Singapore paintball teams make history in MPOC 2011

Singapore teams look forward to making another milestone for paintball in Singapore. In March, there will be a total of 11 Singapore paintball teams heading to Malacca for the Malaysia Paintball Official Circuit (MPOC) 2011 Leg 2, making this one of the biggest showing for Singapore contingent in an overseas tournament. Held in Dataran Palahwan, Malacca, the MPOC will be played in one of the best playing fields in Malaysia. Located above a mega mall comprising of more 100 retail stores, paintballers can sipped coffee while waiting for their games to start. Among other shopping areas near to the field is the famous Mahkota Parade and Malacca's distinctive Jonker's Walk where the night market is robust as the night comes alive!

In collaboration with the Singapore Paintball Series (SPS) since 2009, the MPOC has come a long way in the support of Singapore paintball teams and has finally seen these investments flourish into good returns. The MPOC has supported winning teams of the SPS with free berth to the World Cup Asia 2009 and 2010. All Singapore teams which registered with MPOC also receive 50% discounts for their participation in 2010. With a possible good turnout in MPOC Leg 2, the MPOC has set a name for themselves as the most popular overseas paintball league for Singapore teams! With good infrastructure and a taste of international competition for teams arriving from Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, the MPOC continues to outshine the rest.

The Singapore Paintball Series (SPS) will continue to work with the MPOC to improve our local league and continue to provide a competitive platform for all our local paintballers! The following teams will be representing Singapore for the upcoming MPOC Leg 2:

Division 2: Red Sevens, ZOO

Division 3: Red Sevens II, ZOO Militia, Karma

Division 4: The Outlaws, Dare Devils, Rag Dolls, Raving Lunatics, Black Ops, iScreamWar

Red Sevens in MPOC Division 2

Red Sevens from Singapore played in the Malaysia Paintball Official Circuit Division 2 two weekends ago. This is also the first time a Singapore based paintball team has played in the Division 2 category. With the change of game format in MPOC (raceto2), "speedball" has a new meaning to the team. Re-joining the team is Azlan who was absent for a year (playing in My-NPL with Wolverines). We would like to thank all who have supported the team since 2006 without you, there will be no Red Sevens... for the many many years of paintball, cheers! Next up... Reds...

How is it affecting Singapore paintball?

Foods for thought... recently, there has been a calling for a unified federation for paintball in Malaysia. Basically, it is a recognized federation with sole purpose of promoting and developing paintball in Malaysia. This federation will be recognized by the National Sports Council and eventually a mainstream sports in Malaysia which youths can participate the sport in school and continue to play the game when they are into their adulthood while participating in what we call "THE" recognized national competition...

When it comes to deciding who should run this unified federation, everyone has their own personal view. BUT, personally, I think the answer is pretty clear. The federation should be run by the people who has brought Malaysia paintball to where it is today. To be honest, I am really happy for all Malaysian paintballers and paintball in Malaysia. With the recognition of paintball as a mainstream sport across the region, I am hoping that Singapore governing authorities can cut the red tape for our local paintballers to participate this sport in accordance to how it is done internationally, in this case, 1) paintball marker possession similar to a sporting equipment 2) declassification of paintball marker from the firearms act.

Last year, there was a tournament that was organized by a Malaysian organization known as the MPA (details of the tournament, Flora Festival), to be really honest, it is one of the most glamourous event that I have ever attended, there were 4 professional teams, there were hovercrafts shooting confetit in the air during the opening ceremony, there was a band playing music during the teams march pass, there was a stadium that was cater for this event. The food that was served throughout tournament days is free (seafood dinner, BBQ dinner, buffet breakfast, etc), the accomodation was free, the travel expenses (ferry and bus tickets) were free, we were playing with new JT bunkers covered by new professional paintball nettings and even the paintballs were free (we were given 5 boxes of paintballs). All we need to do is to show up for the event! What a good deal for any paintball team!!! The only thing about this tournament was that no one knew who the organizing committee was. I mean of course, we had to ask around... but the only reply that we got was "Its the MPA". I mean what more can I ask for when the event is 100% totally free! So we didnt really pursue it...

