Rumours and news for Singapore paintball

1) A few local paintball teams are getting ready for the Singapore Paintball Series 2012 Leg 1 in June 2012 by securing their paintball markers with Paintballers World. This is a sign that more teams from Singapore will be playing in international paintball events in 2012-2013.

2) Top local paintball team, Red Sevens secures a $5000.00 cash sponsorship through Cherry Credits and will be participating under the banner as Cherry Credits Red Sevens. A completely new team will be featured and will compete as early as March. A few new players will be introduced by April 2013.

3) PBW made an announcement last week featuring a paintball sponsorship program for up to 5 special individuals. Having supported local teams such as The Outlaws, Blitzkrieg, Heartbreakers, A.C.E.S and Red Sevens, this sponsorship program will be awarded on individual basis. Keep a lookout for more news on the facebook page of Paintballers World.

4) At least 9 local paintball teams will be participating in the Johor Paintball Straits Paintball Cup 2012. More information can be found on http://www.facebook.com/groups/sirjohorcup/.

5) Not much news has been heard about the Singapore Paintball Series 2012 Leg 1 as the SPS Committee is looking out for a new venue for the event. If all things goes well, the local community will be introduced a totally new venue with great view of the Singapore skyline.

Watch "Act of Valor" Movie for FREE!

Red Dynasty Paintball Park in partnership with Golden Village Singapore presents FREE movie tickets and FREE paintball game packages for up to 10 persons! This is one of the best movie deal to date and is open to everyone! Just last week, 10 pairs of movie premiere tickets were given away to fans of Red Dynasty Paintball Park when they took part in a mini facebook contest by naming the launch date of the movie and this week, both parties took a step further by giving away 60 movie tickets to customers of Red Dynasty Paintball Park! This is part of the initiative to award game organizers who took the effort to organize paintball games for their friends! WHAT A DEAL! For more information, please visit www.facebook.com/RedDynastyPaintball

About Red Dynasty Paintball Park

Red Dynasty Paintball Park was established in 2007. It is currently the biggest paintball park in Singapore. With 3 playing fields and a shooting gallery, Red Dynasty Paintball Park caters to the best paintball teambuilding experience for schools, corporate organizations and for friends and families. Located in Bottle Tree Park (Yishun), Red Dynasty Paintball Park is only 10 minutes walk away from Khatib MRT which provides great accessibility to everyone! Participants can take part in other activities such as remote controlled car racing, long kang fishing and prawning and other fun and exciting activities for people of all ages. Red Dynasty Paintball Park is also the most frequent paintball place for competitive paintball players. This is where competitive paintball was introduced and brought into Singapore in 2007. Many paintball teams that you see today have train and practice in Red Dynasty Paintball Park making it the best place to learn the art of playing paintball. There are paintball coaches who will guide you along and teach you the basic fundamentals of playing paintball just like when you first attended school! For more information, please visit www.weplaypaintball.com

Pictures published belong to rightful owner.

How much does a paintball marker (gun) cost in Singapore?

Thought that this might be an interesting awareness entry so that everyone is aware about the cost of a paintball marker (gun) in Singapore. I have heard this so many many times and thought that it might be good to clear the air so that everybody is on the same page. From hereon, I am going to use the word "gun" instead of "paintball marker" so that it will be easier for you to relate to this topic though in the world of paintball, the word "marker" is often used for the promotion of the game to mummies and daddies. We wouldn't want to see a kid relating his paintball experiences with his family using words such as "guns", "kills", "dead", "bullets". While some might disagree with the use of these industry naming convention, we are pretty clear about our direction for paintball which is to make it more welcoming for everyone to play. Paintball is after all one of the safest activity in the world!

But isn't it illegal to possess a paintball gun in Singapore? Yes, you can't own a personal paintball gun in Singapore. I hope this does not kill your interest to continue reading this article as I am about to share with you what if it is entirely legal to possess your own personal marker in Singapore? Not that it is already legal (though we were very very close...) but WHAT IF....

Before doing that, let us take a step back to understand that if this regulation does change, it doesn't mean that you can own the world. It only means that you can individually possess a personal paintball gun in the eyes of our law enforcers. So what does this really mean for you? Firstly, congratulations, the paintball gun is now lawfully yours. So what's the catch now? Simple... you are now entirely responsible for your paintball gun, meaning if it is stolen, damaged or lost, you are the main man who is now responsible for its safekeeping, repairs and whereabouts. Spiderman says "With great powers come great responsibilities". Surely, there will be terms and conditions that you will have to follow since you are now the licencee of your own personal paintball gun. Let me remind you again that a paintball gun is considered as a firearm in Singapore so quit asking if you are able to take your paintball gun home and keep it at there. I am sorry but it doesn't work that way. But surely, this might be a redundant condition in years to come but we'll never know what lies in our future.

