankings. You can easily shine playing on a D4 team, and if you want to move up, you'll have the players necessary.

Each kind of team, whether it be a "super-team" such as Firece-Damage, or Total Karnage has their own advantages and downfalls compared to large teams such as Fatality, or Tampa United; besides playing on the national level versus the local.

The National League... (of paintball). MAO part 3

Saturday morning, round 2 for all Xball teams, and the beginning of Race to 2 games. Saturday also brings more spectators and a certain group of people. There seems to be a distinct difference between Thursday and Friday, when the Xball prelims are played, and Saturday and Sunday, where all the spectators and 5-man teams arrive. On Thursday and Friday you have the serious players, the guys who have usually played for about 2 or 3 years, and have usually have played multiple National events, the Xball players. Most of the Xball players tend not be very flashy, they all wear proper paintball apparel (such as C9 or Eclipse name-brand playing pants, jerseys or long sleeves). Then you have the 5-man or Race to 2 teams, they are by far a different crowd, whether it be a younger crowd, or less experienced what seems to be the resounding explanation, they are the "agglets".

I've usually had a problem with this group of the paintball community, they focus on clothing, "rare" gear, custom anno'd guns, and bad playing habits, not progression of the sport, or even playing well. I tend to be a traditional player, I wear actual playing pants, I where a normal mask, (granted I put a flashy lens on it, it's a factory part, it's not custom or home-made), a normal jersey, and cleats. I focus on progressing the sport and playing the best I can. I don't care if people take pictures of me, (but it is nice sometimes) or whether my shoes match my gun. But these kids try to look "good", to me it's a joke. I would probably think differently if these kids were actually good and actually played well, but the fact is they don't.

Saturday morning the Semi-Pro team played, and I did as much as I did as much as I could, without being staff on the roster. I drove guys to the field, carried paint to the pits and coached on the spectator side. RNT did well and moved on to Sunday.
In the meantime I was able to check out the trade show and Pro games.

Trade show

Dye booth-
Dye had the largest display of the event, a full tractor trailer with tent. The usual Dye display with pounding music, flat screen TVs, and large product displays. On Thursday and Friday the large flat screen played promo videos and for the weekend played the PSP Webcast. Dye really didn't have a new products except for the Multi-tool, which was on my "buy it" list, but I was too distracted by the $25 Aftershock C9 Jerseys.

Luxe-
DLX had the usual "Luxe Manor" display, with Luxes lining the perimeter and at table in the back. Color kits, grips, batteries, chargers, Raza lazer engraved Dynasty Luxes, and other bits and pieces were for sale. Also a TV displaying the webcast was up, a nice touch. The tech tables were set up outside on right of the tent. I was having bolt stick issues with my Luxe from the last practice and I brought it to them on Thursday, they had it ready in 20 minutes, no charge, awesome customer service. On Saturday at noon Luxe had a Dynasty poster signing without a hitch.

Planet Eclipse-
The gentlemen from across the pond brought all the new stuff, the SL94, the gem studded Argyle Ego9, Etek2 and Geo. They also had a large flat screen displaying the webcast. Egos and Geos were displayed on the wall behind the counter and product such as hoodies, shirts, playing pants, jerseys, and gear bags lined the walls of the tent. Eclipse also had their tech tables set up, working on Egos and Geos all weekend.

Virtue-
Virtue, with licencing from the PSP had all the event apparel and I had to stop by to get an event t-shirt. They had all the OLED and other boards on display, as well as casual apparel. The Ulralite OLED board was unveiled over the weekend. The Crowns were also there, and the new Crown for the Dye Rotor.

The rest of the tents were MWAG, Mac Dev, Bob Long Technologies, Der Der, Empire/ Halo tech booth, Bad News, Feed Fast, Guerrilla Air, and Seventh Element.

Sunday rolls around, RNT beat XSV and moved on to play the undefeated Aftermath II, who barely beat RNT in overtime in the prelims. But the finals game was a complete one-sided match from Aftermath. They won 7-0.

After the final game I loaded up my 4Runner and drove about 6 people to the airport and proceeded on my way back to Florida. It was an uneventful ride, and I arrived back a little bit after midnight.

Overall it was a great week, and a lot of fun to be a part of. It was also, for me, the begining of playing national events.

Opinion and Perception

This is a response to a localized topic and opinion which is currently under debate, and a little bit of a lesson in human nature.


With the hotly debated topics in today's tournament scene comes the name calling, the hate and general douche-baggery of human nature... Or so you think.
Much of the hotly debated topics comes with a "fog of war" so to speak, each side whether in argument, negotiation, or even friendly talks. The actual point or facts become misconstrued and warped. The result is an unclear response, agreement, or decision, whether by misinterpretation or by lack of clarification.

