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PCRI News 12/13/99

Hardcore Sports to Promote the Mardi Gras Open

International Stadium Event

It’s not just a tournament, it’s not just an event....it’s paintball in New Orleans and it’s Mardi Gras.....Got Beads?

Hardcore Sports, promoters of the popular Gulfcoast Tournament Series (GTS) will hold the Mardi Gras Open on February 26th & 27th. Hosted at the John A. Alario Sr. Event Center in New Orleans, LA on the first weekend of the world famous Mardi Gras celebration, it will be nothing short of a paintball extravaganza...a party like you've never seen.

Tournament Features include: 5-Man Center Flag • 8 Game Minumum • Modified NPPL/GTS Rules • Separate Pro Division - "Pro's Play Pro's" • Amateur & Novice Division - Mixed Prelims w/Separate Finals • GTS championship seed points • World Premiere Video pre-release party for the "Heart and Soul of Paintball" by DivisionOne •

Vendors trade show • $100,000 in cash and prizes (1st place pro - $7,500) and of course the party that is Mardi Gras. For more information visit the Mardi Gras Open website at http://www.mardigrasopen.com or call Hardcore Sports at 281.920.2559

Cliff Herring - Hardcore Sports - PH: 281.920.2559

E@: cliffy@pdq.net or mardigrasopen@hotmail.com

--------------------------------------------

Promoters of the Gulfcoast Tournament Series

and the upcoming international stadium event

the Mardi Gras Open.

Visit the GTS web site at http://warpig.com/gts

Visit the Mardi Gras Open http://www.mardigrasopen.com

RACE FOR THE ACE

World Paintball Federation World Ace circuit offers a full year’s sponsorship to best 5 player team

Nashville, TN – WPF/Lively Productions announced the formation of the World Paintball Federation today. Working with local and regional leagues, as well as independent international event producers, the WPF will award the WPF World Ace award annually to the 5 player team with the highest accumulated points from the six stop WPF/Zap Tour and a circuit of affiliated leagues and sanctioned wildcard tournaments. Winner of the WPF World Ace title receives a one year full sponsorship from each of the circuit marketing sponsors. As of November 1, 1999, the growing sponsor list included Zap Paintballs, National Paintball Supply South Carolina, National Paintball Supply New Jersey, Scott USA, JT USA, Indian Creek Design, Tippmann Pneumatics, Benchmark Mfg., Redz Comfort Gear, Worr Game Products, Air Gun Designs, A.C.I., Unique Pro Gear, Diablo Direct, Paintball Junkies, Raven, WDP, Pursuit Products. & Pro Team Products.

Collecting points from local, regional and national tournaments, the Race For The Ace is open to all amateur 5 player teams. To qualify as amateur, a team must not have played “pro” in the twelve months previous to their entering the WPF World Ace circuit. To receive the WPF World Ace title and the year’s sponsorship package that goes with it, teams must compete in a combination of affiliated league, sanctioned wildcard, WPF/Zap Tour regional, and WPF/Zap International Masters events.

“The World Ace program provides a long overdue means of coalescing the patchwork of existing competitions into a sporting circuit similar to those of the motor sports and golf industries. The WPF and its marketing sponsors are taking a lead in an effort to gain wider acceptance and participation for the sport of paintball,” explains Sam Caldwell of the WPF.

Agreements with established leagues and tournaments allow the WPF to track and compare team performances, and award points towards the WPF World Ace Title. One-third of the possible points must be earned at the WPF/Zap International Masters, another one-third of the points must be earned by attending a WPF/Zap Tour event, and the remaining one-third may be earned at each team’s choice of either one additional WPF/Zap Tour event, a sanctioned wildcard competition, or from their affiliated league ranking.

The Zap International Amateur Open produced by Team Effort Events in Pittsburg, PA will be considered a bonus competition. At that event, teams may also earn one-third of their points (two-thirds for non-US teams) towards the Race for the Ace.

