Alright so you guys want to prepare for NXL World Cup, but the layout isn't not released yet. So what should you guys be doing in practice? Here's 5 things I think you should be doing in your paintball practices leading up to world cup.
First thing you want to do. Get everyone on your team together. Go to a quiet spot and have a little team meeting. There shouldn't be any food, cell phones, guns, or anything else that is distracting.
You're going to take a half hour, maybe even an hour or two. However long it takes. You're going to talk, and figure out what has been working this year thus far, and what hasn't worked for you guys. You need to address all these situations as a team so everyone is on the exact same page.
You can't have great chemistry on the field, if everyone is thinking the team should be doing something different. You need to find the problems, and come up with solutions as a team.
Be honest. Be critical. If you've been seeing something happen all season that needs fixed. Right here is the chance to bring it up so you can fix it going into world cup. Don't pussy foot around it. Bring it up. And don't get butt hurt. You're on a team together. If someone thinks the lanes have sucked this year and you've been the one doing the majority of lanning. Swallow your pride, and just
say ok. And then get the entire team to work with you and do drills so you can improve the lanning. Maybe that's not even the best solution. Perhaps the better solution is to have someone else to lane, and sending you to the corner, and if that is what the team decides is the best solution. then that's what needs to happen. Now you go play the corner as best as you can. It's a team sport, get your team involved and figured stuff out.
Second thing you want to do in practice. Go back and work on the fundamentals. You've went all year playing, probably picked up some sloppy tendencies along the way. Get back to the fundamentals and come in strong to world cup.
Third thing. Work on communication. This is the perfect time to work on communication. The layout hasn't be released yet but you can still work on communication. Make sure everyone on the field always knows the kill counts and where bodies are. Get people communicating back and forth to make moves happen and shut the field down.
You want to Work on fundamentals and communcation now, so when the layout is released, you can focus more on developing and executing game plans.
Fourth thing. Go over everyone's gear on the team. Make sure the exterior loops on packs are tight and still holding pods well. Look at the condition of your pods. Check to make sure all hoppers and guns are functioning properly. Do you need a new lens. Make sure you have enough squeegees, pods, barrel covers, and microfibers for the team in the pits. You've been beating the crap out of your gear all season, make sure it is all in working order coming into world cup. Shouldn't be getting down hoppers or guns at the event.
5th thing. Take these practices seriously. At the start of every practice, set goals for the practice, and exceed them. Too many teams just go through the motions, they just play random points and only take it seriously once the layout is released. Take the time now to fix mistakes the team has had all season so the team can head into practices on the layout and focus on the tournament.
Read more Paintball Tips at Macedonian Athletics Sports Academy
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
New Eclipse Gun to use AA Batteries
I'm so glad to hear that Planet Eclipse is switching to AA batteries. I had a 9v charger and rechargeable 9vs for a couple years only because of my paintball guns. I don't have anything else that takes 9v batteries so after my 9v charger died, I never replaced it because I could find a 9v charger in any of the local stores. I'm sure I could of got one off the internet but I just never did, so I have been using disposable 9vs ever since. What sucks about 9vs is that they cost more, and some gas stations don't even carry 9vs. So when you run out, and need to go out and search for 9vs which can be hassle and a definite inconvenience because a lot of paintball fields are no where near an actual store that carries 9v batteries. Rechargeable AAs and the chargers are much easier to come by. Even the disposable AAs are much cheaper and almost every store and gas station carries AA batteries. I can't wait for my guns to incorporate this switch to AA batteries. With the high end loaders using AA batteries, now I just need to carry AA batteries in my gear bag for my guns and my loaders which is great.
Check the News Release of the Planet Eclipse CS1
"It's a valid question. When we sit down to brainstorm a new product we revisit all of the things that people complain about on our existing products and try to address those things wherever possible. The cost and life of 9V batteries is something that players have been complaining about for years and so this was one of the things that we chose to address. The choice of AAs rather than some other form factor was an obvious one as this is the battery used in all of the high end loaders." - Steve Monks, Planet Eclipse
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Being A Champion
I am a champion, as are you. Not because of the trophies and titles. But because of the obstacles that you overcome and the effort you exert. To find what it is to be your best and to aim to do it. Because you decide to, and recognize that it is your right, and your responsibility to do so. Encourage others, and continue to aim for great things. We are a champions.
