Playing Classic 'Ball

The Paintball Family Takes Care of Its Own

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 12:48:25 GMT

Help For Bradley

Above, Bradley and Jacob Easter of Team Toxic Teddys in a recent Facebook post.

In yesterday's article by Cheryl Ellis about the WCPL's NY event in Paintball.Media, it was stated that paintballers are a family, even if we do like to get together to shoot each other in the face. Hey - every family is unique.

Proving that point today is a post on Facebook by Jacob Easter, Captain of the Toxic Teddys team (who have been coming on strong all year). Jacob reveals this his nephew, Bradley, was in an accident and suffered some serious injuries, requiring two rods in his legs and including a broken pelvis (sheesh!).

Jacob also informs us that Bradley, who is 8 years old, has his heart set on playing paintball when he gets old enough and has been collecting some gear towards that goal.

Jacob asked if the paintball community could step up and help outfit Bradley for his debut on the field and the support is already rolling in. Makes me proud of you all, even those of you who have shot me in the face. (Not many, truth to tell, but enough.)

Here's a link to the post on Facebook . He's already being offered events to attend, markers, loaders, tanks and masks. Show Bradley some support!

Snap Shots: 7/11/2023

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 19:47:01 GMT

Happenings Around the Paintbball World

Registration for the Northern California Classic event (August 5 & 6) is now open. You can register your team here .

The event is hosted by Fred Schultz and will be held at Shooter's All Season Paintball and Airsoft.

***

PaintbballMedia had a nice article on the New York Classic, written by Cheryl Ellis in their July issue who wrote that the league "is rapidly becoming the Woodstock of paintball". (Heck yeah!) She also noted: "Known for its low key vibe and welcoming atmosphere, these events tend to feel a bit like a dysfunctional family reunion. We love each other. We love seeing each other and catching up. But more than anything, we love shooting each other, preferably in the face."
That's WCPL ball in a nutshell.

***

Work continues apace at Shooters, prepping for the North Cal event. Here's a pic . Yes, OG ballers still get down and dirty!

***

Coming soon, the ICC/Montressor Classic, and Sparky will be there , selling some cool vintage stuff.

***

And Fred Schultz will appear tonight on his Mr. Fred and Friends podcast, hosting Kieran"GoldenEagle" Devin.

Guest Post: We do this for us, we do this for them, we do this for the children! by Keirsten "Red" Pedersen

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Fri, 07 Jul 2023 13:46:34 GMT

Female Players and Teams Like the Valkyries Are Changing the Sport

Keirsten "Red" Pedersen plays for the Valkyries Woodsball team, regular attendees at WCPL events. She's one of the many female players that founder Kathy Alvarez has pulled together from around the country and the world to represent female players and take an active role in encouraging more women to play at all levels of the game, as well as helping the rest of us learn to welcome female players into our ranks.

Keirsten - a striking figure, tall, tattooed, pierced and, yes, red-headed, with a forceful, out-going personality that tells you the red hair is for real - has been writing interestingly and provocatively on paintball for a bit. The WCPL blog invited her to guest post about her experiences as a female tournament player and issues that impact the same. We hope to see her posts here on a regular basis and hope you enjoy this introduction from a different perspective: (Keirsten is fourth from the right in the back row)

We do this for us, we do this for them, we do this for the children!

by Keirsten "Red" Pedersen Valkyries Woodsball Team

I am an intense person. It's always been hard for me to find somewhere I felt I belonged. Even harder for me to find somewhere that I thrive in. It was a crazy series of events that eventually landed me in the passionate, talented family that is the paintball community, and I am ever grateful that I am finally here.

It's funny, because I think back to the first time I was going to play paintball and how my anxiety was so bad because i didn't want to look silly around a bunch of people I don't know. I had a friend who introduced me into the world, but I still had not a single clue really what I was doing with anything, the games, my marker etc. I ended up not playing that day and then felt SO defeated all day. I told myself I was NOT going to let that happen again.

The very first scrimmage I played was practicing with the master blasters at Paintball Sports Inc, in Newburgh NY. I was shaking so bad. I ran slow, I was just trying to stay alive in the match, I was silent in my field communication. It was so much to take in. But I was HOOKED. That jittery feeling instantly left as soon as my legs started carrying me, and I can remember thinking I will play paintball until these legs will no longer work anymore. I fell in love with this sport, this community, the thrill. I finally understood the passion that people have for this life.

My third ever time playing was the Montressor Classic in July of 2022, also hosted at PSI, NY. I played under team Fox, whom I have so much respect and love for. That day I met a handful of people that I will come to call some of my closest friends today. There I met Cheryl Ellis and we hit it off instantly. Although we didn't do very well, we had so much fun together and that is ALL that matters the most in this sport. I couldn't wait to do it again, and again, and again.

It wasn't long after that event that Cheryl had contacted me and asked the question that will forever change my life, quite frankly. She asked if I would be interested in playing on team Valkyries. I was over the moon excited, but nervous to think about playing with an all female team. That was not going to stop me.

It all was set up and eventually Kathy Alvarez, captain of the Valkyries, called me to introduce herself. We talked for two and a half hours and i was so taken with why this exceptional woman decided to create this team. I was sold, I was a VALKYRIE. Hearing her story, some history, her reasoning behind creating the Valkyries is so beautiful and meaningful. I had to be a part of the team that is going to change the sport and this community for the better. I didn't know how that better was yet at this point, I just know I wanted to contribute.

I continued playing in small events and practicing with a team that also has shown me so much love and support from the very beginning, the Automen. Joker, automen's captain, has been such a huge influence since I met him. The advice, strategies, and focus he has taught me to hone in on when I am playing also has forever embedded itself in my brain. I started picking one thing I wanted to improve on and focusing on that every time I played. I had finally found a passion that I know I will never get bored of and all I could think about was improving and growing my paintball family.

Once I became a Valkyrie, it was still a couple of months before I got to meet my captain and some of my teammates at St Louis wcpl 2022 held at Gateway Paintball. I was traveling, meeting new people and doing what I've come to love more than anything, play ball. It couldn't get any better than that.

Being the first full year the Valkyries are playing WCPL, we knew it was going to be a huge learning process for all of our events this year. St Louis last year gave us many ideas on the areas we need to focus on to strengthen our skills more. But, it was definitely the foundation we needed to start kicking our feet off the ground. Many of us became very close that weekend and those bonds have carried over and grown so much stronger in the last 9 months. We had begun working on so much from that very moment. There's no where to go but up from there.

Playing on an all female team was definitely not what I expected- and for that I'm grateful. it's given me the support system i didn't realize I needed. people that now hold me accountable to showing up because they want me there. There's hardships and strong personalities all around, but that's also where our strength comes from. Over the last year some of us have played together consistently, and the improvements in our teamwork and individual skills are a direct result of that.

I've had so many little girls come up to me at paintball events in awe that we are out there playing. It truly melts my heart to see the glitter in their eyes when they talk about wanting to play when they are older. That's what the Valkyries are all about. It is so refreshing and humbling to see that what we are doing, besides just doing what we love, is really having an impact on the younger female generation. I always think about if I had someone like me when I was younger, I would have found my passion way earlier in life. Everything would have been different. However, Everything happens for a reason, and I am meant to be a part of the Valkyries Woodsball Team. This family has given me and my teammates so much more purpose than just a group of friends to play with. The determination of the women on this team is unmatched, I couldn't think of a better selection of fierce females to help positively influence the younger generations.

We do this for us, we do this for them, we do this for the children!

You can visit Keirsten on her FB Page here and more about the Valkyries here

Happy Fourth of July!

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 16:20:33 GMT

Celebrating the United States of America's 247th Birthday

From all of us at the WCPL, to all of you in paintball land, we wish you a happy, fun, and safe Fourth of July celebration!

Let's Talk About Scoring

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Sun, 02 Jul 2023 16:07:04 GMT

Are We Scoring (Traditional) Events the Right Way?

Tournament scoring began in 1983 with the NSG regionals and National Championship. At that time, teams had 15 players, games lasted a half hour to an hour on huge parcels of land in the woods and penalties were assessed as point deductions after a game concluded.

Scoring was based on the following:

80 points and an automatic win for a Flag Hang

In the event that no flag was hung, teams received points as follows -

3 points per live player

20 points for flag grab
15 points for flag in motion at game end

for a potential total of 45 + 20 + 15, or 80 points.

Meaning that you could score the same as a flag hang (80) if you somehow kept all of your players alive, made the first grab and were returning it when time ran out.

As a former strategy board game designer, that does not seem right, although if that system's creators were focusing on stealth, sneaking around and winning games with few to none actual eliminations, it kind of makes sense.

Later versions folded the flag hang points into that mix, meaning that a game could end with as high as 160 points awarded - making for an awkward system.

(First grab points never sat well with me either. It's like rewarding a team for NOT achieving the game's objective. Others argue that it represents partial completion of the objective, but then, if that's the case, why don't we score all grabs that occur? I don't expect this to change, but it is food for thought.)

Over time, the NSG scoring system was modified by later events such as the PMI North American Championship. the Air Pistol Open and Music City Open. Once we introduced the 1-for-1 penalty system and largely eliminated after game point deductions, scoring was pretty much finalized by the NPPL using the system we largely employ these days - 1 point for a live player, 2 points for an elimination, 20 for the Grab, 50 for the Hang, making for a 100 point score if your team maxes a game.

This still retains a problematic presentation: with flag pull and hangs representing 70% of the total possible score, the numbers on the scoreboard rarely reflect how the game actually went. A hard fought, largely balanced game ending with one live player hanging a flag ends in a score of 27 to 100, while a similar game not ending with a flag hang would be scored as 27 to 50 (with grab) or 27 to 30 (without grab) which far more accurately actually reflects what happened on the field.

So much for background.

One thing that took place in NY was a lot of games ending as body-count matches...scores like 13 to 19, 14 to 12, etc.
Why? Two primary factors: many of the teams were fairly well matched, and, the fields themselves are tough to master tactically. If you don't have an effective plan and execute it, you're going to stall short of a pull or hang.

I thought that this created an interesting situation - it kept most teams "in the hunt" throughout the course of most of the event. Since scores were tight and low counts, a single game ending in a hang could dramatically alter the standings at any given time throughout preliminary play.

I think that's good for teams. Who wants to sit on the bench, waiting to play yet another game that's not going to change anything at all? ("Great, now we have to spend more money for a low place finish", is not a good attitude, but one that many teams have experienced. The right attitude is, of course, persevering and continuing to take advantage of additional learning opportunities, but I digress.)

We've been speaking, internally, about several possible alterations to scoring at WCPL events, and at least one of them has the potential to keep things tighter, for more teams, throughout more of an event, than our traditional 100 point scoring system.

(What's more exciting, a SuperBowl that ends 38 to 9, or one that ends with a 3 point difference on a successful field goal during the last play of the game? (I vote for the latter.))
I'd like others to weigh in here.

Lets start with the actual scores from New York. Scheduling worked like this:

Teams were seeded into two divisions of 7 teams each (based on a live draw).

Teams then played a round robin schedule (6 games each) within their division.

Following completion of those rounds, the teams were re-ranked, within their division, based on their total earned points, and then, based on that re-ranking, each team played two opponents from the other division, giving each team their 8 preliminary round games.

Once those cross-divisional games were completed, scores were totaled and the top two teams from each division (based on their 8 preliminary round scores) advanced to a four team round-robin finals. The remaining teams were ranked based on over all score, regardless of division.

Below, the preliminary round scores. At the top, the two divisions (6 games) and below that the cross-divisional games. At the bottom, final point totals for all teams and the four teams that advanced.

(You can look up individual game totals by cross indexing the left column team with an opponent across the top. For example, in the Crowley vs NYPD game, Team Crowley earned 14 points.)

Do the final results look like they reflect the actual performances at the event? Maybe, maybe not, but that's what we ended up with under the system that was being used.

One proposal that we're looking at is to get away from point totals and substitute something similar to World Cup Soccer, by awarding 3 Points for a Win, 1 Point for a Draw and 0 Points for a Loss.

That of course begs the question "what is a win?". Is it restricted to a hang, like it was at NSG events? Or is a "Win" any game that a team earns more points than their opponent?

Under this proposal, and adopting a "most points is the winner" definition of a win, the New York event would have looked g like this:

Noticed how things would have changed. Our original Finals teams were the All Americans (443), APE Guerillas (394), Ironmen (291) and Automen (209).

Now, our top four finishing teams over-all (in terms of W-D-L record) are: Toxic Teddys (21), All Americans (19), UK Predators (19) and APE Guerillas. (I expect that the Ironmen would feel that this system should not be used, while the Teddy's probably think it should be).

If we go by place within a Division, it would be change slightly: Teddys and Ironmen from the first division and All Americans and UK Predators advancing from the second division.

If you look at the results, the individual game records and the point totals - is this a more accurate representation of "how the event should have played out?" We're not deciding here, we're asking.

Now, lets go one step farther. Suppose, for the sake of argument, that a "Win" is defined as only those games in which a flag gets hung. Every other game (ones decided on points) are considered to be "Draws". A loss, is of course recorded for a team when their flag gets hung.

How does this different interpretation of a "Win" change things? Like the following:

This version makes things even tighter, and once again modifies which teams would have advanced to the finals. In this case (going by place within each division), we would have had to resolve ties in the first division (on head-to-head performance) between the Ironmen, NYPD and the All Stars (dropping one of the three); in the other division, the All Americans would have advanced, and another three way tie would need to be resolved between The UK Predators, Ground Zero Red and APE Guerillas.

How does that version reflect your views on who should have been in the finals?

Yes, both versions of the W-D-L system introduce a greater percentage of Tied Scores...but, especially with an event that is using divisional round robins during the preliminary rounds, most of those ties will be resolved on the basis of their head-to-head matchups, and I'd argue that teams would be much more comfortable with results that are based on their actual performance against another team, rather than other methods.

Either version certainly achieves the goal of keeping the event tighter through more rounds of play and, as you can clearly see, "HOW" we tally our game results can have a great effect on who advances and who doesn't.

Me, I'm in favor of any system that is accurate, fair, reflects actual performance on the field and keeps the event as tight as possible for as many rounds of play as possible. I think it would be absolutely fantastic of events went down to the final round games of preliminary play before anyone knew who would advance or not.

WCPL New York Classic Scores Finalized

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Fri, 30 Jun 2023 19:54:57 GMT

2nd Round and Finals Scores Entered

I am pleased to announce that all of the scores from the WCPL's New York classic have been entered into the PBLeague's database and are now viewable.

You can find the details here (click "Finals" in the menu to see those scores).

The delay in posting the scores was due to a variety of factors, some of which were outside the control of either the WCPL or PBLeagues.com. One complicating factor was the preliminary round game scheduling.

WCPL events guarantee each team a minimum of 8 preliminary round games (bang for your bucks). With 14 teams attending, creating divisions that would distribute games evenly and give each team both a balanced draw and their 8 games was not subject to traditional scheduling. The decision was made at the event to handle things in the following manner:

First, divide the teams into two divisions of 7 teams each (based on a fair drawing system that was conducted live on the Flag Pull Production's podcast Mr. Fred and Friends). This offered each team the opportunity to play every other team in their division (which we've all deemed a fair way of going about it for something like the past 30 years or so).

It was then decided that teams would be re-ranked based on those first six preliminary round scores and would then play two teams from the other division - cross-divisional play - for two more games, giving them their minimum 8 games.

This was all then followed by a fairly traditional four team (top two from each division based on scores from all 8 preliminary round games moving on) round robin.

I'd once again like to thank Chris Raehl of PBLeagues for his assistance and perseverance, and all of the Teams who attended for their patience.

It was a great event, we all had a wonderful time, and now we have placed it firmly into the history books!

Upcoming Events

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Thu, 29 Jun 2023 12:57:48 GMT

The Rest of the 2023 Season

The WCPL will be hosting three more events this season -

The UK Classic coming to...the UK...in just a few short weeks on July 29&30,

The Flag Pull Production's Northern California Classic at Shooter's All Season Paintball on August 5&6 - sign up on PBLeagues.com

and

The Gateway Classic in St. Louis, coming October 14&15.

Come on out! Meet some of your extended paintball family. Have FUN at a tournament!

(Signups on PBLeagues.com - additional information/questions, contact WCPLNews@gmail.com

On This Day 42 Years Ago

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Tue, 27 Jun 2023 14:22:43 GMT

Paintball Is Born!

Happy Birthday Paintball!

42 years ago, 12 people gathered in woods near Henniker, NH to try their hand at a new game, one that would first become known as the "National Survival Game", later, as "Paint Ball" and now as "Paintball".

Sports Illustrated sent a reporter and photographer out to capture the moment.

Since then it has grown into a multi-national sport, hosting millions of players every year and inspiring (through necessity) other "shooting" games, such as Air Soft, Low Impact, Nerf and GelBlaster.

No one can say it hasn't been a success.

If you are in to the history and evolution of this sport, here are a couple of links you may find informative: an archived article from 2004, in Sports Illustrated, written by Charles Gaines, one of the original founders, reflecting back on that first game, and an NPR radio show discussing the fact that New Hampshire can claim paintball as one of its "firsts".

Sports Illustrated
NPR

WCPL Discussed on Teddy Talk Podcast

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Fri, 23 Jun 2023 18:21:39 GMT

WCPL Featured on Teddy Talk Podcast

The kind folks (and awesome team) at the Teddy Talk podcast hosted the WCPL's Steve Davidson on yesterday's show, where a bit of paintball history, some game philosophy and the goals and status of the WCPL league were discussed.

Check it out here .

Talking WCPL with Toxic Teddys

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Thu, 22 Jun 2023 15:09:27 GMT

Talkin Toxic Teddys & WCPL Tonight

I'm pleased to be able to announce that I will be a guest on the Teddy Talk podcast, to talk WCPL Mechanical Woodsball and other things Old School Paintball with several other guests, including Dave Cook of the All Americans and John Ramano of Uncle Sam Media.

Link to the 'cast coming shortly.

Snap Shots: 6/21/23

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 12:53:16 GMT

Paintball Pics and a Podcast

Charles "Happy" Holton, a member of The Band legendary paintball team and founder of The Horn Section team, has been filtering out pics from the WCPL NY event to his Facebook page , the those featured in this post (top - The Band paintball team. Above, a Flag Capture at WCPL's NY Classic).

Fred Schultz hosted the Ally Remembered Foundation's team and their upcoming charitable event, which is in aid of bringing attention to domestic violence. The show also featured discussion of the MagFed Cartel Wars event. You can watch it here .

Rob Walker is fast approaching the Montressor Classic and featured the prize package supported by Zodiac Paintball . (Great Packs, great company, great people).

And the WCPL blog is pleased to announce that Keirsten Red Peteren , a prominent member of the Valkyries Paintball Team, will be coming on board the blog to write about paintball, its community, its competitions, its teams, from a female's perspective. If you have read any of Keirsten's posts on Facebook, including her musings on life, you'll know this is something to look forward to!

WCPL - The Future

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Tue, 20 Jun 2023 15:02:26 GMT

Coming Up NEXT on the WCPL's Woodsball Calendar

Now that New York has successfully completed, its time to set your sights and calendars to the WCPL's next upcoming events!

For our friends across the ocean (that we fondly refer to as the Big Pond), there's the UK Classic, in England, coming up on July 29th & 30th and, here in the states (which is what we fondly refer to this country as), we've got the Northern California Classic, hosted by Flag Pull Productions, at Shooter's All Season Paintball on August 5th & 6th!

Gas up your tank, load your pods and hoppers, pull down that facemask and get crackin!

COOL NY WCPL Video From Uncle Sam Media

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Sat, 17 Jun 2023 12:55:38 GMT

Excellent Promo Video from WCPL NY Classic - Uncle Sam Media

Uncle Sam Media was taping this past weekend at the WCPL's New York Classic event and recently posted the following video, which you can watch here on Youtube !

Can't find yourself in there? Maybe its because you SHOULD have attended this event.

Of Paintball and Pantyhose, of Ticks and Lyme Disease

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 13:24:12 GMT

An Unusual Bit of Paintball History

We are now firmly into tick season, 2023. And that means we are firmly into Lyme disease season as well.

Anyone out in the woods - out in their own yards for that matter - needs to be adding a tick prevention and detection regimen to their outdoor activities. Lyme and other tick-born diseases are nasty bacterial infections that, especially if left untreated for longer periods can be difficult to treat. Antibiotics work, but it is important to attack this disease before it progresses, especially before it gets into your brain. (Yes, your Brain!)

Ticks have an interesting place in paintball history as well. (No, Lyme disease is not responsible for our interest in playing this crazy game.) In fact, ticks were the center of a brief but intense discussion at the very first meeting that formed the NPPL in Chicago, back in 1992.

The scene is this: 28 team captains from across the United States had been invited to attend that meeting, asked to do so because they represented one of the (few) teams that had risen to what was considered professional status back in those days. The subject was "what, if anything, can we do to improve things on the tournament level of the game?".

If I remember correctly, some 22 teams responded by sending representatives. Our first day was spent getting to know each other outside of the staging area and the field and figuring out if we had enough concerns and issues in common to warrant doing something about it.

By the end of the first day we'd determined that the answer was yes, and that what we were going to do about it was form a new league, one that guaranteed two things: first, that all of the teams at the meeting would attend the events and second, that the league would guarantee certain minimal standards at all of its events.

By day two, we'd created committees to handle various organizational aspects (scheduling, rules, prize packages, etc) and were deep into discussions about specific rules, such as utilizing the 1-for-1 system instead of after game penalty points.

At one point, we began discussing the uniform rules. What was legal for a player to wear when on the field? We knew, for various reasons, that we wanted to insist on full length pants and long-sleeved jerseys (ask old timers why - you'll hear some interesting stories) and that we wanted to restrict players to two layers of clothing, maximum, with underwear being "climate appropriate". This meant you could not wear four layers of sweats under your oversized pants and jerseys.

As we were closing out that discussion, Bill Gardner (All Americans) threw a grenade right into the middle of the room: "What about pantyhose?" he asked, apparently in all seriousness.

The question stunned everyone around the table. All the heads came up and stared in the Gardner's direction (Bill was there with Adam), open-mouthed in shock and wonder.

Someone, I don't remember who, said something to the effect of not being interested in what people did in their spare time. After things settled down a bit, someone else asked Bill what in the heck he was talking about. Were we about to be let in on a deep team secret? No. Nothing that salacious.

"Ticks" , said Bill. "The ticks can't get through the material to attach themselves to you."

A collective "Ahhhhh" went up around the room. 20+ Paintballers had collectively received a revelation. It made perfect sense. So much so that we ruled that players were allowed to wear pantyhose as an additional layer without violating the clothing rules.

I've not personally availed myself of this option, preferring instead the AGTI (After Game Tick Inspection) methodology (not to mention the pre-game repellent application methodology) - but regardless of which method you use, you should be incorporating "something" into your play regimen. (I had a co-worker, non-paintballer, get Lyme and it took more than half a year of increasingly powerful antibiotics to get it out of her system, and she was miserable most of that time.)

Here's an article on how to identify Lyme if you have it, and another on ways to help avoid getting it:

Preventing Tick Bites On People (CDC)
The 4 Biggest Early Warning Signs of Lyme Disease

I urge everyone to take precautions and be aware this "Tick Season".

WCPL NEW YORK CLASSIC FINAL STANDINGS

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Thu, 15 Jun 2023 12:40:47 GMT

Final Standings From WCPL NY Classic

Here is how the games at the WCPL's New York Classic were arranged:

A preliminary draw was conducted live by the event's promoter, Kevin Donaldson, on Fred Schultz's Fred and Friends podcast.
Kevin explained that his goal was to make sure that the teams from Europe did not play each other during preliminaries and that the amateur teams did not play an unbalanced number of professional teams. This was accomplished by conducting three separate draws: one for the pro teams (Ironmen, All Americans), one for the European teams (UK Predators, 95 AllStars) and one for the remaining ten teams (which method was largely endorsed and praised by those attending).

This resulted in the following preliminary round divisions:

Division 1
Ironmen
95 AllStars

Automen Aces
Valkyries
Team Crowley
Toxic Teddys
NYPD's Finest

Division 2
All Americans
UK Predators
APE Guerillas
Ground Zero Red
The Band
The Horn Section
Team Fox

Following preliminary round play, where each team played a round-robin within their division (for 6 games) and then, based on their then current placement (based on points earned), each team played two cross-divisional games, the scores looked like this:

Division 1
Ironmen 261
Automen Aces 209
Toxic Teddys 203

95 AllStars 195
Team Crowley 181

NYPD's Finest 177

Valkyries 69

Division 2

All Americans 443

APE Guerillas 394

UK Predators 370

Ground Zero Red 353

The Band 164

The Horn Section 102

Team Fox 84

The Top Two scoring teams in each division advanced to a round robin finals (each team playing all other teams for three total finals round games each), resulting in the following placement:

1st All Americans (159)
2nd Ironmen (125)
3rd APE Guerillas (124)
4th Automen Aces (24)

All remaining teams are placed based on their preliminary round total score, regardless of the division they played in:

5th UK Predators (370)

6th Ground Zero Red (353)

7th Toxic Teddys (203)

8th 95 AllStars (195)

9th Team Crowley (181)

10th NYPD's Finest (177)

11th The Band (164)

12th The Horn Section (102)

13th Team Fox ( 84)

14th Valkyries ( 69)

And, in case you want to copy and use it elsewhere, here are all 14 teams, in order of final finishing place:

1st All Americans (159)
2nd Ironmen (125)
3rd APE Guerillas (124)
4th Automen Aces ( 24)

5th UK Predators (370)

6th Ground Zero Red (353)

7th Toxic Teddys (203)

8th 95 AllStars (195)

9th Team Crowley (181)

10th NYPD's Finest (177)

11th The Band (164)

12th The Horn Section (102)

13th Team Fox ( 84)

14th Valkyries ( 69)

After Action Report: NY Classic

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Tue, 13 Jun 2023 15:54:43 GMT

A Brief Report

Final Places were:

All Americans 159
Ironmen 125
APE Geurillas 124
Automen 24

Non=obligatory congratulations to the Finalists and everyone who attended.

Score Keeping online updates were delayed by a number of logistical issues (my apologies but despite personal desires and the opinions of a few, I do NOT run the world). Technological issues also interfered with videography from the site.

Remaining scores are being entered today and will by up on PBLeagues.com shortly (under the WCPL's section).

I would like to personally thank Chris Raehl of PBLeagues for his "above and beyond" efforts to assist us throughout the course of the weekend.

For the most part6 we managed to keep these issues from affecting the team's enjoyment of the event. There were a lot of reunions (Marcu of the Predators for one meeting some folks he hasn't hung out with in 30+ years) and it was those moments that really made the event: we conducted an unofficial Best Stache contest during the event (results forthcoming though unresolved), several new members were inducted into the legendary The Band team, James McGuffog was crowned King of the Valkyries (who also presented me with a commemorative jersey), Kevin Donaldson's head managed to (barley) avoid exploding, Jerry Braun and I shared a very cordial visit (doubt all you want to) and collectively we all managed to uncover some stunning details about Paintball's International Crumb Cake Conspiracy (again, details forthcoming...so long as the "authorities" don't catch up with me before I can reveal all).

Check out the scoreboard photos for head-to-head game results, the final outcome and how OG paintball skills proved once again to triumph in the face of adversity!

Brief After Action Report NY Classic

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Tue, 13 Jun 2023 15:45:26 GMT

This is Brief - More to Follow

Final Places were:

All Americans 159
Ironmen 125
APE Geurillas 124
Automen 24

Pics will be up on the Facebook page as I am apparently unable to upload images to the blog for some reason. Apparently the "logistical" issues are still with us.

The Draw for WCPL's New York Classic

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 02:36:50 GMT

Brackets for the New York Classic

The Draw for the WCPL's New York Classic, coming up just four days hence, was announced On Flag Pull Production's Mr. Fred and Friends podcast.

The Announcements were made live with Fred Schultz's guest, Kevin Donaldson, host of the New York Classic, doing the honors.

The Draw for the event is:

The Teams Attending

1 All Americans

2 UK Predators
3 Ironmen
4 95AllStars

5 Team Fox

6 Valkyries
7 The Band

8 The Horn Section
9 Toxic Teddys
10 Ground Zero Red

11 New York Police Department's Finest

12 Team Crowley

13 The Automen Aces

14 The Ape Guerillas

Bracket 1 Bracket 2

Ironmen All Americans

Valkyries Ground Zero Red

Team Crowley APE Guerillas

Toxic Teddys The Horn Section

Automen Aces Team Fox

NYPD's Finest The Band

95AllStars UK Predators

For those for whom the above formatting is not clear:

Bracket 1

Ironmen

Valkyries

Team Crowley

Toxic Teddys

Automen Aces

NYPD's Finest

95AllStars

Bracket 2

All Americans

Ground Zero Red

APE Guerillas

The Horn Section

Team Fox

The Band

UK Predators

Kevin announced his method for conducting the draw, explaining that he would pick the two Pro US teams, then the rest of the US teams, followed by the two European teams.

This was done to prevent bad brackets and to give everyone an opportunity to play one of the European teams and one of the Pro US teams.

Preliminary play will be conducted as follows:

Each team will play a round robin within their bracket, playing six games.

The teams in each bracket will then be re-seeded based on their initial six game scores.

Then, each team will play two teams from the opposite bracket, based on their re-seeded rank, giving each team a total of 8 games during preliminary play.

Important "A" nnouncements for New York Attendees

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 21:28:51 GMT

The "B" nnouncement will appear tomorrow

There are several requests the New York event would like to make of its attendees.

First - bring your Happy Game Faces. We're all there to celebrate our paintball connections. Everyone will be glad to see you - even if they don't know who the "F" you are. Why? Because you are THERE and so are we!

Second: Please attempt to arrive at the event in as few vehicles as possible. We do not want to over crowd the parking lot. Provisions will be made for transportation of players and gear for picking up paint, getting fills, etc. Please do not bring one vehicle per player. We understand that you have multiple players and gear to get from point A to point B. All we ask is that you try to make your arrangements as efficiently as possible. And we appreciate your cooperation.

Third: If you will be in attendance on Friday, please bring your bottles to the field and get your initial fills on Friday. This will help avoid lines on Saturday. (It will also help YOU figure out if you've got anything leaking with enough time to do something about it.) (And note, if you have two tanks, bring both...not just the tank you plan on using first.)

Fourth: If you team will be fully present at the field on Friday, please bring your team banner (and maybe wear some kind of team shirt) as we would also like to get a head start on team pictures.

Fifth: Additional information regarding tournament details will be made both here and on our Facebook page between now and the event.

Sixth and Final: Thank you for coming. We are looking forward to seeing you all and we're all looking forward to having a GREAR time together!