If you’re lost let me explain.

Say side "A" has made a comment about side "B", and it is side "A"s nature to be somewhat satirical and sarcastic, it is also side "A"s intention to help and support side "B" with outside opinion that side "B" may not be aware of. Side "B" has also misinterpreted the opinion of side "A" and has since insulted side "A". Side "A" realizing what has happened responds with apologies and clarification. Side "B"s response is yet to be determined.

So basically the opinion expressed was perceived differently than expected. Maybe both sides need to give a little, one to be more clear, and the other to not take things so seriously and not to give the other side's opinion so much weight.

The National League... (of paintball). MAO part 2

After the Fierce match was the match against yet another Florida team, CFP. The match didn't start well for us, they went up 3-0 off the bat, but after a time out and some good coaching we were able to pull out 4 unanswered points, winning the match 4-3 in overtime. I was able to play the last 4 points, and I hung the overtime flag to win the match. The funny part was, I (being in my first national tournament and not having a full and complete memory of the rules) stood at the dead box waiting to hang the flag for 2 minutes until I realized that all OT games are sudden death. I had a good laugh about it later, but I looked stupid for about 2 minutes.



For the rest of Thursday I spent my time watching the pro games and watching my buddies from Total Karnage play.



Thursday night was pretty calm from all the stories you hear from the event, I was tired and just got some food and hit the hay for the night.



Friday, last day of D3 prelims. Our first match was against Adrenaline. We watched them play the day before and pretty much came into the game with high spirits. Tim decided to have me play center for the game, my job was to hold down the snake side until I found an opening to go up to the "Florida" or center medium dorito and do damage, then work my way up to the X. I played every point that game and we ended up winning 4-1. It was a fun game, and I was able to shine, stay alive and get some kills.



Moving on to the final game in prelims we were to play Misfit Toys Killerz, a team which we underestimated. They went 3-0 in games before us, and we were thirsty to give them their first loss. But we couldn't hold, after a tough battle, and 2 times being the last player alive, we became the 4th victim, losing 2-4. Again I was able to play every point and was quite pleased with my playing performance. I felt that I earned a spot on the first line and was able to prove that I wasn't only able to survive at that level, but thrive. I was able to make my bunkers, stay in my bunker and happen to shoot some people and hang a flag every once and a while.

Our bid to move on to play on Saturday was cut short, we missed it by 2 spots. But just because the competitive side of the event was done for us, didn't mean the event was over.

We still had the Semi-Pro team, RNT All-Starz in the running to win the Semi-Pro division. Now, you may ask "What does that matter? You're not playing on that team, why should you care?"

My answer is simple; because I'm part of the team, I'm a team player. Not just on the D3 Race to 4, but the larger team, the full Speed, RNT All Starz team.

Team player, not just an individual on a team.

The National League... (of paintball). MAO part 1

PSP held their national yearly tournament in the Mid-Atlantic a few weekends ago. And guess who was there? You got it, me.

I always like to tell a story the way it begins, and in this case it's the drive to the event.

My event started with a one-hour drive to West Central Florida, near Wildwood on Tuesday night. I was going that way to meet up with the coach of the team I was going to play with the weekend; Speed playing D3 Race to-4 (Xball).The coach being Tim Altman, owner of Hudson's field Gator Paintball. The drive was the usual trip down the Turnpike and I met up with Tim and Bill around midnight. After meeting up we hit the road, north on I-75 eventually hitting I-95. Bill lead all the way up. Driving through the night and taking an hour rest break after hitting the South Carolina border, we arrived in Rock Hill at roughly 9:30am on Wednesday morning.
We immediately checked into the hotel and grabbed some much needed naps. By about noon we went to check out the event and walk the fields. The full team met up at the field at roughly 3 to go over strategy and for some to actually meet for the first time. One line of the team had practiced together before, the other 5 had never seen each other. I was one of the 5 who didn't know anyone on the team. After heading back to the hotel we talked and decided the lines, who would play with who. I was to play on the second line, the "throw together" line, and I was fine with it. I was my first national, big league event and any playing time for me was a triumph.

Thursday morning rolls around, wake up, load up, show up. Our first match was against Fierce, (us, a Florida team vs another Florida team). Our first line ran 2 back to back points, both ending in our victory. Then it was my line's turn. We started well, 5 bodies alive to the primary bunkers. I was playing snake. After about 3 minutes it was a one on one, me in snake and the other Fierce player running down the field on dorito side. He decided to try and run me down, but I threw a lane where I thought he would go and got him. Then I went and hung the flag, up 3 to 0. Then Fierce threw out their "A" game, beating us by winning the next 4 points. The last point was won because one of our players had a fast gun, a major penalty, leaving us to play the last point with 3 to start with.

More to come at a later post