Singapore Paintball Novice Series 2009 Leg 3 - Team Preview Part 1

Sun Tzu Art of War: "Know your enemy and know yourself"...

With SPNS Leg 3 less than 3 weeks away, teams are starting to heat up the pace and picking up paintball markers again. Why are we not surprise that this leg of the SPNS is actually anybody's game? Is there such a thing as sheer luck in paintball? Well... you can play the best game and still not win the game. So perhaps there is such a thing as sheer luck in the game of paintball.

How different is this leg of the tournament as compared to previous legs? The most significant difference is the use of the Millenium bunkers, yeap... all 44 bunkers, similar to the Millenium games in Europe but more importantly, the same set up as the upcoming World Cup Asia (WCA) in November. So... teams who are going to the WCA, brace yourself and play the game well... this could be your best preparation before the world stage. This is good preparation...

The venue... the next big thing in SPNS 2009. Playing paintball in a park... not any other park but the Grand Lawn in West Coast Park is the best venue to date. Imagine this... its lunch time and stream of paintballers entering McDonalds in their colourful paintball jerseys and pants, headbands, masks, a big statement...a very big statement... RECOGNITION should be the right word.

Even if you are not playing... be there to show support for our local lads. Red Bull will be served...

In no order:

Contract Killers - 2 new inclusions, Nick and Keith from ex-Kamikaze. With the retirement of Dzul and the long lost Aaron, CK will see a new front line up. With Division 4 experiences in MPOC and NPL, Nick and Keith will be a valuable asset to the team who will be gunning for the top honours. Last SPNS leg MVP Sham (Rocketfingers) will also ensure that this team is certainly no pushover.

Nick

Red West - West or east? All eyes will be on this team who won Leg 1 and Leg 2 of the 2009 series. Leg 3? Long serving players, Ryan and Zach from the Singapore American School has returned home which means a total transformation for Red West. With 4 new inclusions (Yazid, Sophie, Julya and Chee Lang, I mean Yong...,and a totally new setup, Red West is under pressure to live up to the name of their predecessors. Returning to the paintball scene is Julya who was a former Red Fraction.

Chee Yong, SPNS Leg 1 MVP

Five O - Another team to look out for... Talk about masters of rules, no other team beats this team. With the inclusion of Casey and Jayex from 20th Legion, Mark from Kamikaze and Calgar a former Red Sevens, this is some what a tough lineup. Not forgetting Fuzz (yes, we gonna crush you and master of taunts) and Ivan from Red Sevens. We are talking about a team with combination experience of 8 years? Maybe 10...

Calgar and Ivan

More sneak preview after this weekend...

SPNS 2009 Leg 2 Most Valuable Player

Jane (President of PBAS, left...I mean right) presenting the MVP medal and a Empire Event mask to Sham.

Off the field, he may seem nice... he may sound friendly..., Shamel Ilya otherwise commonly known as Sham could be the nicest guy around. On the field, this man is a terrorist... I mean terror. A member of the Contract Killers, Sham was awarded the SPNS 2009 Leg 2 Most Valuable Player (MVP). The MVP award is a recognition given to an individual by the local paintball community after each leg of the SPNS. The winner is recognized by for his/her display of good sportsmanship on and off the field and a true ambassador of the sport.

Sham has played competitive paintball for about a year and plays as a front/mid player for the Contract Killers. With his team, Sham has won the 1st runners up position and the 2nd runners up position in leg 1 and leg 2 of the SPNS 2009 respectively. This recognition came timely as his team prepares themselves for the World Cup Asia 2009 in November. Playing with the Red Dynasty Boys in My-NPL Leg 2, he also won the 1st runners up position in the Division 4 category.

In my opinion, Sham is one of the upcoming and promising player in Singapore. He has lots of potential and is a fast learner, his attitude in listening and learning always gives him an edge over the rest. Always ready to fill up the bunkers, Sham is an exciting player to watch.

Random SPNS Leg 2 2009

Found these photos and I am very sure, most if not all of the teams are looking for these. Feel free to rip them off this blog but please credit them to "Red Dynasty Paintball".

Well done Singapore Paintball Teams!


