With the debut of the Challengers Division, the PSP Mid Atlantic Open was easily one of the most anticipated events since the dissolution of the NXL in late 2008. In this writer’s opinion, the most interesting question throughout the event was not necessarily concerned with who would drop down and move up, but how would the new, former Division 1, teams do in their new bracket? Would any of these teams make a move and really compete with the old guard? On paper, Sacramento XSV, Chicago Aftershock, upTon 187 cRew and Omaha Vicious were the obvious 1-4th place, but would it end in such a fashion?

The event concluded on Sunday with the obvious two moving up, two moving down, but you can imagine my surprise when I saw Texas Storm holding strong at number three in the Challengers Division. Anxious to find more I dove further into their scores, finding that the newly re-established team (they debuted in division 1 in 2011) had quite an impressive event: A 6-3 bashing of Sacramento XSV, a 5-1 demolishing of Trenton Topgun Union and a close 4-3 victory against Chicago Aftershock. The only game they were completely outclassed in was against the sensational upTon 187 cRew (7-1 final). This eventually pitted them against Omaha Vicious, who would eventually go on to win the event, on Sunday morning where they lost 4-3. Not only did they almost win the match, however they were able to mount a small comeback and show great poise by changing up their game plan to bring the score to a tied game (3-3) with less than two minutes left to play. Simply put, this team has what it takes to have a legitimate shot at dethroning a former Champion to get into the top division in paintball.

The other new Challenger that made significant waves during MAO was easily Trenton Topgun Union, who took 5th place overall. Throughout the last two years Trenton has taken much criticism from other divisional teams, specifically in Division 1, due to their perceived lack of success, even whilst having the ability to front a payroll (albeit, a modest one). However, one would be hard pressed to critique their MAO performance too hard as the team defeated Chicago Aftershock (4-3), Sacramento XSV (5-1), and upTon 187 cRew (5-4). Their lone loss of the event came on Saturday to Texas Storm (5-1). Unfortunately, a 3-1 record did not take them into Sunday play, however with the return of snake player Steven Lasher and backman Hamen Chapman, their chances greatly increase.

Are these two teams the future of competitive paintball? Honestly, I hope so. Seeing the little guy rise through the ranks and break into the top echelon to challenge the status quo are always inspiring, and this sport can only handle so many Houston Heat’s. Either way, we are anxious to see these two teams battle it out again in Chicago – who knows, we may be seeing the beginning of the next intense rivalry in paintball.

Source: SocialPaintball.com, Texas Storm and Trenton Topgun Union Make Statements

May 11th was a day anticipated by many in the paintball world as we waited on pins and needles for the opening Nuketown at Paintball Explosion in East Dundee, Illinois. Hailed as an exact replica of the Call of Duty: Black Ops video game; gamers and ballers alike were excited to play Nuketown. Once you were there, you could tell that owners Romeo Kapudija and TJ Andres had gone all out to make this an excellent replica and a great addition to their other 10 other theme based fields.

The opening event, which had been advertised across the web on various social networks, drew in players with the hopes of playing not only on the field, but alongside YouTube paintball sensations Akimbo Assassin, A-Train, Mr H (Mark Kressin), Ms Sarah, Skel Etor, Steve Necro Kaltenbach, and Wolf. Along with MadFrog of Crooked Conceptz and John Dresser of PbNation fame, these “celebrities” along with field manager Journey Kerchner-Pirrone and owners Kapudija and Andres were flown in by helicopter, signaling the launch of Nuketown. Followed by introductions of each celebrity, various rule announcements and exercises in hyping up the players – the group divided and prepared for the inaugural game on the Nuketown field. To decide who would play on which side, straws were drawn, players divided, and each team chose a few extra players join them. Teams were divided as such:

Team 1 (Blue House): TJ Andres, Ms Sarah, MadFrog, Skel Etor, Akimbo Assassin, Necro, and Dresser
Team 2 (Yellow House): Romeo Kapudija, A-Train, Journey, Mr. H, and Wolf

