Over the years, I have been asked many times by players who
have just played their first time or have played maybe two or three times if we
ever do competitions. I always say no,
we are a recreational paintball facility.
We don’t do competitive paintball or what is commonly called “speedball”. Often times they look at me as if they have
no idea what I am talking about, which is probably the case.
The thing is, these players who have just been introduced to
paintball, at a recreational paintball field, just want to play more of that
type of paintball, but in a more formal, organized competitive
environment. That’s what they are
envisioning. There is a good chance that
they have never seen a speedball competition (anyone reading this who does not
know what speedball is can google “speedball” and you will very quickly get a
good idea). But competitive speedball,
as those of us who have been involved in it, requires a lot of commitment of
both time and money. It’s certainly not
for the player that just wants to get out to a paintball field a few times a
year to have some casual fun.
I understand though what these new players are talking
about. I myself had my first and second
paintball experience at a recreational paintball field with a company holding a
friendly competition between two branches of that company. In this case, it was an annual event with a
homemade trophy as the focal point of bragging rights. We played on large wooded fields and played
similar games to what we still play today at TNT Paintball. Some of the guys made up silly names for
themselves and also for others and some even wore makeshift uniforms and
costumes. It was followed by a stop at
the pub on the way home to talk and brag about the day’s events (we were all adults). It was so much fun, over two decades later I’m
still playing paintball and have even gone so far as to open a paintball
facility so I can share that joy with thousands of others.
So I’ve been thinking lately that maybe there is actually a
market for some “fun” recreational competitive paintball played on our
recreational fields (rather than speedball fields) like the original days of
competitive paintball; recreational paintball for the casual and beginner
paintball players. A “beer league” of
sorts, but with no beer consumed before or during the event of course.
So I’m going to describe what I am envisioning and then if
any of you are interested in this concept, you can contact me and if there is
enough interest, we’ll make it happen.
The format would be 10 players per team, but they can be any
10 players with some restrictions I will mention in a bit. There would be 4 events occurring in a year,
with 2 or 3 months between events, so players can recover both physically and
financially (although the objective will be to make this affordable – more in a
moment on this as well). The roster does
no t have to be the same 10 players at each event and we might even have a “substitution”
or two allowed at events in case someone doesn’t show up or gets hurt or is
just too tired to play a certain game. I
know people are busy in their regular lives and sometimes an event may fall
during a vacation or some other event, so I want to make it as easy as possible
for a “team” to field a full team at each event.
All player would use TNT Paintball rental equipment (players
may use their own mask if they have one).
One of the things that I dislike about serious competitive paintball is
the “arms race” aspect to it. With
everyone using TNT rental markers and TNT field paint, everyone will be on an
even playing field. With that in mind, I
would like to make this a limited paintball event. We will have one price per team which will
include 5,000 paintballs (500 per player if you like). I’m thinking $500/team ($50 per player or
maybe less if you have some “substitutions”).
We would then limit additional paintballs to an additional 2,500
maximum, available at a price of $30/500.
Once a team has purchased their maximum allowable paintballs they cannot
purchase anymore, so paintball conservation becomes part of the strategy. Also this way there is a fixed maximum cost
for a team. I really dislike competitive
paintball when a team can “purchase” an advantage by buying more ammunition
than their competition can afford.
I’m envisioning up to 6 teams of 10 players playing at each
event, rotating on fields and rotating opponents. I haven’t figured out all the details
regarding point accumulations, but the points would carry over into the
following event with the winner being the team with the most points at the end
of the 3 (or 4) events. We’ll work out
the detail if we feel this will actually come to fruition.
I mentioned player restrictions and I can already hear the
groans, but I would like this to be a fun competitive series of events for
renters rather than seasoned paintball players.
So, TNT Paintball staff (anyone that has been a staff member in the past
10 years) cannot take part. Also, anyone
that has played a competitive speedball event in the past 10 years cannot take
part. What I am envisioning is teams of
10 made up from people that have never played paintball before or may have
played a few times in their lives. Teams
made up from businesses, trades, nurses, teachers, clubs, or groups of
friends. People that just want to have
fun in a “slightly” more competitive and structured format than what we usually
do at TNT Paintball.
I am leaning towards using our .68 calibre gear, but would
have no problem at all if there is more interest in .50 calibre. Heck, if there is enough interest, we could
even do both.
So here’s the deal.
If we get enough serious interest, we’d probably schedule the first
event on a Saturday in October, then another one in January, and a third in March
and then a final one in June at which time a winner would be crowned and a
beautiful trophy presented. If you think
you might be interested in fielding a team you can contact me in several
ways. Email: info@tntpaintball.com,
phone: 250-658-1177 or on our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/TNT-Paintball/160099750692316) or youcan leave a comment on this Blog.
I think this could be a lot of fun, but we won’t know until
we make it happen. That’s up to
you. So let me know what you think.
