A new year... a new beginning...and then the recession...

Couldnt find much time to blog nowadays, been busy with reservist (yes, I did try snapshooting with SAR21, hehehe), planning for paintball tournament and participating in paintball tournament. Just came back from KL participating in the MPOC with the Red Sevens gang. We did a 5th position after 10 rounds of qualifying with 15 participating teams. Qualified for the Quarters but luck was not with us. We could have clinched a couple of games but it didnt work well for us. Individual mistakes... team mistakes. We were glad to have the assistance of Kiko and Ivan. Kiko is an "old bird" in tournament, as Seburo mentioned on his blog, this guy has got more medals than us as compared to the markers we own. To date including Kiko's, we have 10 e-markers in the team, quite impressive actually... On the contary, Ivan is a "new bird"... his first game with e-markers and he certainly did well enough to earn him 5 MPOC games under his belt. In his first game, he even came back with the flag. Considering that this is the first time he is playing with e-markers, this guy is a born talent.

We did not surpassed our record of reaching the semis...but I am pretty confident that we should be able to clinch a spot before the season ends. Although we did not came back with a metal piece, I am excited about how this team is going to progress in 2009. This year, we have the inclusion of a few new faces: Jon, Edi, Kiko and Ivan. Not forgetting our 2 friends from US, Zach and Ryan. We are looking good. Time will tell... its a pity that we were unable to get Tom to join us but we'll never know. Now that we have a lot more players...perhaps the International Super Sevens? We'll see... certainly looks good.

Team Damnation is the other Singapore based team which travel to KL for the MPOC. I was hoping to see Atrox and PSG Warfreaks... but I guess the recession is hitting on everyone.

In Singapore, we are also busy planning for SPNS 2009. There seem to be a decline in the number of participating teams this year... what did we do wrong this time? Its funny because things were more uncertain previously, we had to find sponsors, we had to get the ambulance, we had to get approvals, we had to get prizes, we had to sign teams up for games, we had to conduct training for newbies, etc. We did many things to get SPNS 2008 started. 2009, we are more familiar with the proceedings, we did as many awareness clinics, workshops as before and yet, it seems like we are unable to get more teams to participate. Hmmmm... cheaper paintballs, cheaper entry fee, better prizes and prices...and yet, we have falling numbers. Its weird. So the myth of lowering prices and more people will play paintball is not true afterall. Okay okay...its the recession. Everything is the recession...

While we are planning for our local tournament. Somewhere out there... there is a group of people who are also playing competitively. It was mentioned before in Team Damnation's website of the new team known as Team Karma. Team Karma is not new to the local scene, it was a group of friends who decided to play paintball on a regular basis. They were at RD when we organized our clinic for newbies. They bought paintball stuff at our place too. If you were observant enough, you would have noticed that we even had a thread for them in our forum. (It has been removed about 2 months ago because no one was upkeeping the thread).

While the Red Sevens and Team Damnation were in KL playing our hearts out. Team Karma had a small party of their own..."Acid Test Paintball Challenge", it was held in our former training ground, Octville Country Club up in the North. It was meant to be a tournament for local boys to try out paintball and have some fun playing in competition format. Kudos to you for coming up with this idea. Surely good for promoting awareness in the game and allowing more people to love and feel the game we all loved.

On a second thought...I am very bothered by this outing. The first question that pops out from my head: "Where are they going with this?"

Okay, I know most Singaporean paintballers visit this blog of mine...so being the visionary for Singapore paintball, here's my take (and I will share with you my views later):

1) They are getting more people to play paintball thus improving the standard of play in Singapore, both recreationally and competitively.

2) They are planning on organizing paintball tournaments in the North so that more Singaporeans can play competitively without having to go through BTO.

3) They are planning to start a paintball field in Singapore.

Okay...now that we have 3 options, let's review them:

1) Good move...more people playing means more people are aware about the game. While they can improve in their standard of play, they can only play competitive paintball in the North, as we all know that in Singapore, we have strict rules for everything...even paintball...haiz. The centre line...So to play competitive paintball in Singapore, players who are "Poison" to the game will have to go through the BTO.

2) Not a bad move...but what's going to happen to paintball in Singapore? Let's take an example... Due to gobalisation, Singaporeans are exposed to international jobs and are all moving out of the country. They work overseas, they marry overseas, they study overseas... see where I am going. The question mark here is: What will happen to Singapore paintball? Its funny because paintball is more established in the States...but paintball in Mexico is more fun and affordable.

3) Highly possible. Hahahah....I am saying this because, one of them approached me previously and told me so. So its good for Singapore paintball afterall...but dont wait till you start and then start promoting paintball in Singapore cos by then...you will be deem as the overseas expat who study, work and marry overseas. No offence to anyone, my dad for once is hardly at home too. Just dont wait until then...the idea here is to make the change, just like I did.