This exact question was asked: "I want to own a Dye NT, let me know what you can do for me? I have budgeted $800.00 for it". No offence to this question, it is definitely legit. So what must you know about owning a paintball gun in Singapore, IF it really happens for us. I am also going to draw a comparison to our daily activities so that it will be easy for everyone to comprehend.

1) Membership. To possess a paintball gun in Singapore, you will need to be a registered member of the paintball field. There is a annual membership fee. Taking Red Dynasty Paintball Park (www.weplaypaintball.com) for example, this paintball field has an existing incentive membership program for regular players which cost $150.00 per year and $95.00 for subsequent renewal. Being an incentive program, regular players pay for discounted game packages at the paintball field. The common question: "Cannot you not be a member but purchase a paintball gun in Singapore?" The answer is, not possible. This is a directive.

Comparison = You can only borrow books from the library if you are a member of the library.

2) Cost of a paintball gun. Simple, just google it. Pick up a calculator and multiply by a conversion rate. Add another couple of cents to round up a more realistic figure. For example, if the conversion rate is USD1=SIN1.29 (based on XE.com, 26 Dec 2011), add another couple of cents to these figures in relation to bank charges, credit card conversions, etc. A reasonable figure in will be USD1 = SIN1.35.

Comparison = Petrol prices that you pay for at the petrol station is surely different from the market value at the stock exchange.

3) Shipping charges. Unlike conventional postage charges. A paintball gun is a firearm as such it cannot be posted like a conventional mail. Charges include shipping, handling, registered mail and custom clearance. A good estimate for one unit of paintball gun is about $450.00. Again, this is just an estimate and might be cheaper or more expensive depending on your shipping agent and the quantity of guns shipped.

Comparison = Imagine yourself in the shipping business and you are shipping a fleet of cars into Singapore. Surely, you cannot do it through parcel post. Unforeseen charges such as GST, handling fee, delivery fee, etc do apply.

4) Licence fee. Unlike other countries, you will need to possess a licence for your gun and yes, you will need to pay for this licence. The cost of this licence is $220.00 for 2 years. Who do you pay this amount to? The governing agency of course, in this case, the Singapore Police Force. Consider it with 730 days (2 years), you are effectively investing $0.30 a day.

Comparison = In Singapore, you need a licence to do anything and everything.

5) Storage fee. Surely you are unable to keep a paintball gun at home so you will NOT be able to bring it home as such you will have to store it at a paintball field. A reasonable fee will be $150.00 a year which works out to be about $0.40 a day. Slightly more expensive than a packet of tissue.

Comparison = Just consider this as parking your car at a shopping mall. A space is allocated for your car and thus it is only reasonable that you are charge a fee for using the space.

So if you are still reading this article... let's do an example for a Dye NT11.

A Dye NT11 with a free Rotor cost USD1350.00 on the internet.

Membership = $150.00 (to the paintball field)

Cost of the marker = USD1350.00 x 1.35 = SIN1822.50 (to whom you buy the gun from)

Shipping charges = $450.00 (to the forwarding agent)

Storage charges = $150.00 (to the paintball field)

Licence fee = $220.00 (to the Singapore Police Force)

Total investment = $2792.50.

And say if you use this gun for a span of 2 years (which is a normal lifespan of a paintball gun), you will be paying about $3.87 a day. Yeah, we made assumptions that you have your own paintball tank.

Will you be ready when it is time to buy your own personal paintball gun?

Time of the year again... Paintball in Singapore

Let's take a look back for 2011 and make a quick assessment of the things that have happened for Singapore paintball. But before we go into that, I have attached an entry of last year's version so that we can make a quick comparison for 2010 and 2011, http://singaporepaintball.blogspot.com/2010/12/so-whats-next-for-singapore-paintball.html

I was hoping for 20 participating teams for WCA 2011 but we had 12 Singapore teams. Guess we didn't make the cut for 2011. One possible reason could be due to the expenses of travel since the WCA is not held within mainland Malaysia. If the dates are already locked in the calendar in the beginning of the year, there shouldn't be any doubt for non-attendance in Asia'a biggest paintball event. But hey, we can only improve from here and I don't speak on behalf of everyone.