The WPF is a membership organization promoting the game of paintball as a sport through a high profile circuit of affiliated leagues, regional competitions, and sanctioned wildcard tournaments, all utilizing a standardized set of rules and player classifications. As a result, participants and followers of the circuit will enjoy a level of competition uniformity and familiarity previously unavailable on an international scale.

The WPF is guided by teams, tournament operators, and marketing sponsors involved in the circuit. The Promoter’s and Captain’s Councils help maintain the circuit’s continuity, and keep the WPF relevant to current competition trends, while the Sponsor’s Council focuses on promotion, fundraising, and image projection.

For 2000, the WPF is producing a 5 player amateur series entitled the WPF/Zap Tour, and administrating the WPF World Ace circuit. Tournament dates are as follows:

2000 WPF / Zap Tour

• April 8-9, Atlanta, GA at Paintball Atlanta

• May 5-7, Corona, CA at SC Arenas

• May 27-28, St. Louis, MO at Extreme Paintball

• June 10-11, Creamridge, NJ at Top Gun Paintball

• July 22-23, Denver, CO at Paintball Adventures

• Aug 26-27, Portland, OR at Splat Action Paintball

• WPF / Zap International Masters September 2000, site to be announced

Current WPF Sanctioned Wildcards

Feb. 19-20, Skyball 2000 - Toronto, Canada

Date to Be Announced, Challenge Cup - Chicago, IL

International Bonus Competition

August 2-6, Zap International Amateur Open - Pittsburg, PA

produced by Team Effort Events

Current WPF Affiliated Leagues

Mid-South Paintball AssociationGulf Coast Tournament SeriesChicago Paintball Sports AssociationAtlantic Coast Tournament SeriesNew England Paintball LeagueFlorida Sunshine State SeriesColorado Paintball Player’s AllianceNorthwest Tour

With over 15 years experience, Lively Productions has produced scores of tournaments including the NSG Nationals, the Music City Open, the Manufacturer’s Series, and the International Masters. “The WPF is a natural and evolutionary step for Lively Productions. The WPF allows us to share our expertise with league operators and independent producers and to provide players and teams with a level of rule and ranking standardization previously unavailable to them”, remarks president Jim Lively.

Interested parties may find out more about the WPF and the WPF World Ace circuit online at http://www.wpfonline.com. Inquires should be directed to the WPF, PO Box 40985, Nashville, TN 37204, phone 615-383-6533, fax 615-383-6067. Contact Chip Herbert (chip@wpfonline.com) for team information, Sam Caldwell (sam@wpfonline.com) for promotions and press, Jim Lively (jim@wpfonline.com) for sponsor and trade show information

32 Degrees Paintball Named Official Paintball of Spyder Cup 2000

Los Angeles, California

Kingman International is proud to announce National Paintball Supply-New Jersey's 32 Degrees As Cool As Ice Paintball as the Official Paintball of Spyder Cup 2000.

"The Spyder Cup 2000 is set to be the most anticipated paintball event of the new millennium. The involvement of Gino Postorivo, Jr. and his 32 Degrees As Cool As Ice Paintball simply heightens this great anticipation. We are proud to have Gino's support as we advance the sport of paintball to a new level," quotes Arthur Chang, Founder and CEO of Kingman International Corp.

In addition to the participation by National Paintball Supply-New Jersey, Kingman is excited to include the following distinguished companies to the ever-growing list of sponsors and supporters of Spyder Cup 2000: Tag Heuer Watches, Ford Motor Cars from McKracken Ford, Xtreme Media Group (Paintball 2-Xtremes Magazine), CFW Enterprises (APG Magazine), USAir, National Paintball Supply-South, Raven USA, 32 Degrees As Cool As Ice Products, Chong Hing International, and Sys Technology.

Produced in conjunction with Team Effort Events, the Spyder Cup 2000 will be held Memorial Day weekend, May 27th and 28th at Three River Paintball in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Over $100,000 in prizes will be awarded to the top 5-player amateur teams including the grand prize of five Ford Mustangs.