Snapshots: 6/5/23

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 15:09:36 GMT

From around the web

Charles Holton brings our attention to Bacci Paintball 's roundup of old school loaders. From PVC stick feeds and quart bottles for oil to Whalers and Magic Fish Lips, we've sure come a long way!

Rob Walkers announces the completion of two fields and work commencing on the third (Hyperball) field for ICC. Also, he needs you to get your paint orders in.

Toxic Teddys will be at WCPL New York Classic and will be setting up a Teddy Drip booth.

***

WCPL's New York Classic takes place this weekend on June 9th, 10th and 11th and Paintball Sports New York.

Our remaining 2023 schedule:

July 29 & 30 - U.k. Classic

August 5 & 6 - Northen California Classic

October 14 & 15 - Saint Louis Classic

Visit us on Youtube , Facebook

Praise for Paintball Family

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Sat, 03 Jun 2023 12:55:18 GMT

New lifelong friends is what it’s all about

James "Howdy" Mcguffog, a long time player, a long time Master Blaster and a long time friend, appears above in an undated photo rocking a Carter Termite pump gun with VL-200 loader in his official, original and genuine Tiger Strip cammo, most likely taken at Paintball Sports New York location.

Howdy posted the following to his Facebook account yesterday and the response strongly suggests that his sentiments are shared by many other paintballers, far and wide:

"A week from today players from around the country and the globe will descend on PSNY to compete in WCPL New York Woodsball Classic . They will set up staging areas for their teams fill out waivers fill tanks gather paint and walk the fields. They will prepare themselves men and women to do battle on one of if not the most historic field in the sport. They will meet new players and make new lifelong friends because that’s what it’s all about, the fun and the comradeship will permeate the air. I am looking forward to seeing you all and can’t wait to get this show on the road and best of luck to all who attend. Let’s make this the most fun experience you ever had in paintball because it’s all about you the players."

Jim's words strongly echo the goals and the ethos that the WCPL has established for itself and which it has dedicated itself to bringing to each and every one of its events: Paintball competition is about friendship, respect, honor, fun and reuniting with our paintball family. Doesn't get any better than that!

***

WCPL's New York Classic takes place this coming weekend on June 9th, 10th and 11th and Paintball Sports New York.

Our remaining 2023 schedule:

July 29 & 30 - U.k. Classic

August 5 & 6 - Northen California Classic

October 14 & 15 - Saint Louis Classic

Visit us on Youtube , Facebook

The Clans Are Gathering

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 12:39:55 GMT

The 95Allstars Will Be In the House

We've just received word that the 95Allstars will be in New York for the Friday field walk and hang out.

They're even pretty sure that someone has packed their banner.

Looking forward to meeting all of the "foreign legion" attending this event - 95Allstars and the UK Predators...some of whom I've know for years, and others who will be new paintball friends.

I can't wait to talk to these folks, not only about the paintball scene in foreign lands, but also their impressions of those stories fields at Paintball Sports New York.

The WCPL's New York Classic, staring a week from today - June 9th, 10th and 11th at Paintball Sports New York.

Announcements Regarding WCPL's New York Classic

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 13:05:09 GMT

Updates for Attending Teams

Fred Schultz will be announcing the team brackets on his Mr. Fred and Friends podcast , this coming Tuesday, June 6, at 7 PM west coast time, 10 PM east coast time.

We would like to take team photos of every team attending this event. If your full roster will be arriving at the event on Friday (field walk and hang out day), please let Steve at WCPLNews@Gmail.com know so we can get as many photos in before trhe event as possible. (Also, bring your banner.)

In a few days time we will also be publishing some event-specific instructions and notifications regarding things like parking at the site, air fill management, paint sales and the like, which we would greatly appreciate your familiarizing yourselves with so that we can run a smooth, well-managed and FUN event.

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

WCPL Rocks!

SC Village on Mr. Fred & Friends Tonight

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Tue, 30 May 2023 13:01:27 GMT

Tonight's Podcast Features A Trip to SC Village

Fred recently spent some time at the world and industry famous SC Village (how many of you paintball historians remember what the "SC" stood for?), getting to play and hang out at one of the game's most storied locations.

Along the way, he got to spend some time with Bud Orr and Giovanni, owner and maestro of that rocking field.

Tune in tonight at 10 pm EST, 7 PM West Coast time at Flag Pull Productions presentation of Mr. Fred and Friends.

Memorial Day 2023

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Mon, 29 May 2023 14:10:52 GMT

Paying Tribute to Our Veterans

Above: The Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery

Today is May 29th and Memorial Day, 2023.

Since 1868, the citizens of the United States have sought ways to memorialize and honor the contributions and sacrifices of those who serve in the military. Today, we do the same.

Thank you to all who serve, have served and will serve in the future. To those who have lost family in service, we thank you as well.

Snapshots: 5/27/23

Sat, 27 May 2023 13:09:21 GMT

Random pickups from the web

John Amodea - Paintball.Media , is teasing "something new (paintball related) from one of the game's three founders, Charles Gaines this coming fall...". It's probably not the return of NSG, but you never know with paintball....

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Rob Walker posts another walkthru of the field during prep for ICC

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Powerhouse Competition Air has released a photo of their Damascus Regs, and they look darned cool!

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Valken has posted a promo video for their Gel Blaster Line .

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Tiki's Paintball Park is offering some "new merch"

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Gary Baum - PaintballPhotography.com , has posted an awesome picture from the Huntington Beach 2005 tournament

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Team Belladonna did well at NXL Europe

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Play WCPL - You Know You Want To!

Even MORE WCPL Action on Youtube , Facebook and sign up for our newsletter, right on the front page of our website!

OUR 2023 SCHEDULE:

June 9, 10 & 11 - New York Classic

July 29 & 30 - U.k. Classic

August 5 & 6 - Northen California Classic

October 14 & 15 - Saint Louis Classic

Today is Movie Day

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Fri, 26 May 2023 14:33:36 GMT

How many "paintball movies" have you seen?

Above, a scene from Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story. (Which you can watch on Daily Motion if you are so inclined.)

Blackballed is one of the few films featuring paintball with an original, essentially based on the game, story. Bobby Dukes, a legendary player, gets caught cheating, is banned from play and then tries to stage a come back.

The rest? Take a look at these synopsis and tell me if you don't see a pattern:

A group of friends embark on a camping trip for a ten-year high school reunion. Their celebration soon turns into a battle for survival when they realize that the locals, who are not what they seem, are hunting them down. - Backwoods, 2008

Eight strangers engaged in an intense game of experts-only paintball find their friendly game taking a terrifying turn when one member of the team begins playing by a different set of rules. It started as a remote raw battle of wits and wiles set against the backdrop of majestic wilderness. With each shot fired, the stakes grew higher. But something horrible has happened, and what was once a team sport has become a relentless struggle for individual survival. The danger growing by the minute, the combatants gradually come to realize that their greatest adversary may be the very game they set out to play. Paintball, 2009

Old school friends go on a paintball trip miles away from civilization. But things go horribly wrong when they discover a cold-blooded masked killer is amongst them. Now, they must fight to survive their school reunion. Paintball Massacre, 2020

A group of friends travel to a wilderness area to play a survival game. Soon they unexpectedly find themselves in a real-life survival situation. The Zero Boys 1986

Robbie and his girlfriend, Amy, are among a group of students who play their private night games in the romantic thriller that catapulted Kidman to center stage. On screen throughout, Kidman discovers what will happen when a friendly game becomes real life ... and real life becomes a deadly game. Watch the Shadows Dance, 1987. (That's Nicole Kidman, btw)

Two deranged and homicidal escaped convicts terrorize a group of teenagers engaged in a paint-ball war. Born Killer, 1989.

Regional finalists of the Masterblaster paintball competition gather together at the national championship for a chance at the title and fifty thousand dollars in cash. The competition turns deadly when someone stops playing games and starts taking lives. Masterblaster, 1987. (Note: THE Master Blasters of NY fame had their own reality show on FoxNation titled Paintball: America's Secret Pastime, which you can still watch. No connection to the movie though, thank goodness.)

I think those are plenty of examples. (I did a search under paintball movies and came up with lists on IMDB, TheMovieDB and others.)

Don't you all think its about time that we had a feature film that was actually about the game? Too bad Rodney Dangerfield isn't around anymore, we might have at least gotten a sports comedy film about the game (Like Caddy Shack or something like Dodge Ball) at the very least.

Of course, there have been movies about paintball, made by paintbllers...John Amodea's recent and ongoing documentary series springs to mind. You can watch a trailer of The Complete History of Paintball on Vimeo. Not to mention the legendary PUSH, Patrick Spohrer and Bryan Benini's legendary documentary that finally managed to capture the energy and intensity of the game in a way non-ballers could appreciate and understand. You can watch the entire thing on Monkey with a Gun on Youtube .

Yes, we've had some live to tape broadcasts of tournaments as well - the legendary first on ESPN in New York, followed by another in Florida, the Disney Game produced by our own Fred Schultz, Milt Call/All Americans Vegas series, even an event in 2000 called PaintFest, some coverage of NCPA games. I even think I remember a series in South America featuring the Mercenarios.

But no matter how you slice it, paintball has gotten short shrift from media over the years (starting with the "these crazy gun nuts play army in the woods - they're a danger to society" crap early on), with our primary engagement with it being, alternatively, "No serial killer would be able to do that to MY team" or "OMG! They're not even holding their gun right! What a buncha...!". Not to mention the all to familiar cliché of actors ALWAYS lifting their goggles to talk, or to look at something better in order to shoot it.

(My favorite right now is Paintball from 2009, a film billed as "Eight strangers engaged in an intense game of experts-only paintball...". Try not to laugh at the "experts". You might hurt yourself holding in the laughs, but that's about the only way a paintballer, expert or newbie, can watch this film without looking for a bucket.)

Of course, there's also lots of good stuff on Youtube and various other video sharing outlets, including Facebook, and that will do I suppose until a decent feature length film that shows a little understanding of the game manages to come along.

Below is the list of films (if you want to checking some out) from, including some by and about real paintball. Note that not all will link to a viewing opportunity. The list below was sourced on The Movie Data Base.

Gloria Bell

March 7, 2019

Gloria is a free-spirited divorcée who spends her days at a straight-laced office job and her nights on the dance floor, joyfully letting loose at clubs around Los Angeles. After meeting Arnold on a night out, she finds herself thrust into an unexpected new romance, filled with both the joys of budding love and the complications of dating, identity, and family.

Return to Sleepaway Camp

November 4, 2008

It's summer camp as usual at Camp Manabe where the kids torment each other for fun while the underpaid camp staff provides as little supervision as possible. Greedy camp owner Frank and junior partner Ronnie do their best to keep everyone in line, but something sinister is about to put a slash in the roster. When campers and staff mysteriously begin disappearing and turning into gruesome corpses, paranoid Ronnie can't shake the memory of a series of grisly murders that took place at Camp Arawak. As the paranoia worsens, Ronnie's list of possible killers starts growing just like the body count. Only one thing is for certain, something is carving a bloody new trail at Sleepaway Camp where kids can be so mean and surviving this summer is gonna be a real killer!

Backwoods

January 3, 2008

A group of friends embark on a camping trip for a ten-year high school reunion. Their celebration soon turns into a battle for survival when they realize that the locals, who are not what they seem, are hunting them down.

Paintball

April 24, 2009

Paintball Massacre

December 7, 2020

The Zero Boys

January 1, 1986

A group of friends travel to a wilderness area to play a survival game. Soon they unexpectedly find themselves in a real-life survival situation.

Watch the Shadows Dance

January 1, 1987

Holy Grail

March 15, 2017

Since the start of 2014, Edmonton Impact has put together one of the most dominant runs in professional paintball history. But amongst all their series championships and individual tournament wins, paintball's most respected prize has continued to allude them: The World Cup. Follow Impact as they look for one final victory in their historic 2016 season run, and see how a simple father and sons' outing for the Yachemic family helped create one of professional paintball's most dominant franchises.

#Speedball

December 15, 2017

A fast paced, action packed sports drama. Think "Fast and Furious" meets the competitive sport of Paintball.

Born Killer

November 12, 1989

Two deranged and homicidal escaped convicts terrorize a group of teenagers engaged in a paint-ball war.

Forest Creatures

January 1, 2010

The new Dutch owner of a Croatian marketing agency is organizing an action-style team building for his employees over weekend. After rafting which ends up with an incident, the employees divide in two paintball groups. While making their way through the forest full of surprises – a local family who is plotting against their lives, suspicious instructors, a random pair of hikers and bizarre accidents. As the day comes to its end, it is clear that, after this game, nothing will ever be the same.

Masterblaster

December 1, 1987

Misión Estrella

June 15, 2017

Hostile Intent

August 22, 1997

Brilliant renegade hacker Mike Cleary and his crack team have finally debugged Guardian, his software program designed to block government cyber snooping. It's going to make them all rich. Now it's time to celebrate with a game of paintball, played in rugged wilderness far from the digital devices of their everyday lives. Not even an ominous encounter with a militia-style survivalist can dampen the weekend warriors' spirits. But someone is playing for keeps. Instead of getting hit with paintballs, soon they're getting splattered for real. As the body count climbs, Cleary discovers he's at the center of a worldwide web of deceit, aimed at gaining control of the program at any cost. Stalked with high-tech weapons, betrayed by trusted friends, only his programming savvy and a bizarre strategic alliance forged on the battlefield can keep him alive. If he fails and Guardian falls into the wrong hands, the game is over for everyone in the nation.

The Complete History Of Paintball

April 18, 2020

Negative public perception of the game in the 1980s nearly caused its early demise. Since the first game ever played on June 27, 1981, nearly a half billion people have played paintball! This is the story of those that created the game, preserved it and built its gear, playing fields, international presence, tournament circuits, scenario games, teams, media and its long lasting culture. This Is THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF PAINTBALL

Bird's Eye

October 11, 2019

When a paintball team hops the fence to go play with their friends on private property, a reclusive land-owner strikes back in full force with an arsenal of remote-controlled vehicles.

2017

March 18, 2023

It's the final game in the biggest paintball tournament in town. The German School must defend the flag while the English School must capture it, but where is the flag? Luis and Sebastian have been tasked to find the location of the flag and report it to the captain before the attack begins. Will they find the flag and report it on time?

FIFTEEN

December 28, 2015

In 2001, a brash group of teenagers took professional paintball by storm, winning The World Cup of Paintball. San Diego Dynasty has created a dominance like no other in paintball, winning at least one professional tournament every year since. But all things must end, and a season filled with bad luck, controversial officiating, industry politics, health issues, and one of paintball’s biggest icons deciding to step away from U.S pro circuit to find himself living abroad puts Dynasty’s hope of a 15th consecutive season with a tournament victory in jeopardy.

Love Paintballing

May 6, 2007

The 11th Love Sport short film.

Castle Conquest XXIII

September 30, 2007

In 2007, EMR Paintball hosted Castle Conquest XXIII. This was the largest, craziest, and most special event EMR has seen in it's over decade long history. With Blue and his Crew joining the attackers and Team Joint Fury leading the defenders inside Castle AArrgh, it is guaranteed to be an event of epic proportions.

Zagorje Specialty

August 16, 2011

Five yuppies go on a paintball session up in the hilly area of Zagorje where they soon lose contact to one another, but they've been discovered by a family of native villagers who make a home-made delicacy. They soon find out what are the ingredients of their hosts' recipee.

Reckoning - Dynasty - Grit

June 16, 2013

Follows the highs and lows of professional paintball team Dynasty's 2013 season with player interviews and event footage from the 2013 PSP Dallas Open, 2013 Huntington Beach NPPL and 2013 PSP Mid-Atlantic open.

Push

January 1, 2000

This is the video that set the standard that all other paintball videos will be compared to, professionally captured on film and video by people who play the sport. This documentary covers all aspects of the professional paintballer’s life. PUSH features top teams such as Ironmen, Avalanche, Aftershock, and Image to show you what it takes to be the best. Experience their drive, adrenaline, joy and sorrow as you watch them play at the biggest tournament of the year-World Cup. You will share the exhilaration of winning or the agony of defeat, depending upon if their hard work has paid off. Complementing every scene is an awesome sound track, including music by AFI, Promise Ring, Hot Water Music, and Jets to Brazil. PUSH is sure to get you fired-up to play!

Emortals

Planet Eclipse Emortals. The free DVD included with some of their older paintball products.

Bring Out Your Dead

January 1, 2009

The learning curve jumps yet again as players from both leagues step up their game and give chase to the teams that have been dominating the pro paintball circuit. New rivals emerge as teams like Aftermath, Infamous and Damage claim victory at national events. Dynasty gets their first NXL victory and Todd Martinez takes down the field at the MAO. The Ironmen nearly win BOTH series titles, and prove to be an unstoppable force at World Cup. For some, the competition is still their life, and defeat is not an option. For others, they're dead before they step onto the field. BRING OUT YOUR DEAD.

PSP World Cup 2008

PSP World Champion is the most coveted title in the paintball world. After an entire NXL season it came down to the defending champs Los Angeles Ironmen battling the Philadelphia Americans through three intense, hard-hitting games, to determine who would wear the crown. In the end it came down to a best of three and one of the most exciting finals in World Cup hstory. This is the ground breaking live Webcast available on DVD, so you can own a piece of history.

Heroes For A Day

March 1, 2007

“Heroes for a Day” is a documentary that follows a group of Professional paintball players, some former champions, who form a team to take down the current world champs. A two-year emotional and physical battle ensues on and off the field, as they travel around the globe juggling real life and the paintball world in the continuing quest to win redefining

Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story

January 1, 2004

Caught cheating and banned for ten years, Bobby Dukes, paintball's first superstar, returns to reclaim his title and erase the memory of his tainted past.

Paintball the Movie: Court Jesters

01/01/2005

Overview

A group of troubled teens finds direction in this inspiring underdog story. Abandoned by his father, Indigo (Chris Tschupp) wastes his days watching cartoons. When he persuades a few of his friends to play paintball with him, it doesn't take long for the boys from the wrong side of the tracks to form an unbeatable team. Their triumphs on the paintball field give the boys an outlet and the confidence and support they need to succeed in life.

(And hey, if you've found a paintball movie not listed above, how about mentioning it in the comments on our Facebook page?)

***

Visit the WCPL on Youtube , Facebook and sign up for our newsletter, right on the front page of our website!

The WCPL's 2023 Event Schedule:

June 9, 10 & 11 - New York Classic

July 29 & 30 - U.k. Classic

August 5 & 6 - Northen California Classic

October 14 & 15 - Saint Louis Classic

Snapshots: 5/25/23

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Thu, 25 May 2023 12:17:25 GMT

A bit o' this and that from around the paintball world

That right there is Ground Zero breaking out in their game against KAPP Factory at the ICPL event. Video below, with some instructional commentary. (Source Inception Designs/Youtube )

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Team Crowley are fairly pleased with their performance at ICPL Old Bay Classic, putting 54 pics up on their page. Congrats!

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Prime Suspects took a 2nd place at the Good Game "GG" Sports Park event. Congrats to you all too!

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T he Paintball History page posted a classic image from back in the day - one of the Kamikaze Shooters (that's a name to conjure with, huh?) using a Carter Machine Comp classic pump gun.

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Team Smoke , discusses their experiences at the ICPL at OXCC event.

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The ICC/Montressor Classic has teams looking for players. Hit their Free Agents page for more information.

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And now the video you've all been waiting for. This video is from the ICPL's Old Bay Classic and features Ground Zero vs Kapp Factory.

Like most paintball videos you can't really see all that much (nice breakout though) but what you can do is listen to the communications. This video could almost be used as an instructable about how to communicate, make sure the communication is heard and use the information to alter your gamer plan when necessary. Also - "Hi Guys!"

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WCPL's New York Classic will take place on June 9th, 10th & 11th, just a few days away and the chatter has already begun.

WCPL's remaining 2023 schedule -

July 29 & 30 - U.k. Classic

August 5 & 6 - Northen California Classic

October 14 & 15 - Saint Louis Classic

***

Visit us on Youtube and Facebook . Don't forget to sign up for our newsletter (right on the front page of the website. )

Photos at WCPL New York Classic

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Wed, 24 May 2023 14:30:44 GMT

Upcoming Events & Stuff

Blu Paintball Medie ( Blu_PBSports on Facebook) is offering media packages for the WCPL's New York Classic event - team photos and video.

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Kathy Alvarez (Valkyries) shares a couple of photos and writes about the team coming together from all over , for the New York event. (Which is, of course, this coming June 9th, 10th, 11th at Paintball Sports New York.

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Sorry. I forgot to link to Flag Pull Production's Mr. Fred and Friends podcast yesterday. Guests include Bud Orr, Dan Mc, Dan Colby and Kevin Donaldson. You can watch it right here.

***

Some interesting observations:
In working on a paintball project, I came across a file of links to paintball companies from about 10 years ago, quite the comprehensive compilation, grouped by equipment and service offerings, such as "Packs, Pouches, Vests" or "Clothing & Pads".

I decided to check it out to see who was still in business and - wow. There's been so much consolidation and mergers. I'm not complaining about that, its largely how we got where we are today, with companies like Valken and Kore establishing full lines, from paintballs to cleaning cloths, applying economies of scale to increase product ranges, lower costs and improve quality, while, on the other hand, making the landscape of individual entrepreneurs and innovators a smaller place, because that's where this industry came from. You wanted a piece of equipment, no one made it, off to the machine shop you go.

The other interesting thing is to see where various URLs are going now. Some have malware warnings attached, others are in completely different industries and some still land on paintball-related pages.

Here's the list (URLs not included). How many of these paintball companies do you recognize?

AIR SYSTEMS

AIRGUN DESIGNS – WWW.AIRGUN.COM

ARCHON – WWW.ARCHONPAINTBALL.COM

CROSSFIRE – WWW.CROSSFIREINC.COM

CUSTOM PRODUCTS - WWW.CUSTOMPRODUCTS.US

DRAXXUS - WWW.DRAXXUS.COM

DYE – WWW.DYEPRECISION.COM

EVIL – WWW.EVIL-PAINTBALL.COM

GUERRILLA AIR – WWW.GUERRILLAAIR.COM

MACDEV – WWW.MACDEV.NET

PURSUIT MARKETING INC – WWW.PMINETWORK.COM

SMARTPARTS – WWW.SMARTPARTS.COM

WDP – WWW.WDP-PAINTBALL.COM

BARRELS

32 DEGREES – WWW.32ICE.COM

AARDVARK – WWW.AARDVARKDIRECT.COM

ACI – WWW.AIRCONCEPTS.COM

AIM PAINTBALL – WWW.AIMPAINTBALL.COM

ALLEN PAINTBALL - WWW.ALLENPAINTBALL.COM

BLACKPOINT ENGINEERING – WWW.BP-USA.COM

BT PAINTBALL – WWW.BENTIPPMANN.COM

CHECK IT PRODUCTS - WWW.CHECKITPRODUCTS.COM

CHIPLEY CUSTOM MACHINE – WWW.CHIPLEYMACHINE.COM

CMI – WWW.PAINTBALLCMI.COM

COMPONENT CONCEPTS – WWW.PHANTOMONLINE.COM

CROSSFIRE – WWW.CROSSFIREINC.COM

CUSTOM PRODUCTS – WWW.CUSTOMPRODUCTS.US

DYE – WWW.DYEPRECISION.COM

EMPIRE – WWW.EMPIREPAINTBALL.COM

END GAME – WWW.ENDGAMEINC.COM

EQUATION DESIGN –WWW.EQUATIONUSA.COM

EVIL – WWW.EVIL-PAINTBALL.COM

HAMMERHEAD – WWW.HAMMERHEADPAINTBALL.COM

J&J PERFORMANCE – WWW.JJPERFORMANCE.COM

JT USA – WWW.JTUSA.COM

LAPCO – WWW.LAPCODIRECT.COM

OPSGEAR – WWW.OPSGEAR.COM

PALMERS PURSUIT SHOP – WWW.PALMER-PURSUIT.COM

PLANET ECLIPSE – WWW.PLANETECLIPSE.COM

PURSUIT MARKETING INC– WWW.PMINETWORK.COM

POWERLYTE – WWW.POWERLYTE.COM

PROTO PAINTBALL – WWW.PROTOPAINTBALL.COM

PSYCHOBALLISTICS – WWW.PSYCHOBALLISTICS.COM

RAVEN - WWW.RAVENUSA.COM

REDZ – WWW.REDZCOMFORT.COM

SANCHEZ MACHINE – WWW.SM1PAINTBALLBARREL.COM

SITE MANUFACTURING – WWW.SITEMFG.COM

SMARTPARTS – WWW.SMARTPARTS.COM

SYSTEM X – WWW.SYSTEMX.COM

TIPPMANN – WWW.TIPPMANN.COM

TITANIUM PAINTBALL – WWW.TI-PAINTBALL.COM

VIEWLOADER – WWW.VIEWLOADER.COM

WARPED SPORTZ – WWW.WARPEDSPORTZ.COM

WHITE WOLF AIRSMITHING – WWW.WHITEWOLFAIRSMITHING.COM

WORR GAMES PRODUCTS – WWW.WORR.COM

CLOTHING & PADS

32 DEGREES – WWW.32ICE.COM

ACI – WWW.AIRCONCEPTS.COM

ANIMAL PAINTBALL – WWW.ANIMALPAINTALL.COM

BLACKSTAR PAINTBALL – WWW.BLACKSTARPAINTBALL.COM

BRASS EAGLE – WWW.BRASSEAGLE.COM

CUSTOM SPORTS GEAR – WWW.CUSTOMSPORTSGEAR.COM

DIABLO – WWW.DIABLODIRECT.COM

DYE – WWW.DYEPRECISION.COM

EMPIRE – WWW.EMPIREPAINTBALL.COM

EVIL – WWW.EVIL-PAINTBALL.COM

EXTREME RAGE - WWW.EXTREMERAGESPORTS.COM

FLURRY INDUSTRIES - WWW.FLURRYINDUSTRIES.COM

GAME FACE – WWW.GAMEFACEPAINTBALL.COM

HUNDRETH MONKEY – WWW.HUNDRETHMONKEYCAPS.COM

JT USA – WWW.JTUSA.COM

KINGMAN – WWW.KINGMANUSA.COM

MANTIS - WWW.MANTISGEAR.COM

PLANET ECLIPSE – WWW.PLANETECLIPSE.COM

PURSUIT MARKETING INC – WWW.PMI.COM

PROTO – WWW.PROTOPAINTBALL.COM

RAVEN - WWW.RAVENUSA.COM

REACTIVE – WWW.REACTIVEPAINTBALL.COM

REDZ – WWW.REDZCOMFORT.COM

RONIN – WWW.RONIN-GEAR.COM

SMART PARTS – WWW.SMARTPARTS.COM

SPECIAL OPS – WWW.SPECOPS.COM

SYSTEM X – WWW.SYSTEMX.COM

TIPPMANN – WWW.TIPPMANN.COM

WORR GAMES PRODUCTS – WWW.WORR.COM

WDP – WWW.WDP-PAINTBALL.COM

HOPPERS & LOADERS

ALLEN PAINTBALL - WWW.ALLENPAINTBALL.COM

AVALON – WWW.DIAMONDGT.COM

EMPIRE – WWW.EMPIREPAINTBALL.COM

EXTREME RAGE - WWW.EXTREMERAGESPORTS.COM

ODYSSEY – WWW.ODYSSEY.TV

PURSUIT MARKETING INC – WWW.PMINETWORK.COM

RICOCHET – WWW.RICOCHET2K.COM

TURBO – WWW.TURBO-PAINTBALL.COM

VIEWLOADER – WWW.VIEWLOADER.COM

WARPED SPORTZ – WWW.WARPEDSPORTZ.COM

ZAP – WWW.ZAPPAINTBALL.COM

MARKERS

AKA/LMP – WWW.AKALMP.COM

AIM PAINTBALL – WWW.AIMPAINTBALL.COM

AIRGUN DESIGNS – WWW.AIRGUN.COM

ALIEN PAINTBALL – WWW.ALIENPB.COM

ANS – WWW.ANSXTREME.COM

ARIAKON – WWW.ARIAKON.COM

BOB LONG – WWW.BOBLONG.COM

BRASS EAGLE – WWW.BRASSEAGLE.COM

BT PAINTBALL – WWW.BENTIPPMANN.COM

CHIPLEY CUSTOM MACHINE – WWW.CHIPLEYMACHINE.COM

COMPONENT CONCEPTS – WWW.PHANTOMONLINE.COM

DIABLO – WWW.DIABLODIRECT.COM

DYE – WWW.DYEPRECISION.COM

EMPIRE – WWW.EMPIREPAINTBALL.COM

EVIL – WWW.EVIL-PAINTBALL.COM

GAME FACE – WWW.GAMEFACEPAINTBALL.COM

INDIAN CREEK – WWW.ICDPAINTBALL.COM

JT USA – WWW.JTUSA.COM

KINGMAN – WWW.KINGMANUSA.COM

PALMERS PURSUIT SHOP – WWW.PALMER-PURSUIT.COM

PLANET ECLIPSE – WWW.PLANETECLIPSE.COM

PROTO PAINTBALL – WWW.PROTOPAINTBALL.COM

PURSUIT MARKETING INC – WWW.PMINETWORK.COM

SHOCKTECH – WWW.SHOCKTECHUSA.COM

SMARTPARTS – WWW.SMARTPARTS.COM

SYSTEM X – WWW.SYSTEMX.COM

TIPPMANN – WWW.TIPPMANN.COM

VIEWLOADER – WWW.VIEWLOADER.COM

WARPED SPORTZ – WWW.WARPEDSPORTZ.COM

WDP – WWW.WDP-PAINTBALL.COM

WORR GAMES PRODUCTS – WWW.WORR.COM

MASKS

BRASS EAGLE – WWW.BRASSEAGLE.COM

DYE – WWW.DYEPRECISION.COM

EMPIRE – WWW.EMPIREPAINTBALL.COM

EXTREME RAGE - WWW.EXTREMERAGESPORTS.COM

GAME FACE – WWW.GAMEFACEPAINTBALL.COM

JT USA – WWW.JTUSA.COM

KINGMAN – WWW.KINGMANUSA.COM

PURSUIT MARKETING INC – WWW.PMI.COM

PROTO PAINTBALL – WWW.PROTOPAINTBALL.COM

RAVEN - WWW.RAVENUSA.COM

SCOTT USA – WWW.SCOTTUSA.COM

VFORCE – WWW.VFORCEPAINTBALL.COM

PACKS, POUCHES, VESTS

32 DEGREES – WWW.32ICE.COM

ACI – WWW.AIRCONCEPTS.COM

ALLEN PAINTBALL - WWW.ALLENPAINTBALL.COM

AVALON – WWW.DIAMONDGT.COM

BLACKSTAR PAINTBALL – WWW.BLACKSTARPAINTBALL.COM

BRASS EAGLE – WWW.BRASSEAGLE.COM

COPS911 – WWW.COPS911.COM

CUSTOM PRODUCTS – WWW.CUSTOMPRODUCTS.US

DYE – WWW.DYEPRECISION.COM

EMPIRE – WWW.EMPIREPAINTBALL.COM

ERA PAINTBALL – WWW.ERAPAINTBALL.COM

EVIL – WWW.EVIL-PAINTBALL.COM

EXTREME RAGE - WWW.EXTREMERAGESPORTS.COM

FLURRY INDUSTRIES - WWW.FLURRYINDUSTRIES.COM

GAME FACE – WWW.GAMEFACEPAINTBALL.COM

GEN X – WWW.GENXGLOBALINC.COM

JT USA – WWW.JTUSA.COM

KINGMAN – WWW.KINGMANUSA.COM

MANTIS - WWW.MANTISGEAR.COM

NXE – WWW.NXEPAINTBALL.COM

OPSGEAR – WWW.OPSGEAR.COM

PLANET ECLIPSE – WWW.PLANETECLIPSE.COM

PROTO – WWW.PROTOPAINTBALL.COM

R7 – WWW.R7USA.COM

RAVEN - WWW.RAVENUSA.COM

REDZ – WWW.REDZCOMFORT.COM

RHINO - WWW.RHINOTECHUSA.COM

RONIN – WWW.RONIN-GEAR.COM

SMART PARTS – WWW.SMARTPARTS.COM

SPECIAL OPS – WWW.SPECOPSPAINTBALL.COM

SYNDICATE – WWW.SYNDICATEGEAR.COM

SYSTEM X – WWW.SYSTEMX.COM

VIEWLOADER – WWW.VIEWLOADER.COM

WARRIOR SPORTS GEAR – WWW.WARRIORSPORTSGEAR.COM

WARSENSOR – WWW.WARSENSOR.COM

WORR GAMES PRODUCTS – WWW.WORR.COM

PAINTBALLS

32 DEGREES – WWW.32ICE.COM

ARCHON – WWW.ARCHONPAINTBALL.COM

ARROW PRECISION – WWW.ARROW-PRECISION.COM

BLUE ARC – WWW.BLUEARCPAINTBALL.COM

BRASS EAGLE – WWW.BRASSEAGLE.COM

DIABLO – WWW.DIABLODIRECT.COM

DRAXXUS – WWW.DRAXXUS.COM

EMPIRE – WWW.EMPIREPAINTBALL.COM

EVIL – WWW.EVIL-PAINTBALL.COM

FUEGO – WWW.FUEGOPAINTBALL.COM

GAME FACE – WWW.GAMEFACEPAINTBALL.COM

GREAT AMERICAN PAINTBALLS – WWW.GREATAMERICANPAINTBALLS.COM

JT USA – WWW.JTUSA.COM

JUMBO – WWW.JUMBOPAINTBALL.COM

KARNAGE – WWW.KARNAGEPAINTBALLS.COM

NELSON – WWW.NELSONPAINTBALL.COM

PURSUIT MARKETING INC – WWW.PMINETWORK.COM

PROTO – WWW.PROTOPAINTBALL.COM

SEVERE – WWW.SEVEREPAINTBALL.COM

SYSTEM X - WWW.SYSTEMX.COM

TIPPMANN – WWW.TIPPMANN.COM

VIEWLOADER – WWW.VIEWLOADER.COM

WORR GAMES PRODUCTS – WWW.WORR.COM

XO INDUSTRIES – WWW.XOINDUSTRIES.COM

XBALL – WWW.XNALLPAINTBALLS.COM

ZAP – WWW.ZAPPAINTBALL.COM

Put your comments on our Facebook link to this post

***

Don't forget to visit us on Youtube and Facebook!