So...what have we achieved in 2011? The Singapore Paintball Series was held over 2 legs in April and October. We managed to invite a government official to grace the tournament which is a first in Singapore. In addition, for the first time in Singapore history, we have a total of 38 participating paintball teams and among them are 2 overseas Division 1 paintball team from Malaysia. On the contrary, we had to cancel the Inter Tertiary Paintball Championship (ITPC), a paintball competition meant for tertiary institution at the beginning of the year and the SPS Friendship Cup which was organized to commemorate the good friendship within the paintball community. Both events were cancelled due to poor response which I felt was a waste considering the fact that paintball tournament is not a frequent come by in Singapore.

Year 2011 saw many local teams winning overseas honours for the local community and making their mark in overseas tournaments. As the saying goes: "Winning is a habit". To continue this winning trend, we must not forget about the hard work that has been put in. Winning a tournament is easy, defending the win and keeping it consistent is the harder part. Teams must continue to improve and train to better themselves if they want to continue the winning ways.

Unfortunately, the local community did not receive confidence from governing authorities in the possession individual of paintball marker; however, we remain highly positive that this will change in 2012. The question remains are we ready to embrace this change? I hope we are. I really hope so...

Where to buy paintball gear in Singapore?

Are you looking for the cheapest paintball in Singapore?

This might be one of the most common search phrase in the search engine. But if you are looking for paintball gear, look no further than Paintballers World located at One Commonwealth Building, 1 Commonwealth Lane, #03-03, Singapore 149544 (5 minutes walk from Commonwealth MRT). Established in 2009, Paintballers World is the only paintball proshop in Singapore that are managed by active paintball enthusiasts. Don't know what to get? Don't worry, all you will need to do is to ask! Visit their website at www.paintballersworld.com

*Paintballers World is having a festive sales from 1st - 31st Dec where more than 150 items are up on sales! Make use of its FREE 7 days local delivery service!

A Champion in everyone!

Ahmad winning the TPOC 2011

First of all, I would like to congratulate Ahmad Sophian commonly known as "Vandal" for winning the 2nd placing in Division 1 category of the final leg of Thailand Paintball Official Circuit 2011. Ahmad has come a long way in paintball... locally, Ahmad is also known for his leadership in Team Ballistics which also claimed the 2nd position in Open Division of the Singapore Paintball Series 2011 Leg 2. I have been thinking of writing this topic for the longest time and finally set some time aside. I am now in the US awaiting for the start of the Paintball Sports Promotion (PSP) event - World Cup. I would have never imagine coming to a PSP event a few years ago, let alone say becoming the first Singaporeans to play in a PSP World Cup event. In this event, 3 players from the Red Sevens team will be participating in Division 2 category with Team Tyranny (sorry guys, another paintball history...)

Me in the PSP World Cup 2011

2011 has been an amazing year to my paintball journey, I have been to places that I would have never imagine going if not for this crazy sport. Just this year alone, I have been to no lesser than 6 countries for paintball events and India being one of them... who would have think that I will go to India for paintball? sometimes, it amazes me too... Which brings about the point that I am going to raise: "How far are you willing to go for paintball?"

Ahmad Sophian is the most classic example... and to be really honest, I do see some resemblance in him as well (okay I am not talking about our complexion). As a pilot by profession, Ahmad started his interest with paintball while part timing in Red Dynasty Paintball Park and since then, his paintball journey has took him to countries such as Thailand, Philippines and Australia. In Singapore, Ahmad captained Team Ballistics but outside of Singapore, Ahmad has played with some of the most amazing paintball teams such as Rage City from Gold Coast, Australia, Team Hellborne from Thailand and even a fling with Red Sevens from Singapore in PALS Philippines. This guy is never afraid to play anyone or any team. All the talk about being divisional class players simply do not mean anything to him and does not exist in his dictionary at all. Ahmad has stepped out of his comfort zone to perfect his own paintball knowledge and take on anything that is being thrown to him and he has definitely done that! The more games that he has played and the more teams that he is being associated with, Ahmad brings these knowledge back to his team, Ballistics. You will be blind to have not observe that transformation in him. His willingness to take on whatever that is being thrown at him is nothing but admirable. Playing out of one's comfort zone can only make you a better player and thus allowing you to broaden all you need to know about the sport of paintball. Paintball is just like fencing... the more you fence, the better you will become. So, how far do you want to go? Ask yourself that question and ponder hard...

So here's to Ahmad, our local Singaporean boy, you have took the courage to play and you have seen the results you truly deserved. Well done!