The thirty minute game was intense with many memorable moments. Standing out to me were Akimbo Assassin ruling the small openings under the truck to take out Wolf and Kapudija; Mr H saying he was sorry for the neck shot (thanks H); player Justin Crook dominating the left side of the yellow house; Necro’s pistol action around the bus, and Dresser’s push up the right side. After the game, player hype referred to window to window shots, hiding behind mailboxes, how the transformer was a great place to shoot from because it offered so many angles, and of course how many times the mannequins were shot.

Not only was it fun for the by-standers to watch these guys go after each other, it also allowed the field owners to get an idea where changes could be made. They were very open to ideas on how to make the field better, safer, and more playable for future games. Ideas from lights to allow for night play (since the field is open until 10pm) to something on the blacktop to make it less slippery were suggested by players. Owners Kapudija and Andres honestly thanked the players for giving these suggestions and you could see they were truly thinking about how they could implement the suggestions given; a trait of good field owners!

Tippmann was the presenting sponsor of Nuketown 2013 and donated thousands of dollars in prizes. Ron Goldblatt, of Tippmann, did show up at the event for a bit; however I was unable to find him later to speak to him about the event. Valken’s Greg Muller was on hand with a huge portable showroom to display goods as well as show their support for the event and the field, which is a proud supporter of Valken. Of the event Muller stated, “We want to congratulate Romeo, TJ and their fantastic staff on an outstanding job of Nuketown exceeding all of the hype and expectations. The attention to detail, hard work and long hours paid off, ten-fold.”

Paintball Explosion has been in operation for over 10 years and offers players two locations – one in East Dundee, IL and a second in Skokie, IL. You can find more information about the field including pricing, upcoming events, and pictures of the various fields at www.pbbomb.com or you can visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/PBexplosion.

Feel free to check out my event pictures at: www.facebook.com/PistolBrennan

Up Next: LIVING LEGENDS 6!

Source: SocialPaintball.com, Paintball Explosion’s Call of Duty: Nuketown Field Opens

The economic downturn was doubly worse for paintball. Leagues and companies were joined on the quest to achieve television nirvana. During the mid-2000s the industry was climbing rapidly up the ladder of discovery, just when the sport was trying to find itself, 2008 saw paintball come to a crawl. Entire leagues, the TV deal, and entire corporations tanked. Many lost faith and thought the sport of paintball was done.

Important questions were left unanswered. Where is the summit of our game? Is it still TV coverage? What does it mean to be a Professional Paintball Player? Heck, what does it mean just to be a competitive paintball player? Is it like being good at video games? Another one of those subcultures where people are competitive and spend millions of dollars, but outsiders don’t notice or could care less? Is this for real?

It’s now 2013. Paintball is in a resurgence. The “sport” of paintball is becoming more advanced, refined, changing in all aspects. From media coverage, fitness, coaching, the toys, statistics, analysis, the vocabulary, and league formats; it is becoming more defined.

A few things haven’t changed and I don’t believe they ever will. One is the variety of personalities that dive into paintball. More interestingly, those interested in becoming the “best” at paintball. Finding their own summit in this game/sport/hobby/kid’s war game/that-thing-your-friend’s-girlfriend-played at-her-big-bro’s-bday-party-and-he-used-to-be-way-into-it. What you or someone else calls it doesn’t really matter. It’s paintball.

It never ceases to amaze me who gets the bite of paintball: misfits, meatheads, kids, dads, ladies, high-school dropouts, college grads, rich, poor (especially poor, are all the good ballers broke?). No matter. Some people just love to dodge projectiles and shoot people legally over and over again.

The sacrifices made are still the same. Until there are dozens of paintball fields with lights similar to baseball fields, the sport has to be played in the daytime. The only time people are free during the day is the weekend. Your “freetime” Sat.-Sun. is gone. Bye-bye weekends.