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
NXL Virginia Beach Open Layout Tips
This video covers the lanes of the National Xball League (NXL) 2015 Virginia Beach Open Layout. Need a better way to stop the snake push and in turn help yours? Check out this video brought to you by Macedonian Athletics Sports Academy.
So with how the lanes are on the NXL Virginia Beach Open Layout, you don't have a solid lane snake side either from the back center. Usually most layouts you'll have a clean lane to shoot before the god and the corner or even in front of the snake. But really with this NXL VBO Layout your solid lane is right after the first aztec.
Now you do actually have shots over the cake and pillars into that snake corner, but you don't have a clean shot before the god, because those pillars force your paint higher in the air to shoot over them,
so he's most likely just going to slide right in if he makes it passed that initial lane after the aztec.
Now some ways we can remedy that issue is if you come into the snake side cake or sit in the open a little bit, you get a solid lane directly before the snake. So if a team is constantly going
to snake off the break, you can shoot that. But if you don't have solid game play on this snake side,
and you're relying on that shot every point to hit that guy going in off the break. Your team is not going to win the NXL Virginia Beach Open, let's just be honest. That shot is nice to give the other team a little wake up call let them to know they're not going in right off the break every point. But you can't rely on this shot to take you to the finals, teams will just stop short and make you pay later.
The better option in my opinion on the NXL Virginia Beach Open layout, is either going up the middle to the X or going to the tall cake on the dorito side, you get a cross shot into the mini-races and you can catch him there.
You're going to want to lane right before the first dorito every point. If you're better at lanning, you're going to try and hit that corner lane as well all at once.
Depending on where you're sending people on this dorito side, shooting back at the guy lanning in the back center is a good shot off the break.
With these cakes here, I love to sit behind em, block myself out, and rain paint back at the back center. Or even dropping down pretty low and safe and hitting those cross shots.
Hope these tips for the National Xball
League Virginia Beach Open layout helps your team accomplish your goals.
If you have any questions please leave a comment.
Macedonian Athletics Sports Academy
Macedonian Athletics Sports Academy
Friday, May 1, 2015
The Fight of The Century
Manny Pacquiao vs Floyd Mayweather Jr.
This is going to be an exciting, technical fight. And it's definitely going to be the fight of the Century. I can't wait to see these two go at it.
Manny Pacquiao's Boxing Style:
Manny uses a southpaw style of boxing. Which is generally regarded as the stronger style against the traditional style that Floyd uses. Pacquiao is able to easily pivot and square up to get power behind his punches directly onto the traditional style. He's shown it plenty of times his effectiveness to do this against his opponents. He loves to throw different combinations of punches then back off and turn his opponent and go at him again. He has strong hits, and doesn't let up.
Strengths:
The fact that Manny can last 12 rounds and he conditions for it. Unlike Floyd's other opponents, they seem to of not been able to last past 6 rounds. They would get significantly slower as the match went on. Manny can also take a punch pretty good. For that reason, his movement and his punching is going to be a big factor. Everyone else didn't move too much against Floyd, they would the first few rounds and they would throw a lot of punches and end up winning those rounds. Sure Floyd likes to play the pocket off the ropes but Manny is going to still try to make him turn and come off the ropes. Pacquiao definitely gets hit quite a bit too and people tend to land some good hits, but Manny is still always bouncing around and great on his feet the whole match. Floyd is known more for accuracy and speed and to not have the strongest hits, and Pacquiao has faced much harder hitters like Cotto who got some good hits on him. So being able to take punches and still having great energy just means Pacquiao is going to be going strong this whole match. Pacquiao also has strong hits especially when he is jumping in up close and using all of his weight. With his constant movement, he's going to be hard to predict and counter.
Weakness:
Manny's weakness is that he jumps into a lot of his punches. He doesn't have the longest reach, especially compared to Floyd, and Manny jumps into his opponent and throws furries of punches. And that jumping in and commitment is going to be his weakness in this fight. He sees opening in the standard guard and comes off his southpaw, squares up, and comes in and attacks. The 4th match that he had against Marquez shown that weakness as he got knocked out. Although it took Marquez 4 different matches to finally learn Pacquiao's style and timing and was able to predict and anticipate his jump and was able to catch him and knocked him clean out.