Old School Shout Out

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Sat, 20 May 2023 13:08:00 GMT

1987 Year of the "Squad"

You can be forgiven if you didn't realize that a suit and tie was a standard paintball team uniform.

Those nattily dressed gentlemen pictured above are the UK's first Championship team, Bart's Stud Squad, pictured getting ready to fly to the states for the 1988 Lively Masters tournament in Nashville, TN.

A year later the team would revisit the North American continent, when they flew in for the 1989 PMI North American Championship. It was also the first appearance of any foreign team competing in a US - based tournament.

The following year the Studs would win the NSG UK Championship.

International play has since grown into a huge thing, and you're looking at a pic from almost the very beginning. In some respects, the internet has proven useful.

Lesley Hickson posted the image to the Old Age Paintballer's Facebook page.

There's also a book, available for download as a PDF, The Complete Tournament History of British Paintball Teams available on the Facebook page of the same name. Quite the tome at some 530+ pages. Lots of photos too!

An Ode to Hills

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Fri, 19 May 2023 13:52:25 GMT

Hills Play Different

The images included here are from Barrie Paintball of Ontario, Canada , (top) and Yankee Paintball of CT (above) respectively.

The other day it occurred to me that a lot of players haven't played hills, or at least have left their hill playing days far behind.

Hills play different than flat terrain, way different. Take a look at that picture above. Bad enough to break cover and see a wall of bunkers facing you, but that? You're not just going to have to climb that hill. You're going to have to RUN! up that hill.

Or crawl. Or get some teammates to rain a hail of paint down on that ridge line and hope the other team doesn't notice that you're actually sneaking a couple of players up that hill somewhere else.

Hills play way differently than flat terrain and you know this if you've ever spent any serious playing time on them.

They can also do wonders for your team in terms of stamina; one of the smartest things I ever did was take my new team to a home field that was nothing BUT hills and ravines, knolls, mountains, even. By the end of the first season, that team could run flat out for four days - and we only needed three for tournaments.

Anyone who has ever played one of the West Point Big Games will know what I'm talking about. "Come on, we have to assault that hill. Again! We need all the bodies we can get!"

Heck. Anyone who has ever played at a field in the northeast knows hills. And they probably hate them with a passion normally reserved for things best left unmentioned. Well, that's not exactly true. Hate is usually reserved for players going UP hill, while something approaching love is often felt by those on the high ground.

Going up and down hills is how most people think of hills (if they think of them at all), whereas playing across hills is a completely different animal. Those familiar with this will know exactly what I'm talking about. You've got those players at the top pushing the advance, while a line of teammates works lower down, and usually in a relieved position, an angled backwards line of players across the hillside.

Hills can get messy. I've seen teams literally flip ends of the field while playing them.

And there's nothing else on the field like a downhill charge.

Hills are just plain fun, a tactically challenging addition to the game you'll find at woodsball events - like the WCPL.

Coming Soon: The New York Classic at Paintball Sports New York. (Yes, they have hills. Ravines too!) June 9, 10, 11.

Also coming soon, a chance to play in some foreign woods - the WCPL's UK Classic!

don't forget -

Visit our Youtube Channel
and our Facebook Group

A Month of Up-Coming Events

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Thu, 18 May 2023 11:31:47 GMT

Get Ready - These Paintball Events are Happening Now!

Starting this weekend and scheduled for up to a month out, here are your up-coming paintball events:

Upcoming Events

May 19-21

Bunkerfest - Bunkerfest - Memorial Classic

Texas, Allen

May 19-21

ICPL - Old Bay Classic

Maryland, Chesapeake City

May 19-21

WCPPL - WCPPL 2023 Event 2

California, Perris

May 20-21

NRPL - Charm City Open

Maryland, Severn

May 20

NBALL - Ninjaball E3: Ninja Wars

Washington, Snohomish | Schedule | Brackets

May 20-21

GGSP - GG X-Ball League- .357 Series #2

Missouri, Truesdale

May 20-21

NEPXL - NEXL'23 Event 2

Massachusetts, Sudbury

May 20

OPS - OPS D4 5man and D3 Xball Event 2

Connecticut, Coventry | Schedule | Brackets |

May 21

LLPS - LLP 5 Man D5 May Tournament

New Jersey, Monroe Township

May 21

SSPL - SSPL 3 Man Series- May 21

Vermont, Colchester

May 21

OPS - OPS D4 Xball Event 2

Connecticut, Coventry | Schedule | Brackets

May 25

NXLE - Netherlands Invitational Practices

Sevenum |

May 26-28

NXLE - 2023 Netherlands Invitational

Sevenum

May 27-28

EPL - EPL Butler Memorial Cup 2023

New Jersey, Pemberton

SPL - Peach State Classic 2023

CEPL - CEPL SAC PAINTBALL SUMMER JAM

California, Sacramento

June 3-4

AGPL - New Hampshire Paintball Classic 10 Man at Adventure Games

New Hampshire, Weare

June 3-4

VPL - 2da Valida VPL - Maracaibo

Maracaibo

June 3-4

NXL Refs - NXL Ref Clinic - Chesapeake City, MD

Maryland, Chesapeake City

June 4

GGSP - GG Kingmaker 1:1- Qualifying Event #2

Missouri, Truesdale

June 4

SEEDS - 2023 SEEDS Series 3-Man E2: BUCKEYE OPEN

CFOA - CFOA RETRO 5-Man

North Carolina, Sedalia

June 9-11

WCPL - New York Classic

New York, Clintondale

June 10-11

EXL - ELITE XBALL LEAGUE: DYE OPEN

FPCL - FPCL Spring Storm Cup 2023

Florida, Miami

June 11

C6PB - C6PS 3-Man Series E3

New York, Whitesboro

June 11

HTPS - HTPS Core Sample 3 Man

Texas, The Woodlands

June 15

NXL - NXL Mid-Atlantic Major Practice

Pennsylvania, Royersford

June 16-18

NXL - NXL Mid-Atlantic Major 2023

Pennsylvania, Royersford | Schedule | Brackets

NPL - NPL#2 2023 Skarnes

Skarnes

June 18

GGSP - GG 3-Man Series for Rookies: Event #3

Missouri, Truesdale
Source: PBLeagues.com

Snapshots: Wednesday, May 17, 2023

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Wed, 17 May 2023 13:57:52 GMT

Paintball News From Around the Web

Bea Paxson, on the Destiny team's Facebook page notes the passing of Makala Denise Brooks, "whose life was taken too soon by her own hand while battling depression". Makala was 31 and played for the WNXL Team Destiny.

Our condolences to the Brooks family, her teammates and friends. ( Full post here.)

***

Into Wheelguns? Valken wants you to know that ANY day can be Wheelgun Wednesday . Valken has you covered with their Combat Grey TR50.

Valken Paintball supports the WCPL

***

Charles "Happy" Holton's team The Horn Section (Happy is a member of The Band team of legendary paintball players and put together this Brass section) is looking for a couple of players for New York. You don't need to play a horn (can't hurt though). And they've got pretty nifty jerseys too!

Contact Charles if you are interested here on FB , or sign up on the WCPL's Free Agents G roup and let him know! (WCPL Free Agents Group is for any team or player looking for a team or team's looking for players.)

***

Fred Schultz asked the paintball community to step up and send Cameron Montoya a birthday card for his 8th birthday this Saturday (May 20th) on his podcast last night. Cameron was set to cruise the Bahamas, but is instead spending that time in Boston Children's Hospital after being diagnosed with Leukemia.
You can send cards to:

Cameron Montoya

PO BOX 186

Hopedale, MA 01747

Our best wishes to Cameron in his fight!

***

Fred also featured Dan@Triggernomics and Zac Arbuckle of Living Legends and put some great looking custom marker designs on display. Check out the whole 'cast here.

***

WCPL hosts the New York Classic June 9th, 10th and 11th at Paintball Sports New York.

don't forget -

Visit our Youtube Channel
a n d our Facebook Group

Triggernomics on Mr Fred & Friends Tonight

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Tue, 16 May 2023 13:31:49 GMT

Zac Arbuckle & Dan @ Triggernomics Featured Tonight

You really don't need anything more than that picture above to tell you what Triggernomics is all about. (I had a Triggernomics 'Mag until it was stolen.)

Dan will join Zac Arbuckle of Living Legends and Mr. Fred on tonight's podcast , starting at 10 pm EST, 7 PM West Coast Time.

Living Legends takes place this coming weekend, May 18 - 21 at Hell Survivors in MI. ( Tickets here. )

Triggernomics is on Facebook . And, because I know you want to see more -

don't forget -

Visit our Youtube Channel
a n d our Facebook Group

Members of the Team: Paintball Pets

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Mon, 15 May 2023 14:54:41 GMT

Our Biggest Supporters - Pets

That's LA Xtreme with Hunter, the team's mascot and player (if there was a four-legged format). You can tell by the expression on his face that he's having a great time at the WCPL's Panhandle Paintball Classic (held April 1&2, 2023 at Panhandle Paintball).

Pets are really a big part of our lives. Dogs especially, which we often want to include in just about all of our daily activities, including paintball. We know its not safe for them out on the field (nor is eating paintballs), but in the staging area, out in the parking lot (and even on the field when play isn't going on), if a paintball player has a dog, there's a good chance you'll meet them at the field or at an event. (I'm not dissing other furry four-footers. I've met snakes, parrots, ferrets, cats, rats and representatives of a few other phyla out at the field.)

When I was doing paintball trade shows, my dog Bo often went along. He was quite popular, so much so that we put a tip jar on our table for him, and he usually earned more tips than we did. Probably because he was so good at promoting paintball brands, like in this photo:

The NXL posted a photo gallery of all of the dogs at one of their events on Facebook a couple of years ago, with photos by MMPhotography . Here's one. You can see the rest at the link.

Over on the paintball thread on Reddit, you can meet Gracie, the resident mouse catcher and mascot of Jaeger's Paintball in KC:

And from around the web, we find that there's even a veterinarian who enjoys bringing his dogs to his children's activities, which includes paintball.

I've seen dogs at events fitted up with saddlebags, carrying water and snacks for their teams (and no doubt, themselves), running up and down the net, clearly excited by the action on the field and providing that comfort and support that only our animal friends can give.

Do any of your pets paintball? Maybe your cat likes batting paintballs around on the floor, until the inevitable happens. Maybe your dog gets excited whenever you get your gear bag out.

If you've got a non-human member of your paintball family, send us a picture. We've love to see them!

***

New York fast approaches, with the WCPL's UK event right around the corner! Sign up now and avoid the long lines!

New York Classic - Paintball Sports NY June 9, 10, 11
UK Classic - July 29 & 30 (Location Pending. Hosted by Holmbush Paintball folks)
Northern California Classic - Shooter's Paintball August 6 & 6
Saint Louis Gateway Classic - Gateway Paintball October 14 & 15

Register on PBLeagues.com

***

don't forget -

Visit our Youtube Channel
and our Facebook Group

Snapshots: News Snippits from the Paintball World

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Fri, 12 May 2023 14:11:29 GMT

An Occasional Round Up of Paintball News

Kathy Alvarez - Valkyries Women's Paintball Team - is looking for one more female player to join them at the WCPL's New York Classic event on June 9,10,11 at Paintball Sports in New York.

You can reach her on Facebook here

It looks like they have some potential takers, but get in touch if you are interested as women's teams need to be a bigger part of this game. The Valkyries are a great bunch - from all over the world - and if you are a female player, it can't hurt to hook up with this up-and-coming team.

***

The NCPA has dropped their field layout for the 2023 Summer Shootout event, coming this weekend, May 13 & 14
This is the NCPA's (National Collegiate Paintball Association) National Championship event, being held in Kissimmee, Florida.

I'm quite interested to see how it turns out, as I hosted the first ever National College Championship in 2000 at Paintfest.
You can find the NCPA here .

***

The latest issue of Paintball Media Magazine is now available: Paintball Media Magazine, May 2023

***

Rob Walker shares a walk through video of the 2nd field being prepped for the ICC/Montressor Classic that will be held at Fox Paintball, coming this July 29th to July 30th.

You can watch it here

***

Social Networking Update: We've moderated our moderation rules on the WCPL page. "Profanity" in comments still remains blocked, and we'll still remove content that we do not believe is appropriate for all audiences (or if it is trolling behavior or doesn't reflect paintball in a positive light), but other than those simple to adhere to guidelines, we're open to open discussion.

The WCPL Facebook page can be found here

What's Your Team's Song?

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Thu, 11 May 2023 13:10:54 GMT

Music and Paintball

Warren Zevon performing in Paramus, NJ, 1982: "I have observed in my travels, you've got your werewolves of London, werewolves of Pasadena...but there's only one Werewolves of New Jersey!"

In case you didn't know, that guy up there is the sadly deceased rock legend, Warren Zevon, famous for, if nothing else, composing a song with the line "Sorta like a Waring Blender" in one of his songs.

Warren passed away a few years ago and has still not been inducted into the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame. No, that's not all that paintballish, so here's the connection:

My team - The Werewolves of NJ/PA Competition Paintball Team* - adopted several of Warren's songs as inspirational theme music for the team, three songs in fact - Lawyers, Guns and Money, Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner and, of course, Werewolves of London.

That song ends with the lyric "Draw Blood!" , which we would always yell very loudly when singing along at a tournament, right before we took the field and preferably, right in front of our up-coming opponents. (I've linked to the full lyrics below.)

I don't know how intimidating it was for other teams hearing it, but it sure did fire us up.

Coincidentally, Warren did a concert a few years before the team was formed and, since he was appearing in Paramus, NJ (go there some time, it will be an eye-opener), he altered the title of that song during his intro to "There's only one Werewolves of New Jersey!" And I get a big kick out of it every time I hear it, which isn't that infrequently because it was my team's anthem.

We had another go to artist for the simple fact that many of his songs resonated with paintball. I refer to the equally legendary Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. His "Won't Back Down" (lyrics also below) seems to have been written for paintball teams, especially underdog ones. In fact, during the writing of The Complete Guide to Paintball (Hatherleigh Press, 1999) that song was aired on the radio during a discussion of music and paintball and I was able to say "Hear that? That right there is a paintball song!" (There's hardly a player out there who hasn't faced insurmountable odds on the field and who hasn't taken that stand. You all know what I'm talking about. "Not today, kids. I'm winning this one."

Those songs and lyrics obviously date me - I'm hearing a fair amount of Rap, Hip Hop, Country & Western at the fields these days in addition to rock, both old school and new - but the type of music doesn't really matter - it's the feelings that a particular song invokes for a team, regardless of its musical genre.

I always thought it would be pretty cool if paintball had gotten big enough to be televised regularly and each team took the field like they do at footballs games, their team's theme song blaring throughout the stadium. I know Thunderstruck would have thought it pretty cool to stride onto the field while AC/DC was playing that song with the same name, the one popularized in the Ironman films.

A pretty good bet that at some point, the Ironmen would have been introduced with that Black Sabbath song...

These days at events, most teams seem to bring their music with them and I'm curious whether or not the old somewhat tradition of picking a song to inspire your team is still going on. If you have a theme song, how about letting us know what it is, how you chose it and what about that song inspires you and your players?

I know why Werewolves of London did it for us; naturally it started because our team name is in the title, but its the lyrics that truly grabbed us, as we felt that it captured both the humorous aspects of the team as well as the fierceness we could bring to a game.

Let us know what your team's theme song is in the comments!

***

The New York Classic takes place June 9th, 10th, 11th.

The next WCPL event will be the UK Classic (that's right, overseas!) on July 29th and 30th. Sign up on PBLeagues.com

***

don't forget -

Visit our Youtube Channel
and our Facebook Group

***

*We added the "Competition" part to the name because back in the day, you needed to distinguish the fact that you weren't just a "team", but were in fact, competing in tournaments.

Werewolves of London Lyrics, by Warren Zevon (video here )

I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand
Walking through the streets of SoHo in the rain
He was looking for the place called Lee Ho Fooks
For to get a big dish of beef chow mein

Ah-hoo, werewolves of London
Ah-hoo
Ah-hoo, werewolves of London
Ah-hoo

You hear him howling around your kitchen door
You better not let him in
Little old lady got mutilated late last night
Werewolves of London again

Ah-hoo, werewolves of London
Ah-hoo
Ah-hoo, werewolves of London
Ah-hoo, huh

He's the hairy handed gent who ran amok in Kent
Lately he's been overheard in Mayfair
You better stay away from him, he'll rip your lungs out Jim
Huh, I'd like to meet his tailor

Ah-hoo, werewolves of London
Ah-hoo
Ah-hoo, werewolves of London
Ah-hoo

Well, I saw Lon Chaney walking with the Queen
Doin' the werewolves of London
I saw Lon Chaney Jr. walking with the Queen, uh
Doin' the werewolves of London
I saw a werewolf drinkin' a piña colada at Trader Vic's
His hair was perfect

Ah-hoo, werewolves of London
Hey draw blood
Ah-hoo, werewolves of London

Won't Back Down lyrics by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Well, I won't back down
No I won't back down
You could stand me up at the gates of Hell
But I won't back down

No I'll stand my ground
Won't be turned around
And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down
Gonna stand my ground
And I won't back down

Hey baby
There ain't no easy way out (I won't back down)
Hey I will stand my ground
And I won't back down

Well, I know what's right
I got just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin' me around
But I'll stand my ground
And I won't back down

Hey baby
There ain't no easy way out (I won't back down)
Hey I will stand my ground (I won't back down)
And I won't back down

Hey baby
There ain't no easy way out (I won't back down)
Hey I won't back down

Hey baby
There ain't no easy way out (I won't back down)
Hey I will stand my ground (I won't back down)
And I won't back down (I won't back down)
No I won't back down

Lawyers, Guns and Money lyrics, by Warren Zevon

I went home with the waitress, the way I always do
How was I to know, she was with the Russians, too?

I was gambling in Havana, I took a little risk
Send lawyers, guns and money, dad, get me out of this, ha

I'm the innocent bystander
Somehow I got stuck between the rock and a hard place
And I'm down on my luck, yes I'm down on my luck
Well, I'm down on my luck

And I'm hiding in Honduras
I'm a desperate man
Send lawyers, guns, and money
The shit has hit the fan

Alright, send lawyers, guns, and money
Huh, yeah
Send lawyers, guns, and money
Uh
Send lawyers, guns, and money
Hey
Send lawyers, guns, and money
Oo, yeah
Yeah
Yeah

Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner lyrics by Warren Zevon

Roland was a warrior from the Land of the Midnight Sun
With a Thompson gun for hire, fighting to be done
The deal was made in Denmark on a dark and stormy day
So he set out for Biafra to join the bloody fray

Through sixty-six and seven they fought the Congo war
With their fingers on their triggers, knee-deep in gore
For days and nights they battled the Bantu to their knees
They killed to earn their living and to help out the Congolese

Roland the Thompson gunner
Roland the Thompson gunner

His comrades fought beside him - Van Owen and the rest
But of all the Thompson gunners, Roland was the best
So the CIA decided they wanted Roland dead
That son-of-a-bitch Van Owen blew off Roland's head

Roland the headless Thompson gunner
Norway's bravest son (to even up the score)
They can still see his headless body stalking through the night
In the muzzle flash of Roland's Thompson gun
In the muzzle flash of Roland's Thompson gun

Roland searched the continent for the man who'd done him in
He found him in Mombassa in a barroom drinking gin
Roland aimed his Thompson gun - he didn't say a word
But he blew Van Owen's body from there to Johannesburg

Roland the headless Thompson gunner
Roland the headless Thompson gunner
Roland the headless Thompson gunner
Talkin' about the man
Roland the headless Thompson gunner

The eternal Thompson gunner
Still wandering through the night
Now it's ten years later but he still keeps up the fight
In Ireland, in Lebanon, in Palestine and Berkeley
Patty Hearst heard the burst of Roland's Thompson gun and bought it

This and That - a Collection of News Snippets

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Wed, 10 May 2023 15:08:04 GMT

Patches, Secret Societies, NY Classic and a Wooden 3-Way

Bryan Tonczyczyn of Team Fox has patches for the WCPL's New York Classic ( Paintball Sports New York , June 9-1 ), get in touch with him on Facebook or elsewhere to get one. (They're pretty damned cool!)

Speaking of patches, Paintball Founding Father and Unsung Champion of Amateur teams Biff Thiele (SOBs) has made up another run of IADSPBP patches, the patches for paintball's most exclusive Secret Society. You have to be a member in order to get one.
How do you become a member?
You'll know when you do.
If you are a member or qualify to be one, get in touch with Biff on Facebook .

Fred Schultz's Mr. Fred & Friends podcast last night featured the WCPL, along with Dirk Gaderry (made sure to spell that name right this time!) (and again!) of the Ironmen, Jacob Easter of Toxic Teddeys, Bill Bailey of Old School Paintball Guns and promoter of the New York Classic, Kevin Donaldson (who was unable to appear owing to technical difficulties) all discussed woodsball play, the historic fields in New York and the importance of supporting young guns play in order to bring new players into the sport.
Dirk Gadberry: "Can't wait to get to those hallowed grounds...the location of the first World Cup. When you walk out and see those fields...when you stand back and look at it...there's something there. I don't know if its the ghosts of paintball players running around in the woods...but there's just something about those fields and those woods that brings it to a whole different experience than anywhere else in the whole United States. "
Jacob Easter talked about bringing a whole team of scenario players to the Florida event, players who'd not competed together before. "We tried to get the vibe right." "I just wanted to be sure everyone was having a good time."
Fred Schults: "Going out and doing the woods ball thing is a lot of fun. "
Jacob: "I thought the fields there (Panhandle Paintball) were really good."
Check it out in its entirety here

And, finally,this. A manually operated, wooden three-way valve. Or, at least that's what I'm calling it!

You can watch a video of it in operation here

don't forget -

Visit our Youtube Channel
a n d our Facebook Group

Travel Advisory

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Mon, 08 May 2023 19:35:22 GMT

Traveling with Your Gear

Recently, we were asked by a player planning to attend the upcoming NY Classic event (June 9-11, Paintball Sports NY) if we could provide them with an "invitation letter" to the event, as they needed such a thing to be able to get their gear on the plane and/or through US Customs upon arriving in the US.

Of course we'd be more than happy to help insure that players and teams traveling for events in the US can do so; anyone who has traveled internationally with paintball gear knows that it can become a nightmare - especially when having to deal with different languages, let alone different policies, different laws, etc.

For sure, no one wants to arrive in a country for an event only to have to leave their gear behind at the airport. (And no one wants to be ushered into a windowless, concrete block room under any circumstances.)

We issued the invitational letter, and will be happy to do the same for any team traveling to a US-based WCPL event, but I wanted to share a few things that were highlighted by this inquiry.

First, for foreign travel, the Transportation and Security Administration (TSA) is not the correct Federal authority to deal with.

Yes, TSA has its own rules and restrictions regarding airline travel - who and what can pass through to the plane - but that's only for domestic travel. (Not that you can ignore those rules without peril: gear needs to go in your checked luggage, tanks need to be depressurized, etc.)

For those non-US citizens traveling to the US, the governing authority is Customs and Border Patrol.

We reached out to CBP to find out if the requested letter was their regulation or simply an airlines own internal policy. At this writing, we have not yet hard back from CBP, but when we do, we'll post any relevant information they might pass on.

In the meantime, its probably best if you check - well before departure - with your own country's version of TSA and/or CBP, AND with your individual airline.

There was a time, BITD in the US, when we were instructed to declare the presence of our paintball guns during check - in and often make them available for inspection. Rules and regulations can change at any time, so its best for players to double check the appropriate authorities, be it a branch of government or an airline. No one wants to have to decide at the last minute whether to travel without gear or skip their flight.

And if you do check and run in to some unanticipated restrictions or roadblocks, get in touch with us. We can't promise to be able to help, but we can promise to try.

* * *

Teams attending the New York Classic: Your deposits/entry fees are due by May 10th. For payment details, go here

Paintball Events Upcoming a Month From Now

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Sun, 07 May 2023 16:32:14 GMT

Here are some upcoming events you still might be able to make

June 9-11

WCPL - New York Classic

New York, Clintondale | Register

June 10-11

EXL - ELITE XBALL LEAGUE: DYE OPEN

Kansas, Assaria | Register

FPCL - FPCL Spring Storm Cup 2023

C6PB - C6PS 3-Man Series E3

New York, Whitesboro | Register

June 11

HTPS - HTPS Core Sample 3 Man

Texas, The Woodlands | Register

June 17-18

CPS - CPS Event 2

Ontario, Navan | Register

June 18

GGSP - GG 3-Man Series for Rookies: Event #3

Missouri, Truesdale | Register

June 18-25

AWPL - Air Warriors 3-Man Summer Showdown

California, Lemoore | Register

June 24-25

GGSP - GG X-Ball League- .357 Series #3

Missouri, Truesdale | Register

June 24

CFOA3 - 2023 3-Man #3

North Carolina, Sedalia | Register

June 24-25

XTPL - Champions/Challengers League

Texas, Waxahachie | Register

June 24-25

OPL - OPL E2 2023- Bash at the Beach

Ontario, Elmvale | Register

June 24

SEEDS - 2023 SEEDS Series Summer 2-Man Jam Event 4

Ohio, New Waterford | Register

June 24-25

ICPL - Golden State Classic

California, Sacramento | Register

June 25

LLPS - LLP 5 Man D5 June Tournament

New Jersey, Monroe Township | Register

June 25

ACE - Annandale Summer Cup 2023

Minnesota, South Haven | Register

June 25

SSPL - SSPL 3 Man Series- June 25

Vermont, Colchester | Register

In future, we'll be posting and highlighting upcoming events scheduled for two months down the road, as this should afford teams an opportunity to plan, schedule and sign up.

Source: www.PBLeagues.com

UK Predators Want to Inspire Woodsballers

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Thu, 04 May 2023 13:22:23 GMT

They Play Ball in the UK, Too!

The U.K. Predators are one of the premiere competition teams from the UK, and one of the first European teams to visit the United States for competition.

Since those early days, they've made quite a name for themselves.

They've also planted a flag for Classic paintball play (they've played in the WCPL since its first season) and are supporting the WCPL's UK Classic event coming up in August.

The other day they decided to share their love of Classic Woodsball play by posting the following inspirational video to Facebook, showing us all exactly why they play Classic Woodsball, and why you should too!

Check it out (and then read on for more in this post.)

UPDATE FOR TEAMS ATTENDING NY CLASSIC (June 9, 10, 11 at Paintball Sports New York):

Entry Fees/Deposits are due by May 10th. See where and how to pay HERE
Teams looking for players for this event should visit the WCPL Free Agents Group on Facebook, which can be found HERE

AND:

don't forget -

Visit our Youtube Channel
and our Facebook Group

Want To See What A Great Woodsball Field Looks Like?

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Wed, 03 May 2023 16:01:17 GMT

Rabbit Run A New York Classic Woodsball Fueld

Kevin Donaldson, host of the WCPL's New York Classic (June 9, 10, 11, Paintball Sports NY) posted a walk thru video of one of the fields that will be used at the upcoming event - the famous and infamous Rabbit Run.