Paintball in Singapore - Implement Change

A man once said "Change is at the very core of evolution and without it, all creatures would look alike and behave the same way"... wouldn't you agree? Where are we now for Singapore paintball? Are we already part of an evolution or are we at a standstill right now? Competitive paintball was first introduced to Singapore in 2008, 3 years of promotion and development; we now have a seasoned paintball series, the Singapore Paintball Series (SPS) (www.singaporepaintballseries.com) which caters to an active paintball community. There is an estimation of up to 400 regular paintball players in Singapore and about 30 active paintball teams. Progressively, we also have a group of dedicated referees who are passionate about developing paintball refereeing in Singapore. Many local teams and players have also taken on higher responsibilities by competing in overseas tournaments such as the Malaysia Paintball Official Circuit (MPOC), the Malaysia National Paintball League (MY-NPL) and Paintball Asia League Series (PALS) and delivered impressive results doing Singapore based teams proud in the regional circuit. These progressive changes to the local scene have been evident with overseas teams speaking well of Singapore’s increase participation and performance of local based teams in overseas tournaments. Unlike a few years ago where there were no paintball enthusiasts in Singapore, many things about the sport have changed and looks promising in years to come. While things may seem to have taken off, there are many areas that are still left untouched and under developed.

Paintball Association (Singapore), PBAS which was formed in 2007 has come a long way from formative days to the organization of Singapore’s first paintball tournament in 2008, the Singapore Paintball Novice Series (SPNS). The idea of forming an association was mooted with aims of creating awareness about competitive paintball in Singapore and to promote tournament paintball with a structural system complete with paintball refereeing and coaching. Meetings with the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) for SPNS looked promising with sponsorship reimbursement under the Sports Partnership Promotion Program in 2008 and 2009. Envisioning a progressive path to address the restriction on how paintball was being played in Singapore, the PBAS implemented the Basic Tournament Orientation (BTO) course for beginners to learn more about competitive paintball. The BTO was designed to allow beginner players to play without a center dividing line which was then a restriction under the Singapore Police Force. This regulation was abolished in late 2009 under the recommendations provided by EK Paintball which operates Red Dynasty Paintball Park and the support of PBAS to the Pro Enterprise Panel (PEP), a body set up by the Singapore government to facilitate unnecessary “red tapes” for businesses in Singapore. Alongside the BTO, the Basic Marshal Orientation (BMO) was also devised to promote and develop paintball refereeing in Singapore. A PBAS website was (www.singaporepaintball.org) also set up to allow the public to learn more about the history of Singapore paintball and the safety aspects of the game. On April 2010, the first non-elected group of committee which founded the PBAS stepped down from their roles and handed over to an interim committee to honour the association’s mission and goals of promoting and developing Singapore paintball. Due to several governance factors such as the declaration of annual returns and changing of members’ names, the handover process was delayed and was known to be officially handed over in July 2010. Actually a year since the handing over, a PBAS forum (www.singaporepaintball.org/forum) was established to gather likeminded people to discuss paintball. In March 2011, a meeting with the SSC was established and scopes of new directions were presented to the SSC by the interim committee. It was reported that the meeting was fruitful with immediate goals such as passing a newly edited PBAS constitution to be further approved by the Registry of Society. The calling for the formation of clubs and associations to support the PBAS structure were also discussed. In April 2011, an open discussion was convened by the PBAS to discuss further development. During the meeting, the newly drafted constitution was passed by the interim committee. Topics pertaining to the development of Singapore paintball were also discussed with modest representation from the local teams and representatives from the industry who were keen to find out more about Singapore’s paintball future. New faces were present during the meeting which signal good movement for changes. Discussions revolved around membership recruiting, formation of clubs and associations, coaching and refereeing, local event support and scenario paintball. The meeting ended with little conclusion on plans to change or modify existing paintball restrictions and developmental of the sport in years to come. While it may seem like a new wave of revolution is ready to take charge and change the way paintball is being played in Singapore and to create awareness for the game, actions remained unfold. Perhaps only time will tell if this committee will bring about changes to Singapore paintball.

In the midst of this growth is the rise of businesses and interest which seek opportunities in this growing industry in Singapore. Bunkerz Clothing (www.bunkerz.com.sg) a local set up which focuses on transforming paintball from a sport into a lifestyle product is taking shape and looked ever promising and set to launch their products in October. Paintballers World (www.paintballersworld.com), Singapore’s first paintball proshop launched its online store becoming Asia’s first online web store. Paintballersbuyme (www.paintballersbuyme.com) a local online entity seize the opportunity by providing another source of online retail service. Tour companies are starting to offer short day paintball trip to Malaysia with a scrumptious seafood dinner to end a day of fun. Evidently, more local teams are also taking on roles to organize paintball games and doing their part to create paintball awareness in Malaysia for Singaporeans. A group of Milsim paintball enthusiasts from Singapore even took on the role to organize a full scale milsim scenario game known as Project Milsim (www.facebook.com/groups/milsim) with a twist of difference from the usual shooting game with gaining popularity amongst the scenario paintball community in Singapore and in Malaysia. However, the real question remains: “Are we there yet?”