Floyd Mayweather's Boxing Style:
Floyd uses the traditional stance, however his style is different. He keeps his hands up more in his guard than most traditional boxers do. He does do a great job keeping his hands up when he's coming into his opponent. When he gets defensive he boxes a lot like his father in keeping his left hand down to his side and his left shoulder lifted("rolled") up to protect his jaw. He's great in the pocket, and great with learning his opponent and finding the opportunities to strike. As he's learn his opponent and gets out of the pocket, he's great at recognizing, anticipating, moving, and taking advantage of mistakes by his opponent.
I think his father did a great job teaching Floyd when he was younger, and it definitely shows, he has the best intelligence and awareness in the game, and he has the best defense in boxing. He's really taken his father's style and perfected it.
Strengths:
Floyd's defense is the best in the sport and arguably the best boxing has ever seen. His also has arguably the best awareness and instinct in boxing right now. He's great at playing the pocket, countering. He keeps his hands raised higher when in the traditional stance. Great at reacting and counter punching. He throws very accurate and quick punches and scores a lot of points. You can't out score him in a 12 round match for that reason. Like Pacquiao he also comes in with great conditioning to easily last the full match. He's fast and moves a lot in the ring.
Weakness:
He doesn't have the power in his punches. He has great accuracy, but he just lacks the power to knock opponents out. It requires a lot of good hits over many rounds to knock opponents out. He also typically loses the scoring on the first rounds of fights when people come out swinging a lot at him. If a boxer is able to sustain that throughout the match, they will be able to outscore Floyd. I feel that not enough people attack Floyd's body either, they focus too much on trying to get to his jaw and Floyd can take a punch or two to the jaw and he protects it very well and that his bigger weakness is the body so when it comes to the later rounds where Floyd really shines, he doesn't have the energy that he usually has.
The Fight:
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is going to come out and try to feel out Manny Pacquiao and really move around a lot. Trying to not let Pacquiao hit him right away because Pacquiao is going to come out swinging like he always does. Pacquiao is going to try and turn Floyd a lot, but Floyd isn't going to throw sloppy jabs like the rest of his other opponents. And after a few rounds of that going back and forth, Floyd is going to let Pacquiao come to him and get up against the ropes and try to out play Pacquiao with his strong defense and counters. Floyd is going to shoulder roll and do the body shots with his right, and following with the left when Pacquiao tries to gets in close with his Southpaw stance and won't be able to turn Mayweather. Then after some rounds once Floyds feels Pacquiao starts to feel deflated with Floyd playing his strong defense, Mayweather is going to come out and start to take advantage of Pacquiao's tendency to open up a bit before he punches and take advantage of the better timing window now that Pacquiao is tired, and Mayweather is then going to start being able to land clean hits on Pacquiao. Pacquiao is still going to be strong though and keep swinging all match and scoring points on Floyd. Other than a few good counters from Floyd and his good defensive pocket play, Pacquiao is going to dictate the fight.
Prediction:
It's going to go to go the 12 round distance. And Pacquiao is going to manage to come out with the win on the score cards because he is going to win more rounds at the start and isn't going to get a lead that Floyd can't fight back from. Pacquiao is not going to get as tired as all of Floyd's other opponents have shown. Pacquiao will most likely win the first 3-4 rounds, Mayweather will come back and win the next 2 or 3 with his pocket play and good counters, and then they are going to go back and forth from there for the remaining rounds, but Mayweather is not going to be able to express his dominance as much to get a ruling for a win. Manny is still going to be moving and swinging at the later rounds and Pacquiao will come out the winner.
This is going to be an exciting, technical fight. And it's definitely going to be the fight of the Century. I can't wait to see these two go at it.
Manny Pacquiao's Boxing Style:
Manny uses a southpaw style of boxing. Which is generally regarded as the stronger style against the traditional style that Floyd uses. Pacquiao is able to easily pivot and square up to get power behind his punches directly onto the traditional style. He's shown it plenty of times his effectiveness to do this against his opponents. He loves to throw different combinations of punches then back off and turn his opponent and go at him again. He has strong hits, and doesn't let up.