I played this field many times at events between 1987 and the aughts.

Its a great, challenging and "deceptive" field because its geography can fool the eye.

As Kevin notes in the video, the field is not quite ready as they have some...uh..."detritus" (yeah, that's the ticket, detritus) still to pick up, but if there's one thing I know about Kevin, its that he will meet his commitments, no matter what it takes. These fields will be ready, groomed and pristine until the teams start playing!

Before we get to the video, a note to check back here later today as there will be another video posted, this time from the UK Predators, offering all of you woodsball players a little inspiration.

And don't forget -

Visit our Youtube Channel
a n d our Facebook Group

Bud Orr on Podcast Tonight

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Tue, 02 May 2023 12:34:55 GMT

Bud Orr, Peng Kin & Bill Bailey on Mr. Fred & Friends Podcast Tonight

Tonight's episode of the Mr. Fred & Friends Podcast will feature the legendary Bud Orr of WGP & Autococker fame, along with Peng Kin and Bill Bailey. Starting at 10 pm EST (7 pm west coast time), you can watch it here .

Old school players will remember a time, lasting perhaps two competition seasons, when Autocockers and Automags were considered the "only" guns suitable for competitive use. There was an intense rivalry among players and teams - despite the fact that the guns creators - Bud Orr of Autococker fame and Tom Kaye of Automag fame, were good friends and had even helped each other out with their designs.

Back in those days I was primarily a 'Mag user, though I did acquire tech certification for both guns, both of which were marvels of engineering, and not just paintball engineering.

While I'd shot plenty of 'Cockers to test and tune, it wasn't until I was called to fill in on a game at the NPPL's Vegas event that I had to use a borrowed one in competition. Despite the fact that I kept on slamming my goggle lens with the cocking block, I did get three eliminations that game, which I think is a testament to the gun itself, rather than my shooting abilities.

Bud is not only a great inventor, he's a great guy. And he's still playing too, putting in appearances with the Band at WCPL events.

Peng Kin, a legendary cocker tech will be joining him, along with Bill Bailey of Old School Markers fame.

Looks like I'll be drinking coffee after 4 pm so I can stay up and watch what will no doubt be a fantastic show - especially if you're one of those 'cocker players!

Legendary Match-Ups Coming in NY

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Mon, 01 May 2023 13:16:22 GMT

Decades Long Rivalries Coming for NY Classic

One of the reasons I'm looking forward to the WCPL's upcoming New York Classic (June 9th, 10th, 11th) is the potential for some games that will take place between teams with rivalries that go back to the 1980s tournament scene.

I'm referring mostly to anticipated match-ups between the Ironmen and the All Americans, two teams that between them dominated tournament play for several years, but I'm also looking forward to games between those two and other long-standing franchises like the UK Predators and Lockout.

Sure the rosters have changed, classification systems have changed, and there's been a lot of water that's run under the bridge since any two of these teams faced off for the first time, but that doesn't change the excitement and anticipation of getting to see living paintball history in action, out in the woods where it all began.

This is the kind of thing that makes WCPL events unique in the world of paintball competition. Not only will we get to witness the continuation of a rivalry that the paintball equivalent of the Hatfields & McCoys, but we'll get to sit down, hang out and laugh while exchanging near forty-year old paintball stories with the people who were there.

You can't get that anywhere else.

Remember: Deposits for NY are owed by May 10th.

And don't forget -

Visit our Youtube Channel
a n d our Facebook Group

NY Classic Teams, Time to Pay Up!

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 12:33:26 GMT

Entry Fees Are Now Due

It's time for the teams registered for the WCPL's New York Classic to Get Their Fees In

There are several ways to pay, detailed below. WCPL NY is accepting PayPal and Credit Card payments.

According to a message received from Promoter Kevin Donaldson (who will be heading up the Master Blasters reffing crew - using the epitome of officiating methods - Radio Zone Judging):

Teams may pay a $500 deposit by 5/10/2023 (May tenth) via the PayPal account at joanne@paintballsportsny.com

Or by Credit Card by calling (845) 791-1079. ( And, of course, you can also pay in full at the same time.)

There are Three payment options:

$1250 entry only

$1500 for BYOP ($1250 Entry Fee + $250 BYOP Surcharge)

$2000 including 20 cases of paint ($1250 Entry Fee + 20 Cases @ $37.50)

All additional paint cases purchased at the event are $45 per case.

This event takes place at Paintball Sports NY, June 9th, 10th and 11th.

Shout Out to the following teams - thanks for signing up!

All Americans

AllStars (Germany)

Annihilators

APE Guerrillas

Fight Club Cincy

Ground Zero Red

IRONMEN

LOCKOUT

Midwest Legion

NYPD Finest Paintball

Team Crowley WCPL

TEAM FOX

The Band

The Horn section

Toxic Teddys

UK Predators

Unforgivin

Valkyries

And don't forget -

Visit our Youtube Channel
a n d our Facebook Group

WCPL NoCal Classic Location Announced

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Thu, 27 Apr 2023 10:47:20 GMT

Fred Schultz Announces WCPL Northern California Classic Field

Above, Fred with the owners of Shooter's Paintball of Nicholas, California, Karen and Bruce.

The location for the WCPL's August 5th and 6th Northern California Classic has long been under wraps, and now it can be revealed that the event will take place at Shooter's Paintball of Nicholas, California.

Fred has even posted a walk-through of one of the fields and it looks gorgeous! Here's a teaser.

You can view that here .

SPECIAL NOTE : If you've registered for the upcoming June 9-10-11 New York Classic, its time to pay up!

And don't forget -

Visit our Youtube Channel
and o u r Facebook Group

Why Do You Travel To Events?

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 13:00:35 GMT

Behind the Bunker asks: What Gets YOU to an Event?

Behind the Bunker Podcast's 484th episode asks an important question: What gets you to travel to a paintball event?

Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of answers, either the number 1 or number 2 response, centers on "People".

Meeting new people, catching up with old friends, hanging out, going out to eat, having drinks, reminiscing about old times or passing the time before play begins.

You can check out the episode here and visit their site here .

These are the same reasons that teams are signing up and playing in the WCPL.

WCPL's next event is the New York Classic, June 9, 10, 11, 2023, at Paintball Sports New York. Mechanical Woodsball event, some of the best fields in the country if not the world, radio zone judging by the Master Blasters.

This event is limited to 27 teams and two-thirds of the slots are already spoken for.
Sign up on PBLeagues.com Don't wait - there's not that many space left!

And don't forget -

Visit our Youtube Channel
and our Facebook Group

Teams Already Attending WCPL New York Classic

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 16:34:44 GMT

NY Classic Filling Up

We've announced for quite some time now that the WCPL's third 2023 event - the New York Classic being held at Paintball Sports NY, featuring radio zone judging and some of the greatest woodsball fields in the game - will be a limited attendance event, cutting off at 27 teams. (That makes it easy to give each team their 8 games during preliminary rounds.)

Over on PBLeagues.com, sign ups have reached 18, or two-thirds of the available spots.

To give you a little added incentive and some idea of who you'll get to hang out with and play against, here is the current list of attending teams:

All Americans

AllStars (Germany)

Annihilators

APE Guerrillas

Fight Club Cincy

Ground Zero Red

IRONMEN

LOCKOUT

Midwest Legion

NYPD Finest Paintball

Team Crowley WCPL

TEAM FOX

The Band

The Horn section

Toxic Teddys

UK Predators

Unforgivin

Valkyries

New York Classic - June 9th, 10th, 11th at Paintball Sports NY.

Visit our Youtube Channel
and our Facebook Group

Budd Orr & Peng Kin Featured on Flag Pull Productions Tomorrow

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Mon, 24 Apr 2023 14:08:22 GMT

Mr. Fred & Friends to Feature Paintball Legends

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New York Classic - Slots Are Filling Up

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 17:10:46 GMT

June 9th, 10th & 11th - New York Classic

Now that the New York Classic has begun to fill up - there are only 27 team slots available and 17 are either paid or committed to* - I thought it might give everyone a better idea of what they are dealing with by taking a look at some pie charts.

As we all know from movies like Men in Black 3 and other cinematic wonders, pie is used as a metaphor for thoughtfulness...taking the time to savor something, get your thoughts in order, ruminate before making a decision.

The decision, of course, being whether or not to sign up for this event that will be - I don't hesitate to remind you - played on hallowed paintball ground.

So here's some pie for you to think about.

First up - a Pie Chart illustrating the relationship between team slots that have been spoken for and those that remain open:

In case you are new to reading Pie Charts, the Blue area represents all of the teams that have secured their attendance at this event.

The SMALLER, Orange area represents those spots that remain available. It's smaller than the Blue area, because there are fewer open slots than there are claimed ones.

I belabor this math point because counting seems to be an issue with some players - like when they claim they got 18 eliminations in a single game against a ten player team.

But any way.

The main point here is, that Orange area is going to keep on getting smaller and smaller, until there is none of it left. If you haven't signed up by then, we'll have to replace the Pie Chart with a Crying Emoji for you, because you won't get to play, and you'll miss out on all of the fun being had by the likes of the teams displayed in our next chart.

Here's a Pie Chart of where the teams are coming from.

Think its going to be mostly NY region teams? Think there won't be much chance to meet and play against teams you've never met?

Think again.

Not only does the New York Classic have teams attending from across the US, but it also has international attendees in the form of Germany's All Stars and the UK's Predators.

If that multi-colored Pie Chart makes you think there's a lot in that mix, you'd be right!

For Clarification's sake - the "United States" team listing is for the Band, that team of legendary paintball personalities, who hail from all over the country and who come together at WCPL and other events to help spread the word of Paintball. People like Dan Colby, Tim Schloss, Fred Schultz, Chip Kuhrt, Tom Ghee, Bud Orr and others.

And, lest we forget, one of those California teams is the all female team, the Valkyries, who could also have been listed as "International", as they have women players from all over the world on their roster.

But what's not well illustrated by those previous charts is probably the most important aspect of WCPL's New York Classic in particular and WCPL events in general, and that's the ratio of Fun to Competition.

Let me explain.

We're all paintballers because, when it comes down to it individually, each and everyone one of us thinks that we can go into the woods with a gun and get those other players, also armed with guns, before they get us. There's an essential, call it a "background self confidence and belief in oneself" (also sometimes known as arrogance) that's carried in the mind of each of us, that gives us the gumption to RUN towards the other team when we hear "Game On!". I don't think you can play Paintball successfully without it.

What that means is that we value good, strong competition. Plinking at cans is one thing. Plinking at them when they're shooting back is an entirely different matter. It's the challenge that we're looking for, and you don't get challenged by bad or inexperienced players. This means that, in general, we'll take our competition wherever we can find it. We'll step over the hurdles of bad fields, bad reffing, expensive trips, low pressure fills, malfunctioning chronographs, bad weather, and all the rest, so long as we can compete.

BUT.

We're also in it because we ENJOY it. No matter how bad things get, (and boy, if you've been in this game as long as I have, you've got a list) we usually manage to extract a little fun from even the worst events. Watching great play, partying with old and new friends, listening to the tall tales, checking out the new gear.

The WCPL thinks...no, KNOWS...that it possible to combine both at the same event. Competition AND Fun. Fun AND Competition.

Which brings us to our last set of charts that illustrate the ratio of Competition to Fun across paintball's tournament spectrum.

Don't trade competition for fun.
Don't trade fun for competition.

Get BOTH!

Play WCPL!

The Countdown to the New York Classic Has Begun!

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 14:11:39 GMT

Nearly half of the available slots for this Classic Woodsball Event are already GONE!

You've got enough to worry about already without adding the anxiety of wondering if there will be a spot left for your team at this event, where ONLY 27 teams will be accepted for the competition.

(Not to mention getting to hang out with some of the coolest dudettes and dudes in the game!)

BONUS: Play on Legendary Woodsball fields - groomed for 35+ years. (The dirt on those fields is Holy Paintball Dirt!)
Get a Team Photo and Bio featured on our website!
Find out why No Tomatoes is a real thing!
Experience the professionalism of Radio Zone Judging!
Visit with trees and brush that have been playing paintball longer than most players have been alive!
Meet Teams from Germany and the UK!

HAVE FUN AT A TOURNAMENT!

WCPL Event #3: New York Classic June 9-11th, 2023

Sign up now at PBLeagues.com

Check out our Youtube Channel

Visit us on Facebook

And sign up for our newsletter (on the website)

Paintball Event Anxiety Can Be Solved By Signing Up NOW!

27 Team Cap on NY Classic

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 16:10:39 GMT

Don't Miss Out!

The third round of the WCPL's 2023 season fast approaches!

And there is a 27 team cap on attendance.

Nearly 50 percent of the available slots are already spoken for (both direct sign ups and commitments).

If you are feeling a sense of urgency in getting your team registered, it is not out of place!

ONLY 27 teams are going to get to compete on some of the greatest woodsball fields in the world - fields that have hosted legendary teams and legendary events, like the first ever televised paintball tournament on ESPN, the first ever World Cup and the ASO series that led to the creation of the NPPL.

It's a cliché, but YOU WON'T WANT TO MISS THIS.

There will be Radio Zone Judging by some of the best (and most experienced) referees in the game; there will be great games played by great teams on some of the greatest and most challenging woodsball fields, and

There Will Be FUN!

You'll get to hang out with (and maybe shoot) some of the greatest names in the sport. Learn all about how this great game came to be, participate in paintball's longest running debates (who was the best, which marker is the bomb, pick up tips and tricks from folks who have been playing for thirty years)...maybe even find out first hand what that No Tomatoes thing is all about.

Run, don't walk, over to PBLeagues.com and register your team now.

You know you want to. Just DO IT!

WCPL New York Classic - JUNE 9th, 10th & 11th, 2023.

Here is some added spice:

We'll be taking team pictures at the event, which will be followed by publishing a team profile on the WCPL website. Give your sponsors some extra cred!

(An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated "April" as the month. The correct date is June 9-11th, 2023)

Robot Paintball

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 16:40:47 GMT

Boston Dynamic's Spot Gets a Tippmann Model 98

Ever since the debut of the Angel and the Shocker, paintballers have been adding electronics and functionality to their markers. A case in point is seen in the image above, one of many different "autonomous sentry guns" using cameras. motion sensors, motorized mounts and paintball guns. No doubt you've seen videos.

A couple of years ago, an art collective named MSCHF purchased one of Boston Dynamics (a leader in robotic design) SPOT robots, mounted a Tippmann Model 98 to it and hooked it up to the internet so that users could remotely control the robot and fire the paintball gun at art objects in a gallery.

SPOT has been used by various police agencies for "dangerous" situations. The robot was recently re-deployed in New York City following citizen protest that had taken it off the street.

MSCHF's project was designed to demonstrate how "dangerous" SPOT could be (Boston Dynamics was not pleased). After all, robots are a menace to society...just like paintball.

Fortunately for Boston Dynamics, SPOT failed at its mission of art harassment, with the robot falling over and unable to right itself after a short while.

Now while it is true that fully autonomous weapon systems could very well pose a threat if they go rogue (a partially autonomous artillery piece in South Africa did so, killing several soldiers and injuring others), the idea of paintball-playing robots, coupled with Artificial Intelligence learning systems could pose a serious threat to the careers of professional ballers. While the initial investment of fielding a team would be high (SPOTs cost 75K each), you'd quickly recoup that investment by not having to feed, cloth, house and transport the team (you could UPS the team to the event). You'd also probably save on paint and air, cause these robots can be hella accurate.

That probably won't happen all that soon. In the meantime, you can enjoy this video of SPOT rampaging through the art gallery -

Paiintball Media Covers Panhandle Paintball Classic

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Thu, 13 Apr 2023 15:15:11 GMT

WCPL's Panhandle Paintball Classic Makes the Front Page

Paintball.Media, John Amodea's long-running media magazine covering all aspects of the sport of paintball, just published its latest issue.

We're very happy to see that one of the lead cover stories is our own Panhandle Paintball Classic, held at Dan Colby and Steve Preskill's Panhandle Paintball field in Holt, Florida, less than two weeks ago.

We'll also take this opportunity to congratulate John on his induction into the Paintball Hall of Fame, a well deserved appointment! Congrats, John!

Head on over to Paintball.Media and check out the April issue with details on the event and some great photos!

(John - thanks for the photo credit. Despite all of the writing I did for the magazines - including a couple of your previous ventures - back in the day, this is the first time I ever received a photo credit!)

WCPL Team Profiles - Lockout

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Wed, 12 Apr 2023 15:23:46 GMT

WCPL Team Profile - Lockout

Before bringing you Matthew Piotrowski's words about his team (and fine words they are), I'd like to share a little bit of paintball history, because Lockout has a part in it.

Here's the NPSRS's monthly team rankings from Paintcheck magazine's July 1992 issue. No typo - nineteen ninety-two. 30 years and a few months ago. The National Paintball Statistics and Ranking Society preceded the WPF and was an organization helmed by me (Steve Davidson) that used a sophisticated algorithm and event data to rank the performance of paintball teams. It ran in virtually every publication of that era, the only regular feature to do so. And there's Lockout , sitting at 10th place among the permanently ranked teams. Talk about staying power!

Matthew Piotrowski: "LOCKOUT is a historic 10-man paintball franchise that began in 1990 in Rochester, NY.

After 8 years of playing their way through the amateur and semi-pro divisions, LOCKOUT earned its first professional bid in 1999 with the top league in the world, the NPPL (National Professional Paintball League).

LOCKOUT went on to shock the paintball world by winning its first two professional tournaments during their inaugural pro season in 2000, in which they dominated the league with their unique, fast paced playing style. LOCKOUT would continue to compete and win tournaments up until 2003, when the team was disbanded and ceased operations.

In 2013 the franchise was reborn by some of the former original pro players of LOCKOUT. Once again LOCKOUT had to cut its teeth in the amateur paintball scene to grow in standing within the 10-man scene. LOCKOUT remains active on the national paintball scene, playing many tournaments and leagues around the country."

Lockout is sponsored and supported by -

GRC Paintball

Akava

Formsy

Supermodels Paintball

Hormesis Paintball

East Coast Paintball Supply

Draco Leopard

Ruthless Paintball Products

Lockout, as you can see in the image above, played a fair number of events back in the day. Their modern era is no exception, with the team now concentrating on 10 Player Competition in the WCPL and the ICPL.

When asked about the highlights of the team's career - "With a long history to pull from it would be difficult to pick the most appropriate selections for this, but in the interests of acknowledging our heritage as well as respect for our current roster, two highlights come to mind.

Back in 99/00 when Lockout secured its first pro bid in the NPPL after grinding in the Amateur division for many years, we entered our first year of professional paintball – winning back to back events (LA & Dallas) to start the season –
More recently, a large step forward for this organization, Lockout USA finished the inaugural WCPL season last year, finishing 3 ^rd overall in the league for the year."

The team maintains squads in both the US and Canada. Their home field for both is GRC Paintball in Angelica, NY – who's owner is Rob Cole, who, as well as the owner of the Lockout organization is a former pro Lockout player/captain.

Like most everything associated with Lockout, a mere listing is insufficient. When it comes to their roster, Matthew had this to say:

"We have a 60+ player roster spanning 5 states and 2 countries.

Lockout USA is structured with two roster levels within the group – the National Roster and the Family Roster. National players compete at the national level across the country while Family players represent the team locally in NY and act as the feeder team of new or young talent to the National squad.

In addition, the “Family” roster also includes several OG Lockout players who played with the team during it’s pro NPPL days as well as some key guest players.

Lockout Canada is structured a bit differently where all members of that squad play both locally and nationally

The national squad members for Lockout USA:

Matty Piotrowski (Captain)

Curk McMichael (Head Coach)

Jake Grassmick

Jesse Koch

Michael Lehman

Cubby VanName

Sarene VanName

Kajon Moore

Parker Phillips

Levi Strope

Tim Blarr

Derrek Phelps

Brent Pizzo

Seth Hooppell

Brian Samick

Alex Brennan

Adam Brennan

Nathan O'Dell

Taylor Parmeter

Erik Pedersen

Adrian Bylewski

Jon Williams

The national squad members for Lockout Canada

Jay Hyland (Captain)

Brock Benevento

Kostas Viastikopoulos

Lucas Brooks-Parker

Roni Mercer

Frankie Tamburini

Matt Maloney

Cody Vela

Cole Heaney

Caleb McConnell

Campbell Moffatt

Ian Moffatt

Daniel Weber

Eric Elver

Shoutouts: "Of course shoutout to all our sponsors and supporters this year – we cannot do this without your help and we are grateful for everything you provide us to compete at this level.

Shout out to Rob Cole, our owner – we do it all for you - appreciate your love and support throughout the years!

The biggest of shoutouts to our amazing Lockout Staff, who have made us the envy of many a tournament. Those who have seen us, we travel with an entourage of staff members (wives, girlfriends, relatives, young up & comers) to national events, which allow our players to focus on nothing but playing the game. In a sport that is traditionally as scatter brained as humanly possible, this group keeps us operating like a well-oiled machine. Paint, pods, cleanup between points, schedule minding, score keeping, hydration, public relations, team dinners, accommodations, etc etc etc. We want for NOTHING because of our incredible support staff – all our love to you for making the players jobs on and off the field that much easier – the true unsung heroes of Lockout. Some people we want to thank include (not limited to):

Kate “Mama Bear” Wilson

Mackenzie Blarr

Ron “Pops” Strope

Mallory Strope

Shawn “Spazz” Murry

Collen O’Dell

***

The WCPL will be featuring all of the teams that attend its events with a series of posts following each of its events. Come back soon for more!

Upcoming Paintball Stuff

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Wed, 12 Apr 2023 12:29:02 GMT

Latest Updates

Fred Schultz (Constant Pursuit, South & North CA Classics) has announced the 2023 Paintball Hall of Fame Inductees tonight on his Mr. Fred & Friends podcast, which you can find right here

The Hall of Fame has inducted members since 2017 and can be found on Facebook, here .

The 2023 Inductees are:

Charles Nelson

Evan Nelson
David Freeman

Bob Long

Jeff Perlmutter
John Amodea

The next WCPL event will be the New York Classic, June 9th, 10th and 11th at Paintball Sports New York.

Sign up now! PBleagues.com

Our next team profile will be published soon and will feature Team Lockout of New York!

Fox Paintball Field Changes for ICC

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Sun, 09 Apr 2023 17:25:20 GMT

New Hyperball Field

Rob Walker of Fox Paintball uploaded a video of the preparations for adding new pipe and enlarging the Hyperball field at Fox Paintball for the upcoming ICC event.

Check it out:

Fox Paintball Hyperball Field

WCPL Team Profiles - Team Crowley

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Fri, 07 Apr 2023 15:26:11 GMT

WCPL Team Profile - Team Crowley

Stepping up to their first WCPL event - Team Crowley!

A great bunch of players who exhibited the true spirit of competitive paintball at the WCPL's Panhandle Paintball Classic. Captain Jason Williams responded to our questionnaire with the following:

Jason Williams: "The team (Team Crowley) formed in 2002 when a group of friends from Southeast Missouri got together to play paintball. From 2002 to 2011 the team actively competed in tournament and scenario games across the United States. Scenarios such as Oklahoma DDAY, Tour of Duty Scenario Series and the Smakzone Paintball Series.

Tournaments such as the local Midwest series such as the SMPL, MWPL, and MSXL along with rising to the Proam division in the PSP and SPPL during the mid 2000s.

The team reformed in 2021 to play the EMPL series and then hit the NXL in 2022 winning World Cup and becoming the NXL Series Champions for D3 3v3. The team also took third place for the NXL series in the 7 man Mechanical division."

Team Crowley is sponsored and supported by -

UltraSilk

Crowley Ridge Medical LLC

Team Crowley has previously competed in Oklahoma DDay, Tour of Duty Scenario Series, Smakzone Paintball Series, the SMPL, MWPL, and MSXL, the Proam division in the PSP and SPPL, EMPL and NXL. In 2023, Team Crowley plans to attend the NXL- D3 3v3, ICPL- 5 Man & 10Man, WCPL- 10Man, and MCL- 5 Man, including ICPL events in Mexico and the United Kingdom.

Highlights of the teams career include the PSP Chicago Open 2nd Place Proam 5Man 2005. PSP Series 2nd place Proam 5Man 2005. NXL World Cup Champions D3 3v3 2022. NXL Series Champions D3 3v3 2022. NXL Series 3rd Place 7Man Mech Div. 2022. WCPL Florida Classic, 3rd place 10Man 2023.

The team practices and plays out of Trackers Firearms LLC of Bloomfield Missouri.

The team's roster (for WCPL Panhandle Paintball Classic) includes:

Jason Williams

Kevin Page

Alex Chesnut

Luke Rud

Mike Durst

Christian Collins

Dominick Brown

Austin Boldizar

Spencer Lea

Josh Murack

Scott Surles

And, appearing at other events:

Jerrod Murphy

Tristan Murphy

Ron Blackburn

Brett Bonsall

Brandon Cassario

Cody Hargis

Akennis Yates

Brandon Jones

Joe Lafond

Will Reyes

Simon Studer

Kevin Scalabrin

Matt Courtney

Alex Gilland

George Granias

Jason Greene

Robert Tramil

Joe Krispin

Doug Kim

Ryan Belknap

Adam Welen

Ira Lukowsky

Jordan Kramperand

Walter Seidel

And the team offers the following shout outs -

Special thanks to all our sponsors this season.

***

The WCPL will be featuring all of the teams that attend its events with a series of posts following each of its events. Come back tomorrow for more!

WCPL Team Profile - Juggernauts

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 17:29:42 GMT

WCPL Team Profile - The Pensacola Juggernauts

Fresh off their first place finish at WCPL's Panhandle Paintball Classic - we present the Pensacola Juggernauts!

Captain Jeremy Adams sent us along some background on the team. They're quite an operation with team "Families" in a number of locations - Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Massachusetts, making them well-suited to fielding a team in a number of locations across the country.

They're quite the personable bunch and it was a pleasure to get to meet them and watch them play.

Jeremy Adams: "Like most people, I (Jeremy) played paintball at a birthday party for the first time back in 1998. Some friends and I began to play in the woods in our neighborhood. We ended up making friends with a group of local players who we met playing in those woods who told us about a field in Pensacola, and that we should come watch them scrimmage a speedball team.

We met them at Let’s Play Paintball in 2000 to watch them play against The Juggernauts. The Juggernauts were one of the first teams in Pensacola in the early 2000’s. Some of their players moved on to climb the ranks and join some of the best teams in speedball history such as Strange, Doc’s Raiders, and Tampa Bay Damage; and the rest had lives to tend to, so the original team disbanded around 2003.

After a 15-year hiatus, some of the local Pensacola players got back into the tournament scene and while looking for the perfect name for our newly formed group of older players, we decided to name our team after the local legends, the Juggernauts. We made our debut as Juggernauts at LAX Ball in 2019 and have since started playing some bigger series of any and all formats.

This year we are proud to welcome back one of the very first Juggernauts, Adam Griggs. Welcome home brother."

And WIN the WCPL's Panhandle Paintball Classic!

The Pensacola Juggernauts are sponsored and supported by -

LA Xtreme Paintball
F ull Range Paintball

Panhandle Paintball

BJS Photography

Charm City Paintball

The Juggernauts have previously competed in LAX ball, Bunkerfest, the MVPS, the NXL and, of course, the WCPL.

Highlights of the team's career are a toss up between getting to play with their friends and winning the WCPL event: "playing alongside of some absolute legends and most awesome teams ever were highlights themselves but being able to pull out a win is extremely epic. It’s definitely a memory that we will carry for a long time."

The team practices and plays out of LA Xtreme Paintball, Full Range Paintball and Panhandle Paintball fields.

The team's roster includes -

Florida Family:

Jeremy Adams #68

Aaron “Stussy” McCorkle #59

Anthony Guzman #36

Ashton Etheridge #23

Adam Griggs #4

Anthony “Tru” Trujillo #223

Lynn “Lynny Lang” Gonzales #17

Stephen McRoberts #33

Choppa Steve McRoberts #850

Duane Watson #65

Keyn Elmore #187

Stephen “Bubba” Linnevers‘ #76

Ryan Capers (Guest brother from Ragtag Army)

Alabama Family

Tyler stringer #00

Mississippi Family

Josh Morrissette #12

Michael Lacroix #7

Andrew “AJ” Brodus #9

Louisiana Family

Phil Cole #63

Will Silk #24

Malcom Rayburn #8

Ryan Harkleroad #69

Massachusetts Family

Aaron Kent #47

Chris Schaefer #77

Jae Zelaya #42

Drew Kraft #04

Chris Brodka #13

(A HUGE FAM!)

Finally, the team offers the following shoutouts -

"Charm City paintball for keeping our headgear game the freshest, BJS photography for capturing the freshness, UNDR Industries, Full Range Paintball, LA Xtreme, all of our women who put with our shenanigans, all the players and advocates before us who paved the way, the realest MF Drew Bankston, and a special thanks to Ryan Capers of Ragtag Army for joining us at the WCPL."

***

The WCPL will be featuring all of the teams that attend its events with a series of posts following each of its events. Come back tomorrow for more!

Event Coverage and Comparison

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 15:41:00 GMT

WCPL comes out on top

The Paintball Events, News, Interviews, & Stories Faebook page conducted a survey of the two events that took place this past weekend, WCPL and ICPL, comparing various elements of an event and discussing how each event performed.

It's an excellent critique of tournament paintball, and I'd like to say a fair comparison of the two.

Many of the issues raised in the video commentary are issues that WCPL is aware of and actively addressing; we'll be issuing a referees handbook in the near future.

It's excellent coverage of tournaments, watch for yourself. (Note, the discussion can get a little "salty".)

The poll

The critique

WCPL Panhandle Paintball Classic

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 16:52:43 GMT

Part 3 - Impressions

First of all, a personal shoutout to all of my paintball family, both old and new, with whom I spent this past weekend.

It's been a while since I have breathed the air that hovers over a paintball tournament, carrying whiffs of sweat, dirt, greenery, grilling hot dogs and buggers and roasted pig, porta-a-johns, cracked shells, lubricants, anxiety, excitement and strains of other things unmentioned. And I loved every minute of it. I even found myself itching to pull a trigger a couple of times, though owing to this and that, my playing days are in the past.

I was quite happy to visit this particular event and the Panhandle Paintball field, despite the 8.5 hour drive to get there, as Dan Colby, one of the field's owners, is a long-time paintball friend. I hooked up with Dan back when he first launched Air America and introduced HPA to tournament play; my team was, in fact, one of the first Air America sponsored teams. Air America morphed through Guerilla Air into Immortal Air, a company that is still supplying high quality air products to the game.