Does your time and money spent alone make you special? Are you just another crow cawing “I help grow the sport”? When should you or your team be taken seriously? When do we go from exhibitionist to pursuer of excellence in paintball? Is that really the motive of guys in D4, D3, D2, even D1? Is it only a small percentage of people even interested in “going Pro”? Why do we do this thing?

You know what it isn’t. Let’s say it together “because it ain’t bout the money.” It’s not about fame. No one is taking their 2008 World Cup ring to the bar to get your sister’s phone number.

Whether to mash among your peers or get to the top; it appears the time to get in is now. Sponsorship wars are coming back. Leagues are selling out divisions. There are paintball players in the pipeline. And they’re for real.

So maybe individuals might not be far from “Pro” skill level (whatever that means), but what’s the real difference between each division? Is it just their budget? There are Divisional players, teams, and leagues deserving of more attention. They’re out there working hard. “Grinding” as we love to say. And they’re going to be better than the current Pros. They’ll be snapping like Russians, laning like Damage, doing run-thrus like ’06 Ollie, meaner than Mike Paxson, physical workhorses like Chad George, and doing it all from a younger age.

There are Divisional prodigies out there. Not just one tough customer. A whole assembly line of ballers evolving the game that will be rising to the top. And if they can’t get their pro shot they’ll get their friends together and make it happen. Why can’t you?

Questions need to start being answered. Let’s start answering them right here on Social. Let’s dive into this “Divisional” realm.

Source: SocialPaintball.com, Tough Customers: The Divisional Realm

Other than San Diego Dynasty winning their second PSP event of the season, the largest and most important story to come out of the PSP Mid Atlantic Open must be that the Moscow Red Legion has slipped from the Champions division, and will be competing for “11th place”, a spot on the webcast, and the opportunity to play in the premiere professional division. Wait; stop for a second and re-read that last sentence. The Moscow Red Legion will have the opportunity to play in the best division in paintball? Oh my, how the mighty have fallen! For the uninitiated, we’re not talking about a team that has risen through the divisions and is getting their first look with the pros, we’re talking about a founding member of the NXL, the best Xball/Race2 team of all time, and a team that has a legitimate claim at being the best in the history of competitive paintball. Of course not all is sunshine in the Moscow based camp. Two years ago the team lost the majority of the core roster and last year suffered greatly due to a lack of depth on secondary lines. Not only that, but they lost their head coach – which, in my opinion, is just as much a factor as the departed players – due to personal reasons. But, even with all these loses, I can’t help but be amazed at the fact that the Moscow Red Legion is still standing. The only other team that has had to deal with such monumental changes in the last five years is – ironically, another storied program – Chicago Aftershock. Frankly, it’s not pretty, but where Aftershock does not have a giant Xball/Race2 resume, the Red Legion does – which bodes well for the squad going into the future, but also puts immense pressure on them to regain their former stature.

We know for sure that Moscow won’t be able to make this stride back to prominence next event, at least in the division they want – no, expect and possibly even deserve – to be in, but we do know a few things about the Red Legion that are in their favor, especially for the PSP Chicago Open.

• 1. The Moscow Red Legion are true professionals. Not in the sense that they have played at the top of the competitive paintball pile for years, but in the sense that the Legioners are paid, full time professionals. You can be sure that sprints and conditioning started the Tuesday after MAO (providing Monday as a travel day) at the Red Legion compound.
• 2. The Moscow Red Legion still have one of the most amazing coaching and support staff systems in the game. In this capacity they have revolutionized the game and are extremely detail oriented in their approach.
• 3. The Moscow Red Legion starting five have more professional experience and talent than 90% of the Challengers. In this, they should be the favorite to win the division.