Strengths:
The fact that Manny can last 12 rounds and he conditions for it. Unlike Floyd's other opponents, they seem to of not been able to last past 6 rounds. They would get significantly slower as the match went on. Manny can also take a punch pretty good. For that reason, his movement and his punching is going to be a big factor. Everyone else didn't move too much against Floyd, they would the first few rounds and they would throw a lot of punches and end up winning those rounds. Sure Floyd likes to play the pocket off the ropes but Manny is going to still try to make him turn and come off the ropes. Pacquiao definitely gets hit quite a bit too and people tend to land some good hits, but Manny is still always bouncing around and great on his feet the whole match. Floyd is known more for accuracy and speed and to not have the strongest hits, and Pacquiao has faced much harder hitters like Cotto who got some good hits on him. So being able to take punches and still having great energy just means Pacquiao is going to be going strong this whole match. Pacquiao also has strong hits especially when he is jumping in up close and using all of his weight. With his constant movement, he's going to be hard to predict and counter.
Weakness:
Manny's weakness is that he jumps into a lot of his punches. He doesn't have the longest reach, especially compared to Floyd, and Manny jumps into his opponent and throws furries of punches. And that jumping in and commitment is going to be his weakness in this fight. He sees opening in the standard guard and comes off his southpaw, squares up, and comes in and attacks. The 4th match that he had against Marquez shown that weakness as he got knocked out. Although it took Marquez 4 different matches to finally learn Pacquiao's style and timing and was able to predict and anticipate his jump and was able to catch him and knocked him clean out.
Floyd Mayweather's Boxing Style:
Floyd uses the traditional stance, however his style is different. He keeps his hands up more in his guard than most traditional boxers do. He does do a great job keeping his hands up when he's coming into his opponent. When he gets defensive he boxes a lot like his father in keeping his left hand down to his side and his left shoulder lifted("rolled") up to protect his jaw. He's great in the pocket, and great with learning his opponent and finding the opportunities to strike. As he's learn his opponent and gets out of the pocket, he's great at recognizing, anticipating, moving, and taking advantage of mistakes by his opponent.
I think his father did a great job teaching Floyd when he was younger, and it definitely shows, he has the best intelligence and awareness in the game, and he has the best defense in boxing. He's really taken his father's style and perfected it.
Strengths:
Floyd's defense is the best in the sport and arguably the best boxing has ever seen. His also has arguably the best awareness and instinct in boxing right now. He's great at playing the pocket, countering. He keeps his hands raised higher when in the traditional stance. Great at reacting and counter punching. He throws very accurate and quick punches and scores a lot of points. You can't out score him in a 12 round match for that reason. Like Pacquiao he also comes in with great conditioning to easily last the full match. He's fast and moves a lot in the ring.
Weakness:
He doesn't have the power in his punches. He has great accuracy, but he just lacks the power to knock opponents out. It requires a lot of good hits over many rounds to knock opponents out. He also typically loses the scoring on the first rounds of fights when people come out swinging a lot at him. If a boxer is able to sustain that throughout the match, they will be able to outscore Floyd. I feel that not enough people attack Floyd's body either, they focus too much on trying to get to his jaw and Floyd can take a punch or two to the jaw and he protects it very well and that his bigger weakness is the body so when it comes to the later rounds where Floyd really shines, he doesn't have the energy that he usually has.
The Fight:
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is going to come out and try to feel out Manny Pacquiao and really move around a lot. Trying to not let Pacquiao hit him right away because Pacquiao is going to come out swinging like he always does. Pacquiao is going to try and turn Floyd a lot, but Floyd isn't going to throw sloppy jabs like the rest of his other opponents. And after a few rounds of that going back and forth, Floyd is going to let Pacquiao come to him and get up against the ropes and try to out play Pacquiao with his strong defense and counters. Floyd is going to shoulder roll and do the body shots with his right, and following with the left when Pacquiao tries to gets in close with his Southpaw stance and won't be able to turn Mayweather. Then after some rounds once Floyds feels Pacquiao starts to feel deflated with Floyd playing his strong defense, Mayweather is going to come out and start to take advantage of Pacquiao's tendency to open up a bit before he punches and take advantage of the better timing window now that Pacquiao is tired, and Mayweather is then going to start being able to land clean hits on Pacquiao. Pacquiao is still going to be strong though and keep swinging all match and scoring points on Floyd. Other than a few good counters from Floyd and his good defensive pocket play, Pacquiao is going to dictate the fight.