I arrived on Friday afternoon on the day before the event and got to meet Steve and Gail Preskill; Steve and I have bumped into each other over the years but I had not previously met his wife, Gail. She's a hoot - and a professional one! She recently had a paying standup gig, so keep an eye out for the Netflix special.

The field was under different ownership previously and the Preskills have only been working on it for a bit over year, but it is obvious that they've got the knowledge and background to put a solid field together; not to mention, as I heard at least several players say - Best Air At An Event - Evah! There's a nice field house with a concrete-floored porch for hanging out, several airball fields, several woods fields (astonishingly for Florida, at least one with huge oak trees, not just scrub pine), a good handful of pop-up tents and tables for staging, plentiful parking, well-constructed netting barriers and a general layout that, once again, reveals the wealth of experience behind their operation. Did I mention Gail? She does a great job behind the counter.

Steve and I shared scoring duties for the event, though I'll admit that Steve (the other one, not the Steve writing this report. You got that? Steve, not Steve) did most of that during the day. He also kept on top of the schedule and dealt effectively with the issues that arise from time to time (always) at any event you might happen to attend. All with a smile on his face.

And then there's Ines, the Head Referee.

I was unaware of the fact that Ines played for Tampa Bay Damage before heading north to the panhandle. She started playing at 12 years of age and has been going strong for the past 15, playing and reffing. She handled both herself and her reffing crew so well that the reffing became part of the scenery, an essential element of the event, but one that you didn't have to worry about.

Ines was tasked with a very tough job, having little time to whip a relatively inexperienced reffing crew into shape. It is to her credit that I did not hear one player at that event saying anything resembling "F*****g Ref!". And that's astonishing, as it's one of those go-to phrases players use all the time, whether it's justified or not. Yes, there were calls that were questioned; yes there were mistakes made, but the teams gave the reffing crew the respect it ought to command (one of the most thankless jobs on the planet) and the refs returned the favor by hustling, working hard and learning fast.

For two days I was able to enjoy hanging out with my paintball family. There were old friends to hook up with in a place we'd never met before (Panhandle), people like Kevin Donaldson, who is solely responsible for drawing me back in to paintball and will no doubt pay a high price for that in the after life. Kevin and I worked on the ASO series (which introduced performance-based team seeding and ranking for the first time; he and I, along with Fred Schultz (who was also there - we did some videos for his Flag Pull Productions podcase Mr. Fred & Friends ) were there at the beginning of the NPPL, and apparently we're all working on this WCPL thing now. (Sometimes paintballers take a while to get the hint, probably owing to too many shots to the noggin, so here's a more blatant version: we, and many others working on WCPL, have been doing this tournament thing from the beginning, and now we're doing it again. It's our generation of players that brought you national tournament play, bring your own paint, team seeding and ranking and a whole host of other innovations, such as the 1-for-1 rule, that are fundamental to today's tournament game. When you're thinking about attending one of our events, throw that into your decision-making mix.)

I got to hang with the Band, a team specifically pulled together to play in the WCPL, with many old time friends like Chip Kuhrt, Tim Schloss, Dave Rudig,. Charlie Holton, the aforementioned Fred, Spike, Tom Ghee, Rob Walker and others. Dan is on the Band as well, but had to skip playing to oversee running of the event.

Speaking of Rob...

I was asked to take a picture with Kiersten Pedersen of the Valkyries team. Kiersten is playing with a newly formed offshoot team that's been named "NFT", and no, that doesn't stand for non-fungible token, it stands for "No F******g Tomato".

Back in the day, one of the things that everyone in the "in-crowd" of paintball did when they came to Orlando to play and work the World Cup was to go to Charley's steakhouse for an industry dinner. At one such event (which I have absolutely no rememberance of, and that plays into the story) we were seated at our table and I turned to Rob and asked him to order me the beefsteak tomato appetizer if the waiter showed up before I returned from a bathroom call.

When I came back to the table, the waiter placed a beefsteak tomato in front of me and the conversation went something like this:

Me: "What's this?"
Waiter: "Your beefsteak tomato appetizer, sir"

Me: "I didn't order no f*****g tomato!"

At the time Rob informed me that I had asked him to order it for me, I apparently denied having done so (though I do like tomatoes). Subsequent health issues and a visit to a doctor following another such incident revealed that I'd probably had a TIA or so-called "mini-stroke". Which means that after 20, 25 years, my TIA has achieved such legendary status that a team is now named for it. What the heck, I always wanted to have a place in history.

Speaking of similar things: James "Howdy" McGuffog, another old time paintball friend whom I first met when he was playing for the Master Blasters, who despite team rivalry became a good friend over the years, announced that the WCPL Panhandle Paintball Classic was to be his retirement event. After FORTY years of paintball, it was finally time to hang up his cleats.

Howdy made the announcement during the awards ceremony and it was quite moving and emotional. He particularly thanked Kevin Donaldson, with whom he's been teammates for those 40 years, for dragging him back into the game (Kevin has a bad habit of resurrecting old times. If I didn't know his last name, I'd have to assume it was Frankenstein).

The fields. What higher praise can I give to a playing field than "I want to play on that field". I walked both the Mounds and the Woods field and was asked for my tactical opinion, which I gave to the Band. Unfortunately, they didn't have the bodies to execute, as a lot of my plans involve a lot of running.

The best part of the Woods field was that it was sufficiently wide to force teams to have to decide where to put their strength, because the field was impossible to lock down tape to tape. No matter where you put your bodies, there would be gaps. This, combined with a sufficient number of trees and man-made bunkers properly situated (not too many, not too few) is what makes for a great playing field. Experienced field owners know - BOTH too many and too few bunkers can kill the playability of a field. No one will tell you they have that problem at Panhandle.

Saturday evening the field hosted a pig roast. I had a good time, the food was pretty good, it was only marred by not enough of the teams hanging out. I had some great conversations with those who were there - it seems some people have this idea that I might have a clue about some paintball stuff. Or at least they were kind enough to tolerate my stories.

In future, particularly at WCPL events, realize that the schedule is not a rushed one - we're there to have a good time AND compete, not exchange one for the other - and there will be things like pig roasts, player parties, team photo sessions, maybe even some informative lectures or classes being offered. Build some time into your schedule for such things.

I made some good new friends at this event, met some teams and players who I think have a future in this game. I'm sorry that I can't name each and everyone of them specifically, but between time and space constraints and a faulty memory that has never been good with names, I simply can't.

But what I can do is mention you in follow-up commentary if you are sufficiently moved to get in touch, here on the blog.

So to conclude - congratulations to all of the teams who attended, the staff who did a phenomenal job, to my paintball friends and family both old and new - thank you coming, thank you for playing in the WCPL and thank you for helping us (all of us) put on an event that everyone will remember as a great time, for a good long time.

***

If you want to have as great a tournament experience as those attending the Panhandle Paintball Classic, you are in luck! The WCPL New York Classic fast approaches and you can sign up on PBLeagues right now. You'll get to play on some of The Most Hallowed Paintball Ground in the world, not to mention it is already an international event with teams comes from Germany and the UK! Don't miss it. (And hey, if you nice to me, maybe I'll even write about you!)

WCPL Panhandle Paintball Classic

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 15:16:21 GMT

Part 2 - The Pictures

Below, a gallery of photos taken during this past weekend's WCPL Panhandle Paintball Classic.

There was quite a lot to see this past weekend, including questionable attire (those who recognize that reference will be disappointed to learn that I have opted NOT to include certain photos in this gallery).

These photos were taken by me using a Samsung Tablet and my own sense of what makes for a good photo; a few other photographers, working with more traditional gear (and probably more traditional attitudes) were on scene and will no doubt be making their photos available to those players and teams featured IN those photos. I Know Charles "Happy" Holton was taking photos of the finals - he can be reach on Facebook until his website gets setup - and ABV (Accuracy By Volume) Photography was there as well. ABV's Joe Billa can be reached at joe.e.billa@gmail.com

Permission to use these photos and videos are restricted to personal, non-commercial use. In other words - feel free to make a copy to show your Mommy what a great paintballer you are - but printing up giant posters for other player's buy to hang in their bedrooms is strictly verboten.

That said - enjoy the photos:

WCPL Panhandle Paintball Classic

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 14:02:55 GMT

Part 1 - The Results

By now, you will have already learned that The Juggernauts took first at this past weekend's WCPL Panhandle Paintball Classic.

They made it into the final four just one point ahead of Lockout and managed to prevail through the semis in a body count game on the Mounds fields against Revolution.

Team Crowley and LA Xtreme ended up taking third and fourth, respectively.

The completion of Preliminary round play found Team Crowley in a commanding position; Revolution, LAX Machine and the Juggernauts following in that order. Any one of those teams had demonstrated during the prelims that they were capable of moving into the number one slot.

The finals rounds were conducted as a 1st vs 4th, 2nd vs 3rd affair. When the dust settled, Team Crowley had fallen to the Juggernauts and Revolution won their game against LAX Machine.

A quick aside to mention that yes, there were some technical scoring difficulties during the prelims that led to it being necessary to conduct a one-off tie-breaker between Lockout and the Juggernauts, which game was played on the Mounds field. I would like to thank both of the captains of Lockout and the Juggernauts for their patience as things were worked out and their exemplary sportsmanship and conduct in helping us work things out. There are going to be issues that arise at any event (every event) and it makes things far easier for all concerned when teams conduct themselves in an understanding and professional manner.

One unique element of the finals was the overall top finisher got to pick which of the two fields (Mounds or Woods) would be used for their game. Pretty much everyone agreed that they would have opted for the Mounds field, which is not surprising as it offered teams who knew how to play on such terrain an advantage.

I'd also like to mention one little bit of detail regarding the fields that was brought up at the Captain's meeting with field owners Dan Colby ands Steve Preskill: they announced that the Mounds field would be used during morning sessions, when the day was still relatively cool, and would then move to the Woods field, where there was excellent shade, for the afternoon games.

This is the kind of detail you only find when things are being operated by well-experienced field owners. I've run a field in Florida and the daytime sun can be brutal - as was evidenced by numerous players who had not yet learned that you don't leave pods filled with paint lying around between games. (When playing in Florida, only take the paint you need for that game and don't leave your loader lying in the sun.)

The remainder of the standings can be found below, following this heartfelt THANK YOU! to each and every one of you - players, staff, owners - Friends - who attended and made such a wonderful event happen!

5TH LOCKOUT
6TH TOXIC TEDDYS

7TH ADOPTED RAGE

8TH MASTER BLASTERS

9TH TEAM FOX

10TH THE BAND

It is now off to the New York Classic this coming June 9th, 10th and 11th at Jerry Braun's legendary Paintball Sports NY field, hosted by the Master Blaster's Kevin Donaldson. Sign ups are open on PBLeagues.com

Juggernauts WIN WCPL

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 15:19:46 GMT

Juggernauts take 1st, Revolution 2nd and Team Crowley 3rd

Congratulations to the Juggernauts, Revolution and Team Frowley for their First, Second and Third place finishes at the WCPL's Panhandle Paintball Classic.

Rounding out the field -

LA Xtreme
Lockout
Toxic Teddys
Adopted Rage
Master Blasters
Team Fox
The Band

Well deserved all, and thank you all for coming.

There was great play, great fun, GREAT Sportsmanship, great food, pretty darned good weather, wonderful fields, fantastic reunions, the making of new friends and some great input that will inform our future events.

Over the next several weeks, this website will feature profiles of each of the attending teams. (If you are planning on attending a WCPL event this year, get ahead of the game and email us a team photo, some background, roster and sponsors.)

Thank you all!

A Look At WCPL's Panhandle Paintball Classic

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 15:01:45 GMT

Who Will Be There?

Ten Teams will be attending the WCPL's Panhandle Paintball Classic in Florida this weekend.

You might say "Only ten teams?" and that would be a typical response in this day and age of mega-events.

On the other hand, there are Ten Teams from across the country who are going to have the nearly undivided attention of the Event Promoters, the Field Staff, the Referees, the other teams and everyone else attending. Ten Teams that are going to have an unforgettable and unique experience.

Paintball is about more than just the competition. Sure we can all get together through various lighting fast technological means like Email, video conferencing, Facebook posts, but its different in person. When you're bragging about your latest exploits you get to see the emotional reactions on people's faces, their body language. Whether they're shouting out kill counts from across the field or quietly discussing breakout tactics just before a game, you get to hear their voices.

You get an emotional camaraderie that is the realization that you and every other paintballer on the planet share something in common: you've played this game. You know things that no non-baller knows. Things that can only be shared with another paintballer, because they're the only ones who will understand you.

Sure we're on different teams, play in different leagues, come from different countries, even play different versions of this sport, but we're all on Team Paintball. One big world-wide, cross-generational family with gelatin in our DNA.

And that's why its important for us to get together, not just to play, not just to compete, but to renew our bonds, strengthen our connections, reinforce our shared experiences. And maybe even tell some tall tales to players who haven't heard them yet.

We don't do these events to compete. We do them to get together. To be with our family. When you get together with your biological family at Christmas or Thanksgiving or that annual Family Reunion, you don't say "Only Uncle Gomez and Aunt Morticia will be there", you say "Uncle Gomez and Aunt Morticia will be there! Haven't seen them in a while! It will be great to get back together with them. Too bad Cousin It couldn't get off from work. I hope someone makes those devilled eggs I like so much!"

Because here's the bottom line. We CAN'T have competition without each other. And that means, no matter how strong our rivalries may be, we need each other to do this paintball thing. And to my mind, that makes all of the members of my extended world-wide paintball family more important than any one game, event or season.

***

So who is going to be attending the WCPL's Panhandle Paintball Classic this weekend?

ADOPTED RAGE

Juggernauts

LAX Machine

LOCKOUT

Master Blasters

Revolution

Team Crowley WCPL

TEAM FOX

the Band

Toxic Teddys

A good mix of old and new from across the country.

We've got two teams who've played each other innumerable times, both from the New York region in The Master Blasters and Team LOCKOUT.

We've got TEAM FOX out of Illinois and the well-known Fox Paintball and well-known on the ICC and ICPL circuit.

We've got the Band, the legendary team of Paintball Industry Giants, who hail from all over the country;

Revolution out of Tampa Bay Florida, who've been competing in NXL and a host of other series since 2012, based at Tiki's Paintball Park;

Then there's The Toxic Teddys, who drove all the way to the WCPL's Southern California Classic from Indiana, and participated in some major upsets during that event.

Team Crowley, relative newcomers making the trip from Missouri,

Adopted Rage, who look to be Panhandle Paintball's home team. I'll bet they know a little something about those mounds fields....

Juggernauts, another Florida team who've done some NXL play

and LAX Machine, who'll be visiting from LA Xtreme in Louisiana, fresh off of some ICPL play last year.

NY, IN, MO, FL, IL, LA and "all over". It's a good mix, bringing together teams both old and new and, more importantly, paintball folks who have never played with and against each other.

Which means a golden opportunity to make new paintball friends, play some ball and have a great time.

Looking forward to meeting them all!

***

Teams attending upcoming WCPL events are encouraged to get in touch with us; email us your team logo, your supporters and sponsors, tell us a little bit about your paintball history and we'll feature you here in a post. (Email WCPLNews@gmail.com ). Stand out! Make yourselves known!

***

Correction:

In an earlier post I stated that the fields at Paintball Sports NY were the fields on which a UK team first won a tournament in North America. My memory was wrong as John Amodea of Paintball Media was quick to inform me. Apparently, John does not like it - at all - when people get their paintball history wrong.

What I was in fact remembering was the first near win of a North American tournament by a UK team, at an event where two US teams (no need to name them as it is ancient history) colluded to prevent that very first victory. We were all pretty excited about it (at least those of us holding the more mature outlook that such a win would help foster international play).

***

Don't forget to sign up for our Newsletter and, don't forget to sign up for the NEXT WCPL event, the New York Classic, June 9-11. You'll get to hang with these teams who've already registered -

AllStars

Ironmen

NYPD Finest Paintball

Team Crowley WCPL

TEAM FOX

Toxic Teddys

UK Predators

Unforgivin

Valkyries

WooHoo!

WCPL Florida Crew on Fred * Friends Podcast

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 13:03:56 GMT

Mr. Fred & Friends 'cast Features Mr. HPA!

...and Rob Walker, and Bill Bailey, and special guest star Jennifer Montressor. With Mr. Fred too, of course.

This episode of the Mr. Fred & Friends Flag Pull Productions podcast discusses the upcoming WCPL Panhandle Paintball Event (this weekend, April 1st & 2nd).

Check it out!

And in other news:

Rob shares some photos of his prep work for the event - displaying a very nice Automag

and

Mark E. Gong shared some photos of The Hermans team prepping for the WCPL Northern California Classic (August 5th & 6th) with the OG Ironmen!

Sign up for our newsletter! (Right on the front page of the website!) It's free, and we only ask for your name and an email address ('cause we need the address to send you stuff).

WOODSBALL ROCKS!

WCPL NY: An Historic Field

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Tue, 28 Mar 2023 13:35:25 GMT

A Place Where Paintball History Was Made

Update: 11:50 am 3/28/23 Kevin Donaldson sent along a sign that used to be at the entrance to Survival NY. You can see it below.

Up above, that right there is the entrance to the legendary Paintball Sports New York, formerly known as Nation al Survival Game New York, or NSG NY.

The field, owned by Jerry Braun (you should recognize that name) was established in 1982 as one of the very first National Survival Games franchise operations. Games began there in 1983 and have been played there continuously ever since.

Now that the WCPL's Florida event, the Panhandle Paintball Classic , is upon us (April 1st & 2nd, this coming weekend as I write this), it is time to begin discussing the upcoming WCPL New York Classic.

That event will kick off on June 9th with a day for field walking and will continue through the 10th and 11th for play.

For play on these historic, even LEGENDARY fields.

Yes, legendary.

And not just legendary. These fields are some of the greatest woodsball fields ever groomed. They've been worked on and played on for close to 40 years!

But lets get back to that legendary part, because that's one of the reasons you're going to want to sign up for this event and experience these fields for yourself!

These are the fields that gave birth to the NPPL, as it was here that Kevin Donaldson, Jerry Braun, Jim Anderson (and with a little help from myself) hosted the very first ASO Open (Action Sports Outfitters).

These are the fields where Jerry Braun hosted the 1987 and 1988 Air Pistol Open events, some of the very first "independent" tournaments. Prior to this event and PMI's NA Championship series (beginning in 1984), teams needed to "qualify" for the national championship by competing in NSG Regional events.

These are the fields where the World Cup tournaments (largest cash prize) were originally hosted.

These are the fields where "Radio Zone Judging" (the most effective judging system in the game) were originated.

These are the fields where the 1-for-1 penalty were first tried and tested (prior to that, penalties were assessed as after the game point reductions; talk about old school).

These are the fields where a European team won an event in the United States for the first time.

These are the fields that hosted one of, if not THE first televised tournament, the ESPN event.

Legendary, hallowed paintball terrain.

And YOU could be playing there. You might even draw one of the fields that has remained largely unchanged since those legendary events (unchanged in location, though the fields themselves have been groomed and well-maintained: when was the last time you played on a woodsball field that has had each and every tree on the field groomed for play?)

That tree you just bellied up to? There's a good chance that players like Bob Long, or Renick Miller, or Dave Youngblood stood and shot from that very same spot! You could be hanging a flag in the very same flag station that teams like the UK Predators, or the All Americans, the Florida Terminators or New England Express sealed a victory in!

You owe it to yourself and your team to take the trip to the WCPL's New York Classic, just to play on and experience these fields, tie yourself into the history of this sport and find out why these fields are still being played on after 40 years. They are that challenging and rewarding. There's literally no other fields like it on the planet. Go. Have a good time and breath in some real paintball history.

Registration for the WCPL New York Classic is now open on PBLeagues.com .

We'll be attempting to test live streaming from WCPL events this weekend; if any content makes it out in to the world, you'll be able to watch it on the WCPL Facebook page

***

Fred Schultz will once again host Flag Pull Productions's Mr. Fred and Friends tonight (Tuesday); he'll be joined by Dan Colby (Immortal Air & Panhandle Paintball) and Steve Preskill (Panhandle Paintball) to discuss preparations and other things related to this weekend's Panhandle Paintball Classic.

***

And don't forget to sign up for our newsletter, right on the front page of the WCPL's website.

Hope to see you at Panhandle Paintball this weekend. It is going to ROCK!

Panhandle Paintball Classic April 1 & 2 - No Foolin

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 13:14:37 GMT

Mound's Eye View

This coming weekend, Panhandle Paintball (Dan Colby, Steve Preskill) will be hosting the WCPL's Panhandle Paintball Classic ten player woodsball tournament.

Panhandle will be using woods and mounds fields for the event. The image above was screen captured from a video posted to Youtube ( here ), giving you a small idea of the field-level view. Keep in mind that the image was taken prior to the field being finished; additional bunkers have been added, the bunkers are larger and grass has grown on them. (Also, Panhandle is quite proud of the fact that these are "pure, genuine Florida dirt mounds", no filler.)

I'll be attending the event, updating the scores on PBLeague.com and elsewhere (like here and on the Facebook page throughout the event.

I also hope to be posting live video to the event - might be game coverage, might be on-air appearances by some of the personalities attending, might be "ye olde paintball socializiing", I'm really not sure yet what we'll be able to capture. But it will be a live preview of the kind of video coverage you can expect from us as we advance through this 2023 season.

I'm looking forward to it, getting together with a bunch of old paintball friends, making new paintball friends, breathing in that woods and gelatin-flavored air that hovers over events.

I hope you'll join us!

***

Registration is open for the the New York Classic at PBLeagues.com . Join us for a Classic event at a Classic location!

And don't forget to sign up for our email list so you won't miss a thing! (Front page of the website, name and email only.)

How Do You Describe This Game?

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 14:13:42 GMT

Explaining Paintball Is Not That Easy

I've spent a lot of time over the past 40 years trying to explain paintball to a lot of people; I had to explain it to my parents when I first started playing, to co-workers, to television, radio and newspaper reporters, three star Generals in the US Army, the police, patrons of various eating establishments, City Councils, Zoning Boards, fellow travelers on public transportation, home owners, and, of course, anyone who wanted to read about it through publications such as The Complete Guide to Paintball (Hatherleigh Press) and A Parent's Guide to Paintball (Liaison Press).

I've employed various techniques ranging from the sublime to the outrageous (audience appropriate, depending upon the reasons for the explanation). I think perhaps the best and funniest misinterpretation was a Mom (of kids wanting to play for their first time) who thought everyone was actually talking about "Pinball" games.

It wasn't obvious to me that she was mis-hearing "paintball" as "pinball" at first, but her question about why her kids needed to wear masks while playing pinball in an arcade finally clued me in. (Another common misunderstanding of the name over the years has been "Painball": "Why would you call it THAT!? No parent is going to let their kid play something called that!". Well, we don't usually call it that, even if it is an apt description some times.)

If you've been involved with the game as long as I have been, you were witness to the "Great Perceptual Wars" that paintball engaged the media with back in the day. That's when Psychologists were going on TV and telling everyone that "paintball is bad. Very, very bad. Anyone who plays has a special place in Hell reserved to them. A very special place*" because it emulates war, makes playing with guns fun and encourages aggression. Paintball's response was to get better at dealing with the press very quickly (I even wrote a couple of magazine articles on the subject at the time) and to change both the language used to describe the game ("kill" became "elimination", "gun" became "marker" and to brighten things up like our guns and uniforms (getting away from cammo to avoid the military connection).

(Here's a link to that "infamous" Nightline Broadcast. The Psuchologist appears at 8:50, but if you want to see some video of "old school" ball and lots of long-vanished markers and other equipment, watch it from the beginning.)

That was a largely successful campaign; perception of paintball went from suspicion and fear to acceptance and even a "watching a train wreck" kind of fascination (not universally, but widely enough to make a difference).

We've still got perceptual issues, particularly in this time of school shootings. It's completely understandable. I imagine it would be nearly impossible for teens for form a high school paintball club these days.

All the more reason to continue to engage with the public with positive messages about the sport.

In the past I've used every explanation from "just like playing cops-n-robbers, without the arguments over who shot who first" to "chess in the woods", and from "just like water pistols, dart guns, rubber band guns, t-shirt guns" to "playing a strategy board game with live people".

What's your go-to argument when you try and explain how utterly fantastic and all-encompassing playing paintball can be?

*I know that very special place in Hell. All the paintballs are dimpled and swollen, the compressor doesn't deliver more than 200 PSI, it's hot AND humid, the referees delight in ignoring calls and over-shooting, and you are never given enough time in the staging area to prepare for the next game.

HAH! Sucked you in. Don't forget: WCPL's Panhandle Paintball Classic takes place April 1st & 2nd.
Registration is now open for WCPL's New York Classic , sign up on PBLeagues.com
and
sign up for our Newsletter!

Gamer Formats - What Do You Like To Play?

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 13:54:50 GMT

What's Your Favorite Game Format

Image: Playing Field Map of Skirmish USA

What's your favorite game format?

Mine (was) 15 player tournament ball in the woods, using pump guns on 40 to 100 acres and a 45 to 60 minute game time - but that format is long gone.

Over the years we've had Top Gun (single player),
two player
three player
five player

seven player

ten player

twelve player

fifteen player

twenty player

Big Game/Scenario Game (hundreds of players)
Hybrid (UWL's tournament/scenario format)
Individuals vs an obstacle course
Games using boats

Games using bicycles
Games using "castles"
Televised games in mock cities (Disney)
Televised tournaments in a variety of settings and team sizes

Speedball
Hyperball

Arenaball

Why is that ancient format still my favorite, despite having played in virtually every type of game and format listed above?

It's difficult to explain to players who have no experience of a format that took place in the woods, using pump guns, stick feeds and 12 grams, on fields anywhere from 40 to 100 acres in size and a game length lasting from 40 minutes to an hour, but the appeal for me comes down to having a much wider range of tactical options for the simple reasons of more space, more time and more bodies. The number and variety of possible game plans was nearly endless, and planning out games, sometimes complex ones, was something I greatly enjoyed and like to believe I was pretty good at.

I'd be happy to bore you with endless tales of paintball derring-do, but that's not the exercise here. I've laid out what my favorite was - what's yours, and why?

Your First Gun, Part 2

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 18:30:23 GMT

The Beginning of the Arms Race

In part 1 I covered my first and subsequent pump guns up until the advent of the semi-autos. This was, approximately the latter half of 1989 -1990.

My team had transitioned from a "anyone is welcome and we play all kinds of ball (Muthers of Destruction) to a small group of individuals focused intensely on tournament play (Werewolves Competition Paintball Team); We cut the Muthers from about 45 players to 7.

We started with a mix of pump guns and were picked up by LAPCO, being the first team they sponsored with Ghosts. We used our pump guns throughout the 89 season and into the 1990 season when semi-autos were just beginning to appear.

At that time, we kept really good game and performance stats and we knew that before going with the Ghosts, players having down guns during a game was a serious problem. Our records indicated something like 1.5 guns going down every game on average.

Unacceptable, to lose a player and a half every game just to equipment failures. Despite an initial hiccup (Colin had seriously underestimated the number of shots a player would put through a gun and the sears on his hammers "mushroomed" after just a few days of practice, but he quickly corrected that problem), the Ghosts, when properly maintained, dropped that average to well less than one per game.

So when it came time to giving serious thought to transitioning to semis, we knew that a key factor was going to be reliability...and none of the guns on the market at that time showed any signs of being reliable.

Yes, they were just teething problems with the new tech, but we rejected Illustrators, Golden Eagles and a good handful of other semis (including level 6.5 Automags because the "C" clips used to retain the valve tube kept failing). We continued to play, effectively, with pump guns against semi-autos through a good portion of that season.

Then, the beast arrived - PMI's PMI-III or VM-68. Way too big, way to heavy (13 freaking pounds) and not the greatest gun in cold weather environments. (We were all still using CO2 back then - and the 'Wolves also stayed with 12-grams and AGD SixPaks, because you couldn't freeze them solid with rapid fire and they were more versatile, giving you the opportunity to shoot a bit hot through supercharging or depleting them for "blooping" shots, useful against players cowering in a nearby bunker.

When nice and warm, the VM performed reliably and consistently, but we almost rejected it because of the cold weather performance. Then someone (might have been an All Americans player) discovered that if you took the valve spring out of the valve (and bored out one of the valve holes to a wider diameter), most of those issues disappeared. Throw on a newly available "Expansion Chamber" (Black Rains in our case from Air America) and problem solved.

We went with the VMs. They were still very "smokey". If you fired fast enough, the cloud of CO2 vapor coming out of your barrel could obscure the field. And all of us spent some time doing one-armed curls with a fully loaded gun, just to be able to one-hand them when needed.

And as was mentioned previously, they were BIG. You practically had to play at least a foot off of your cover to give the barrel clearance. On the other hand, they had very good consistency and accuracy, supporting our long ball tactics. There's a pic of me in The Complete Guide to Paintball, shooting that gun at a 45 degree angle, but my eyes don't line up with the barrel, because I'm looking at a tree branch about 150 feet away and am angling shots just over that branch, in order to rain on a bunker. That's "long ball".

One other VM-68 story before moving on.

On one of the paintball forums of the time, someone was praising AGD because they "had techs to support their gun at every event". Having experienced the 6.5 issues and not being up to date on the Mag's evolution, I offered the flip response of "That's because they need them".

Now you have to know that while we weren't a Mag team at the time, we knew AGD and Tom Kaye very well; we'd been big advocates of his 12-gram quick changer, the SixPak+. You also have to know that the Paintball rumor mill was as fast back then as it is today.

I got a call no more than 15 minutes after posting the above from someone telling me that "Tom is not very happy with you right now."

I had no clue as to why. It never occurred to me that my flip answer would cause a problem. The origin of the upset was explained to me, I called Tom up, apologized, explained I was just trying to be funny and offered to take the post down. He explained all of the improvements that had been made to the gun and we yada yaded for a bit, defusing the situation.

But I knew I had to go a bit farther to heal the relationship and was determined to do so. At the very next event we were both at (don't remember which), I marched up to the AGD booth, VM-68 in hand, planted myself in front of the booth, caught Tom's eye, said "Watch" and dropped the gun on the ground. I then jumped up and down on it a few times, finishing up with mock spitting*.

Tom's smile was all I needed to see, and soon thereafter I was using a level 7 Automag, subsequently modified by boring out the air passage on the reg, PTP spacers instead of springs and a J&J all brass, straight rifled barrel.

A short while after that it was equipped with an Apocalypse air rig from Air America.

Despite my praise for Ghosts and other earlier guns, that Mag was the best gun I ever shot. Consistent within 2 fps shot after shot after shot. I used to call it my "fire and forget" gun, because I could (and did) shoot out a player and turn to shoot out another because I did not have to wait to see if the ball hit the target. I KNEW it would.

