With the 2007 season officially over and the 2008 season being planned, it’s appropriate to take a look at the final standings of the pro divisions in the three major leagues of tournament paintball: The NPPL, PSP, and Millennium series.

2007 saw more teams from more locations across the world pushing to claim victory in the sport that we all love and enjoy. We saw new teams break ranks and place higher than ever expected, and watched former champions of the field fall to the bottom.

Everyone knows the controversy that went on throughout the year. The internet was filled with loyal fans fighting for their favorite team and flaming their competitors. We saw game endings that caused league dispute, and game calls that caused a championship team to abandon its league.

No matter what happened, everyone can agree that the 2007 season of tournament paintball was a huge rollercoaster ride from start to finish. When I think about it, I can only hope that the leagues take this into account and use it to drive the 2008 season to be better and more professional.

NPPL

1. San Diego Dynasty
2. Edmonton Impact
3. Ironmen
4. Los Angeles Infamous
5. Stockholm Joy Division
6. New England Hurricanes
7. Portland Naughty Dogs
8. St. Louis Avalanche
9. Montreal Image
10. Jersey Authority
11. Chicago Farside
12. Jacksonville Raiders
13. Oakland Blast
14. Pittsburgh All Americans
15. Sacramento Excessive
16. Pasadena Bad Company
17. Las Vegas LTZ
18. Miami Rage

PSP

1. Los Angeles Ironmen
2. Dynasty
3. Boston Red Legion
4. X-Factor
5. Oakland Infamous
6. Philly Americans
7. Detroit Strange
8. Jacksonville Raiders
9. Chicago Aftershock
10. Seattle Naughty Dogs
11. Sacramento XSV
12. New York Hurricanes
13. Baltimore Trauma
14. Ultimate
15. Las Vegas LTZ
16. San Diego Legacy

Millennium

1. Joy Stockholm
2. Philly Dogs
3. London Nexus
4. Consilium Dei Zurich
5. Toulouse Tontons
6. Frankfurt Syndicate
7. Moscow Phoenix
8. Vision PPC Grenoble
9. Oslo Menace
10. Manchester Shockwave
11. Marseille Icon
12. Copenhagen Ducks
13. Stockholm Ignition
14. Influence Montpellier
15. Sacramento Excessive
16. Manchester Kellys

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The paintball industry is still very young and in its early stages of development. This is both the advantage and downfall to the sport for new players. With hard work and effort, there is a good chance that a well rounded team can make it pro. However, the path to that goal isn’t set in stone. There aren’t years upon years of playbooks to study, guides to follow, or coaches to train with.

Everyone is still developing their own gameplan and training methods in order to deal with opposing teams who are doing the same thing. There is no set training path that reads “This is how to develop a pro paintball team.” However there are people who are trying, and are doing a relatively decent job at it.

Splat Magazine has teamed up with Joy Division poster boy Maximus Lundqvist in order to bring paintball players a training DVD that is meant directly for the individual player.

From their website:

For the first time ever, world-class paintballer Maximus Lundqvist, star player from the legendary team Joy Division, shares with viewers the tactics and techniques that make him one of the most feared players on the field today in his first Paintball instructional DVD, titled “One with the Gun”, produced and shot by the award winning team over at SPLAT Magazine. Geared towards the experienced tournament paintballer, “One with the Gun” provides viewers with over one and a half hours of the skill and training secrets needed to be a world champion. Just some of the techniques featured include:

• Snap-shooting
• Running and Gunning
• The Magic Line
• Break-out Shooting
• Physical Training
• Basic Stance
• And much much more

Co-hosted by legendary SPLAT Girl and “Deal or No Deal” star Lisa Gleave, as well as co-starring the NPPL Championship winning SPLAT Kids tournament team, “One with the Gun” is a must own for anyone serious about improving their paintball ability.

Available now at www.onewiththegundvd.com

For a preview of the DVD’s contents, Splat has released a very informative trailer with some pretty decent tips in itself:

Now, let’s discuss all the bad merits of the disc so we can get to what is good about it.

First off, there are quite a few advertisements placed in the DVD. The greater portion of these are mostly “X tip is sponsored by X company”. However, the three most annoying are Splat’s, WDP’s and Infinity’s at the beginning of the disc.

I normally wouldn’t care much, however control over the DVD is disabled during this time. This means that you have to sit through three full length commercials every time you want to view the DVD (unless you have a “go to where left off” feature).

Disabling user control at home so you can submit them to advertising = bad.

Second. The production values of the DVD are on the lower side of average. Splat Magazine is a reputable magazine with quite a large amount of advertisers, a sponsored NPPL paintball team, industry support, etc.

For a company like such to come out with a DVD that looks like it was edited with iMovie or Windows Movie Maker is somewhat insulting. The gripes here are:

• Bad editing (transitions, music selection, overlays, filters, etc.)
• DVD menu design is somewhat sketchy (colors, font choices)

Watching the video, I was under two impressions:

1. They had the funds, but didn’t want to spend it on good editing
2. They had the tools for good editing but didn’t know how to use them

Third. I understand that sex sells in an industry, but all of the scenes with Max and Lisa Gleave were nothing more than a game of “how long can Max go without looking at Lisa’s chest.”

Don’t bother telling me about “target demographics” and “market worth”. This is a paintball training DVD, let’s try to keep things professional.

Now, the good news is that the positives of the DVD definitely outweigh the negatives. There is a whole lot of new information in the disc that isn’t being taught by anyone else currently. For an individual player, this disc is a breath of fresh air.