The developments of paintball as a sport in Singapore remain with many uncertainties and have not seen any significant or major progress in the last one year. This is apparent from the number of new paintball teams that are being formed in Singapore. There are many factors attributing to this dawdling growth such as cost of participation, opportunities of awareness, lack of interest, etc, the main reason behind this sluggish growth is the non-unified efforts to promote the sport in the way a new sports should be developed. Paintball is still and widely regarded as a recreational game by in Singapore, many people are unaware or have little knowledge about the competitive side of the sport. Numerous efforts to reach out to government organizations and schools remain status quo. Few were impressed with the growth and potential of the sport and often regard the sport as an expensive and meaningless shooting game. These misconceptions about the sport are often glorified by the same people who love the sport and affirm by their words to promote the game in Singapore. The popularity of Singapore mainstream sports such as soccer, table tennis and sailing often outweighs the attention that is much needed for new sports to grow and to develop in Singapore. The non-unification or existence of an international paintball governing body did not help in this “paper world” where support and sanction by a higher body or organization is deemed necessary for any proposal to the governing authorities. The fact remains that if nobody is stepping out to improve the current restriction and misconception, paintball could remain stagnant in years to come. Unlike most sports, paintball has only about 30 years of history when it was first played as a “survival game”. Tournament paintball using inflatables as obstacles was barely played a decade ago. With different governing laws in different countries, paintball can be developed in many different ways with different firearms restrictions. While millions of people from across the world has tried and played paintball at least once during a birthday party, a stag party, a company organized event or gathering amongst friends to allow individual possession of paintball markers seem too much to ask for with the local authorities. If marker possession is illegal in Singapore, how can this regulation be changed or reviewed so that the sport is not hinder by restrictions that are mean for the “real” firearms? This question continue to remain a mystery in the last few years even though it has been pondered by many but never really got down to the end of the road where changes are made or reviewed. The realistic truth is that this regulation might never change given the current status and rate of sports development in Singapore.

With these regulations that restrict individual possession of a paintball marker (gun), many local teams are pursuing their paintball interest out of Singapore by training and competing regularly in Malaysia. This does not come as a surprise as paintball markers are easily accessible in Malaysia with many paintball pro shops sprouting across the country making it convenient for anyone to pick up the sport. Hobbyist can visit a paintball proshop and purchase a paintball marker depending on his level of interest (scenario or speedball). Many fail to take note that while individual possession of paintball markers are considered as illegal in Malaysia, the authorities seem to comprehend the “Bigger Picture” behind the sport where community building and cohesion amongst the paintball community cannot be easily duplicated with mainstream sports. Paintball events in Malaysia are often very well supported by their local governing bodies and even the Royal Family! If only things were that simple in Singapore!

There is no refutation that strict regulations are important to regulate anything new and especially so in Singapore where any action must be justified with a purpose. However, the authorities and the sport council have failed to put their attention on the evolvement of the sport and adopting this sport with an open mind. By open mind, we refer to the general acceptance of the paintball as a mainstream sport. Surely with general misconceptions about paintball being a dangerous sport and the constant association with words such as “painful” and “bruises” does take a toll on anyone who wants to have a go at the game. Paintball as per any other sports in the world does have an element of risk during participation. Feeling painful and seeing bruises are just part and parcel of the sport. Being a non-contact sport, paintball does have a huge advantage over physical contact sports such as boxing, taekwondo and wrestling where cases of injuries amongst athletes are comparatively higher. While paintball might not qualify as a sport with elite status such as sailing, bowling, soccer where millions of funding are allocated to ensure sporting success, paintball as a teambuilding sport can exist in the area of mass participation where people can participate regardless of different ages, gender, religion, language and culture can co-exist and enjoy the sport in a common ground. Till today, paintball remains to be one of the very few sports where people of different skill sets can get together to compete and have fun. A family of 3 generations can enjoy a day of paintball together and foster relationship much to what the sports council are looking for. Paintball at its current state is unable to produce a world champion for the country but it does play a role in getting a community together. Peculiarly unique to the sport of paintball is the camaraderie and friendship out of the sport that you cannot duplicate in any other sports. As it is, recreational paintball still remain as a popular teambuilding game for corporate organizations looking for a little bit of fun out of their office.