However, there are still a few glaring deficiencies in the Moscow camp. While they should be the favorite going into Chicago, they still need to find a more consistent attack up the field; and the roster depth needs to continue to be developed. Until these points are completely solid, the Red Legion will not be able to mount a full challenge to a PSP Champions Division title. Personally, I’m curious to see how the Red Legion performs in the Challengers division, simply because they have limited – or no – knowledge of the teams they will be playing. As mentioned previously, Moscow’s coaching and scouting program is second to none in the game, and they’re going to have to bring their “A” game to provide the staff and players the best information possible. On the flip side, how will the young teams play the Russian Legion? I believe the largest gap between Moscow and the others in the Challengers bracket lays not in paintball skill, but logistics and game-planning; and against the Red Legion these teams have a virtual Everest to climb. But if they can somehow come out and surprise the Red Legion, there could be some very surprising games.

Source: SocialPaintball.com, Moscow Red Legion Falls to Challengers Division

Social Paintball has confirmed that Steven Lasher and Hamen Chapman are headed back to their former stomping grounds with Trenton Topgun Union. Both players had a stellar year in 2012, where they were a part of the Topgun squad that took first in Division 1. Primarily a snake player, Lasher should reclaim the starting position on the Topgun roster and provide the team with an extra bit of speed, while Chapman should easily grab a starting position on the back line as he proved to be one of the best back players in the league. From a Trenton perspective, the return of these two players greatly improves their chances at winning a Challengers Division title, and thus, moving into the Champions Division.

“We are all excited to have them back, it will be like they never left. After our success at MAO this will not only help us get to the next level, but also compete at the next level,” said Matt Renschler. “There were no hard feelings when they left and they realized they missed being home playing with their friends and family. We are super excited to bring our A game to Chicago next month.”

Sources close to the situation are claiming that the pair had decided to make the move before the end of the Mid Atlantic Open, where they played a combined 5 points, citing the lack of playing time with the French based TonTons as the impetus for the decision. As this is the case, the loss should not hurt the TonTons immensely in the immediate, however does hurt the team’s overall depth and takes away the American experience and knowledge that Lasher and Chapman brought to the table.

Source: SocialPaintball.com, Steven Lasher and Hamen Chapman Back to Trenton Topgun Union!

For the third event in a row, Tampa Bay Damage has proven to be the most consistent team in the league; and if consistency is a mark of a great athlete, then the Tampa based squad as proven that they are the pinnacle of their game. Unfortunately for Damage, their high water mark for the last six events has been second place; or as I’m sure team manager Joey Blute would put it “first losers.” For any other team this would be a great run, possibly even the best of their careers, but there’s a glaring problem with Tampa Bay Damage taking second place: they talk an awfully big game.

I’m not trying to vilify Tampa Bay Damage, they do that well enough by themselves, but at some point in time this team is going to have to actually win an event. Every paintball fan in the world knows that they can, we’ve seen them do it many times, but there’s something about this Damage team that drives me a little crazy when they don’t. The Damage faithful can point and laugh at rivals Sacramento XSV (who finished at the bottom in the Challengers Division), but at the end of the day who is really getting the last laugh? Sure the XSV crew is disappointed, but I think everybody around the organization expected this to be a very tough year. Perhaps not as tough as it is turning out to be, but still difficult. But the Damage players, staff, pit crew, and fans, expect to win; and when we all look back on the 2013 season, as we do every season, the only thing that ultimately matters is the answer to “Who won the event.” Outside of that question, nothing else matters.

The worst part about the 2013 MAO event? They basically gave San Diego Dynasty the crown. Dynasty only won one point outright, but thanks to some incredible off the break shooting, they were able to force Damage head coach Kevin Breadthauer to blow the horn to conserve time. I actually agree with him for doing so because the points were a lost cause; unless a penalty occurred, but one does not participate in sports expecting the other team to commit a foul. You control what you can and hope that your team comes out top.