The DVD focuses on the concepts that apply from the beginning of the game, to the end. This means that the movie covers new techniques for:

• Breakout
• Running and gunning
• Sliding
• Body positioning relative to the bunker
• Snap shooting
• Subduing the opponent while moving up
• Drills and scrimmages

One of the most interesting techniques demonstrated was the new style of snap shooting. Instead of the standard style of snapping seen today (a sort of hybrid groundhog style pop and cover), Max teaches a snap that relies on the rolling of the upper body. The style is hard to describe in words, and is best explained by watching the DVD. However what can be said in words is how much of an improvement over the standard style of snapping this can be once mastered.

Towards the end of the video, the theme changes and switches to personal fitness. In the last sections Max explains and demonstrates proper methods for pre-game warmups and stretches. We even get to go one step further and take a look at a well rounded workout session designed to keep a player in top physical condition. The workouts focus mainly on improving and toning muscle in the upper and lower body, in order to maximize efficiency on field. I’m glad that people are starting to address this, as one of the things that seems to be popular in the tournament paintball community is out of shape players. If people are going to play a tournament sport and be considered athletes, then they should take it seriously and train like athletes.

The DVD is also lengthy. Unlike other training DVD’s on the market today, One With The Gun tops out around ninety minutes. For twenty dollars, this isn’t a bad price for what you receive. Also, when watching the DVD it feels as if things aren’t being rushed. Max takes his time in explaining things and the reasons behind them so the player can understand and absorb the information better. As a whole, Joy Division as a team is always like this.

One With The Gun is available today from the One With The Gun online website for $19.95 plus shipping.

Pros

• Quality and informative content
• Length of DVD gives room for players understanding concepts thoroughly
• Game skills from start to finish are covered
• Max’s thorough knowledge of tournament paintball
• Exercise and diet philosophy covered
• Price

Cons

• Production quality and editing are sketchy and could easily be better
• Skin and sex are nice, but let’s keep it professional
• Poorly placed advertisements break the pace

Final Rating
4 out of 5

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Known best for their presentation and showmanship, the NPPL has finally released the schedule for the 2008 season of seven man tournament paintball. One of the positive items about last year’s season was the Kansas City event featuring indoor play. Despite the poor reffing and biased calls, everyone had positive things to say about playing indoors.

NPPL has taken these comments to account and placed all events, except Huntington Beach, in NFL stadiums. Currently, the schedule seems open and somewhat well planned. There are currently no conflicts with the PSP’s 2008 schedule, however some players have already begun griping over event locations.

The NPPL is pleased to announce the confirmed venues and dates for the 2008 season - these superb venues will include four NFL stadiums plus the most popular paintball event in the world - Huntington Beach. All events will use the high quality artificial turf that the NPPL has provided for its players. The 2008 season will see major events in Texas as well as New York, with a strong draw from Toronto. Many more exciting announcements for the 2008 season to come!

March 28 - 30, 2008 (Confirmed)
On the Beach
Huntington Beach, California

May 16 - 18, 2008 (Confirmed)
Jacksonville Municipal Stadium
Home of the Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville, Florida

July 18 - 20, 2008 (Confirmed)
Ralph Wilson Stadium
Home of the Buffalo Bills
Buffalo, New York

September 19 - 21, 2008 (Confirmed)
Reliant Stadium
Home of the Houston Texans
Houston, Texas

November 14 - 16, 2008*
Qualcomm Stadium
Home of the San Diego Chargers
San Diego, California

*Please note the November event is pending the NFL schedule which will be released in April 2008

One of the largest complaints is the lack of coverage for the middle states. The events are placed at the far East or West sides of the country with no mid-state coverage.

The only thing that is left to be determined is whether the new schedule from NPPL will conflict with the European Millenium series, which has yet to be released.

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Sorry for the site being down half of Sunday and all of yesterday.

I received an email from my host this morning saying that they had restored my database to the latest version and that I should be good to go. For all of you techies out there, apparently mySQL decided to downgrade itself to version 3.

This is bad as my blogging software runs on version 4. Other than that, the site is back to normal and content should be continually updated these next few days. If anyone notices any bugs, please contact me regarding them as my hosts are keeping an eye on things for now to make sure there isn’t any more trouble.

- bill

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Unlike the NPPL, the PSP is hard at work during the off season to make changes necessary to ensure the growth and survival of the PSP league. They have constantly been putting out press releases, keeping the community aware of what to expect for the 2008 season.

Earlier in December, they released a revision to the Xball format of play and now they have updated the paint requirements for teams who compete.

Paintball Sports Promotions is gearing up for the 2008 season. Our schedule includes a return to some tried and true locations as well as a few new ones. With the most popular formats, the best referee corp in the world, and the most comprehensive ID and classification system available, we’re looking forward to another successful year.

For the 2008 season, paint may be purchased onsite at each event from one of the PSP sponsors. Numerous companies will be offering a wide selection of the most technologically advanced paint available on the market today. Featuring tournament grade fills, consistent accuracy, and proven performance, you’re sure to find top quality paint at competitive prices.

While teams may still bring their own paint to the event, only sponsor-brand paint will be allowed. Red and pink fill will also be unacceptable.
Staining paint will not be allowed. PSP and our paint sponsors are working together on a formula that will continue to provide high quality tournament level paint without the staining quality.

For more information on rules concerning paint and equipment as well as updates on the 2008 season, stay tuned to www.pspevents.com. We look forward to seeing everyone in 08.

It appears that in order to preserve paint sponsors interest in continuing to sponsor the PSP, they have decided to only allow paint to be used from paint companies who directly sponsor the event.

The community at this point is divided on the matter, as smaller teams who have sponsors through smaller companies are worried that they may be left out of the 2008 season due to not having the appropriate sponsorship required as by the new PSP rules.

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