Detailed information for players and sponsors will be available by the first of the year. For more information or to be placed on the mailing list, please contact:

Kingman International Corp.
9480 Telstar Ave., Suite 2
El Monte, CA 91731.
http://www.kingmanUSA.com
Or

Team Effort Events
251 Westvue Road
Wexford, PA 15090
Tel: (724) 935-6100
Fax: (724) 935-7599

The release of Paintball Consumer Guide Magazine (PCGM) has been delayed until January 8th (newsstand delivery date). "We were unable to get PCGM in the newsstand rotation with APG, and Paintball Magazines on such short notice. We've got it worked out now with newsstand delivery dates of the 9th of every other month (bi-monthly) begining January, 2000", John Amodea, PCGM's Editor reported.

Pittsburgh. Pa. - Kingman International is proud to announce their premier event titled the " Spyder Cup 2000" to be held Memorial Day weekend, May 27th & 28th in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Over $100,000 in prizes will be awarded to the top 5-player amateur teams including 1st prize of FIVE FORD MUSTANGS!

The event will be limited to amateur teams using only markers from the Spyder series. Qualifications and modification guidelines will be announced in the upcoming months. Tournament play will be on Saturday with an open gun Mega Game and BBQ Bash being held on Sunday.

A Celebrity game will also be showcased on the weekend with $10,000 going to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. An additional highlight will be ongoing seminars conducted by the hospital offering "Paintball Safety Tips for Parents."

Kingman has hired Team Effort Events, producers of the Zap International Amateur Open, to bring this premier tournament to fruition at the Three Rivers Paintball location. "We’re very excited to be producing this unique event and we think we’ve designed a weekend of paintball that everyone will enjoy," quotes Debra Dion Krischke of Team Effort Events. "Players that are eliminated will be able to stick around to play in the Mega Game on Sunday plus enjoy the free cook-out along with seeing the Mustangs given away. I’ve been in this industry for 18 years and a prize like this is unprecedented!"

The " Spyder Cup 2000" has long been the brainchild of Arthur Chang, founder and CEO of Kingman International, who is known for his unique approaches to marketing and promotions. Previously, Kingman International has awarded scholarships to two high school seniors, in addition to giving away a Jeep Wrangler.

Detailed information for players and sponsors will be available by the first of the year.

For more information or to be placed on the mailing list, please contact:

Team Effort Events
251 Westvue Rd.
Wexford, Pa. 15090
Ph.- 724-935-6100
Fax - 724-935-7599
www.kingmanUSA.com

PCRI News 8/19/99

So you heard about the new magazine and you want more details? Here's the deal. Each issue of Paintball Consumer Guide Magazine (PCGM) will contain the following:

• 1 paintgun review. (Bob Long's Defiant will be the 1st issue cover story.)
• 8+ accessory reviews.
• 3+ tech tip articles.
• 1 safety article.
• 1 special event article (i.e. NPSE Mega Sale at Zap).
• "Guns of the Pros" article featuring the equipment of a major tournament team.
• "From the Editor", a look at the industry from John Amodea.
• 1 "Featured Web Site" article. (A look at the top paintball reference/equipment sites.)
• Store & Field Directory
• Events Calander
• And much more!

PCGM is looking for writers and contributors. Please e-mail us for details.

PAINTBALL BEGINS 2ND YEAR WITH VICTORIES, NEW TECHNOLOGY

Diablo Paintballs just celebrated a Birthday by winning the Chicago NPPL event, where they introduced more new Paintball Performance technology!!

Diablo was introduced a full year ago at the NPPL Chicago Open, resulting in a win for team Revolution. The following year of tireless research and development included many trials and tribulations, together with many victories and improvement.

The "Diablo Direct Dealer Council" was formed with loyal Field and Store owners, who provide critical weekly feedback to the Factory Production staff through Diablo Direct's offices. Diligent formulation enhancements became frequent, and the Paintballs consistently improved as production was steadily expanded.