Prediction:
It's going to go to go the 12 round distance. And Pacquiao is going to manage to come out with the win on the score cards because he is going to win more rounds at the start and isn't going to get a lead that Floyd can't fight back from. Pacquiao is not going to get as tired as all of Floyd's other opponents have shown. Pacquiao will most likely win the first 3-4 rounds, Mayweather will come back and win the next 2 or 3 with his pocket play and good counters, and then they are going to go back and forth from there for the remaining rounds, but Mayweather is not going to be able to express his dominance as much to get a ruling for a win. Manny is still going to be moving and swinging at the later rounds and Pacquiao will come out the winner.
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
The Passing of Time
This will be one of my shorter blogs because we are all given a length of time in this world. Most don't want to acknowledge that, or talk about this, but we are given only a certain amount of time. It's how we utilize that time that really matters. Please don't take things for granted, and do what you are ambitious about; because it's only a matter of time until it runs out and you can no longer do it.
The reason I bring this up is because a friend of mine has just passed away. He was a big inspiration and was a great influence for me and he's one of the reasons I started this blog. He helped me come to a realization about life, and that I shouldn't sit back and watch it go by. To speak out, and be upfront about things. To help others who need it, and not to be selfish. He was wise man, and a caring man. He influenced many people, and really left an impact on this world. To me, that's all a man can really ask for. And with that, I ask for you to be an impacting individual, like my friend Paul Richards. Speak out for the better. Be helpful and caring. Enjoy the time you have, love the people around you, and give it meaning.
I send my best regards in this blog and in my thoughts to a great man, Paul Richards. And I give my blessings to him and his family. Rest in peace.
And if you get the chance, I ask that you please read his blog, http://viewfromthedeadbox.blogspot.com/
And please give a prayer to him and his family. Thank you for the taking the time read this and acknowledging the passing of a good man. We need more like him in this world.
The reason I bring this up is because a friend of mine has just passed away. He was a big inspiration and was a great influence for me and he's one of the reasons I started this blog. He helped me come to a realization about life, and that I shouldn't sit back and watch it go by. To speak out, and be upfront about things. To help others who need it, and not to be selfish. He was wise man, and a caring man. He influenced many people, and really left an impact on this world. To me, that's all a man can really ask for. And with that, I ask for you to be an impacting individual, like my friend Paul Richards. Speak out for the better. Be helpful and caring. Enjoy the time you have, love the people around you, and give it meaning.
I send my best regards in this blog and in my thoughts to a great man, Paul Richards. And I give my blessings to him and his family. Rest in peace.
And if you get the chance, I ask that you please read his blog, http://viewfromthedeadbox.blogspot.com/
And please give a prayer to him and his family. Thank you for the taking the time read this and acknowledging the passing of a good man. We need more like him in this world.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
National Paintball Shouldn't Exist
Why I think this and why I am bringing it up you may ask. Well the rumor has it that the NXL is buying the PSP. The NXL is owned by G.I. Sportz and the PSP is owned by Dye Paintball. There's a whole spew of conspiracies, and reasons why, etc. but that's just hear say for now. It's not so much the purchase I want to talk about, but I really just want to speak on National Paintball more as a whole. If you haven't read my previous blog, NXL Dropped The Pod, please do so as this is really a continuous of that.
Well the people in charge of the NXL, who also own the rights to Xball, want to do the Race-to format... Which is a dumb format for a National Event as I explained previously. The NXL, like the PSP, will continue to lose teams until they offer a better experience for the cost. Which they can't do with Race-to. And it got me to thinking, what's the purpose of national events? Do national events grow the sport? Are national events even the answer for the sport of paintball?
Does anyone really know the purpose of national events? The idea I have always been told is that it is supposed to be the best of the best going at it. However, is that really true? The PSP currently is the top league in the nation, but it has so many affiliate leagues that you can play and gain series points that go towards the PSP series. These affiliate leagues are pulling in around the same number of teams as the PSP is so they are giving out the same number of series points as well. On top of that, with them being significantly cheaper, a lot of good teams are sticking to playing the regional affiliate leagues over the national circuit. This severely takes away from teams playing against the best competition at the national level. So with that I say, what's the purpose of national events?