PBAS Referees

Ares

Kamikaze

Mid Life Crusaders

Wargh!Cooks

Seek and Destroy

Dark Militia

Death Mavericks

Contract Killers

Singapore Paintball Novice Series (SPNS) 2009

Singapore Paintball Novice Series (SPNS) 2009 Leg 2 – Pasir Ris Park, Native Lawn

Bringing Paintball to the Hearts”

For the first time in Singapore, a competitive paintball tournament was held beyond a licensed paintball centre in Singapore. Established in 2008 and organized by the Paintball Association (Singapore), PBAS, SPNS 2009 Leg 2 sets its foot on a national park located in the eastern coast of the Singapore’s shores, Pasir Ris Park. Supported by the Singapore Sports Council and the National Parks Board, this leg of the competition saw 13 paintball teams vying for Singapore’s top paintball honour. With the slogan of “Bringing Paintball to the Hearts”, the objective of organizing the competition in a public park allows PBAS to showcase the sport of paintball to the heart of the community. This is also the first time that a 5-men competition format is adopted in the SPNS as compared to the previous legs of a 3 men and 4 men format.

Introduced to Singaporeans in 2008, competitive paintball otherwise known as speedball is increasingly gaining its popularity in Singapore. Efforts by PBAS to promote this sport have been significant with roadshows in tertiary institutions such as Singapore Polytechnic and Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Singapore Polytechnic has also recently become the first Singapore institution to introduce the sport of speedball to its students and armed with the intention of establishing a paintball club in the school.



Another historical event is the conduct of the Malaysia Marshal Level 1 marshalling certification course for 6 local paintball referees by Mr. Junaidi Khalil who is the Head Referee in Asia with marshalling experiences in the Asia Paintball Invitational Tournament 2008 in Kao Hsiung, Taiwan and the Asia World Cup since 2007. "The Certification Course helped to raise the competency of many of the new recruits to local refereeing" added Benedict Chen, a second year student from the National University of Singapore who took on the Head Referee role during the SPNS. Indeed, the certification course and cross learning between the Singapore and Malaysia marshals helped to unify the conduct of the sport with similar regulations across the borders.

Team Red West who was the champion team in leg 1 of SPNS 2009 managed to defend their title by clinching another champion medal in this leg of the competition. With 3 of its players playing for the Red Sevens team, a Singapore Division 3 team participating in the Malaysia Paintball Official Circuit (MPOC) and Malaysia National Paintball League (MY-NPL), the Red West team displayed immense teamwork and proficiency to qualify for the 1st position during the 8 qualifying games and eventually winning the title. Five-O, participating for the first time in the SPNS took home the 2nd position after a series of impressive games against some of the top sides in the series such as Kamikaze and Dark Militia in Round 2 of the tournament. Last leg’s runners-up, Contract Killers, concluded the day with a 3rd position placing and Dark Militia claiming the 4th position. One of the most exciting segments of the tournament was the “Top Gun” Division where teams would send a representative to compete in a 1-on-1 paintball game where spectators of the event were involved in delivering sideline coaching. The “Top Gun” Division is a test of a player’s individual skills and of his ability to cope with the immense pressure of the match under the eyes of a crowd. This leg’s “Top Gun” Division was won by Sean Low, a student from Pei Cai Secondary School who has been playing paintball as a competitive sport for more than 2 years. His team the Death Mavericks was in 3rd position after the qualifying rounds.



“We have seen vast improvement in the level of the game. Participants are getting more skilful and technically sound as compared to last year. To continue developing paintball, we’ll need the local authorities to reconsider the classification of paintball markers as a firearm but as a sporting equipment, similar to a foil in fencing, a bow in archery or a bat in softball” exclaimed Jane Koh, President of the Paintball Association (Singapore) who is also the Tournament Director since the dawn of the SPNS. While many consider this event as a big leap for Singapore paintball, there are still many aspects of the sport that needs to be addressed to develop this sport into a mainstream sport. Through awareness program and paintball clinics, this sport will soon do away with the common branding of being “jungle-game, painful or just plain shooting”.

Official results of SPNS 2009 Leg 2 can be found in, www.weplaypaintball.com/SPNS.html

Article is contributed by Ben “King”, a paintball enthusiast and promoter in Singapore.