Today, through ongoing addition of machinery and key staff, Diablo Paintball joins the "Big Three" of PRIMARY PAINTBALL MANUFACTURERS, and now proudly achieves the rank of consistently "Best Quality Paintball", according to many Field & Store owners and committed Players.

To celebrate the beginning of their 2nd year, Diablo Direct's traveling Roadshow arrived at Badlands' Chicago Open NPPL Tournament in the trendsetting DIABLO SEMI TRUCK (soon to be imitated...just wait!)

The Diablo Direct staff again raised the standards of tournament support by delivering true Custom Fitted Paintballs, including two different levels of shell strength, two degrees of fill intensity, and now, TWO CALIBER SIZES, including Diablo's full-size Standard Bore, and the new small caliber "DARTS"(TM) performance bore size for special applications.

Then, from sunup to sundown for the next five days, the Diablo Direct staff was on hand to determine each gun's breech/barrel sizing, which was measured on-site with precision equipment. Players then received Diablo Paintballs that were custom-fitted in the correct caliber of Inferno and HellFire grades, depending on the Gun's size and pressure.

Teams were able to "bring their own Paint" to this event, but the overwhelming choice was clearly the Diablo brands. The teams raved about the results of this new level of service from Diablo, and the 1999 NPPL results speak for themselves...

1999 NPPL Winners: Chicago 1st Place 10 Man Pro: Team Image Chicago 1st Place 10 Man Amateur A: Jacksonville Warriors Chicago 1st Place 5 Man: Phantom Jesters Dallas 1st Place 10 Man Pro: Avalanche Dallas 1st Place 10 Man Amateur B: Hostile Takeover Las Vegas 1st Place 10 Man Pro: Avalanche

Diablo Direct thanks everyone who has supported Diablo Paint since the beginning, and welcomes all our new friends and Customers.

Dealer Direct ONLY: Call Diablo Direct USA H.Q. @ 847.473.2356

PCRI News 7/13/99

Winning Teams at Zap International Amateur Open

Get Full Year Paint Sponsorship

Pittsburgh, Pa. ­ If you’re on a winning team at the Zap International Amateur Open, you’ll be receiving a free case of Zap paintballs every month for a year! The tournament and trade show is scheduled for August 4-8th with a 3-player, 5-player, 5-player novice and 10-player divisions plus lots of other side events for everyone’s enjoyment.

This is the first time a first prize package of this magnitude has ever been offered at this 9th annual event. It pushes the total prize purse to over $110,000! " We advertise $85,000 in prizes," says Debra Dion Krishcke of Team Effort Events, " but this sponsorship is huge all by itself and any team would be thrilled to win it.!"

Zap Paintball, a division of Accucaps Industries Limited, has been around since 1990 and is currently getting ready to move into their new 120,000 square foot " paint only" facility. This will make them not only the largest, but certainly the most modern paint manufacturer in the world.

Accucaps as been recognized as one of the 50 Best Managed, private companies in Canada. Judged by Arthur Anderson, this award has been bestowed on Accucaps for the past five years running. Gordon Moore, President and CEO of Accucaps is the man at the helm with a vision.

"We partnered with Team Effort Events in 1992 when they were a smaller tournament and we were a smaller company," says Moore. " The Zap International Amateur Open has been our flagship event and a wonderful environment to showcase our product. We’re really happy to support the event and the teams with this " one of a kind" sponsorship."

For more information contact: Team Effort Events at #724-935-6100 or click HERE.

Brass Eagle #2 on Business Week's Hot Growth List

Bentonsville, AR--After making its debut last year at #39 on Business Week Magazine's "Top 100 Hot Growth Companies" list, Brass Eagle, Inc. (Nasdaq:XTRM), the worldwide leader in the manufacturing and distribution of a full line of paintball products, again made the list for 1999 ranking at #2 out of 100 companies selected. The list is compiled each year of companies that have shown the strongest growth in annual earnings, annual sales, return on capital and stock price. This year the company ranks #3 in average annual sales growth at 159.3 percent and as #1 in average annual earnings growth at an extraordinary 1620.2 Percent.