But wait, it gets even worse! With around 8 minutes left in regulation, down 3-0, Damage figured out a way to beat the Dynasty defense and mounted a giant pivot which moved the attack from the snake side to the doritos and up the middle. Unfortunately, this happened 2 min. too late, and they finished the point with only 5 minutes left in the game. They returned to the field with the exact same line up and were able to produce similar results, making it a one point game (3-2) with 2 minutes left to go. For the final point the play call was the exact same: get to the 50 snake, then push the middle. With 15 seconds left, Damage had the flag on the Dynasty 30, but couldn’t press through. The point is: Damage found a wining formula, but simply ran out of time, after gifting San Diego Dynasty two free points.

If you were to continue this analysis, you’d find that much of the limitation for Tampa Bay Damage, and every other team on the field this event, was that the layout was simply awful. Either the PSP, or PBA, or Adrenaline Games stuck a fork in creative paintball this event due to the limitations on the field. This resulted in only a handful of games going to 7 points, and created much dull – or what some call, more affectionately, “technical” – paintball on a beautiful weekend. However, that is not the purpose of this article.

Either way, this loss may be the worst of any event in Tampa Bay Damage history. Not only have they not won the event, but they are proving to be masterful choke artists and seem destined to play second fiddle. Will their talk stop? No, probably not; and to be honest, it shouldn’t as it is a major part of their team identity. But what’s the best way to get the critics to shut up? Win.

Source: SocialPaintball.com, Second Fiddle – Again

The AXBL recently held their second event of the season at Cousin’s Paintball in Dallas, TX, officially known as the AXBL-Lite G.I. Sportz Open. The weather held up great for the the two day event and teams came out in swarms to compete. There was a total of 56 teams signed up to play across all divisions. The atmosphere at the AXBL’s is what I love the most. It’s a family-friendly atmosphere with parents, siblings, children and even pets at the field showing their support. Everyone seems to know everyone, too.

Steve Rabackoff and his crew continue to put on a great event with very few hiccups, mostly out of his control. The Team Zone reffing is top notch for a regional event, as well. Having personally attended the AXBL last year, I could see the improvements that were made. When compared to other regional events, the AXBL is definitely up there with the best of them. This year there are more and more vendors showing up. We were there in full force with our booth and filming the event, of course, but there were also other vendors. Gangster Paintball, Risk It, the Maui Wowi Hawaiian Smoothie Stand, Southern Magic BBQ, Planet Eclipse Gun Tech and even G.I. Sportz had some gear on sale.

It was a great weekend with some winners and some losers, but everyone seemed to have a great time…including first timers. I had the pleasure of speaking with a few of the newcomers and their parents. It was encouraging to hear that they would be coming back to support the league. Talk about growing the sport! The next event will be the AXBL DYE Precision Open on June 1st & 2nd at Paintball Zone South.

Here is a quick recap of the top three finishers in each division.

Div 3 Race to 4
1. ac Dallas
2. Certified Hater Academy
3. OKC Sonics
4. Team Brutality

Div 4 Race to 2 (5 man)
1. APEX Predators
2. BOHICA
3. BVO
4. Looney Asylum

Div 4 Race to 2 (3 man)
1. ac DFW TOO
2. BOHICA
3. S.A. Freeballers
4. TX Rush

Div 5 Race to 2 (3 man)
1. Black Sock Mafia
2. Looney Asylum
3. Looney Asylum 2
4. Infliction

We will be releasing a video of the event soon. For now, here are some photos of the event by Elizabeth Clanton. You can see the rest of the photos on the Best of AXBL #2 Facebook album.