Despite the fact that several local paintball teams are beginning to make a mark in international paintball events, little has been done to ensure sustainability of the game in Singapore. Limited playing fields and strict possession laws continue to be a stumbling block for this sport to grow in Singapore. Presently, majority of awareness and educational initiatives are spearheaded by the Singapore Paintball Series, a paintball event company that has been a pillar of support in the development of the sport in Singapore. Initiatives such as refereeing and coaching certification are initiated to cater to the development of the sport amongst enthusiasts. The company’s continuous effort in creating diversity for the sport amongst youth participants was complimented with free coaching lessons to support the formation of paintball as a CCA in tertiary institutions. One such institution which took on this opportunity to introduce new sports into its long list of school activities is Singapore Polytechnic where its students won accolades for their recent performances in an overseas tournament. However, not all efforts are rewarded with success stories as many cited the lack of funding, non-recognition as a National Sports Association (NSA) sport and no participation opportunity as reasons to reject applications. The same reasons have since surfaced when new CCA applications are submitted yearly by students (mostly year 1 students) who are introduced to the sport. The chicken or the egg causality dilemma? You decide...

Similar to the Formula 1 Grand Prix, the Singapore Paintball Series is a commercial sport event which leverage on the support of sponsorship and participation. A very big part of the league’s success is attributed to the ongoing development to encourage and introduce new paintball players into the sport with progressive development of skill sets. As a commercial company promoting a new sport in Singapore, the Singapore Paintball Series with its stakeholders such as athletes, paintball field operators, paintball pro shops, clubs and associations need to understand the commercial viability of these developments. Being commercially viable, companies involving in these developments will have a stake to play in order to witness the success of them taking the risks to grow the sport. With a trend of paintball enthusiasts bringing their presence overseas, it will be soon before local development become stagnant due to the lessen participation.

In a city with limited natural resources, land spaces in Singapore are scarce and highly valuable. The usage of state land under the land development blueprint is well envisioned with high commercial returns on property value. As a developed country with respectable Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and inflation growth, the economy of Singapore continues to remain strong as compared to many regional countries. Where paintball is concerned, the cost of participating regularly in this newly formed sport will unsurprisingly be higher as compared to playing the same sport in regional countries. Business operators with existing overheads and high rental cost will need to maintain a good balance between the developments of the sport versus the high cost of running organizing a tournament in Singapore. With proper governance and support from the governing authorities, more land spaces can be identified and be utilised to cater to the growing need of developing paintball as a sport in Singapore where rental are marginal to support the growth of the sport. But is this even possible?

Vision 2030, an initiative by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports encourages people from all sectors to provide their feedback and suggestions on how sports can be further developed for the future. This platform is open for anyone and everyone to suggest their views about Sporting Singapore. Many potential sports which often went unnoticed under the “Elite” status now have an opportunity to voice their opinion about how their respective sport can be developed and the obstacles they faced when promoting their favourite sport. Paintball sport is definitely one of the many sports which will be extensively mentioned in this movement and very well supported by the local paintball community. Surely, we can remind one another and highlight our grievances about our current horrific state of participation and the difficulties that we faced without the adequate infrastructure and playing equipment. But if we further examine this and walk another step to dwell on the possible recommendations that are much needed to improve the sport, wouldn’t we be asking ourselves what do we really need to make these changes and provide solutions for review instead of highlighting the obvious? Questions such as: “What do we really want?”, “What do we need from the governing agencies to help us promote this sport in Singapore?”, “What do we really need in order for us to compete like how it is done everywhere in the world?” What we want is to suggest recommendations for the current state of paintball sports in Singapore and move towards executing these suggestions. Annoyance and frustrations about the liberalism of the sport were voiced more than 12 years ago when the paintball game was first introduced. These are nothing new to local paintball enthusiasts. The question remains... what do we really want?

Many can mourn about cost, infrastructure and regulation for the longest time but do nothing... or they can start collating grievances into action and work around irregularities by recommending changes to authorizing agencies. If liberalisation in paintball ownership in Singapore can be approved overnight, if government state land available for paintball, if paintball is recognized as a mainstream sport in Singapore, if we are able to lower the age of participation, the question remains, are we ready to effect these changes? Do we have a common voice to bring us all together? A party which is free from biasness and the ability to envision the growth of paintball in Singapore perhaps... a body to unify all paintball operators in Singapore and to path the growth for Singapore paintball? If only things were that easy.

There is no quick solution to this problem but progressive steps can be taken to resolve this chicken and egg story.

Build a Vision: Set a vision for paintball to grow in Singapore. The outlook for paintball at this stage has lots of potential for growth. Ask yourself, what do you hope to see for Singapore paintball in years to come? Do you hope to see a regular community participating in the sport? Do you hope to see the relief of marker ownership restriction in Singapore? Do you hope to see several divisional categories of competition? Devise a blue print for the sport and work towards progressive implementation.