"It was thrilling for us to be included in the list last year, especially being such a young company," said Pres. And CEO Lynn Scott, "Being recognized by Business Week is always an honor and is something our entire organization can feel good about." Only 16 companies from this year's list are repeat selections from last year, and Brass Eagle was honored to be one of them.

Brass Eagle started in 1993 under a royalty agreement with a Canadian paintball company. In 1995, they brought the company's name, patents and other assets and in November 1997 they became a publicly traded company. Brass Eagle has been highly successful in high-volume, low-cost manufacturing, allowing it to make less expensive paintball markers with retail prices starting around $35.

As noted in last year's article, a contributing factor to the company's success is that they have been the only paintball manufacturer that has been able to crack mass merchants like Wal-Mart Inc. And K-Mart Corp. In 1998 the company was named Vendor of the year by Wal-Mart for the Department 09, General Sporting Goods Category.

"We have great retail partners who are excited about promoting the sport of paintball," said Scott. "Making a quality product, doing an efficient job in distribution and working with strong retailers has put the company in an excellent position for success. We look forward to continuing growth as the popularity of paintball spreads beyond our borders to countries around the world."

The company markets its products throughout North America and Canada and is expanding into the European continent.

PCRI News 6/13/99

Tiger Woods Plays Paintball

That's right....in the June 14, 1999 edition of ESPN The Magazine, Tiger Woods is quoted about playing paintball in 1997.  Tiger told ESPN, "I played paintball after the British Open in '97. It was fun, but I hopped over a wall and tore a few ligaments in my ankle.  It was sore for about a year and I was never 100%."

PCRI Press Release 6/3/99

WDP Announces Tech Theater at the 9th Annual Amateur Open

Pittsburgh, PA-WDP is thrilled to announce their participation with a tech theater at this years Zap International Amateur Open scheduled for August 4-8th in Pittsburgh, PA. The theater will be running tech seminars throughout the 5 days designed to familiarize customers with their current electronic gun, the "Angel". Everything you always wanted to know, but never had a chance to ask will be addressed!

The Angel, designed by John Rice, is light-years ahead of the competition with its design and applied science. Attendees at the Zap Amateur Open will have the opportunity to learn all about the gun at seminars held several times a day throughout the week. A schedule of times will be posted at their booth just adjacent to the theater.

WDP has been at the forefront of European paintball for more than a decade. The English Company formed in 1987 and started off running the popular National Paintball Fields in Birmingham, England. In 1992 WDP launched their European made Forest Paintballs. Currently, they distribute a wide range of paintball products in Europe, but are more widely known in the USA for their state of the art paintball gun, the Angel.

Having attended the Zap Amateur Open for several years, WDP decided they just had to ba a bigger part of the event and decided their "tech theater" was the way to go. "We're thrilled to have the tech theater idea come to fruition,"says event producer Debra Dion Krischke. "We try to offer our customers lots of activities to participate in when they come to Pittsburgh. This is on they've been asking for!"

For more information call Team Effort Events at 724-935-6100 or fax at 724-935-7599 or check out the web site at www.zapamateur.com

Host Hotel is the Sheraton at #724-776-6900

From PCRI 06/3/99........

Order PCRI back issues and Survival Guides Online!

Did you know you can order copies of the Survival Guide Series right here using our secured shopping site? Just click here!

We now also offer back issues of PCRI right here!

PCRI Press Release 5/26/99

Paintball Developer Joins Diablo Paintball Co.

Montreal, Canada – The Diablo Paintball family has succeeded in attracting yet another seasoned Paintball Industry veteran to their growing ranks:

Mike Ratko, a behind-the-scenes Paintball manufacturing legend, now makes his new home at the offices of ProCaps, makers of Diablo Paintballs. Diablo already enjoys the distinction of “Most successful new Paintball brand launch in the History of the Sport”.