Around this same time, everyone got really serious about chronographing at events, adding on-field testing for suspect guns, and I really enjoyed frustrating the refs. I'd clock onto the field at 298 (298, 298, 296) and every single time the chrono ref would say "are you sure you want to go on with that? We're testing on the field", followed by instructing another ref to make sure they check me during the game. I never got a hot gun penalty (and no, I wasn't cheating somehow, the gun was that consistent). Some of the AGD techs said it must have been a Wednesday gun.

It was especially fun when I'd put a Pro-Team Products "mini" Armson barrel on it, maybe 6 inches long. That thing barked like a hell hound and scared the paint right out of opponent's pods. "Check that gun!"....298, 298, 298....

*Truth to tell, I knew that I could have driven over that gun with a semi, or maybe even a tank, and it would not have been the worse for wear. But it was the gesture that counted.

Your First Gun

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Sat, 18 Mar 2023 13:41:20 GMT

What Was Your First Gun, and How Excited Were You?

I know how excited I was. Ecstatic! Over the Moon. In love and not holding back.

MY first paintball gun was a PGP . I'd been after Paul Fogal for months to tell me where I could buy one.

At the time, Skirmish USA (my first field), only rented playing equipment, and I learned early on to be first off the bus to the fields so I could find and pick a good rental. (After that was finding a pair of goggles that weren't too scratched up. Make no mistake, Skirmish staff kept their gear in good condition, but rental players show a distinct lack of respect for the gear they borrow and no exceptions were made at Skirmish.)

Paul finally relented and ordered one for me. Some days of intolerable waiting ensued, after which I received my gun at the field - valve removal tool and all. (Old timers will get that.)

Prior to the following weekend of play, I hit up an Army Navy store and picked up a belt and holster for it, and that very next weekend I went strutting through the parking lot at Pocono White Water Rafting and Skirmish USA - The Friendly War Game, the only player (other than Paul) who had their own paintball gun.

And I do mean Strut . I parked at the very end of the parking lot and walked its entire length, In Tiger Stripe cammos, "army boots", Boonie Hat and that gun strapped to my hip. I turned heads the entire walk. I'm afraid I might have scared off some customers who suddenly decided that their weekend would be better spent playing Mahjong or knitting doilies.

WCPL Panhandle Paintball Classic - April 1st & 2nd at Panhandle Paintball, Florida. Register on PBLeagues.com , visit Panhandle Paintball

I fondled that thing. I slept with it, even if I didn't name it Betty. I took it apart as much as possible (valves were sealed with a lead seal - yes, lead seal - and I was cautioned that it was both hard to obtain and difficult to replace - but I did discover that Sheridan valves were sourced from the plumbing department) and I practiced with it day and night - pull the pump back, tilt, push the pump forward, tilt back, pull the trigger.

Later, I would acquire a PMI aftermarket stick feed adapter for it, and modified a wine cork (cutting and sanding) to stick right ahead of the breech to angle balls in.

Not too long thereafter, the arms race in paintball really got started. The recommended gun of choice (for Benjamin Sheridan aficionados) was the McMurray & Sons customized PGP - the Annihilator . Longer barrel, smoother pump action, came equipped with a quick changer (for 12-grams - that's another story). I had Dave Artler of Paintball Depot fame build me an extended pump rod and I added the PMI auto-trigger mod (hold the trigger back and just pump). It was amazingly accurate and earned me the nickname "Demolition Davidson" after a referee watched me "annihilate" something like 12 players in a row. I loved that gun too.

THEN everybody started talking about Bushmasters. Nelson-based guns. (No, gun rivalry did not start with 'Cockers and 'Mags, it started with Sheridan vs Nelson rivalry; people who used Sheridan-based guns were Good . People who used Nelson-based guns were Bad . Very, VERY bad.

On the other hand - Navarone was tearing up the countryside and singing the praises of the Line SI Bushmaster , and there was no denying that it was easier to modify a Bushie on the field (to up your velocity) than it was any Sheridan product. Also a heck of a lot easier to "supercharge" it since everything was "in-line" as opposed to Sheridan's stacked design.

Easier to auto-trigger too, and nearly everyone in the biz was making aftermarket stuff for it.

I wasn't too happy with my Bushmaster. It was an original "Sigma" gun, original version, but no matter what I did, the screw holding my barrel in place would not remain tight and I got quite sick and tired of shooting my barrel off during critical moments in a game. I sold that Bushmaster. I probably wouldn't have if Ken Kelsch had introduced me to "Vibratite" a bit earlier.

I researched and ended up with a TASO Vindicator . A Bushmaster clone (which were all supposed to be awful, but this gun put that Bushie to shame - screw in barrel, (honed and just the right diameter for balls back then); I added a detachable pump (Savage Arms), modified springs ("balancing" bolt and valve springs was a BIG DEAL back then. So where shims in the valve chamber - I remember thinking that color-coded spring kits were the bomb!).

WCPL New York Classic. June 9, 10, 11 (the 9th is field walk day). Registration is open on PBLeagues.com . Visit PaintballSportsNY for more info.

Then, we got really serious about our guns. Customized for tournament ball was becoming a thing, new companies entering the market and we learned that all of the top teams, nearly without exception, were replacing the internals of their Nelson-based guns with upgraded components from someplace called "LAPCO". Fortuitously, Kelsch reviewed something called a Grey Ghost from the same company soon thereafter, and since he often used review product when playing with my team, we had a chance to check one out.

Hey. What can I say. When it comes to paintball guns, I'm serially monogamous. The REALLY cool thing about the Ghost was that it was a "breech drop" Nelson design, instead of a "bore drop" (like Bushmasters, Vindicators, etc), which meant - IF they had solved the ball-pinching issue with a breech drop gun, your pump stroke was nearly three quarters of an inch shorter - which meant higher rates of fire.

Guess what? Colin Thompson, the revered gunsmith of the LA Paintgun Company, had solved that problem. He'd also revolutionized valve tubes and hammers and made a highly refined product. We were hooked. Especially after we discovered that we could fire (on auto-trigger) something between 7 and 9 rounds per second, with really good accuracy. Our guns, paired with Nelson paintballs had equals on the field, but nothing was better.

***

Thus concludes my era of pump gun use. Next time - the advent of the semi-auto. I'll give you a hint about what's to come. We spent more than an entire season using our pump gun Ghosts against semi-autos and NEVER felt out-classed.

Note: Gun images are from various places around the web, not images of the actual ones I own.

Exciting News From Valken

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 18:16:45 GMT

Bigger Bore Paint

UPDATED: 2:19 3/17/23

"Redemption" paint was measuring at .689 and .691 at the recent NXL event. Players were having to overbore.

We just learned today that Valken has introduced a larger bore - actual .68 caliber, paintball.

The story was on Facebook, following a poll of players asking what they were looking for. Apparently big bore paint won the poll.

Based on physics alone, a larger ball has the potential (shooter's skill counts too) to travel farther and be more accurate (when we say "more accurate", we're talking paintball measurements, where a 100th of a percent can make a difference).

Kudos to Valken for putting their customer's first and responding to the marketplace.

I think I'm going to have to break out my Grey Ghost...and I can use my favorite J&J all brass, straight-rifled barrel again on my Automag!

I've not seen anything on theire website yet, but this story has been confirmed at the top.

Pic below of the paint and an insert showing the diameter, courtesy of Joshua Silverman.

New Paragraph

Dollars and Cents

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 13:38:51 GMT

How much does your play actually cost?

In the Merry Melodies cartoon episode Hare Brush, Fudd has a mental breakdown and believes he is a Bunny. Bugs is lured to the sanitarium where Fudd is in residence (wearing a bunny suit). Fudd escapes, Bugs is discovered by a psychiatrist who thinks he's Elmer and, using drugs and hypnosis, convinces the rabbit that he IS "Elmer J. Fudd, Millionaire".

It's a very funny episode that pokes fun at psychiatry, but the reason I bring it up is because for most players, this is the only kind of transformation that would allow them to afford to play as often as they want, wherever they want, with the gear they want.

In other words, playing this game and doing what needs to be done in order to play at the highest levels requires serious scratch.

Back in my serious days (early to mid 90s), I maxed out two credit cards supporting my team, because there was always someone who was a bit short on any given weekend, or "we need five more cases for the next rounds and no one has any money left". On my own, I recognized the need to "keep up with the Jones'" when it came to gear and, back then for example, "top of the line guns" typically ran 400 bucks and more. That's over a thousand dollars in todays coin.

Paint was also an issue. You all do know that the paint you shoot at an event is the smallest percentage of paint you ought to be going through, right? The big nut is paint for practice. Back then (pump guns and early semi-autos like Grey Ghosts, Carter Termites, Bushmasters, PMI IIIs, Illustrators and Golden Eagles) we pretty much figured a case per player per day of practice, and practice was both days, every weekend, plus Wednesday or Thursday afternoons during the summer.

(We did try to make this as economical as possible - it wasn't just scrimmages: we did controlled drills with limited amounts of paint to get the most ball for our bucks.)

But regardless: 15 (usually 17) players times 40* weekends times both days plus say 12 Wednesdays is a lot of paint (1,380 cases for the year, not counting event paint). I honestly don't remember what we were paying per case (Nelson) back then, but it sure wasn't forty bucks. More like 75, I think. If so, our practice budget was something over a hundred thousand bucks - which falls right in the middle of our annual estimated expense for a player of between five and ten thousand dollars each.

Minimum wage back then was $3.80 an hour. The average salary was between 15k and 30k; minimum wage workers could not afford to play, and low-level salaried employees were spending a third to half of their annual incomes.

These days, while paint has come down a bit (I'm not factoring in subsidies and sponsorship here), something like 1.75 or 2 cents per shot now instead of three and three quarter cents per shot (whenever I write about this subject, the first thing that pops into my head is Paul Fogel, owner of Skirmish USA, saying "No one would play this game if we were shooting nickels." ), but on the other hand, the volume of shooting has gone up. Up as much as a case per game per player (multiply that out by events and practice!).

When we originally made these calculations in order to figure out the team budget for the year, we were astonished. Yes, paintball IS just like gambling in the way that it divorces the player from remembering the cost of what they're doing (paintballs instead of chips), and I know of quite a few players (including myself) who got themselves into financial hot water when prioritizing play over things like food and rent. (But ain't that the way when it comes to thing you're passionate about?)

I guess my point here (in addition to the nostalgia) is - play, but be mindful of what it is costing you. It's kind of tough to get to the field for practice when your car has been repoed.

WCPL Updates: March 15, 2023

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 17:08:19 GMT

Panhandle Paintball Classic Coming Soon; Jerseys for Sale, Maybe

The WCPL's Panhandle Paintball Classic is fast approaching for its April 1st & 2nd date. You can still sign up on PBLeagues.com. For more information, visit Panhandle Paintball . To contact them - email.

* * *

Registration for the New York Classic is also now open.

***

And in other news, Kathy Alvarez, Captain of the Valkyries Paintball Team, notes that the team is getting new threads and might make some of the retired ones available. The team would like to know which player's jersey you might want to purchase, and for how much?

One commenter noted: "Toni Rudig's jersey...before she's officially a Hall of Famer...Priceless!"

Visit them on Facebook if you have a preference!

Congratulations to the NXL Winners

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Mon, 13 Mar 2023 13:36:22 GMT

...and to all of the attending teams

Congratulations to the winners, placers and attending teams of the NXL's 2023 NXL Sunshine Major, it looks to have been an excellent event and well-attended with 240 named teams competing in 17 different divisions of play.

That's a lot of paintball!

If you're looking for a more intimate experience, check out the upcoming WCPL Panhandle Paintball Classic, this April 1st and 2nd. Sign up on www.PBLeagues.com

Congrats to the Inductees of the Paintball Hall of Icons

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Sun, 12 Mar 2023 12:59:46 GMT

Just Announced - Paintball's Hall of Icons

Ed Poorman - who everyone agrees ought to be on that list - posted the announcement to Facebook.

Congratulations to all of them, as well as those - too long to list - who ought to also be on that list.

I'm proud to say that I've played with and against, worked with (and against, lol) everyone on that list.

This is apparently an effort by Ryan Greenspan and Quinn Nadu of Iconic Paintball and you can learn more about their history and process on the Iconic Paintball website.

Competition Update #2

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Sat, 11 Mar 2023 19:33:20 GMT

Preds, Valks & Germans coming to WCPL NY Classic

Kevin Donaldson, host, along with Jerry Braun, of the upcoming WCPL's New York Classic has recently announced:

* the opening of Registration for the event ( PBLeagues.com )
* the ability to accept payments via PayPay (make payments to Joanne@PaintballSportsNY.com )
* commitments to attend the event from The Valkyries women's team, the 95 All Stars from Germany, the New York Police Department's NYPD Finest and the UK Predators.

When was the last time YOU got to watch Deutschlanders & Brits battle it out? Not to mention the Amazonian bodyguards for Norse Gods taking the field against one of the country's most highly decorated police forces?

I'll bet you never have.

Of course, you can easily rectify that lack of experience and put another "Been There, Seen That" notch in your belt by signing up for the WCPL's June 9-10-11 New York Classic event that will take place at Paintball Sports NY .

There's probably more paintball history lying under the leaves on those fields that only a handful of other locations can match: First home of Paintball's legendary World Cup tournament. Host pf local events that saw the first tournament attendance by the US Military Academy's at West Point Golden Knights team, host of the ASO Open tournament which led directly to the formation of the NPPL, first speedball course in the Northeast, and more.

You can still hear the echoes of games being played, even when no one else is in those woods. This is the place that developed Radio Zone Judging, first introduced the 1-for-1 rule, first introduced team seeding based on actual tournament performance...so much of paintball has happened there I think that the air has a higher concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere than anywhere else in the country.

But catch your breath as there's still time for you to sign up for this event and make some paintball history of your own!

www.PBLeagues.com

Competition Update #1

Sat, 11 Mar 2023 14:35:32 GMT

Panhandle Paintball Classic

In case you were wondering, YES, the "Dan Colby" who is one of the hosts of the upcoming WCPL's Panhandle Paintball Classic is the same Dan Colby who has been making air systems and related components since the early 90s, first marketing under the legendary Air America, then Guerrilla Air and now under the Immortal Air name .

Dan is a humble man, an old schooler who doesn't believe in tooting his own horn (it's a mighty big horn, powered by HPA systems btw) and so it is up to those of us who have benefitted from his presence in this game to give him a little cred.

I've known, worked with and for and benefitted from Dan's largesse pretty much since the beginnings of Air America - he sponsored my team with Armageddon systems before any other team; he took me to Thailand for a tournament there; I wrote promotional blog articles for his website and, most recently, Dan stepped up and drove me from Chicago to New Hampshire in 17 hours straight when I had to get home to sign documents but was not allowed to fly.

He has supported this industry, stores, fields and players, unfailingly over the years, despite whatever personal and business issues he's had and has unfailingly been a friend to both myself and the entire paintball industry for more than thirty years.

Thirty years of busting his ass, going above and beyond, sacrificing for the common good and remaining a "character", all to help you, me and everyone else in this game move forward.

If you were attending the WCPL's Panhandle Paintball Classic this coming April 1st and 2nd, you'd have a chance to meet him and find out for yourself just what kind of guy this man is.

In fact you SHOULD be attending the Panhandle Paintball Classic, if only to say "Thank You!" to a man who has made it possible for you to attend whatever other event you might be going to. Look at your gun. There's a very good chance it wouldn't be functional without something that Dan helped develop, sourced or brought to market.

I'm sure that Dan is probably going to be a little POed when he sees this post - that's how much he doesn't like to be in the spotlight or have his contributions highlighted. He'd really rather we'd spend the time and energy moving on to the next thing that needs doing, but I'll risk it because he's deserving of every word of praise and then some, and it's high time someone said so.

There's still time to sign up for the Panhandle Paintball Classic on PBLeagues.com .

Nearly 40 Years Ago

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Thu, 09 Mar 2023 15:32:06 GMT

The Road To Paintball

Getting back into this sport after a lengthy hiatus has been both an eye-opener and a nostalgia trip for me.

I think the most rewarding aspect for me (so far) has been renewing friendships and acquaintances with players who have as long a tail of paintball history behind them as I do (some even longer!) and the fun and camaraderie that accompanies conversation with people who "know what I'm talking about".

What I mean is, talking with people who aren't just intellectually aware of things like 12-gram cartridges and Uvex goggles, but have themselves sought out, used, modified (and sometimes improved upon) the gear we all used to use, especially because, make no mistake, the gear we had available was:

NOT made for paintball

NOT the results of decades of refinement

NOT easy to source

Comparatively Expensive

As an example: You'd probably be fairly dismissive if I were to tell you that one of the "skills" I considered to be important to master back then was being able to change a 12-gram while on the run. "You mean you had to change your gas source during the game?" "Yes. Multiple times." "What's the deal with doing that while running?" "Well, see, there was this fine-threaded screw plug on the 12-gram tube, and there was usually residual pressure, and there was a good chance that whoever you were shooting at would recognize that you needed to change, so..." .

If you are beginning to get the impression that things were a lot different back then, you'd be right.

I'm fortunate to have started playing at "The Friendly War Game" field, Skirmish USA in the Poconos (PA), owned and operated by Paul & Cleo Fogel and managed by a pioneering field manager named Barry Hill (who is sadly no longer with us). Barry himself used to reminisce about the Old Days "...when the paintballs were square and we used saran wrap for goggles...".

Paul taught a LOT of people how to effectively market their fields and Cleo taught everyone how to take paintball pictures. In fact, the image below, which is from 1984, is one of hers and it fortuitously captured my very first flag capture. (Eventually I had captured so many flags - you got to keep them as souvenirs - that Paul had to ask me for a bunch of them back when they had supplier issues.)

I thought I'd use that picture to give you all some idea of what it was really like to play back then.

Here's the original image:

(Its a bit blurry but that's not Cleo's fault: A. 1984 photographic equipment and B. A little enlarging to show detail.)

And now, a numbered version pointing out various pieces of equipment:

Starting at the top: 1. Boonie Hats

Head protection was mandatory (remember, the balls were heavier back then...and square (LOL).) Most folks wore a turned around ball cap or a woolen one, but:

At Skirmish, as for most fields back then, and for a brief time, head shots were "illegal". If you shot someone in the head, you were out.

I was very thin back then and the brim of a Boonie hat pretty much protected my entire body if angled correctly. I once won a game by leaning to deliberately catch a shot on the brim - eliminating the shooter as a result. (And note that my Boonie Hat matched my cammo.)

2. Uvex (Green) Goggles.

Initially, Skirmish used "safety goggles" but eventually replaced them with the Uvex, which had a light green shade to them. Uvex were, at the time, considered to be the preeminent eye protection for the game, but Uvex eventually pulled out owing to being the go-to target for lawsuits (much as NSG had been previously). The goggles were fine, met safety standards and then some, but the company didn't want to deal with the "paintball headache".

Yes, Virginia, we played without facemasks, ear protection, neck protection, as many a cheek, and chin bleeding welt can attest to. I didn't mind at all. Those welts were advertising for the game. ( "What happened to you!?" "Paintball")

It wasn't just machismo. There were no facemasks back then.

Not numbered: Camouglage face paint.

That's not dirt on my face, its streaked camouflage paint.

We'd get these campacts for hunters. I'd drag three fingers through it and smear diagonal stripes across my face.

3. PG Pistol from Benjamin Sheridan.

Everyone at Skirmish used rental markers - the one shown in the image.

You'll note a couple of interesting things right off the bat: no hopper, no tank, no pump.

This is the gun that I used to train with changing 12-grams. See that knurled knob at the right side of the lower barrel? That's what I had to unscrew to dump a spent 12-gram and then screw in again to pierce a new one.

You see that other knob on the left of the middle barrel? That's what you had to give a quarter turn to, pull out to cock the hammer, then push back in and give a quarter turn back to fire a shot.

When at my best, I could get 10-12 shots out - per minute . Yes, not per second. Minute.

This meant that there was a decent interval between shots being fired at you, which meant a lot more moving about as you exchanged with an opponent. You could leap into a group of opponents and get them to surrender, and it was often easy to intimidate "newbies" to the point that they'd get so rattled they'd fumble the cocking. I loved bunkering people on Sup'Air fields, but there's still something to be said for getting them to surrender.

4. M16 Ammo Pouches

JT Harnesses? Vests? Packs? Those were more than a year away when I started playing, but a trip to ye-olde Army-Navy store offered a solution - a military belt and multiple magazine pouches for M16 magazines.

You could comfortably fit twelve 10 round tubes into one. I ended up with two, carrying the previously unheard of ammo load of 240 rounds!

This was a bit awkward, as the PG pistol's magazine only held 9 rounds, so it became fairly common practice to always have a ball chambered.

Go back to Pic 3. See that knurled knob on the left side of the top barrel. Yes, the PG was a "tilt feed" gun. meaning that you had to take the barrel off of your target to load another round. You simply could not lay a string of balls on a target, you had to aim and fire each shot individually, and re-acquire your target between shots. In order to reload, you had to give that top knob a quarter turn, pull it out (don't lose it!), pull the cap off of a tube, mate the tube to the end of that upper barrel, pour the rounds in, store the tube, replace the plug. Try doing that on the run. (One trick was to take that extra tenth round and hold it in your hand so you could "quick load" a shot if you really needed on.)

(The belt can't be seen in the top image.)

5. Camouflage Uniforms

I was an early adopter of Tiger Stripe. First, there were very few alternative patterns (a lot of players wore sweats) and second, everyone else was wearing woodland BDUs, so I had to go a little different. (Ultimately my team settled on OD BDUs as they were the best "universal" cammo pattern. These days, the brighter and flashier you are, the better. But back then we were trying to hide from the camera, not show off.

6. Combat Boots

I'm wearing Vietnam war era "jungle boots" (military issue"} because Skirmish had a lot of streams and swamps and they were the lightest footwear available at the time. They added a good few pounds to your field kit and running in them was not all that easy, but when laced properly, they gave great ankle support. On the other hand, jungle boots are definitely not made for Pennsylvania winters. I frostbit a couple of toes wearing them during winter play. And that's because, back then, there were no tents or shacks or clubhouses to hang out in. Drive to the mountains, take a bus into the woods and STAY THERE ALL DAY, in the middle of winter.

Try putting a pair of these on and see how fast you are on the break.

A few other pieces of common equipment also not shown in the top photo:

Ten round tubes. They're actually cigar tubes. And a lot cheaper than the aluminum screw top ones that Nelson Paint supplied for a while. It would be multiple years before someone added a tethered cap. In the meantime, they still litter fields in the northeast.

12 Gram cartridges. Gun makers cautioned everyone to only use Crosman 12 grams, but we soon learned, owing to the cost, that the Leland corporation of NJ actually made the best ones. Most fields charged 50 to 75 cents per 12 gram, which were good for maybe 20-25 shots. (Paint went for anywhere from 20 to 30 cents per ball, and more, at commercial fields. Later I cut a deal with the field and was able to get 2500 round cases (yep, they used to have an extra 500 rounds per box back then) for $125/case.

A bit later than the era depicted, JT Racing brought out 12-gram wrist holders, which were a godsend.

And as time progressed I kept up with the joneses: I got my own (pump) PGP - no more rentals for me. That was followed by a McMurray & Sons Annihilator that was further customized; JT Harnesses for tubes and 12-grams, a Woodstalk face shield, A stick feed, an auto-trigger and so on through the gear evolution.

I hope this little tour gives you all some further insight into not only how the game has evolved, equipment wise, but also how deeply the gear we use influences how we play this game.

And now, the fun part that I dragged all of you through that history lesson for:

The WCPL's Panhandle Paintball Classic takes place on April 1st & 2nd at Dan Colby & Steve Preskill's Panhandle Paintball field in Holt Florida. If you want to talk about old skool paintball, I'll be there. Registration is still open at PBLeagues.com . Sign your team up now!

AND - registration is now OPEN for the WCPL's New York Classic, which takes place June 9th, 10th & 11th at Paintball Sports New York , the original home of paintball's World Cup and so much more tournament history. Sign up now!

Mom's Play Too

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 16:14:13 GMT

A Reminder from the Valkries Paintball Team

Kathy Alvarez, Founder AND Captain of the Women's Tournament Paintball Team The Valkyries, published an interesting post on her Facebook page - check it out:

"Being a mom and playing paintball" - Kathy Alvarez

I've been fortunate to have played with and against some really good female players and long ago learned that those old saws about Momma Bears protecting their cubs is as accurate as the statement that everyone had a mother is.

Women have been involved with this game at every level, right from its beginning: Debra Dion was the marketing face for NSG. Jessica Sparks was an early reporter for APG and founded a number of early initiatives (IPPA); Rose Griffiths showed us what packs were all about; Tracy Hatcher was a familiar sight at tradeshows for Pro-Team Products; I don't remember her first name, but a female member of the Nelson family headed up their efforts for years; a woman played in the second ever game, for gosssakes!

Early on we discussed this issue and, in particular, ways to encourage more women to play (if only because the early game sausage-fests were a little hard on the eye) and we came to the well-founded conclusion that Paintball was one of a very small handful of sports that could be successfully Co-Ed.

Despite "all women's" leagues and events (and they're fine - everyone likes to hang with people they are comfortable with from time to time - not to mention that for most of the first few decades of this game, nearly everything paintball was "all men's"), I've never thought that there was a skills/physical barrier for women in this game, and no performance issues that required gender-based division. One of the winningest teams in the history of this sport fielded one or two female players on a regular basis, by way of evidence backing up that claim.

All of that by way of mentioning in my sly, sneaking stuff in on you way, that several Valkyrie players will be attending the upcoming Panhandle Paintball Classic on April 1st & 2nd. Some slots are still available. Register at PBLeagues.com , and

the team will be competing in the WCPL's NY Classic, registration for which opens today, also on PBLeagues.com.

Just remember, you can try to shoot them, but its not polite to ogle.

COMING TO A WOODSBALL FIELD NEAR YOU!

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 18:36:13 GMT

Event Update: Forthcoming & Reg. Opens Soon!

The WCPL is on track for the April 1st & 2nd Panhandle Paintball Classic taking place at Panhandle Paintball in Holt, FL and hosted by Dan Colby (Immortal Air) and Steve Preskill.

They've got an impressive event lined up for those attending, having recently shared images of their newly constructed Mounds field and the trophies and medallions that will be on hand for the winners and placers.

This event is fast approaching and you won't want to miss out: Sign your team up at PBLeagues.com .

Also fast approaching is Registration for the New York Classic that will take place at Paintball Sports NY and will be hosted by Jerry Braun and Kevin Donaldson.

Let me show you a simple little diagram that will help put this event in perspective:

Many of the same people, and certainly the ideals, that brought ground-breaking concepts, rules, officiating and much more to the tournament game almost from the very beginning are the same people bringing you WCPL events.

The New York version of which will be opening registration on PBLeagues.com on March 8th.

Here are some details about the event:

Three Ways to Pay:

$1250 Entry Fee Only. Paint at $45.00 per case

Bring Your Own Paint: $1500.00

Entry & Paint Special: $2,000.00 includes 20 cases of paint. Additional paint - $45.00 per case

The paint supplied by the event will be Valken Graffitti (or its equivalent)

THERE IS A HARD 36 TEAM CAP on this event.

A $200.00 entry fee deposit is required to hold a slot open
Teams must pay their entry fee IN FULL no later than 5/10/23 . Teams failing to pay in full by the deadline will give up their slot to a team on the waiting list.

This event will take place at the iconic and historic Paintball Sports NY field (home of Challenger!) and will be officiated by the Master Blasters team utilizing Radio Zone Judging (the paintball officiating method that revolutionized tournament reffing!)

This event, needless to say, will be an all Woodsball field event, featuring at least three different woodsball fields. There will be no carnival games held at the event.

***

A bit of history with The Master Blasters and Radio Zone Judging

My team (Werewolves) was honored to be considered worthy of reffing events alongside the Master Blasters - and we were ALWAYS happy to play in an event they'd be officiating.

At one NY Event we chose to compete in, my team asked me what out game plan would be. I responded that we didn't need one. When they asked why, II responded that our up-coming opponents were notorious for, well, shading the rules and, with the 1-for-1 rule in effect, we'd just wait for them to penalize themselves off of the field. The game started. Less than ten minutes in, the other team had received 3 1-for-1 penalties, taking sixty percent of their players off the field. It was an easy victory after that.

Good officiating is one thing. Good, honest, fair reffing you can count on like that is an entirely different animal. And that's what you'll be getting at the NY Classic.

Better Bring A Trailer

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 14:35:11 GMT

You Can't Fit Ten Pounds of Trophy Into A Five Pound Bag

The kindly folks at Panhandle Paintball, the site for the WCPL's upcoming Panhandle Paintball Classic (this April 1st & 2nd) have posted images of the trophies and medallions that will be on hand for the event (and handed out to the top performing teams, because that's what you do with trophies and medallions).

Below, some pics.

We strongly recommended that any team planning on winning this event and attempting to take home the taller than six foot main trophy:

A. Has a home or apartment or other facility with at least ten foot ceilings
B. Brings a van or trailer (for transport) to the event with them
C. Is prepared to leave some team members at the field if trying to shoe-horn it into a car
D. Has a member who works for one of those specialty moving companies (like the ones that transport museum relics or Lamborghinis)
E. Settles the discussion of who gets (forced) to hold onto the trophy BEFORE taking it home

PS: Don't forget to register your team at www.PBLeagues.com

Patches? We Don't Need No Stinking Patchs!

Fri, 03 Mar 2023 13:35:39 GMT

Resurrect This Tradition

Back In The Day

Every team had to have its patch. Some were cheap, some were works of art, some were cool, some were stoopid, some were fun and provocative. Regardless, we had to have them and we traded them, collected them and, like Mike "Blue" Hanse, we put them on display.

I had a pretty decent patch jacket at one time - the entire jacked (BDU) was covered front and back and I was considering adding pants. Others from back in those days still have theirs, like Charles "Happy" Holton (who'll be in attendance at the WCPL Panhandle Paintball tournament coming this April 1st and 2nd (I'll be asking him to bring it right after I finish writing this piece) and, of course, there's Mike's Patch Banners, that he began putting together back in those same days when he realized that there was no way he could fit them all on a full uniform, even if he wore a cape and long-johns covered in them.

Actually they were put together for display at his EMR paintball museum; they frequently made appearances at event trade shows and now there's pictures of them up on the Facebook page Paintball Classifieds.