Change in Perspective: For many years since intervention, paintball has been associated with words such as “dangerous”, “painful”, “bruises”, etc, while these words are factual to some extent, many other words such as “fun”, “stimulating” and “challenging” can be used to describe the sport. When people are educated and aware about the positive aspects of paintball, mindset and perspectives will changed with more becoming less fearful of the sport. When more people play the game, this sport will naturally be more receptive, economies of scale can then be fulfilled with a larger playing population thus creating opportunities for business potential. Only with an open mind that does not withhold to beliefs and assumptions then are we able to channel implementation for changes.

Progressive Learning: Providing a competitive platform for enthusiasts to learn and to compete. Introduce a variety of skill sets for enthusiasts to improve in their game thus maintaining the motivation to learn, to compete and to win. Avenue of coaching and guidance must be available for players to learn about competitive paintball. Tournaments must be organized to validate skills that have been learnt so as to accomplish sense of achievement from competing. Clinics and workshops will provide a bridge for introduction to rookies to learn and have some fun in a non-competitive environment.

Partnership and Collaboration: Establish a healthy network for collaboration with experience bodies through knowledge sharing and creation of new ideas. Institute shared vision and goals by way of observation from reputable associations. Formulate mutual benefits and support through representation, publicity and marketing. Unification of paintball bodies and association of industries, businesses and agencies can then be attained.

So instead of waiting for miracles to happen overnight and wait for perception to change, Singapore paintball can both take baby steps with hopes of a makeover and embrace the current limitation or we can procrastinate, grumble and grieve about our short comings.

The writer, Ben Seow is from Singapore and an ardent fan of competitive paintball. Ben is a founding member of Singapore’s first competitive paintball team, Red Sevens which was established in 2006. From 2007 to 2009, Ben was an office bearer of the Paintball Association (Singapore). During his stint with PBAS, Ben established the Singapore Paintball Novice Series (SPNS) which is Singapore’s first competitive paintball tournament. The SPNS is now renamed as the Singapore Paintball Series (SPS) which Ben is the currently appointed as the SPS Tournament Promoter.

Paintball Pro Shop in Asia

Established since 2009, Paintballers World is Singapore's only paintball pro shop which caters to the progressive sport of paintball in Asia. The store's wide distribution range of paintball gears has helped many paintball enthusiasts to enjoy the game of paintball with the right playing attire. The store main goal is to provide every paintball players and fields in Asia with the widest range of paintball products. Based in Singapore, Paintballers World is the retail division of Extreme Sports LLP which businesses diverse from operation of paintball fields, organization of paintball tournaments and paintball retail business. Paintballers World's online website is Singapore's first paintball online website (possibly in Asia too) with customers distribution in countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Thailand.

Paintballers World is located in One Commonwealth Building, 1 Commonwealth Lane, #03-03, Singapore 149544. It is only 3 minutes walk away from Commonwealth MRT located in the central part of Singapore. For more information about Paintballers World, please visit www.paintballersworld.com

Paintball International India Open 2011

PALS Founder, Paul Lam

The Paintball International India Open 2011 was held on 26 – 27 March 2011 in the city of Bangalore, India. Organized by the National Paintball League (NPL), this is the first international paintball event held in India with 4 playing divisions: Open, Novice, Corporate and College. The NPL founder who orchestrated the event, Mr. Kiran Soans is also the leading man behind one of India’s most promising team, the NPL All-Stars. The NPL All-Stars which was officially formed in 2009 is no stranger to the Asia paintball scene. Participating in their first World Cup Asia 2009, the NPL All-Stars became the first India team to represent the country of India in their first Division 4 appearance. In 2010, the team participated in the Division 3 category and brought along with them the Bangalore All-Star, another team from India. Since their first Asia appearance, paintball in India has developed in their own unique way. The Paintball International India Open 2011 is an affiliated event under the Paintball Asia League Series (PALS) which has promoting partners in countries across Asia such as Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, China, India and Indonesia.

Team Xtioneers All-Star

2 players from Red Sevens (Singapore) Ben Seow and Jane Koh had a chance to partner Malaysia team, Team Xtioneers All-Stars to compete in this historical tournament. The team went on to win the Champion’s title by edging out the NPL All-Star in an exciting 9 game series with a scoreline of 6 – 3 and was crowned the “Maharaja of paintball” in this inaugural paintball event. More importantly, with the presence of Team Xtioneers in this event, created an opportunity for everyone to mingle and to learn from one another about the sport of paintball. Camaraderie was fostered and friendship was established during the event. PALS founder, Mr. Paul Lam was there to give his support for the event as he quoted during the opening speech: “With the constant development and support given by the India paintball community to the NPL, India will one day become an Asia powerhouse”.