Now, Mike Ratko’s research and development talents are in place to raise the spirited Diablo Paintball group to even greater achievements.

According to Diablo Direct USA President, Craig Miller, Mr. Ratko’s legacy in Paintball performance technology is known to only a few insiders. After working for R.P. Scherer, where he developed many successful projects including the Marballizer paintball technology, he moved up to Accucaps in Windsor, Canada. There, his many development projects included Zap Ultimate and the Proball Platinum performance line. Mike’s tremendous influence at AccuCaps was clearly evident during their growth period through the `90’s.

Today, Mike takes his place at the production helm of the fastest moving Paintball brand in the business. Mike’s efforts will add even more energy to the tremendous momentum that Diablo Paintball has generated.

Diablo’s constant refinement and development has brought them many NPPL tournament Victories, including Las Vegas and the recent Paintball Games of Dallas event. Pro team, “Avalanche”, now has two back-to-back wins shooting exclusively the newest generation Diablo Paintballs. The Dallas event saw 9 of the top 12 teams using the new Diablo paint from pro through amateur B!

Watch for more big developments from Diablo Paintballs soon!

Gamefield Operators and Retailers:

To contact your nearest Diablo Direct Paintball Business Supply office, call:

Diablo Direct USA Headquarters

TEL 847.473.2356    FAX 847.473.2364

PCRI Press Release 5/18, 1999

From Bob Long, Captain of Bob Long's Ironmen

The Right Stuff

You may have heard by now that there have been some major changes made by myself with regards the Ironmen.   I have for years shared the same words to the team in huddle at the flag station after getting the one minute warning. It goes like this. "There is no I in team, so lets go out and play as a team."

Theme are all kinds of rumors, accusation, excuses and even attempts at character assassination with regards to my team decision that I felt the need to address this issue.   There is this definition that goes as such;

TEAM WORK

Coming together is a beginning
Keeping together is progress
Working together is success

I put this present team together two years ago and that was the beginning. The same group of guys have been together now for the past two years and last year we took the World championship Title and I consider this progress. To some this would be considered the success part but in my mind we had not reached this part of the definition and after much consideration and many sleepless nights I had decided that the make-up of the present team would not reach its success by definition simply because the working together part after many attempts could not be achieved.

There is much more to working than the obvious of working together during a game. There is working together before the game, working together before practice, working together during practice. There is working together after a game, and even working together to get home. Let me address each point.

WORKING TOGETHER BEFORE PRACTICE

Everyone has to show up and be on time and if this means that other players must help to get other players to practice then that is what has to be done. You can't just worry about yourself them complain that it was poor practice because not everyone wasn't there. Another aspect of practice is that it cost money. Whether it costs you or the team it cost money. The sponsor can only do so much and it seems that the cost of practice paint becomes an issue. Well this is part of working together as a team. If everyone would just chip in equal shares then the cost of paint would be off set. Yes the back players do use more paint then the forward players but this is a team sport and the forward players must rely on the paint from the back players. There are some players that will always complain about having to purchase practice paint which I might add is at cost add then there are those players that take practice paint home instead of leaving leftover paint for the next practice.

WORKING TOGETHER DURING PRACTICE

Some players don't understand that it is practice and this is the time to try new things. Practice is the time to discover your weak areas and work on them. Practice is the time to work on basic fundamentals of paintball. To take an analogy from other sports, at spring training for professional baseball they practice base running, sliding in base, hitting, bunting, catching ground balls, in other words, they go right back to the basics of baseball. Baseball players do it, Football players do it, Golfers do it, and I think paintball players should do it. Some players do not want their weak areas to be exposed because of their personal ego. They feel that if their weak areas are exposed that someone may think that they are not a good players. This is false thinking. You are there because you are a good player and practice is to help make you a better player or it may be that on a particular field its is necessary for you to sit and another player play to play. This is not a bad thing that benefits the team. Some players just can't overcome their ego and cannot accept this part of the game.