2013 AXBL – Event 1, Planet Eclipse Open

Source: SocialPaintball.com, 2013 AXBL Event 2 Photos and Recap

Consider this an open letter, a public announcement, whatever you wish, to Paintball Access: I’m frustrated with your stats. To all of you with your jaws on the floor and the other few of you who are going into a catatonic rage, relax; it’s for a good reason, just hear me out. Yes, it’s really awesome that paintball has evolved to the point that people are keeping track of who eliminated who – that should be a fundamental “talking point” amongst paintball fans and a conversation we should be having in the sport is “does the highest elimination count equal the best player”, just as basketball discusses the role of the point-guard. It’s important. Vital even. Yes, it’s awesome that we can now begin to dissect rosters to see exactly how individual players shape up against their peers, and compare them to others of similar performance; again, a vital development in tournament paintball commentary and fandom. Honestly, it’s about time that we kept track of penalties (what stat could be easier? And why wasn’t this started in the NXL days?).

But I’m still not satisfied. The product Paintball Access is producing, in my opinion, is high quality, but incredibly incomplete. This incompleteness, primarily, is due to the lack of stats that explain the game, or the “Box Score” as it is commonly known. Wikipedia states the box score is “a structured summary of the results from a spots competition. The box score lists the game score as well as individual and team achievements in the game.” Seems like a no-brainer right? Paintball Access thought so too and took it upon themselves to publish said scores for an event or two last year, but these have since disappeared and fallen off the face of the earth.

That’s fine! It’s their prerogative to publish what they want to, but my beef comes with the fact that these reports were still being created, and given to the professional teams after the games, up until at least the Chicago event.

Puzzling, no?

If you’re creating these stats, why keep them close to the vest when they open the game up to a whole new level of dialog – which should be the ultimate goal of Paintball Access. Honestly, do any of you really care that Robert Aviles (#32, Mid) of the Los Angeles Infamous is currently the number one ranked player in the world? While it’s cool trivia, it’s not really essential information to know because Infamous didn’t win. Who cares? Great, the current best player in the world couldn’t win the event. Here’s another cool trivia fact: the number two player in the PSP, and thus tournament paintball, is Karl-Johan Samuelsson (#0, Front) of the Tontons Flingueurs. Here’s another: Zachary Sherman, of Omaha Vicious, continues to play at an extremely high level and came out ranked the number 7 player in the league. And finally, one more for good measure: San Diego Dynasty won the event, but only has one player in the Top 10. It’s Kyle Spicka for those of you who are interested.

Awesome. Cool factoids, but nothing more. Stats are not just a way to measure player achievement over a season, but should be focused on telling the story of a tournament, which begins on the game level. Instead of having to watch hours of tournament footage to put these player rankings into context, one should easily be able to see a “box score”, at least per game. Ideally each point should have a full break down of who eliminated who, from what position and the time of the game in which they were eliminated, but that is unrealistic for right now. However, posting these – correct me if I’m wrong – already created game scores should be the absolute minimum of what we consider a quality product.

I want to write a full article that details how Dynasty was able to win, given their incredible (or surprising) feat of not playing well – as the current PBA stats indicate – but can’t. I yearn to tell the amazing tales of how a Karl-Johan Samuelsson and Zachary Sherman have taken tournament paintball by storm, but feel as if my hands are tied! I’d love to write about how Robert Aviles has ascended to the top of paintball, but couldn’t will his team to victory, but cant! Not because of lack of trying or want, but because we need a way to give context to the game. Please Paintball Access, don’t take this as harsh criticism – I write this with a great longing, a pain even, for telling the story of the game, just like you, but humbly implore: Give Us Context.

Disclaimer: Stat graphics copyright Paintball Access.

Source: SocialPaintball.com, Frustration With Paintball Stats

Wolfpack is more than ready to bring it this season with a vengeance. They have been stomping people throughout the divisions over the last few years and are ready to leave their mark on the PSP. Looking for their chance to go pro this season is going to be crucial for the team as they fight their way through what is sure to be an intense year.

How long has the team been playing psp?