Please dont get me wrong, I am not saying that this event is not good or anything but in fact, it is one of the most organized tournament that I have ever attended. The organization of the event was fantastic, we even have a liaison leader who will cater to any of our queries, and show us around the place...

I was told that this organization apply for some government grant and was given loads of money to organize this event. I am not surprised given that the Malaysia government and the state government are fully behind this sport. But honestly, that was also the last time that I have heard from the MPA. Rumours had it that its a one off event...

With the recent "hoohaa" about a National Federation for paintball in Malaysia, one of the main focus will surely be the fundings and recognition from government. Surely, I would like to see the people who are driving paintball to get this funding because it is what they deserved for putting in the effort to plan, organize, develop and promote the sports in Malaysia. But I would also like to see that this funding is put into good use in driving for a common regional body who can not only promote paintball in Malaysia but also be a driving force for paintball in Asia. Some suggestions perhaps:

1) Statistics research - Research are important. Its the basis of putting everything that is wrong to right. A good research for paintball can cover areas such as statistics research for paintball safety. Not only will this research be used by paintball association or bodies across the region to develop paintball in their respective countries. But most importantly, it is backed by a registered, recongized and reputable paintball body that can be recognized by the local government.

2) Coaching aids - While majority of the paintballers I know learnt their skills from a fellow paintballer or watching videos on the internet. A structure paintball coaching aid is need to ensure that the fundamentals of paintball coaching is recognized. Yes, it takes a lot of time to come up with this coaching aid but it is also a piece of good material to get most if not all of the people doing the right thing.

3) Good refereeing body - This has always been the toughest to achieve. A good league can only be consider good if there is a good governing body for refeering and continuous development of referees in the region.

4) National representation - As per any team sports, there is always a national representation, in this case refers as a national team. The national team should only comprised of paintballers from the respective country based on their nationality. All paintballers know that there is no such thing as a national team but there are more pros than cons to forming one. With a national body, the association of the respective country is responsible for developing such a team and thus the due recognition from the paintball community, clubs and teams. The national body will also be able to lobby support from their respective sports council when it comes to funding the national team. National trials and selection can also be formulated. To continue developing the national team, the association is responsible for youth developments and awareness. So when will this national competition be held? Well... the World Cup perhaps? Let's put it this way... any good paintballers who already have a team will be playing in the World Cup. So they will be there anyway... a separate tournament in the World Cup where only national representative can play to represent their countries can help to determine the regional powers and grow the sport in the region. This could be done in a race to 2 or 3 format X ball style. This is nothing new as there are seperate tournaments in the Millenium competitions too, like the Activision Cup, the Intercontinental Cup, etc. The idea of formulating this tournament is to get the national bodies to be involved thus giving the sport the recognition it deserved.

I am hoping for more paintball awareness... more awareness means that paintball is more recognized in the region. One day, we will all hope for reply like this...

A: I play paintball...

B: Woah...I have heard of that... tell me more

instead of

A: I play paintball

B: Ohhh...pinpall

or

A: I play paintball

B: Ohhh...very painful leh!!! and expensive and I got no army uniform to play in.

or

A: I play paintball

B: What is that?

As the great man says: SOKONG SOKONG!!! from the Singapoeans!

Red Sevens - MPOC 4th Leg Podium Finish

Historical win for the Red Sevens in 4th Leg of the Malaysia Paintball Official Circuit (MPOC) 2009. This is the first MPOC 3rd Division podium finish for the Singapore based team since participating in the league in 2007. With this win, the Red Sevens added another win to the recordbook of the Red family with podium finishing in My-NPL with Red Dynasty Boys (Div 4) and Red West in SPNS.

Red Sevens would like to dedicate this win to all the people who have given us your support since our intervention.

Special mention to our sponsors - Dye Asia, KCHL, Furious Lotus Barrel, Red Dynasty Paintball.