The man who made paintball possible in India, Kiran Soans

Ben Seow who is a founding member of the Singapore Paintball Series (SPS), an affiliated league of PALS found similarities between the Singapore paintball scene with that of India. “For any paintball event to grow and to develop in any country, there must be a strong supporting base of players from the community. The most difficult part about developing paintball in any country is not the organization of events but the development of the complete player” exclaimed Ben. A “complete player” in this case refers to the changing of a player’s mindset from playing recreationally to participation of events competitively. During the course of change, there must be opportunities for skill development and feedback for improvement. Today, with more than 35 registered teams in the SPS, India can emulate Singapore’s progress where there was only 1 competitive paintball team in 2007. However, as firearm laws differ in both countries, it will be no time when India does the catch up to Singapore. The future for paintball is bright in India!

SPS Committee with Kiran Soans in India!

Singapore Paintball Series 2011 Release

Singapore Paintball Series 2011 Statement Release

Dear paintball comrades,

The initiative of creating a vibrant and robust paintball scene for the Singapore paintball community started when the Singapore Paintball Novice Series (SPNS) was first established in March 2008. A humble 3-on-3 paintball event participated by 7 teams using Tippmann A5 set the history for Singapore paintball. Together with the support of Red Dynasty Paintball Park, there were 3 legs of SPNS competition in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Working with the local authorities, the SPNS took a bold step to organize its first 5 men paintball tournament in the heartlands of Pasir Ris and West Coast in 2009, making SPNS the first paintball tournament to be organized out of a licenced premise. By 2010, the SPNS committee decided to forgo the “Novice” word in the original SPNS and revamped the series with a new branding the Singapore Paintball Series (SPS).

Together with 29 participating paintball teams spreading across 4 playing divisions and more than 25 industry sponsors, the newly revamped SPS 2011 took the local paintball scene to a whole new level. Supported by the Paintball Asia League Series (PALS) and Asia Refs, SPS 2010 showcased an Open Division category where participants engaged in the sport using electronic markers similar to international paintball competitions.

This year, the SPS continues to make big steps in the promotion of paintball in Singapore. Moving against the price inflation that is ongoing in Singapore and a worldwide price increase in the production of paintballs, the SPS has made a firm decision to further reduce the prices for paintballs in 2011. Working towards the economy of scale and the local support through participation, the SPS continues to contribute to our industry in hoping that one day; the sport of paintball can become mainstream.

SPS has also secured our event location early for this year and has identified Jurong Central Park (Leg 1) and East Coast Park (Leg 2) as the ideal location for SPS 2011. Jurong Central Park as one of Singapore’s newest park accompanied with the conveniences of retail shopping and public transport is an ideal location for the SPS. This is also the first time that the competition is organized in the most Western part of Singapore. East Coast Park which is Singapore’s most popular national park stands amongst the rest as one of the best locations for any sporting events to date.

Newly introduced to SPS 2011 is the Most Improved Team Award which recognizes the most improved team in both the Open and Novice Division. Teams will be identified as the "Most Improved" as we compared their team's performance with their previous event result. In addition, the SPS will be rewarding all 4th placing teams across all divisions with a token of appreciation for their persistent fight through the Semi Finals and the 3rd/4th placing game.

As the SPS continues to improve on its organization and infrastructure, we recognized the need to raise the playing standards of the SPS as more local teams represent Singapore to compete in overseas paintball tournaments. Since establishment, the SPS has always been a “close door” paintball event where only participants who are working or residing in Singapore are allowed to participate in the SPS. This formula has always remain crucial and significant in our formation years as we built the foundation for our series with levelled playing standards amongst all participants. Moving into SPS 2011 Leg 1, the SPS would like to take another step to allow each team to register up to 2 foreign players in their lineup. We believe that with this small change, the SPS will raise our competition bar as we work towards a full fledge international tournament in years to come and to foster a good relationship with players from other countries.

On behalf of the SPS committee, I wish you all the best in the participation of the SPS and may the camaraderie of paintball continue to nurture on and off the playing field. The SPS can only be as successful as the support that is given by our local paintball community.

Thank you.

Ben Seow

Founder of the Singapore Paintball Series
Co-Tournament Director

Singapore Paintball Series 2011 Leg 1 will be held on 16 & 17 April 2011 at Jurong Central Park. For more information, please visit www.singaporepaintballseries.com