Paintball Sports Promotions is strolling through their season with the recent completion of the 2008 Chicago Open. Players this year were treated to a full weekend of play at the Bolingbrook Recreation and Aquatic Center in beautiful Bolingbrook, IL.

The Chicago Open was a highly anticipated event, as it was the middle ground for the entire season of Xball. Players were treated, like previous events, this year to a relatively different field layout. The new design eliminated the entire snake side of the field for a castle style defensive position. Needless to say, it made for some decent matches.

It is without a doubt that some of the most exciting games take place on the Pro NXL Fields. This is due to the fact that circumstances and variables can change within a moments notice. Previous event’s winners can be left at the bottom of the podium, while new comers to the game can rise to the top. In the case of the Chicago Open, this is exactly what happened.

New comers to the game Tampa Bay Damage took the win by beating San Diego Aftermath in a final score of five to three. Former one two finishers, at the Mid Atlantic Open, Dynasty and Ironmen took third and fourth positions.

Official Results

NXL

1. Tampa Bay Damage
2. San Diego Aftermath
3. Los Angeles Ironmen
4. Dynasty

Division 1

1. RNT Allstarz
2. Vicious
3. Damage D1
4. TX Justice League

Division 2

1. Cross-Eyed Paintball
2. Raiden
3. Fierce
4. Warped Army

Division 3

1. Velocity Wrecking Crew
2. Fierce Heat
3. DSSP8NTBALL.com
4. Chicago WiseGuys

Division 2 5-Man

1. Team RNT
2. Dark Army
3. Rogue
4. Pintura Fresca

Division 3 5-Man

1. Boom
2. Wyldside
3. PG Style
4. Storm

Division 4 5-Man

1. Total Karnage Kids
2. Texas Select
3. 100 Proof Paintball
4. Vivid

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Except for those few short months at the beginning and end of the season, most major league, tournament paintball takes place during the warmer months of summer. Despite the PSP and the NPPL slowly moving towards permanent indoor events, the greater portion of tournaments that you will play in your lifetime will take place out doors. With that being said, risks of things such as de-hydration, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke are at elevated levels due to the combination of extreme sports, and extreme weather conditions. This is something that we can not currently avoid, and must face head on due to our commitment to the sport.

Playing in the summer requires some extra attention to the well being of the players. There are a great deal of options that are available, but for tournament play I would recommend keeping things as simple and effective as possible. Depending on the type of game you play, and the league you play in, there may be altercations and adjustments to your game plan in order to maximize your output on the field.

1. Stay Hydrated. All Day. Every Game. With Proper Fluids

The first defense that you must setup against the heat and humidity is proper hydration of yourself and your team mates. It pains me to see players come back to the pits after an XBall match, on a hot day, with no fluids whatsoever in sight. It’s a simple concept: your body uses fluids during games trying to cool itself off. In order to stay in fighting shape, you need to replenish those lost fluids

With that being said, the solution is to have a large cooler fully stocked with ice and beverages that are formulated to replenish lost fluids and chemicals. Now, as to what type of beverage to stock? As a general rule of thumb, I would highly recommend against carbonated beverages such as soda, and energy drinks. You should be drinking either water or beverages that are formulated to replenish lost fluids, such as Gatorade.

2. Don’t Overwork Yourself And Rest Adequately

If you play XBall events, and have a full roster, there is no need for you to be going round after round for the entire match if all of your players are in good condition. The same goes for seven, five, or any other league format. The point of having a full roster is to provide equal rotation for the entire team. Paintball can be an extremely demanding sport, and when added to a weekend of heat and humidity, back to back two or three minute rounds can be ridiculously straining.

After your match is complete, and you’ve made your way to the pits, I would advise taking a minute or so to rest your body and consume a cup of fluids. Despite being only a short period of time, this cool down can help fight exhaustion and burnout that is commonly associated with inexperienced players and teams.

3. Take What’s Necessary. Leave Everything Else Behind

I still chuckle to myself when players pad themselves up like they are brand new to the game. In the summer, extra shirts, shorts, socks, and other various items of clothing will only increase your chances of the above for-mentioned conditions. During a tournament, I wear only my jersey, my pants, a pair of boxers, ankle socks and my knee/elbow pads. The extra bruises I receive equal out my being able to play harder due to my lack of insulation.

A trick I use is to leave my headband / Sandana in the cooler before the match. Right before we start, I take it out and strap up. After the match it goes right back in the cooler. It’s minimal, but the extra few degrees can make the world of difference when I’m on the field worrying about getting shot, and not worrying about the sweat dripping into my eyes.