Wolfpack has been around in the PSP for two or so years now. We played one event in 2010 in Division 1. Then we reworked our entire roster. We filled it with our core, plus some local young kids looking for a chance to get some experience. We played D2 in 2011, getting 2nd in Chicago. Continuing with that roster we played four events in 2012 in Division 1, and finished middle of the pack. We decided we no longer wanted to be a journeyman team. So we kicked our own asses in the offseason devoting all of our spare time to getting ready for 2013. Dallas was a great start for us, now that we have something to build on, we are now going to put the pedal down even more. The feeling of success is very addictive and I can confidently say we are hooked and ready to do what it takes to achieve more.

What field does Wolfpack practice at?

Our home fields are all of the Prestige Paintball Parks, Meadowlands Paintball (which is across the street from Giants Stadium…Sorry Jets fans, until you win something I’m gonna continue calling it what I please), and Battle Creek Paintball.

So Tim, what do you think of the PSP Dallas Open?

The event has been great, everything has run smoothly and on schedule. The venue itself is great as well, although I have to admit I haven’t seen much of it aside from the player pits. Most importantly the weather is spectacular, it seems like the curse of the event one and its historically unfriendly weather has been avoided.

So how was the team feeling going into Sunday?

As far as the team is concerned the weekend had been pretty good, we were leaving prelims 4-0 with a first round bye in the playoffs. There wasn’t much more we could really ask for.

What were some of the high points for you guys so far in the prelims?

To be honest it’s hard to name any certain high points, this weekend has gone by so fast it’s hard to remember any individual moments. Obviously any win we’ve earned so far has been a highlight, but aside from that just being able to spend this vacation away from the wintery weather of the northeast with my friends makes this entire trip worth it.

How did you guys feel about your bracket going into the tournament?

Coming into Dallas when we found out our brackets we felt the same as we do every event, no matter who we draw we have to beat them. I can say we were excited to draw some good teams in prelims, as after the mixed bag of finishes we had last year, we wanted to continue to challenge ourselves and beat some of the top tier teams.

Who in your brackets looks like they are gonna be some of the top competitors this season?

So far it’s hard to say who are going to be the top competitors in our division, since there has been a lot of roster changes in the offseason. From what I’ve seen and played against in the past two days I can say that VcK playing with a roster of 6 seemed like a strong team, and T1 having won the series last year even with a few roster changes still seems to be strong. As far as teams outside of our bracket I know that Revo is a roster full of smart and dedicated young kids. Grad always seems to be one of the teams to keep an eye on, and I’ve heard a lot of good things about Royalty. Lastly, although it seems like they aren’t advancing this event SDA I believe will be a top tier team, with Hinman at the wheel it’s hard to see them not succeeding.

4-0 going into Sunday what do you think is working well for you guys?

Haha, yeah 4-0. It’s a first for a lot of us on the team and it feels great, though the tournament isn’t over and we aren’t about to let this get to our heads. It’s going to sound simple but I think what’s working for us, is the fact that we are playing our game the entire time. We have stuck to our original strategy the entire time and it’s proven successful. Most of all though, what’s been working best for us is our Dye DM13’s and UL gear, as well as the amazing paint from GI Sportz.

What are you guys going work on to keep this winning streak up?

Paintball is a fairly simple game when you break it down, you can divide the game up into basics. To continue the win streak we need to perfect the basics and learn from our mistakes. It’s hard to do this mid-tournament, but with our coach and our pit staff we’ve been able to identify and remedy problems faster than ever, which in a game of inches and seconds is absolutely crucial.

Who is playing well for you guys right now?

I can honestly say that every single person on our roster is playing well for us right now. With the amount of practice we’ve put in as a team through all the inclement weather since we got home from World Cup, it seems as if everyone on our roster is on the same page physically and mentally.

Any words of advice for some of the other teams in your position in the other divisions to come out strong?

I can’t really offer up and words of advice in regards to teams playing, but I can say this, our philosophy has been that the next tournament starts the second the last one ends. The time in between and how much work you put in directly correlate to how well you will do. The amount of work we put into this the second we got back from World Cup last year is scary. To think that through all the inclement weather and the offseason grind where there are not many other teams to practice against, we barely took a weekend off for a holiday, is impressive. The point I’m trying to make is this, prepare adequately.