I've been looking for the patches I gave to Blue for this project - Muthas of Destruction (both dress and field versions), the Werewolves of NJ/PA and the special, limited edition "Werewolves LAPaintgun Factory Team" we wore for a televised event, Special Delivery for a NPPL first season scratch team...and a few others that have faded into the mists of history - but haven't seen any of them yet in the pics. But I have seen a bunch that I also have copies of, including some rare ones like the multi-colored Line SI Bushmaster patch.

These days, teams seem to go more for the team jerseys - and there's some great ones out there, some companies are doing fantastic work with dye-sublimations and the designs are incredible. The only thing is, trading jerseys is a lot more expensive (not to mention taking up far more display space) than trading patches.

I've added a couple of banner shots from the Facebook display below. Head on over to Paintball Classifieds to see the rest and

Don't forget to sign up for the WCPL's Panhandle Paintball Classic (April 1st & 2nd) at PBLeagues.com

Video Action from So. Cal. Classic

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Thu, 02 Mar 2023 12:35:32 GMT

Video from the Southern California Classic

Gary Baum ( PaintballPhotography.com ) had is drone up and out at the WCPL's recent Southern California Classic and got some incredible footage of Ambush Paintball 's facilities, the mounds field and breakout action. He's posted it to Youtube , where you can find this and other videos.

Glen Forester, owner of Ambush, also sent along the video, as did Promoter Fred Schultz , a recent podcast episode of which featured discussion of the upcoming Panhandle Paintball Classic that will take place this coming April 1st and 2nd at Panhandle Paintball in Holt, Florida. (Register at PBLeagues.com now - slots are limited!)

It's an awesome video (expect any less from Gary?) and it occurs to me as I watch some of the footage that a team with a licensed drone pilot on tap could use a drone to examine shooting angles from a player's eye point of view. Maybe something to thing about as we move deeper into paintball's digital future.

Here's a cropped image from the video showing a break out on the mounds field:

Panhandle Paintball Classic - Paint!

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 20:19:34 GMT

Paint Details

At the upcoming Panhandle Paintball Classic, Messrs. Colby & Preskill have announced that the event supplied paint will be

a custom blend with Pink Fill (just like in the pic...well, pink, anyways).

Event supplied paint will be going for $50 per case.

Pre-Order by calling Pan Handle Paintball at 850-889-1035. (Email - Panhandlepaintball@gmail.com)

(When pre-ordering, you will receive an invoice that can be paid online to secure your order.

If, on the other hand you prefer to bring your own, there is a surcharge of $250.00.

Pink Paint: Great for shooting someone else. Don't get hit!

Update: Season Standings Posted: Panhandle Mounds Fields

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 13:20:28 GMT

Have We Got News For You!

Dateline: PBLeagues.com: The first Annual Standings for the WCPL 2023 season have been posted on PBLeagues.com.

You can see them here on the PBLeagues website (under WCPL), or, you can gaze at them right here on your own WCPL Blog:

Rest assured - the standings here are exactly the same as those appearing on PBLeagues.com. Funny how factual data works that way. (And, in case you were wondering, yes, the days of the week repeat in the same order, every week, without fail. Would be very difficult to schedule events if this week the weekend was Sat & Sun, and next week it was actually Tuesday and Wednesday, right? But I digress. Lets get back to the important stuff.)

***

We have also received several photos of the Mounds Field that will be used in the upcoming Panhhandle Paintball Classic, which will take place on April 1st and 2nd at (you guessed it!) Panhandle Paintball, in Holt, Florida.

Mounds fields are great for both playing and spectating, as they often afford the peanut gallery the ability to view more than 90% of the playing field.

They also offer the changes in elevation and infinite shooting angles which are reminiscent of woods play as well.

The following six images will give you some idea of what kinds of tactical challenges that will await the teams competing at this venue.

Speaking of which. Panhandle Paintball announced in a Facebook post that this event will only (ONLY) be open to a maximum of 18 teams. Since the event is just about a month away, its time to get cracking, head on over to PBLeagues.com and register your team. Only ten slots remain open. (That link should take you directly to the Panhandle Paintball/Florida Open Registration Page.)

Have no doubt, this is going to be a very cool event! (Why? Oh, any number of reasons, but two off the top of my head are - several Valkyries will be playing and I'll be there. How can you miss that? And no, I'm NOT a Valkyrie.)

Without further deliberate procrastination on my part, here are your WCPL Panhandle Paintball Classic Mounds Field pictures:

Those ought to give you something to think about in the weeks leading up to the event!

Photo Baum! WCPL SoCal Classic Game Photos

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Sun, 26 Feb 2023 14:12:27 GMT

Gary Baum - Paintball Photography, Posts WCPL SoCal Classic Photo Gallery

The headline says it all.

Head on over to Gary's Facebook page for a look at the action from the WCPL's Southern California Classic!

The World Classic Paintball League is a mechanical marker, in the woods (and on the mounds) national tournament series.

Upcoming - April 1&2 - the Panhandle Paintball Classic at Dan Colyb & Steve Preskill's Panhandle Paintball field in Holt, Florida!

(We've heard reports that there are going to be Valkyries there!)

Gallery is here

That Chicago Meeting

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Sat, 25 Feb 2023 16:05:39 GMT

Tournament Rebels

The previous post got some good commentary. And I sense that people are curious for more detail about that very first meeting that took place in 1992, in Chicago, so I figured a little story telling might be in order.

(CAUTION: I strongly recommend and suggest that none of you read this while playing. I know the temptation is a great one, and I appreciate the interest, but reading my (erudite, informative, provocative and exciting) words while tucked into a bunker is like driving drunk while also texting. In other words, this won't end well. Share it in the staging area.)

In late '89, early '90, we (and here I specifically refer to Kevin Donaldson, Jim Anderson, Jerry Braun and myself) were working on the ASO series of tournaments and looking for a way to rank teams and create divisions of play that were based on actual data. We'd heard, and made our own complaints about unfair preliminary round draws. Up and coming teams frequently got blitzed right out of an event because their division was stacked; top teams would find themselves in divisions that guaranteed that most of them didn't have a chance to advance.

But there was no real data, and certainly not any gathered in one useful place.

I did some research on sports ranking systems - the NFL, the NBA, NHL and, ultimately, the National Chess Federation because, unlike professional sports in the US, Chess was able to "rank" players - effectively - even if they had never played each other before.

I adapted the Chess world's ranking system and put together the NPSRS - the National Paintball Statistics and Ranking Society (a deliberately long acronym because everyone and their brother in the industry was using three letter acronyms at the time).

I wanted it to be a completely open and transparent system and one that both teams and promoters could use. I approached a handful of promoters (Paintball Sports, Lively, PMI, Great Western) and asked them to participate by providing me with scoring data. I also asked them if they would be willing to receive reports on events, respond as required, and if they would consider making changes based on the data that was collected. They all agreed in principal.

I then asked teams to report on events. Call up and give a review - the schedule was on time, the referees were clueless, the fields could have been better, etc. I was familiar enough with both playing in and organizing tournaments that I was capable of separating the real complaints from the usual "we didn't win" chaff you always hear. I'd boil that down to a handful of questions, present them to the promoter (this is what I'm hearing) and hopefully get reasoned responses, which were then published in the quarterly publication that I distributed. The general idea was to create a dialogue through a trusted source (I had a good reputation for dealing honestly and factually through my articles) that would get both teams and promoters working toward common goals.

Once that was in swing (and fairly popular: I ended up writing a regular series called Head to Head in PCRI magazine that made predictions for matchups at upcoming tournaments between two high profile teams that had not yet played each other; those predictions were pretty darned accurate as well - proving that the data gathered had some real world application.

By the time of the first ASO event, the numbers were robust enough to "test" them by using the data to create the preliminary round brackets. We knew we had succeeded when, among others, Ron Kilbourne, Captain of the CA Bushwackers complained mightily about his draw, and then stated that there couldn't be a more balanced mix.

(We didn't use the data directly, like 1st rank, division A, 2nd rank division B. Instead, we broke up all of the teams by geography first, and then seeded them based on their rank within the geographic distribution. This meant that a team flying in from California would not have three other California teams in their division.)

Ultimately though, the willingness of all parties to cooperate with each other broke down for a number of reasons its not really important to go into here. But, so far as the majority of the "traveling" teams were concerned, things were not changing fast enough to their satisfaction.

This led to secretive discussions amongst a handful of actively involved players/team captains based on the idea that we all needed to get together as a group and "do something."

A handful of individuals were asked to reach out to teams - Kevin Donaldson, Fred Schultz, Renick Miller, Jim Anderson, myself - and float the idea of having a meeting to discuss what, if anything we could do.

As word began to leak out, there was pushback. A number of industry folks (understandably) suggested that we would never succeed and were vocal in discouraging the effort.

But we persevered. We decided on Chicago as being centrally located and causing the least travel expense for the largest number of attendees. Renick Miller lined up a hotel with conference room space and we all flew in.

For the remainder of this piece, an article that appeared in Paintball Sports Magazine, detailing what the newly formed league intended to do, including the first year's event schedule, costs, officiating teams and changes to the ranking system.

Choosing an Event

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 17:54:49 GMT

Choose Your Events for the RIGHT Reasons

Tournament History 101.

The very first tournament, according to official history, was the National Survival Games' 1983 National Championship. By definition, it was a tournament that only regionally qualifying teams could attend, and, in 1983, there weren't all that many regions.

It wasn't until the late 80s and early 90s that national level tournaments began attracting larger numbers of teams and hoped for attendance by forty teams.

Yes. That's right. "Maybe forty teams" was an aspirational goal.

Most regional events of those days considered themselves doing well if they broke into double digits. One event I personally ran - the very first tournament to be held in NJ - had six teams attending, and we all, promoters, players and teams, considered it a success.

In 1989 when I began tracking tournament data nationwide, I had two goals in mind. I wanted teams to be able to have a central location they could find their and other team's performance data for their betterment, and I wanted to be able to make data-backed suggestions to the events themselves in order to help improve the tournament experience for everyone. For example: teams really wanted a fair distribution of fields and stations at events. Anyone could see that it was inherently unfair for one team to draw the same field and the same station every game, when their opponent's had never played a single game on that field, let alone that station. With game performance data, I'd be able to show game results to back things up.

At the time, there weren't more than maybe thirty teams from across the US and Canada that regularly attended most national level events held during a year (and there weren't that many of those either, maybe six, and perhaps as many more large regional events). An event that managed to get most of those teams to attend was considered a success. Attendance was something like 24 teams, hoping for forty.

When I put together the meeting that formed the NPPL in 1992 (a direct consequence of that statistics gathering), I had a list of 28 "travelling" teams, those we all considered the "professional" teams in the game. We ended up with, I believe, 22 of them attending the meeting, along with a handful of high-profile amateur teams.

The general idea behind creating the NPPL was that acting together, those 22 teams had enough leverage to begin to make themselves heard at events. They all agreed that they wanted a certain minimum number of games during preliminary play, they wanted a minimum number of referees on a field, they wanted some balance to their preliminary round draws; they didn't want to play a majority of preliminary games against other teams from their own backyards, they wanted balanced field distribution; a standard rulebook, sensible equipment rules and some kind of a break on paint prices.

A handful of teams getting together and asking for sensible improvements created virtually everything you see at national/large events these days. It didn't take hundreds. Just a handful. (A handful of players, back in 1992, brought Bring Your Own Paint to national tournament play. Think about what your team budgets would look like if you were still paying Event Paint Only prices of - no exaggeration - something like $150 bucks per case.)

This is one reason why these days, when I see people discussing their attendance at various events and emphasizing how many teams will be attending, I get a little concerned and a little miffed, because I know from personal experience that using the number of teams attending as a measure of the "success" of an event is like trying to use a yardstick to measure the output pressure of your HPA tank. You're using the wrong metrics.

If 22 teams can change the entire industry, why can't an event be successful when "only" a handful of teams attend? National tournaments are BUILT on a history of events with fewer than 40 teams attending.

Instead of looking at raw numbers, how about taking a look at the quality of the event being offered, and the kind of experience you and your team are going to have? (And, I hasten to add, evaluating an event based on attendance numbers before the event even happens tells you nothing about how well it was run or the kind of experience you are going to have.)

A few other points to consider:

The law of supply and demand

Lets suppose, just for argument's sake, that a tournament promoter and their staff has 100 minutes of their event time to devote to handling team-related issues - everything from needing to have the basics explained to them to rules issues, calls on the field, needing to call a tow truck.
Lets also suppose that this staff wants to treat all of their customers equally.
At an event with, say, twelve teams, this fair and balanced promoter can devote eight minutes and twenty seconds to each of those team's "issues".

At an event with twenty-four teams, that time drops to 4 minutes and just under 10 seconds.
It's like having to return something at WalMart: Your experience is going to be directly related to how long that line you are standing on is.

Now, of course, with larger numbers, good promoters add more staff (which should help you differentiate paintball tournaments from WalMart. WalMart NEVER adds staff). And increase their own expenses. Which ultimately leads to an increase in team costs. But we're not discussing how good promoters manage their events. We're talking about the fact that the more teams there are attending an event, the less individual attention each can expect to receive. It's common sense, a regular aspect of our lives in this society. When you go to a concert at a stadium with thousands of other people, you do not expect the band to ask you what songs they should play. (You want to do that, you hire the band.)

The point is, smaller events can deliver a level of service different from larger events. Not better, not worse. Different.

* * *

I've been told that it is not uncommon for teams attending events to travel all the way to the event, only to be scheduled for a total of two games on each of two days of the event (more if they advance). Pay for airline tickets, hotel rooms, meals in restaurants, pay a several thousand dollar entry fee for half an hour of combined game time spread over two days? (Not to mention the expense of prepping for that event.)

If that had been proposed for how the NPPL should schedule their events at that first NPPL meeting (Chicago, 1992), I can GUARANTEE you that there would have been a chorus of team captains shouting (spoiler, unsafe for work) " Are you fucking nuts?" and the proposal would have been laughed right out of the room. We were trying to find ways to shove MORE game time onto the schedule for each team, not less. Maybe society has dramatically changed since then, but there was a time when we understood that time on the field against good opponents was the only way your team could improve its own performance. But I don't know. What I do know is that 16 minutes of play time is not an hour and a half of game time.

* * *

Someone just reminded me that there was once an $80,000.00 prize package (and I mean CA$H) handed out at a national - level championship event that was attended by 16 teams.

In case your jaundiced paintball brain has been impaired by the past several years of tournament attendance numbers, that is an actual number that follows fifteen and somewhat precedes twenty. You could count to that number using your hands - IF you had three hands and an extra thumb sticking out of your forehead (I mean, we are talking about paintballers here, after all).

Sixteen teams. Eighty thousand dollars in cash prizes. They could have given the teams five thousand bucks back - each!.

I was at that event. Like any other tournament, there were some issues - game schedule changes, the belief that some opponents weren't playing on the up-and-up, paint quality...the usual stuff you deal with at every event.

I also remember it as having some really hard-fought, interesting, nay, unbelievable games, a lot of inter-team hijinks between and after games, some memorable friendships being made and leaving there with the knowledge that ONLY 16 teams (maybe 300 players) in the entire world could say they'd been there. (Talk about "elite".)

***

I'll be expanding on this thoughts in future posts. The main point I really want to convey here is - think about what you're doing when you attend events. Think about what you are actually getting for your dollars. If the events you are currently attending are giving you what you want and need as a team - great! Have at it and more power to ya!

We had a Great Time!

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 14:53:23 GMT

What Makes For A Good Tournament?

UPDATE: 10:49 AM EST 2/21/23

As promised, additional commentary on the event, this time from one of Paintball's favorite photographers, Gary Baum ( www.PaintballPhotography.com ):

"A wonderful event, I really had fun"

Promoter of the recently concluded Southern California Classic, Fred Schultz, and I have been gathering impressions from people who attended the event, because we'd like other player's to hear directly from those who attended.

One of the first folks we've heard back from is Dirk Gadbury, a name everyone ought to be familiar with. Dirk had this to say:

"Man what an absolute blast of a weekend. We got a hard earned 2nd place. Finally got to take my son to a tournament with me. He had a blast just like the rest of us. Thank you everyone on the team and everyone at the tournament. I had way to much fun. Thank you Fred Schultz for an amazing tournament!!!!"

It goes without saying that Dirk has a lot of tournament experience. It also goes without saying that he could have said something or nothing. That he took the time to post about the experience is another indication of just how much fun he had. Below, a couple of images he sent along as well.

The team, Dirk, son and grandson!*

Fred sent along a pic of Team Toxic Teddys, who, despite low scores in most games, managed to hold Dynasty Old School to just 16 points in their matchup. Fred had this to say:

"They were made up of a bunch of players that was put together by a friend of mine Jacob Easter of the podcast "Teddy Talks" . It had guys like the great Peng from S. Cal. Jeff Thompson came all the way from Canada to play with this great group guys. This is paintball at it's best."

There are others, some of whom we're waiting to hear back on permission to quote them (cause that's how we roll). Suffice to say that this is the beginning of sharing with you the impressions that participants at WCPL events have of their experience. There's no greater satisfaction for those who run events to hear back from everyone - winners and losers - that they had a good, if not great time.

Which brings me to this:

A lot of players out there, particularly on social media, seem to focus primarily on team size and/or the presence of certain companies and individuals when judging their likelihood of attending a particular event.

I'd like to suggest that while those are legitimate factors in selecting a tournament, it is NOT the primary one.

I believe that the main assessment of whether your team ought to attend an event should be based on two things and two things only: is it a well-run, well-officiated event with costs appropriate to the experience and ARE PLAYERS HAVING FUN?

Most of us have been there: an event you deem important to your team's performance, reputation, standing, ends up being a flawed experience owing to one or multiple factors - bad weather, inconsistent reffing, broken game scheduling, lousy fields, poor performance. Then you look at how much you spent and you have to ask yourself what the heck you are doing with your time. You got how few minutes of playing time for that much?

Chances are good that you knew what that event was going to be like well before you paid the entry.

On the other hand, if you listen to your fellow players and they are all telling you that DESPITE on-field performance, they had a great time at an event that had relatively few teams, little industry presence and didn't charge all that much, well, maybe you are judging events on the wrong criteria.

Glenn Forster, owner of Ambush Paintball, where the Southern California Classic was held, sent along some video of the event, courtesy of Baccipaintball:

Dynasty vs So Cal Ironmen

and

From Toxic Teddys Paintball Team, more video of the Final game

We'll be bringing you more impressions of the event as we receive them.

(Our opening image is of the California sunset following the event, taken by Fred Schultz)

*Thanks to eagle-eyed viewers for bringing some errors to my attention. They have now been corrected. Apologies to Dirk for the incorrect post.

Team Dynasty Wins WCPL Southern California Classic

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Mon, 20 Feb 2023 16:15:17 GMT

Ten Teams Had A Great Time!

Greetings Woodsballers!

We are happy to report that the WCPL's first event of the 2023 season - Promoter Fred Schultz's Southern California Classic - has reached a successful, fun-filled and interesting conclusion.

The Final Standings for this event were decided in a three team round-robin, with Dynasty Old School, OG Ironmen and Los Angeles Ironmen facing off. At the finish -

1st Dynasty Old School
2nd OG Ironmen
3rd Los Angeles Ironmen

Remaining places as determined by preliminary round-robin play:

4th Live Wire (459 pts)

5th Washington Winstons (438 pts)
6th Black Sunday (371 pts)
7th Fatal Swoop (335 pts)
8th Toxic Teddys (297 pts)
9th Brain Dead Chaos Factory Team (268 pts)
10th Defy Factory (183 pts)

Games are based on a 100 point scoring system; a "perfect" performance during preliminary play would have netted a team 900 points. As is evidenced by the scores, no one had a perfect event, which is exactly what you see when the teams are well-matched. (Individual game outcomes can be found below, sourced from www.PBLeagues.com ).

Promoter Fred Schultz reported after the event that the weather on Saturday was cold, but teams persevered and were rewarded with fantastic weather on day 2. Two fields were in play at Glen Forrester's Ambush Paintball Park . Officiating was solid and the event really only had one minor incident, a player shooting at Gary Baum's drone, which Gary pointed out in a Facebook post violated a federal regulation, though he has graciously chosen not to pursue the matter. (Thank you Gary)

Reports from the field began coming in on Facebook almost immediately after the event, with players and teams stating that they had a wonderful time both on the field and off the field.

Scores were regularly updated via PBLeagues.com and replicated both on the WCPL's Facebook group and the WCPL website's blog .

Some teams have also been contacted with requests for additional imagery, Gary Baum of PaintballPhotography announced that his photos from the event will be available for viewing in about a week.

Side Note: A lot of players should be cautioned to not use the number of teams attending an event to gauge its success. Rather, the quality of the event, as well as the team's satisfaction with things like scheduling,. officiating, field design and, perhaps most importantly, the ability to successfully combine good competition AND good fun on and off the field should be the primary considerations. The 2023 Southern California Classic went a long way towards demonstrating that all of those elements are in place - professional organization, smooth running and good times had by all - not to mention a greater online presence - as we move forward during the season. Teams are already discussing their attendance at the upcoming Florida Panhandle Classic, which will take place at Panhandle Paintball (Dan Colby, Steve Preskill) on April 1st and 2nd. Other teams are contemplating attendance at the upcoming New York Classic (Paintball Sports NY - Jerry Braun, Kevin Donaldson) taking place on June 9th, 10th, 11th. Day 1 for field walking.).

As reactions are received, we'll be putting them up on the website, Facebook and the blog.

Photos courtesy Fred Schultz/Flag Pull Productions can be found at the end of this post.

Final Positions and Scores: (Source: www.PBLeagues.com)

Thank you to all of the teams that attended, the officials who worked, Ambush Paintball for a great venue!

You can learn more about the World Classic Paintball League on its website www.PlayWCPL .com, its Facebook page World Classic Paintball League . Don't forget to have your friends sign up for our newsletter on the website.

The WCPL's Southern California Classic was hosted by promoter Fred Schultz, who appears weekly on Flag Pull Production's podcast Mr. Fred and Friends . Pay it a visit!.

This content was produced and is copyright 2023 by the WCPL. Contact us, submit photos and ask questions via WCPLNews@gmail.com .

Notes: Teams must register for WCPL events as www.PBLeagues.com , players do not need to individually register.
Each event is independently operated. Contact the individual promoters for entry fee, paint and other event-related questions.

Remaining Schedule for the 2023 season:

April 1 & 2 - Panhandle Paintball Classic

June 9, 10 & 11 - New York Classic

July 29 & 30 - U.k. Classic

August 5 & 6 - Northen California Classic

October 14 & 15 - Saint Louis Classic graph

Note: If you sign up for the WCPL Newsletter on our website, you'll get this information before everyone else! www.playwcpl.com

Finals Round

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Sun, 19 Feb 2023 20:41:51 GMT

Finals are Beginning

UPDATE: 5:53 EST

Finals Results
1st Dynasty Old School takes 1st with 114 points - 1W 1D
2nd Ironmen take 2nd with 33 points - 2D
3rd LA Ironmen 3rd with 22 points - 1D 1L

Don't forget the upcoming Panhandle Paintball Classic in Florida coming in April!

UPDATE: 4:04 EST

The Schedule for the Finals is as follows:

Game 1 Home - Dynasty Old School vs Away - OG Ironmen
Game 2 Home - OG Ironmen vs Away LA Ironmen

Game 3 Home - LA Ironmen vs Away Dynasty Old School

The finals at the WCPL's Southern California Classic will feature:

Dynasty Old School

Los Angeles Ironmen
Ironmen

End of Preliminary Play

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Sun, 19 Feb 2023 20:32:57 GMT

Final Scores from Preliminary Round

Round 9 has concluded, bringing us to the end of preliminary play.
Dynasty Old School, Ironmen, Live Wire and Los Angeles Ironmen take the top 4 slots.

News From Around Paintball

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Sun, 19 Feb 2023 16:41:33 GMT

Pics and Live Reporting

Fred Schultz has posted a series of photos from the WCPL's Southern California Classic on the Flag Pull Productions fFcebook page (home of Fred & Friends Podcast)

and Gary "the Judge" Jones will soon be broadcasting live from an event at the Cousins Paintball field in Manchester, NJ .

Woodsball is breaking out ALL over!

Lastes WCPL Southern California Classic Updates

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Sat, 18 Feb 2023 17:56:20 GMT

The latest standings

We're doing regular scoring updates here, on the WCPL Facebook page and the scores can also be found on www.PBLeagues.com.

We're going to be doing updates preliminary round by round...as a full round of play completes, we'll post the scores and the detail. This should make it a little easier to gage performance and even make some predicitons.

It also appears, from a distance of a continent away, that the games are pretty much running on time.

TEAMS ATTENDING:

FATAL SWOOP
IRONMEN

TOXIC TEDDYS

BLACK SUNDAY

DEFY FACTORY

BRAIN DEAD CHAOS FACTORY TEAM

DYNASTY OLD SCHOOL

LIVE WIRE

LOS ANGELES IRONMEN

WASHINGTON WINSTONS

Latest score updates will appear directly below and will replace previous updates. (Source: www.PBLeagues.com)

The first day of preliminary play has concluded.

Let the games begin!

Earlier:

Each team has a possible 300 points they can earn during their remaining games.

The first two games of the day – Ironmen vs Live Wire and Fatal Sweop vs Dynasty Old School could, depending on outcomes, change the standings, opr solidify them.

Its going to be an exciting morning at Ambush paintball.

WW W .PlayWCPL.com Don't forget to sign up for our newsletter!

Going into the 7th round of preliminary play (9 games total for each team), the situation stands as follows:

ROUND 7 HAS CONCLUDED:

LATEST UPDATE: ROUND 9 COMPLETED

New Paragraph

Mighty Tales of Paintball Derring Do

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 14:18:49 GMT

Paintball Fish Stories

I'm probably dating myself using the expressing "derring do". For those not familiar with it, a feat of derring do is, alternatively, an act of great courage, or what happens when Dudley Doright tries to go after Snidley Whiplash.

When it comes to paintball stories, you gotta know that we're talking about the latter. You've all heard them, right? You walk off the field after a ten player game and some yahoo from the other team is loudly telling everyone else all about the fifteen, no twenty, no twenty five players he eliminated that game. Everyone also knows that if he WON that game (or, rather, the team he was on won that game), then you just have to sit there and accept whatever version of events he cares to tell, because he's got the one rejoinder that can beat any objections you might raise: You lost.

I've not studied the subject deeply enough to have developed any statistics, but personal experience tells me the following: the winners tell the biggest tales AT the field, while the losers reserve their fabrications for later.

Regardless, they sure are entertaining, right? And like any whisper-down-the-lane story, they only get bigger, badder, flashier and more exciting with each retelling. But don't analyze them too deeply or you'll miss out on the joy of hearing a great tale. It may not be all that close to reality, but you're not listening to an after action report. You're listening to that player's attempt to convey the emotional experience they had while playing. You're meant to emotionally place yourself in their shoes and imagine how you'd be feeling if you had a similar experience.

I think paintball fish tales are great and I'd love to reprint some of them here on the blog, attributed or not. And to help spur things on, I'm going to share one of my own favorite personal fish tales. You can be the judge of how little or how much of it to believe.

This particular game was a fifteen player, pump gun event, in the woods in the Northeast. It was old growth forest with a lot of rhododendron growing on it that the event operator had cut paths through.

If you aren't familiar with "rhodos": it is a very dense bush that grows in a wall comprised of interwoven branches. Small players can crawl through "rabbit holes". Light players can even walk on it (but that's a fish tale for another time).

One side of our field was a wide path running the length of the field with some good sized trees on it, the other side was a jungle of rhododendron. My job was to crawl into the rhodos and delay anything from the other team that might try to come through there because the rest of the team was pushing the path.

It was a long, hot, sweaty crawl. Needless to say, all for nothing, until I hear shooting coming from behind me, back at our flag station. I crawled all the way back and observed from cover. One of my teammates was having an argument with a referee and two opposing players about who had shot who first.

After observing for a few more seconds, I broke cover, stepped into the flag station, walked closer to the argument and then shot both of the opponents.

Of course a lot of yelling and gesturing began immediately. One of the opponents screamed "What the F*** are you doing?"

The referee echoed "Yeah, what the f*** do you think you're doing?"

I asked "Did you call anyone neutral?"

The referee goggled at me for a second and then, without saying another word, pulled the armbands off of the two opposing players and sent them walking. We won the game.

If you find that amusing, or an interesting take on interpreting the rules, why not share your own? Email your paintball fish tales to WCPLNews@gmail.com

And don't forget: Two day s from now the Southern California Classic takes place. If you haven't registered yet at PBLeagues , now is the time to do it!

Good Reasons Why Paintball Isn't in the Olympics

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 13:56:54 GMT

There's Good Reasons Paintball Isn't An Olympic Sport

Charles "Happy Holton" from the Horn Section team (and all-around long-time paintball personality) drew our attention to the latest episode of the Behind the Bunker podcast.
The main subject for discussion was how and why (and whether it ought to be) paintball isn't in the Olympics.
Check it out here:
Behind the Bunker Episode 475

How Woodsball Play is Different From Other Formats, Part 2

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 19:14:38 GMT

Squeezing and Shortening the Game

In part 1 I covered the wide range of skills that are required for successful woodsball play. But before I go on, let me address what I mean by "successful" woodsball play.

If you and your team are learning something every game, if your game results steadily improve, if you are still focused on learning and getting better, AND if you still want to hit the field every weekend to play, that's success. I used to use the following analogy with the teams I played for and coached: if we suppose that there are 100 things that must be mastered to put a winning team on the field and you just learned a hard lesson about what not to do (or discovered that there was a better way to do something) and, if you analyzed and internalized that lesson, you've just knocked off one of those 100 things, only 99 more to go.

"Success" does not have to be displayed on the scoreboard. If you identify and check off on each of those "100 things", you and your team will eventually be winning more than you lose. It's inevitable.

But we're here talking about different forms of the game and why some people prefer woodsball, while also believing that the woodsball format requires a wider range of skills, and offers players a wider range of effective actions than other formats.

The sub-title of this piece is "Squeezing and Shortening" the game. I chose that sub-title because that is exactly what has happened over the past 40 years. That first game took place on an 80 acre field with no time limit. The game only ended when the conditions for a win were met.

Shortly thereafter, with the introduction of the team-based version of paintball, fields remained the same size (or were larger) and time limits for 20 and 15 player teams were scheduled for as long as 90 minutes. Those numbers whittled down to 15 players and an hour long game for a number of years.

Field size was again reduced when team size was dropped to 10 players, game time reducing to 25 minutes, fields reduced to a handful of acres. Then five player was introduced and game times dropped to 12 minutes, with fields getting even smaller.