Gear management can almost be called a science, as overloading a player with equipment is going to hinder his movement abilities and range, and make it more of an effort to play. Paint is quite possibly the heaviest item that most players will carry, so correct distribution needs to be taken seriously. Two or three extra full pods of paint can mean the difference between getting shot on a move and getting in clear to the bunker. This means that the coach needs to take averages and statistics of each player, for each game, in each tournament, and find a happy medium for each player and his position.

These are only a few tips to help players output at 100% on the field. While they certainly aren’t the only options available, they are a good outline as to what kind of actions are needed to be performed in warmer climates.

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It’s been a little stale around here as of lately, as not many news worthy stories have been appearing. It appears however that the four week mark has arrived, and the NPPL has released their much anticipated field layouts for the next event in Buffalo, July 18th through 20th.

Like the PSP, it seems that the NPPL is trying to please fans for the 2008 season by drastically changing the field layouts on most of their seven man fields. Among the changes, some of the most noticeable are the dual snake designs on both the Sypder and Eclipse fields.

Click the pictures to enlarge to the full resolution for printing

NPPL Field

Angel Field

Eclipse Field

JT Field

Spyder Field

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I’m sure that there will be some people out there who will scorn me for starting this article on a relatively negative note, but here it goes anyway.

XSV was in no way ever supposed to be in the current state that it is in today.

Originally starting as an idea, XSV did what others dreamed to do by assembling a full roster of superstar tournament players. The team became an immediate favorite due to their underdog rating, popular roster, and appeal to the public. Every time these guys stepped onto the field, there was always a boat load of fans in the stands cheering them on. This, more or less, I would attribute to the roster at the current time of XSV’s climb to fame. Simply put, it was impossible not to like XSV as there was at least someone on the team’s roster who you were a fan of. It was that great. There were veterans to the game like Rich Telford, Matty Marshall and Micah McGlocklin. There were current stars like Davey Williamson, Neile Eberle and Jon Richardson. And finally there were future stars like Thomas Taylor and Nicky Cuba.

The same however cannot be said today.

It is hard to say exactly when things started turning south, but it is safe to speculate that towards the end of the 2006 season the ice began cracking. 2006 for XSV contained player controversies, contract conflictions, and sponsorship woes. Talent began drifting away, and apparently so did the team’s spirit. However, 2007 was a new year and XSV was determined to bring itself back to the top of the ladder, and secure spots on the podium once again. New rookie talent was hired onto the team in order to replace the veteran members who made their leave. The motiff behind this was probably:

1. They needed players (mainly)
2. Rookie players placed into the pro division would be “hungry” for a win and play harder than the lax veterans who recently quit.
3. They needed players

XSV however pushed out very poor standings in all three major leagues. At the end of 2007, they were ranked:

• 15th in NPPL (Out of 18)
• 11th in PSP (Out of 16)
• 15th in Millennium (Out of 16)

Needless to say, things didn’t work out as best as to what they had hoped. 2007 was a sketchy year however, so you can’t really blame XSV as a whole due to all of the problems they had with sponsorships, their constantly changing roster, and other random problems that shouldn’t have happened had the team been properly managed.

So with all that being said, 2008 is here and XSV still has yet to impress. I actually defended XSV’s performance last year due to all of the internal problems that they had to deal with. However, for 2008 they dropped out of the NXL, and aren’t currently playing the Millennium series. This means that they only, really, have to worry about the five, NPPL, seven man events this year. They don’t have to worry about training for Xball and the Millennium formats, traveling to those locations, or all of the hassle that is involved with playing the two other leagues. The NPPL is their turf, and they have yet to reclaim it.

So what do I see currently? I see XSV, after dropping two leagues, playing the same game as they did in 2007, despite them not having excuses for doing so. I see smaller companies replacing major brands as official XSV sponsors; desperately trying to cling to the memory of XSV as a top team in the name of marketing. And finally, I see current original XSV members playing for other teams, in other leagues, in order to keep their personal ranking and status up.

So tell me: What do you see?

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Right on schedule, Paintball Sports Promotions is gearing players up for the third Xball event of the year (June 25th to 29th) by releasing the field layouts for the Chicago Open.

As with the Mid-Atlantic Open layouts, the PSP is causing much controversy by changing the fields to the point where there is an equal amount of approval and disgust from players for the new designs. One of the main complaints currently with the Chicago Open layout is the lack of a proper snake design.

Click the pictures to enlarge to the full resolution for printing

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