Do national events grow the sport? This is a huge topic in the paintball community. Especially after the huge drop of manufacturers and players years ago during the recession. A lot of players preach growing the sport to keep their passion alive. These leagues also preach growing the sport to keep the competition and sport alive and thriving. The manufacturers preach growing the sport in order to create a bigger market to sell to. And these same manufacturers are the ones that own the leagues. So, are the national leagues creating a bigger market for the manufacturers to sell to? Currently, I don't believe they do.
Don't believe me? Where is the NPPL? And if you look, the number of PSP teams have been lowering over the years. If it wasn't for the collapse of the NPPL and the PSP being able to absorb what teams the NPPL had left, the PSP wouldn't have had any teams left to lose and would probably be dead by now.
Regional events are getting as many divisional teams as national events because they can offer the same--if not better--experience for the cost. The regional events are more attractive than national events due to the experience/cost, which is why the National events have been trying to find venues where more people can drive to. If you look at the reasoning for events as of lately. The PSP moved their west coast event to Nashville, TN which is practically right in the middle of the USA. The NXL chose Cleveland for their first venue, their reasoning, "It's within 500miles of 43% of the population." This makes it much easier for teams to drive to and it helps lower the expense for teams.
Regional events have been shown that is what grows the sport. It's less expensive, and offers the same experience. It's shown so much, that the national events are trying to adopt a more regional feel with enabling more people to drive to their events like they can a regional event in an attempt to grow their attendance at the national events. People do not want to pay the price.
The sad thing is, national leagues right now just hinder the growth of the sport at the regional and local levels. The national events offer a poor experience to the players which actually turns players away from the sport. And if that poor experience is not enough, the cost to play national events is more than enough to hinder growth of the sport. The expense for national events destroys most teams' budgets to play in other leagues or to play at their local field as much afterwards. This negatively effects the local paintball scenes as less players are coming to the fields. It's creating a poor experience for players at the local fields trying to get into the sport with the lack of players there to play against.
But what does this all mean? It means there is no purpose for the national events. They do not grow the sport. Recreating the same tried and failed attempts, and continuing to have these national events is not the answer. Can national events serve a purpose, absolutely. But they need to be restructured. It needs to be something different. It can't involve taking away and destroying the regional and local paintball scene; it instead, needs to promote the growth of paintball around the local tournaments. That needs to be the purpose of the national league. Again, manufacturers preach the growth of the sport because that's their customers they sell to. They own the national leagues in effort to create a bigger market and grow the sport. But the league doesn't support where the growth happens, so it's counter-productive.
One of my solutions to this problem is simply to be like other major sports. There is usually a head league. Which is the professional league of that sport. They set the rules, and they set the standards for the sport. Then other leagues, either affiliated or not, base their rules and standards of their league off that professional league. The manufacturers who sponsor the professional league, use that league to create an image and use it as a marketing tool to get people interested in playing the sport. That professional league is attracting the new players, and those new players play at the local leagues, and those continue to grow at the local levels because of it. All those new players at the local leagues buy the manufacturers products that sponsor the professional league. And that's how the sport needs to grow for the manufacturers, for the leagues, and for the players.
The national league should have events that are just for the professional teams. And it should be promoted as a professional event so people want to come watch professional paintball. They can also have the webcast for people unable to attend and to continue to promote the sport. This with maybe an Open Amateur Class for Semi-pro/D1/D2 players trying to turn pro and get better by facing the best competition in the country. Those higher level teams can continue to compete all year at the professional events until the local scenes grow and catch up so these teams have competition regionally/locally and no longer have to play nationally.
But every one else should be playing strictly regional/local affiliate leagues all year to gain series points towards the national league. Then at the end of the season teams can attend a National Championships where all divisions will be played in a big championship event held by the National, Professional league.
Well the people in charge of the NXL, who also own the rights to Xball, want to do the Race-to format... Which is a dumb format for a National Event as I explained previously. The NXL, like the PSP, will continue to lose teams until they offer a better experience for the cost. Which they can't do with Race-to. And it got me to thinking, what's the purpose of national events? Do national events grow the sport? Are national events even the answer for the sport of paintball?