Photos courteosy of Tilt, www.tilt.com.sg

Singapore Paintball Novice Series 2009 Leg 2

This poster is designed by Darren Leow from Team Kamikaze. Thanks for helping with SPNS!

SPNS 2009 Leg 1

Once again, we have a new Champion for SPNS - Red West, a team comprising of 2 American boys (Zach and Ryan) and 2 local boys (Gerald and Vincent). Zach and Ryan are not new to paintball, having played some rec ball back in their hometown and playing for Red Sevens in some MPOC legs, these boys have a pretty good understanding of the regional standards of play. Emerging from the pot is Vincent, a total newbie to paintball. He was scouted for his speed and size but when it come to strategies, tactics and knowledge to the game, this pettite man is simply lost. Kudos to him for having to undertake such steep learning curve. Gerald whom many touted as the next "BIG" thing in local paintball played for Red West too. Gerald also won the Top Gun competition (1 on 1) during the halftime show.

Contract Killers bagged the 2nd position. These boys have come a long way since playing in their first SPNS tournament. Aaron who is a new addition to the team surely adds up to the offensive power to the killers. Led by Benguin (captain of the team), the killers made their way to the semi finals with 5 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses. The afternoon sun indeed has an effect on their impressive start when they were clinching all 5 games before lunch break. Contract Killers beat Dark Militia to clinch the final spot.





Dark Militia under the leadership of Grant (playing with Wargh! Nuts in this leg), did an almost impossible task. What planned to be a fun session for the "new kids on the block", these men came out with an astonishing results to win the 3rd position. The last time this happened was in SPNS 08 Leg 3 where a group of mid-life gentlemen formed a team and called themselves the "Midlife Crusaders". But what was entirely different about the 2 teams was that the former was only formed less than 3 weeks ago and had less than 4 official trainings. So really...in paintball, anything can happen.


Wargh! Nuts who has a 100% record showing in the SPNS since its intervention did a 4th position. Lady luck was not their side as they were forced to play a 1 on 1 game with Red West in the Semi Finals to determine which team will go through to the Finals after coming back to win Red West in the 2nd game of the Semi Finals.

The rest of the other teams also displayed their best during the tournament just that luck is sometimes anybody's game.

In my opinion, I feel that the standard of play in local paintball has improved since we first started. Teams are starting to have their own identity (on and off field), within the teams, they are slowly forming with that bit of luck and training, they will soon be performing. But indeed, we are proud to say that the level of play in the SPNS has indeed improved. With this, I am also urging our local boys (girls included too) to take part and compete in the regional tournament, only with this are you able to relate your playing experience with others who are also keen to take up paintball as a regular sport. I have once mentioned that our local boys will perform in the lower division (3rd or 4th) of regional tournaments given the fundamental training that they have acquired in Singapore and I do stand by this statement again after seeing how the SPNS has developed.




Of course, in any tournament or competition, there are winners and there are losers. It is almost similar to working life, some are successful and are struggling to make ends meet, but its how well we take winning and losing. As a sportsman (not referring to myself, so no flaming), winning and losing is part and parcel of something bigger and greater. You need to have tasted losing to appreciate the finest of winning, so its a cycle.

In this leg of the tournament, we have gone back to when we first started, getting our own local refs to do the job. I must say, its a job that is done fairly good, surely not the best refeering that I have seen but definitely good enough. There are good calls and there are bad calls, so its how we understand from the different perspectives. Kudos to our local referees for your time and effort. Its a thankless job some might say... you are not paid for your effort and you get some rather "unfair" comments about job but let's not forget that in all the paintball rules (even up to international ruling), the regulations are always in favour of the ruling body, did anyone noticed that? Do you know if you are hit on the harness and you dont feel it the hit and if the refs saw you playing... thats a 1 for 1 call? Yes, you can explain that you dont feel it... you dont know that you are hit, but its the rules. Yes, I do agree that there are some strict calls during the game but would anyone be rather playing under lenient ruling? That's where you get even more disputes.

Lastly, I would like to thank everyone that is involved in the planning and participation of the tournament. Its not a one day effort, the planning, the sourcing, the forming, the training...