WORKING TOGETHER BEFORE THE GAME

The parts of working together before a game are getting to the Airport. Moving the teams equipment in and around the Airport. Moving the teams equipment in and out the rental vehicle. Some individuals just care about themselves and their own personal stuff and are totally inconsiderate of their teammates equipment. Some players never have back-up equipment when their equipment malfunctions and when they borrow things or use other people equipment without there own knowledge don't return it. There is just no consideration to others. I do believe you can teach this to a player. This is a character flaw that should have been corrected when they were young. As a captain I cannot have this destroy the team.

WORKING TOGETHER DURING THE GAME

This seems to be obvious but there are some aspects that just eat at a team. A team usually comes to a tournament with an alternate which means that players alternate sitting a particular game. Some players cannot accept the fact that they are going to sit a game or two. Well in my mind this does not reflect an interest in the team but rather in themselves, no teamwork!!! The alternate should always be ready to go on the field which means that they are there with everyone else with their gun and harness loaded just as if they were going to play. In the event that the gun may malfunction or a player cannot play for some unforseen reason then the alternate will take his place, this also means that every player must know what his teammates are doing, because you never know when you will take his place. This was not happening but rather I got constant aggravation from players when they had to sit and there began to be bad mouthing of other players in an attempt to build themselves. There was even clicks forming with the team. Well this will definitely destroy a team. I've been there and lived through this in the past and I had to make decisions.

WORKING TOGETHER AFTER A GAME

You have heard this before. It is always someone else's fault. Some players cannot sit down and take any type of critiquing. As soon as something is said about their play it becomes a big arugment. You know what I am talking about. Instead of sitting down and being able to talk about the game certain players just point at other players and some never make a mistake. Somtimes it's not even a mistake that caused the problem but rather the other team came up with a better plan, but this cannot even be discussed because certain players are so defensive. They need to learn to work as a team after the game to help make the team better.

Other aspects of team management after the game is loading up and cleaning up. But like Teamwork before a game those same individuals would not help put equipment away, load paint in boxes and carry back to the hotel room. There are those players that have no appreciation for the rental of a team van and just trash the car. They would not do that to their personal vechicle but its alright to trash a rental car and with no concern that the team will have to pay an additional cleaning fee for the rental. Sometimes it is so bad that the rental agency will no longer rent to them. You know if you ask the players to pay for the additionl cost of the rental they would just ignore you. This is as far as I am concerned lack of Teamwork and total lack of concern for the team and inconsiderate of the individuals would put the rentals on their own personal credit cards.

As many of you know who have experience with running a team there are certian players who help out all the time and are the first to step up to the plate when the teams needs something. Then there are those players who are there to get what they can and care less about the team and teammates and all that is involved with operating a team. These players just take the fun out of the sport and instead of looking forward to practice of looking forward to the tournment you are filled with anxiety anticipating the problems the same players you know are going to bring with them.

I could go on and on but basically the decision I made with the letting players go was with regards to the health of the team and their lack of teamwork. They are excellent players and I wish them the best. I have been in this sport for many years and I have learned a few things. One thing I do know is what it takes to have a winning team. I have been there and played with the best and I am making steps to insure that my team has a chance at a success. It is intent to represent my sponsor in a professional manner and I can end the day saying to my wife that I had fun. You know if I can't look at Phyllis at the end of the day and share that with her she will tell me it's time to fix or quit. I'm not ready to quit. I have simply removed the "I's" in team.

As a professional, amateur, that offers a complete package to our sponsors and potential sponsors I have to be different in our approach than most other paintball operations at the same level. We understand the need to go that extra mile in supporting our sponsors need to obtain maximum return on their invested advertising dollars

In the pursuit of fun,

Bob Long
Bob Long's Ironmen