Does anyone really know the purpose of national events? The idea I have always been told is that it is supposed to be the best of the best going at it. However, is that really true? The PSP currently is the top league in the nation, but it has so many affiliate leagues that you can play and gain series points that go towards the PSP series. These affiliate leagues are pulling in around the same number of teams as the PSP is so they are giving out the same number of series points as well. On top of that, with them being significantly cheaper, a lot of good teams are sticking to playing the regional affiliate leagues over the national circuit. This severely takes away from teams playing against the best competition at the national level. So with that I say, what's the purpose of national events?
Do national events grow the sport? This is a huge topic in the paintball community. Especially after the huge drop of manufacturers and players years ago during the recession. A lot of players preach growing the sport to keep their passion alive. These leagues also preach growing the sport to keep the competition and sport alive and thriving. The manufacturers preach growing the sport in order to create a bigger market to sell to. And these same manufacturers are the ones that own the leagues. So, are the national leagues creating a bigger market for the manufacturers to sell to? Currently, I don't believe they do.
Don't believe me? Where is the NPPL? And if you look, the number of PSP teams have been lowering over the years. If it wasn't for the collapse of the NPPL and the PSP being able to absorb what teams the NPPL had left, the PSP wouldn't have had any teams left to lose and would probably be dead by now.
Regional events are getting as many divisional teams as national events because they can offer the same--if not better--experience for the cost. The regional events are more attractive than national events due to the experience/cost, which is why the National events have been trying to find venues where more people can drive to. If you look at the reasoning for events as of lately. The PSP moved their west coast event to Nashville, TN which is practically right in the middle of the USA. The NXL chose Cleveland for their first venue, their reasoning, "It's within 500miles of 43% of the population." This makes it much easier for teams to drive to and it helps lower the expense for teams.
Regional events have been shown that is what grows the sport. It's less expensive, and offers the same experience. It's shown so much, that the national events are trying to adopt a more regional feel with enabling more people to drive to their events like they can a regional event in an attempt to grow their attendance at the national events. People do not want to pay the price.
The sad thing is, national leagues right now just hinder the growth of the sport at the regional and local levels. The national events offer a poor experience to the players which actually turns players away from the sport. And if that poor experience is not enough, the cost to play national events is more than enough to hinder growth of the sport. The expense for national events destroys most teams' budgets to play in other leagues or to play at their local field as much afterwards. This negatively effects the local paintball scenes as less players are coming to the fields. It's creating a poor experience for players at the local fields trying to get into the sport with the lack of players there to play against.
But what does this all mean? It means there is no purpose for the national events. They do not grow the sport. Recreating the same tried and failed attempts, and continuing to have these national events is not the answer. Can national events serve a purpose, absolutely. But they need to be restructured. It needs to be something different. It can't involve taking away and destroying the regional and local paintball scene; it instead, needs to promote the growth of paintball around the local tournaments. That needs to be the purpose of the national league. Again, manufacturers preach the growth of the sport because that's their customers they sell to. They own the national leagues in effort to create a bigger market and grow the sport. But the league doesn't support where the growth happens, so it's counter-productive.
One of my solutions to this problem is simply to be like other major sports. There is usually a head league. Which is the professional league of that sport. They set the rules, and they set the standards for the sport. Then other leagues, either affiliated or not, base their rules and standards of their league off that professional league. The manufacturers who sponsor the professional league, use that league to create an image and use it as a marketing tool to get people interested in playing the sport. That professional league is attracting the new players, and those new players play at the local leagues, and those continue to grow at the local levels because of it. All those new players at the local leagues buy the manufacturers products that sponsor the professional league. And that's how the sport needs to grow for the manufacturers, for the leagues, and for the players.
The national league should have events that are just for the professional teams. And it should be promoted as a professional event so people want to come watch professional paintball. They can also have the webcast for people unable to attend and to continue to promote the sport. This with maybe an Open Amateur Class for Semi-pro/D1/D2 players trying to turn pro and get better by facing the best competition in the country. Those higher level teams can continue to compete all year at the professional events until the local scenes grow and catch up so these teams have competition regionally/locally and no longer have to play nationally.
But every one else should be playing strictly regional/local affiliate leagues all year to gain series points towards the national league. Then at the end of the season teams can attend a National Championships where all divisions will be played in a big championship event held by the National, Professional league.
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