What were you guys expecting going into that quarter finals match against Revo? Especially since they had already played one game that morning. How did that match go?

For the month heading into the event we had three doubles against Revo, so we had some idea as to what they were capable of and their style of play. We felt we matched up really well with them when we play our best ball. Our one concern was the curse of the bye round, when one team is coming in hot off a win earlier in the day and the other coming in flat off of a bye, luckily we came prepared got to the field early and got warmed up earlier than we normally would have. If not for this I feel like the outcome would have been a lot different. Once the match started they played the layout almost exactly how we thought they would, minus a few changes off the break. We knew they were going to push tapes hard and not go crazy running up the center, so we wanted to contain their dorito side and get ours to push. I think the 2nd or 3rd point for us was really quick, where we had two kills off the break and one shortly after. Once we knew our lanes were on it was just about executing our containment plan. The game was one of our harder ones since both of our teams were playing heads up down the tapes. We caught a few stupid penalties from players who I’ll not name right now,*COUGH* Strazza *COUGH*. But seriously, the game was relatively back and forth with us coming out on top. It’s hard to really give any play by play since I was on the field for the most part. I have a lot of respect for Revo though, and it’s a shame we had to play them so early in the bracket, I would have much preferred to have played that game out in the top four.

Your Semi-Final match was against Sacramento DMG, how did that match go? Did they do anything you weren’t expecting?

The semi final game is a different story, we had never played against DMG before and were only able to scout them minimally. We knew they liked to utilize the middle of the field to get their dorito side going. What we didn’t expect though was for them to switch it up on us and push the snake side harder. I believe at one point we were up 3-1, but as soon as they realized we were taking corner every point they turned 2-3 guns on that lane and it got messy. I think I walked off one point thinking, “I’ve never seen that much paint dedicated to one lane before.” Needless to say since I was our snake corner I was walking off covered, not my proudest moment. DMG was a great team and deserved to come back and beat us, but it’s hard to think that we might have thrown the game just a little bit by not switching things up. This is a hard lesson to learn but it’s something we’re going to take with us the rest of the season and improve upon.

The 3rd and 4th place match was against Oakland Fuzion, did you guys have a specific game plan against them? How did that match go?

After the 4-3 loss to DMG we were up against Fuzion for the 3rd/4th place game, that being said Fuzion is a team we historically have not done well against so we took it upon ourselves to put the previous game behind us and come out swinging. I can’t say we had any specific game plan. From what we scouted on them, the way they liked to play the layout kind of played into what we wanted. Once that first buzzer went we came out like a team on fire, all of our energy being focused into winning what would be our final game of the tournament. The most I can gather from our coaching and pit staff was that our lanes were really on point off the break, and any millisecond where they dropped a lane we jumped through it and took as much ground as we could on them. Fuzion is a great team, and I’m glad we finally pulled a win off against them especially considering the circumstances and what we stood to win or lose.

Thanks for the opportunity and thanks for the well wishes. I look forward to the rest of the season and a lot more wins on the board. I also want say thank you to Dye Paintball, GI Sportz, Prestige Paintball Parks, and Violent Triggers.

Photo credit: MMphotography.com

Source: SocialPaintball.com, Interview with Tim Baloy of Wolfpack

Paintball Real Talk is a new segment we’ll be producing where we sit down with someone in the paintball industry and ask them questions provided by the fans. All we ask is that they keep it real and not sugarcoat their responses. There is already enough of that in this industry and it’s time someone started keeping it real.

In this episode we sit down with Joey Blute, Manager of Tampa Bay Damage.

There are very few people in the paintball industry that are not afraid to speak their mind, we’ll be finding those people.

Leave your question below in the comments to have it answered in a future episode.

Source: SocialPaintball.com, Video: Paintball Real Talk w/ Joey Blute, Ep. 1