When concept fields (hyperpipe, inflatables, pallets and spools) were introduced, some large fields were constructed but it was quickly realized that the lack of cover and flat ground (as opposed to variegated terrain) resulted in quick eliminations, many such fields were reduced to sizes resembling what are now referred to as "postage stamp" sized fields. Fields that you can not only see nearly every terrain feature from any location, but also fields that are small enough to let a player shoot (effectively) corner to corner across the entire field.

These changes are, in many ways, similar to the differences that are found between hunting actual game in the woods, where tracking, knowledge of the prey, knowledge of the land, is required and "hunting" ducks on a rotating wheel from behind a fairground counter. You still have to be able to aim and time the movement of your target, but all of the targets have been gathered together for you in one easily acquired position. You don't have to find the ducks before you can shoot them.

Now most of these changes were made for two reasons and two reasons only: the first is economic. The smaller your fields are and the shorter your games are, the more teams (and therefore, entry fees) you can collect for a given event. Nothing wrong with that.

An accompanying fact that should not be lost on most players is that small fields with artificial bunkers and games with short time frames also encourage the shooting of more paintballs. Shooting more rather than less always positively impacts an event's bottom line.

And, in these inflationary times, everyone should be intimately familiar with product down-sizing. If you want to lessen the customer's perception of your product, you don't increase the price. You keep the packaging the same, but reduce the contents. You used to get 2,500 balls in a case. Now there's only 2,000, even though you are still buying "a case".

Some of this may be a little abstract, at least in the ways that it affects paintball, so lets take things back to the field.

Early discussions amongst tournament operators and promoters centered on figuring out how the game could be changed so that the nearly everything but the "fight at the fifty" was eliminated. Early testing of formats that involved placing two lines of player facing each other ON the fifty did not produce appealing results. Players kind of liked picking their own locations and running to them in their own way(s). (That's a joke. But there was a lot of discussion of how to compress the game to its most exciting elements.)

Back to downsizing. If the price stays the same, something else has to give. What "gave" was team size, field size and game length. The most extreme example of this I ever saw was the Indoor event in West Virginia: 3 minute five player games on fields that were 50 feet long. Teams started with their backs to the net and they had only one direction they could go - forward into the faces of their opponents.

What was missing?

Vertical and retrograde movement. And that's a shame, because one of the funnest things you can do on the paintball field is to "run away from the other team and draw them into an ambush".

When was the last time you saw a player/team playing back-up ball? It's a well-known defensive tactic known as "trading space for time". It happens fairly frequently in woodsball. A team pushes, loses too many players and then pulls back, attempting to maneuver their opponents into less advantageous positions, attempting to whittle down the numbers facing them.

It's a fine art that takes a lot of skill to work effectively, and one that is almost entirely absent in non-woodsball play.

There are other tactics you don't see on the small, open fields either. Like shifting players from one side of the field to the other, "stacking" a side preparatory to a push. Or, one of my favorites - sneaking a player or two into a location that another one of your players then ostentatiously pulls out of. When handled correctly, the other team thinks that area of the field is now open, undefended. But when they advance....

A lot of this kind of play has become lost art, because on the small, open fields, with tight game times, there are simply no opportunities to develop that kind of play.

I'll give you another one that could be run on a concept field, but it would never work. However, in the woods, it can be devastating.

Most teams playing five player ball know (or at least used to) that there were basically three standard deployments for teams. Your opponents could either deploy, on the break, into a 2 - 1 - 2 positioning or either a left hand or right hand 2 - 3 positioning.

This gag play relies on that knowledge, shows the opponent that you are doing what they think you're doing, and then does something completely different.

On the break, your team sends two to the left, heading for the fifty and contact with the other team. Meanwhile, you send 1 player to the right side of the field, taking a concealed route to a location that offers good defensive opportunities.

Meanwhile, your remaining two players are moving down the left side of the field, concealed, and approaching the positions of your two other players who are now shooting and shouting.

Those remaining two players are waiting for the other team to call out what they have in front of them, in this case "two opponents".

As soon as they do, you know that they are thinking that you have set up in a 2-3 deployment (or maybe a 2-1-2, but that's unlikely because they've not encountered anyone shooting from the relative middle of the field.

Once they reveal that they think they know how you have deployed, your two concealed players on the left side start to push, along with the other two players who are already there.

In the vast majority of circumstances, you'll have a 4 on 2 or, at worst, a 4 on 3 situation on that side of the field, with your team having the upper hand owing to surprise.

And your one guy on the other side of the field all by himself? He's fine. Opponents on that side of the field still have no idea what they are facing, and even if they do realize that there can only be one player over there, they still have to find him. Eating up time is the only thing you are interested in from that side of the field, as your 4 on 2 push grabs the flag and/or wraps around behind the other team on the right side.

A play like that can't even begin to be contemplated on a concept field.

It's that kind of play that woodsballers live for.

How Woodsball Play is Different From Other Formats

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Sun, 12 Feb 2023 15:07:59 GMT

Woodsball Requires the Use of a Wider Range of Skills Than Most Other Formats (Part 1)

(A caveat: Since many scenario and big games are also played in the woods, not all of the differences noted here apply to those game formats.)

I've been struggling for a while to find the correct way to address the differences, and have previously gone to some pains to explain that this article is not about declaring one format better than another. ( See my Facebook post on the WCPL page ). Rather, its purpose is to explore those differences in an objective manner so that players, particularly those new to the sport, can decide where and how to play based on understanding the real differences.

During its evolution, the primary and popular forms of paintball have shifted numerous times. This has as much to do with marketing, economics and influencers (not to mention sponsors, geography and other factors) as it does with learning about the game and changing things to make it a better sport.

The first version of this game was “every player for themselves”. That morphed into 15 player ball on multi-acre woods fields to scenario games, to ten player woodsball, five player arena/speedball, to artificial terrain and to high-speed, multiple-scoring events on comparatively tiny fields.

During most of that evolution, the skill set required for players who wanted to play well did not change. Players needed to be able to move (preferably quickly), they needed to have decent accuracy with their shooting, they needed to know how to move and conceal themselves in the woods, they needed to have a sense of timing, some tactical ability, some strategic ability, some familiarity with logistics. They needed to be able to “read the lay of the land”, be able to communicate meaningfully, to be able to psychologically assess their opponents, to adjust quickly to changing situations and to manage all of those skills effectively – while hiding behind inadequate cover as a rain of paintballs assaulted them.

Before getting to the differences, I want to explain all of those skills in a bit more detail.

Movement: Successful players are good, broken-field runners. They are also good sneaky-petes, able to silently move through the woods (quickly if need be) without crinkling leaves under foot or making brush sway. They need to be able to crawl (often blindly), and to move from one mode to another almost effortlessly. Fast is usually better than slow, but lack of speed can be compensated for with better positioning, better angles, better field craft.

Shooting: Well, it's a gun game, right? If you can't shoot accurately over distance you're nothing but a target (which can be a skill all by itself, btw). But we're not talking the ability to shoot ropes at targets 150 feet away; we're talking about being able to find a hole between branches and leaves that follows a ballistic (curved) path between shooter and target, when the opening to that “tunnel” starts 50 feet away from the shooter. We're talking about being able to shoot accurately while lying on your back, or running over tree roots, being able to drop balls on a target like mortar shells. There is a fundamental difference in the shooting skill set when every potential target on the field is within shooting range. (A woodsball field is typically more than a thousand feet long and 500+ feet wide. You can't shoot tape to tape like you can on many current tournament fields.) And shooting “long-ball” (pointing your barrel up into the air and arcing balls for maximum range) has almost become a lost art. You can do it, effectively, but it takes a lot of practice.

Concealment: Here's the thing. Trees and brush are not Doritos and Cans. Flat grass fields are not broken ground covered with roots and vines or ankle-breaking holes. Once you learn how to play a Dorito, or a Temple or a Can, every Dorito plays the same (unless it's deflating or has become unmoored). Not so for trees. Every single tree in the woods is different and plays differently. Even when they are of the same species: they may play similarly, but not the same. When you walk a field with artificial terrain, half the job has already been done for you, because your cover will always be one of a handful of known shapes. When you walk a woodsball field, you need to individually evaluate the suitability of each piece of cover within a given location. There might be a “perfect” tree in the best location for that spot on the field, but in evaluating it, you discover that low branches will prevent you from using it as an effective position.

Timing: We're not talking the game length here. We're talking about knowing how long it takes a player to get from point A to point B; how the terrain affects that movement (there are fast areas – like paths, and slow areas, like swamp or marsh). What the absolute minimum time to run a flag back is – on that particular field (it will be different for each and every other field). How long it will take a player to crawl through brush. How long it will take for an opponent to move between two locations, and whether or not you can reach an alternate position in the same or less time. It's one thing to run a field with flat ground and minimal obstacles, another to run through the woods, on broken ground, with a literal infinitude of possible paths.

Logistics, Strategy, Tactics: Logistics is what gets you to the paintball event, makes sure you've got enough paint in every player's pods, gets folks on line for air so they've got full tanks before every game; it's what puts the right tools for your gear in the team tool box. Strategy is where you evaluate the entire event; your series of opponents, when you'll play them, where you'll play them. Knowing that a future opponent will be able to watch how you play a particular field and knowing that maybe you want to show them a slightly different plan from how you intend to play them. Tactics is the down and dirty individual play. Determining that one player can reach a particular location on the field while another can not, and arranging positions accordingly. Deciding that you need two players to hold a particular location and so on. These three elements are similar for all forms of play, but they're more complicated in woodsball, because of all of the infinite number of other factors.

Communication: I only need point out that visual communication is almost impossible on a woodsball field and that shouting something that can be heard 1,200 feet away takes a lot more effort than shouting something that can be heard 150 feet away. But good players adapt and learn. Most experienced woodsball players have learned to tell what is happening on the field by HOW their teammates are shooting. Try doing that on a field that seems designed to maximize noise, while twenty players are all shooting at 10 plus BPS. (I've not even mentioned codes, or disinformation campaigns.)

Psychology: Psyching the opposing team out is one thing. Figuring out how an opposing team is going to handle a particular situation by watching them and getting inside their heads is another. Not to mention playing “mind games” while on the field. Most contemporary game formats don't offer enough time or separation between players to let this other element of the game express itself fully, but in woodsball, it is entirely possible to do things like getting the other team to forget your presence on the field, make them believe that there are more players from your team alive, on the field, than there are, or to convince them that there are fewer players in a given location than there really are. If you can get inside the “mental curve” of your opponents, a whole new tool set opens up for you.

Each of those skills is present and required in just about every paintball format. But there are two primary differences between woodsball and other formats and applying those skills during a game. The first is the far greater number of variables found in the woods that complicate the execution of those skills. The other is that woodsball players can not be specialists.

Each player on a woodsball team has to be able to execute each and every one of those skills effectively, because at any given time, they might have to play offensively or defensively; they might have to run to cover a hole, or crawl to get a dominating position; they might have to play the tape, or the middle of the field, from down in a ditch or from the top of a hill. Each player might have a skill that they are better at than their teammates, and good teams utilize those players appropriately at the beginning of a game, but in general, every woodsball player has to be able to effectively execute those skills no matter where they are on the field and at any given time during the game. The differrence between woodsball skill sets and other format skill sets might be described as the following: woodball players are generalists with specialty skills, players in other formats are specialists with some general skills. (At this point, you might want to look up evolutionary theory and see what it has to say about specialization. The gist of it is that specialization makes a species successful in its given environment, but that it lacks the ability to adapt to other environments.)

By way of further illustration: a back player in arena games specializes on providing cover, reading the field and filling in forward positions at the appropriate time. A snake player specializes in getting to and into the snake, dealing with opposing snake players in close quarters and shooting cross-field. If, at the beginning of a game you were to swap those two players...well, that game probably won't go as well as it might have with players in their accustomed positions.

In woodsball, it is fairly common for players to be positioned anywhere on the field, based on the needs of that particular field and opponents. About the only specialized positions there are to be found on a woodsball team are the field captain and, maybe, a tape player or two (players up against the field boundaries).

Again, one approach is not “better” than the others. But I do contend that woodball players have (and need to have) a grounding in a wider range of skills than that which is required for other competitive forms of the game. And this makes sense if you approach things from a requirements and training point of view. No coach in their right mind would waste valuable teaching and training time on, say, training their players how to swim long distances, as there is no playing scenario in which such a skill would be necessary. Training a snake player how to snap shoot, how to gauge where opponents are from where paint is hitting, how to slide, crawl, etc. absolutely. Maybe even on training designed to make them comfortable with lying in a mud puddle, but not long distance swimming. Nor would they waste time and money teach their team how to knit – unless everyone on the team was keen on wearing custom knitted beanies.

As a wise old baller who wrote under the nom-de-guerre of The Ultimate Warrior once stated, you train like you play and you play like you train. To which I would add – and your training should be under a harder and more difficult regimen than whatever might be required for play. (Use crappy paint, bunkers that are smaller than typical, run uphill, both ways, face greater number of opponents, etc.)

Perhaps belaboring the point, here are some key differences arranged in a list:

What the preceding table and text are attempting to illustrate can be summed up by paraphrasing President Kennedy's famous space race speech at Rice University: “We play this game not because it is easy, but because it is hard.”

I will hasten to add that the “hard” referenced here also translates into “fun” and “greater variety of play”.

When your tool box is loaded with additional skills, the ways in which you can play, effectively, increase exponentially. You can't win an arena ball game by throwing a rock into a bush. You might be able to win a woodsball game that way (and I have). This is because the options available to a woodsball player, on the field, are not restricted to only moving, shooting and communicating.

In Part Two, we'll get into the weeds on actual play in the woods.

Hall of Famers at the WCPL

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Sat, 11 Feb 2023 14:23:32 GMT

The WCPL is STACKED with Paintball Hall of Famers

Since 2017 and every year since, the Paintball Hall of Fame has inducted several members of the paintball community into its ranks while highlighting their contributions to the industry and the sport.

A decidedly large percentage of those annual inductees either play in the WCPL, help run the WCPL, or BOTH. In fact, we don't think that there's another league that can claim the active participation and support of this many Hall of Famers.

That's not a negative take on other leagues so much as it is a positive take on the WCPL. After all, most Hall of Famers made their marks during the first decade of paintball's creation, so where else would you expect to find them but in a league that is promoting and supporting the game format they all played at the beginning? (And lets be honest; 60, 70, 80 year olds playing speedball might be a spectacle worthy of watching, but a potentially dangerous one as well. We, and we'd like to think everyone else, would like to keep these folks around for as long as possible. After all and despite all of their past work, they are STLL contributing to the advancement of this sport.)

Three questions probably come to mind: Who are these Hall of Famers? Why are they Hall of Famers? Why do they play in and support the WCPL?

That last one is easy. Because its a heck of a lot of fun!

Who and Why? Read on. (You'll find even more detailed information on the Paintball Hall of Fame on their Facebook page .)

(Side note: If you need a score card to know who these folks are and what they have contributed to our game, you really need to brush up on your paintball history. You wouldn't be playing this game if it hadn't been for the contributions of these people.)

Now that you know who the Paintball Hall of Famers are (and perhaps more importantly, what they look like), come on out to a WCPL event and make their acquaintances!

The first WCPL Event of the 2022 Season is fast approaching: The Southern California Classic - hosted by that guy above named Fred Schultz above - will be taking placer February 18 & 19 at Ambush Paintball Park. Register at www.pbleagues.com

to attend.

$1250.00 entry, includes air. BYOP. (Contact the field for more information on paint.)

Two Weeks Until the Southern California Classic

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 14:56:58 GMT

In Just Two Weeks - The Southern California Classic

Fred Schultz, WCPL promoter and host of The Southern California Classic - February 18th & 19th (just two weeks from now!) has sent along a birds-eye view of Ambush Paintball where the games will be taking place.

The field is a "mounds" field, meaning that it is constructed with earth-moving equipment to create mounds, berms and ridges.

Over the years it was discovered that this style of playing field offers many of the same experiences as playing in the woods themselves. In fact, one of the original purposes of a Mounds Field is to create a woodsball style field where no woods exist.

As the Ambush Paintball website mentions, this field was constructed on land that was clear cut for farming in the 1950s. It takes a little bit longer than from then to now to grow a natural woodsball field (unless you like trying to hide behind saplings).

If you've never learned how to play a hillside, this kind of field can be extremely challenging. Don't bring your camping gear, you're not going to get to use it!

Check out the field below, visit the Flag Pull Productions page for more commentary and sign your team up for the Southern California Classic at PBLeagues.com !

Catching Up

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 17:05:25 GMT

Formal Announcements

I want to post here daily, but sometimes circumstance can affect that.

I have been working on a rather lengthy piece about woodsball and other versions of the game, but it is not quite finished yet and so not yet ready for release.

What I can do today is share with you the contents of a page that will soon be added to the WCPL website that covers a few key pieces of information about the league that have come up in emails and questions, as well as reminders for:

The Southern California Classic, coming a week after the Super Bowl on February 18th & 19th at Glenn Forrester's Ambush paintball field and hosted by Fred Schultz. (Register at www.pbleagues.com)

AND

The first weekend in April, the second WCPL event of the 2023 season, The Panhandle Paintball Classic, hosted by Dan Colby and Steve Preskill at their Panhandle Paintball facility in Holt, Florida. (Also register at www.pbleagues.com)

AND

Don't forget to sign up for our newsletter, right here on this very website!

And now, as they say, for something completely, but not entirely, different: WCPL Basics.

WCPL does things a little bit differently than most other leagues, including playing its games in the woods with mechanical markers. There are enough differences to warrant pointing out on a separate FAQ page that highlights things are are not always done in the normal and customary way, and that may cause potential paritcipants some pause. So here are a handful of "out of the ordinary" items you will probably want to familiarize yourself with:

World Classic Paintball League Basics

If you have questions regarding anything WCPL that is not covered here, please feel free to contact us.

Events
Each event is handled independently by that event's promoters. While rules and entry fees are standardized from event to event (for the most part), and while most everything else that might concern a team are as well, each promoter handles things themselves. So, for example, if you are a vendor that wishes to display at an event, you need to contact the individual promoter (not the league) to make those arrangements.

Fees

Entry fees are collected by the individual promoter (not through PBLeagues.com). This year, entry fees for each ten player team are standardized at $1250.00 per team.
Air fills are INCLUDED with that fee.
Paint is BYOP. If you wish to purchase paint on-site, please contact the promoter of the individual event.

Markers
The WCPL is a Mechanical Paintball Markers only league. If you insist on using an electronic marker, the Rate of Fire must be limited to 5.5 BPS. (Borrow a friend's mech instead – its a lot more fun that way!)
Markers may use a solenoid to actuate firing mechanisms. However, all markers, regardless of actuating mechanism, must be limited to “no more than one paintball [is] discharged during each firing cycle”.
MagFed Markers are allowed (subject to other marker rules).
First Strike paintballs are prohibited .
Modifications such as Legacy Mods or Responsive Triggers are not allowed .
All markers with any form of external velocity adjusters must be modified in such a way that the velocity adjuster is not readily accessible during the course of the game.

Woods Ball
WCPL concentrates on playing its games in natural settings – the same kinds of fields that the first games were played on.
Some locations also include “mounds” fields, where the playing field has been sculpted with mounds and berms, since experience has shown that fields of that type largely provide the same kind of playing experience as games in the woods.

Format
Ten player Capture-the-Flag (and return it to your base).

Games
Each game is scheduled for a maximum of 12 minutes of play
Each team will play 8 Preliminary Round Games

Team Ranking
The WCPL uses it's own ranking rules within the APPA/PBLeagues system. Participation at WCPL events will NOT affect an individual's ranking at any other event managed by the APPA/PBLeagues system.

Registration
Only your TEAM has to register on PBLeagues.com.
You do not have to register individual players.
You do not have to obtain APPA/PBLeagues Player ID Cards.
You do not have to pay an APPA/PBLeagues registration fee.
Note: Since teams do not have to pay their registration fees through the PBLeagues' website, that website will not accurately reflect the number of teams currently registered for an event. If you would like to find out what an event's attendance is likely to be, please contact the individual event promoter.

Other
The WCPL favors promoting the sport of paintball, recognizing the game's roots, the camaraderie of players and teams and the sheer joy of getting like-minded people together in the woods for some fun experiences over “competition”. Sure, performance on the field is important, but so is the telling of tall tales afterwards.
WCPL events give players the opportunity to hobnob with some of the great and legendary players, teams and history of this sport, to learn about its origins and development, to meet and greet first hand some of the people and players who made this sport what it is today. WCPL events are more than just tournaments, they're Paintball Experiences!

WCPL - The Hall of Fame

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 17:47:08 GMT

Lots of Hall of Famers Play in the WCPL

Several years ago, something that had been talked about in paintball circles for years finally came to be - a Paintball Hall of Fame.

There are so many people who have contributed to our sport, to our industry, people without whom it is safe to say that paintball would not be what it is today without their contributions, that many felt, for a long time, that we needed a collective way to show our thanks.

In 2017, that goal was realized with the first set of inductees. Since then, the Hall of Fame has inducted numerous people every year, with this year's class recently posted to the group's Facebook page, which you can find here .

You'll find lots of familiar names, maybe even learn a little bit about paintball's history that you didn't previously know. And that's a good thing, because that history is responsible for where the game is at today.

One interesting thing that I noticed is that an awful lot of Hall of Fame inductees have played or are playing in WCPL events.

If you think about it for a second or two, this makes eminent sense, as most (if not all) of the current list of inductees hail from the first few years of our sport, playing and getting into the industry in the mid-80s through the early 90s.

Woodsball was what drew them in, Woodsball was what they played, Woodsball was how they made a living, Woodsball was where they innovated and it was Woodsball that inspired them.

Now that Woodsball is being revived through the World Classic Paintball League - where else would they go to play for an authentic, original paintball experience? I don't have to answer that, do I? I'll answer anyway. They'd go to WCPL events to play. And they do!

Below is a current list of Paintball Hall of Fame inductees (sourced from the Hall of Fame Facebook page). There are currently 46 of them. A few, sadly, have passed and are still sorely missed. Their names are marked out in italics below. Of those remaining, WCPL attendees are marked out in bold .

Now here is the cool thing about this list: If YOU attend a WCPL event (one of which is coming up real soon The Southern California Classic at Ambush Paintball Park February 18th & 19th and YES , there is still time to register!), there is a good chance that not one, not two but several Paintball Hall of Famers will be in attendance, and we're sure that they'd be happy to meet with you, talk to you about paintball history and then SHOOT YOU IN THE WOODS! Because while they may have been around for a while, believe me, they still know how to play!

Think about participating in a WCPL happening. They're like no other paintball events anywhere else.

PAINTBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES 2017 - 2022

2017

SAL BRIGUGLIO

BAMBI BULLARD

DAN COLBY*

BOB GURNSEY

MIKE "BLUE' HANSE

TOM KAYE*

JIM LIVELY

BUD ORR*

2018

SAM CALDWELL

KEVIN DONALDSON*

FOREST HATCHER

DEBRA DION KRISCHKE

RYAN KRISCHKE

DAVE MASSEY

2019

DAVE BELL*

JUVY BOUCHER

RENE BOUCHER*

DEAN DEL PRETE

WAYNE DOLLACK

MIKE GRUBB

LOU GRUBB

PAUL SATTLER

2020

GIOVANNI D’EGIDIO

TRACY HATCHER

RUSS MAYNARD

BILL MILLS

DAWN MILLS

FRED SCHULTZ*

DENNIS J. TIPPMANN, SR

DENNIS TIPPMANN, JR

BEN TORRICELLI

BONNIE TORRICELLI

2021

JERRY BRAUN*

ROCKY CAGNONI*

KEN “HOLLYWOOD” GILDER

CRAIG MILLER

TIM MONTRESSOR

GLENN PALMER*

TIM SCHLOSS*

2022

ROSS ALEXANDER

JIM ANDERSON

THOMAS GHEE*

RANDY KAMIYA

RENICK MILLER

ROBERT “ROSIE” ROSE*

DAVE RUDIG*

You can currently register for the Southern California Classic and the Panhandle Paintball Classic at www.pbleagues.com ; registration for the New York Classic will be opening soon.

And remember, also, that you don't need to be playing just to hang out and have a good time!

Registration for WCPL Panhandle Paintball Classic Now Open

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Sat, 04 Feb 2023 11:28:30 GMT

Register Your Team Now

The second leg of the WCPL's 2023 series will take place at Dan Colby (Immortal Air) and Steve Preskill's Panhandle Paintball in Holt, Florida on April 1st & 2nd.

You can learn more about the field & location at Panhandle Paintball .

To attend, teams need to register at the Paintball Leagues website.

While the event is open to any team that wishes to attend, it should be of particular interest to teams located in the Southeast; Holt FL is within easy striking distance of New Orleans.

Dan and Steve have some special events planned for this gathering. Stay tuned as things develop - and don't forget to register!

The WCPL Blog Goes Live

wcplnews@gmail.com (Steve Davidson) — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 21:27:03 GMT

We're just getting started

This is the first blog post for the site since our updates and recent changes.

I'd like to thank Rico Fernandez, Rusty Glaze and other members of the WCPL Pit Crew for their support, assistance, perseverance and patience with me as I worked on getting up to speed.
I'm pretty excited to be working on the WCPL and helping to both promote their events and offer paintballers of all interests and abilities something a little bit different than your average tournament.

The WCPL isn't hosting "tournaments" per se, so much as it is holding Paintball Happenings, or Celebrations, Fetes, "Enhanced Competitions", 'Fests, Get-Togethers or whatever you care to call it, which brings me to our first ask, from you, our readers and supporters.
If you have previously attended a WCPL event, you know that what happens on the field is important, but that what happens off the field is just as important, if not more so. These events are about hanging out with your friends - In Person; they're about meeting and greeting with some of the legendary players and industry types, without whom this game would not be; they're about shared moments, shared history, passing on the lore of our chosen sport, learning from fellow players and giving back to the game we all love so much, because giving back and passing things on are the two ways that we can all help preserve, protect and grow this sport.

If you've not attended a WCPL event (please do), then you now know from the preceding what it is all about. What we would like to hear from you and your fellow travelers is a good substitute for the word "tournament". (Don't worry, we've already rejected "palooza"). There's no prize, just the knowledge that you're helping to contribute to something special in the world of paintball.

Shifting gears: The California Classic, Hosted by Fred Schultz at Glen Forester's Ambush Paintball Park is fast approaching - Just two weeks to go - February 18 & 19 - so grab your teammates and register your team for the event at www.PBLeagues.com !

Now, for some fun stuff.

We'd like to start featuring players, teams and their gear here on the WCPL blog - but there's a few rules to go over first:

Content: This is a family-friendly league, blog and website. We are interested in covering material that is appropriate for all age levels, which means please stay away from salacious content. In fact, please err on the side of caution. If you pause or hesitate for even a second prior to sending something along, follow your better judgment and DON'T send it along. Or contact us and ask first.
We are also not interested in content related to politics, religion or even "news of the day", if that news doesn't involve paintball. There are plenty of outlets for all of those other kinds of content. We want to concentrate on the REALLY important stuff - paintball.

We DO reserve the right to make judgement calls on any submitted content, and our decision(s) are final. There is no appeal. You can, however, request an explanation (which we are also under no obligation to provide, but will If we believe the request is legitimate.

These guidelines are pretty straight-forward and self-explanatory and we hope you receive them in the spirit in which they are intended, meant to keep this website and blog focused on family-friendly discussions of paintball related things.

Our intention is to provide new content here daily. Since we are also in the business of promoting the sport and game of paintball, and everyone in it who participates, please give some serious consideration towards sending in information about your events, your team, you field or store.

Until next time - have a great day!

MAKE THE MOST OF THE SEASON BY FOLLOWING THESE SIMPLE GUIDELINES

glaze.rusty@gmail.com (Rusty Glaze) — Sat, 03 Apr 2021 10:37:55 GMT

The new season is a great reason to make and keep resolutions. Whether it’s eating right or cleaning out the garage, here are some tips for making and keeping resolutions.

Make a list

Lists are great ways to stay on track. Write down some big things you want to accomplish and some smaller things, too.

Check the list regularly

Don’t forget to check in and see how you’re doing. Just because you don’t achieve the big goals right away doesn’t mean you’re not making progress.

Reward yourself

When you succeed in achieving a goal, be it a big one or a small one, make sure to pat yourself on the back.

Think positively

Positive thinking is a major factor in success. So instead of mulling over things that didn’t go quite right, remind yourself of things that did.

KEEP IN TOUCH WITH SITE VISITORS AND BOOST LOYALTY

glaze.rusty@gmail.com (Rusty Glaze) — Sat, 03 Apr 2021 10:37:55 GMT

There are so many good reasons to communicate with site visitors. Tell them about sales and new products or update them with tips and information.

Here are some reasons to make blogging part of your regular routine.

Blogging is an easy way to engage with site visitors

Writing a blog post is easy once you get the hang of it. Posts don’t need to be long or complicated. Just write about what you know, and do your best to write well.

Show customers your personality

When you write a blog post, you can really let your personality shine through. This can be a great tool for showing your distinct personality.

Blogging is a terrific form of communication

Blogs are a great communication tool. They tend to be longer than social media posts, which gives you plenty of space for sharing insights, handy tips and more.

It’s a great way to support and boost SEO

Search engines like sites that regularly post fresh content, and a blog is a great way of doing this. With relevant metadata for every post so search engines can find your content.

Drive traffic to your site

Every time you add a new post, people who have subscribed to it will have a reason to come back to your site. If the post is a good read, they’ll share it with others, bringing even more traffic!

Blogging is free

Maintaining a blog on your site is absolutely free. You can hire bloggers if you like or assign regularly blogging tasks to everyone in your company.

A natural way to build your brand

A blog is a wonderful way to build your brand’s distinct voice. Write about issues that are related to your industry and your customers.

TIPS FOR WRITING GREAT POSTS THAT INCREASE YOUR SITE TRAFFIC

glaze.rusty@gmail.com (Rusty Glaze) — Sat, 03 Apr 2021 10:37:55 GMT

Write about something you know. If you don’t know much about a specific topic that will interest your readers, invite an expert to write about it.

Speak to your audience

You know your audience better than anyone else, so keep them in mind as you write your blog posts. Write about things they care about. If you have a company Facebook page, look here to find topics to write about

Take a few moments to plan your post

Once you have a great idea for a post, write the first draft. Some people like to start with the title and then work on the paragraphs. Other people like to start with subtitles and go from there. Choose the method that works for you.

Don’t forget to add images

Be sure to include a few high-quality images in your blog. Images break up the text and make it more readable. They can also convey emotions or ideas that are hard to put into words.

Edit carefully before posting

Once you’re happy with the text, put it aside for a day or two, and then re-read it. You’ll probably find a few things you want to add, and a couple more that you want to remove. Have a friend or colleague look it over to make sure there are no mistakes. When your post is error-free, set it up in your blog and publish.