Special mention to teams - XFox, Lemon Ruskies, Matrix Entourage for your equipment support and words of encouragment.

Lastly to our Red Sevens teammates (past and present), for without you, there will be no Red Sevens. Kudos to all of you!

We will continue to do our best to maintain the current form.

From right to left (Seburo, LiquidSnake, Edi, Junadi, Paul, Elle and King)

Thanks Stanley for the photo.

Red Sevens Random

"I swear to god" The best Red Sevens lineup ever... maybe not...hmmm...


Our sponsored Furious Barrels..."I swear to god" they shoot well!!!!


"I swear to god" he was singing and dancing...


"I swear to god" he is picking a song and not something else...

"I swear to god" we felt as though we won the championship...

"I swear to god" he is better in paintball...

"I swear to god" Ryan is of legal age and drinking Jolly Shandy...

"I swear to god" he is in shape...round is a shape.

Red Sevens clinched 4th position in MPOC Leg 2

After 2 days of gruelling competition, 18 games in total, 19 boxes of paintballs... Red Sevens finally clinched the position of the "first loser", 4th position in the Malaysia Paintball Official Circuit (MPOC) Leg 2. Usually refers to the 2nd position, the "first loser" title goes to Red Sevens for not taking any prizes home and spending as many paintballs as the podium finishers. Day 1 of the competition saw all Division 3 teams playing 4 games each. Without breaking our usual curse of losing the first game, we lost the game to Marauderz and went on to win the next 3 games against Hoodlum, Apache and Lund69. The day ended before lunch break and luckily, we were on our way back to the hotel before the thunderstorm arrived. As the usual saying goes "MPOC will not be the same without any rain..."

Day 2 - and the team has to go on full throttle to build on the good results in Day 1 . We were scheduled to play a total of 6 games in a span of 2 hours...which make people wonder what is wrong with the scheduling??? (point of consideration no.1) Never mind that... Day 2 was a little more challenging, we had games with our sister team, Damnation, Dark Angels, Urban X, Holydivers, Ghost Destructo and Eastsiderz. The end result...won 4, drew 1 and lost 1. We went down 5 points in the match against Damnation. Kudos to them...

Edi has to leave for Singapore after 2 games in Day 2... his absence was clearly missed when we had little option to play a double dorito game. After the qualifying rounds, we were in the 4th position and into the top 16 round. This leg had 19 participating teams, top 16 teams qualified for the next round. One team never show up on the 2nd day and lost all their points. So there were actually 18 participating teams...and to only drop the last 2 spots for a top 16 round was simply "money wasting". In Leg 1 of the MPOC, there were 15 participating teams and 12 qualified for the next round. In this leg, we had 18 teams and 16 teams qualified!!! All you need is to win 2 qualifying games in all 10 games to qualify...come to think of it...it just doesnt make sense. This is not considering the fact that there is still a quarter finals, semi finals, finals, 3rd/4th placing game that teams have to go through. Which the latter two game was supposed to be the best of 3 games but it never happened. The final game was played in the dark... perhaps if this was the case for next leg... where there are more than 18 participating teams, perhaps we should just stick to the top 12 teams to qualify or perhaps consider using paintballs that glow in the dark (point of consideration no. 2).

In the round of top 16, we were grouped with Urban X, Dark Angels and PPS Syndrome. We top the team with 9 points and proceeded to the quarters and for the third time we had to meet Dark Angels and Oscar Legio X and Ghost Destructo. We came in 2nd and before we knew it...we were the top 4 teams in Div 3. This was also the first time that we have gone so far... a top 4 finished was indeed pleasing until we had to face Team Bellicose in the Semis. I am starting a new paragraph because this happens to be the most exciting part of the whole tournament.

Firstly, they had an ex or current (I am not sure) Div 1 player starring for them... which makes me wonder if there was any screening done. As far as I know, any player who have played in Div 1, are not allow to play in Div 3... okay....never mind that...its all good. Then came the game of indecisiveness and cheating... its okay to cheat in paintball.... as long as you are not caught by the ref, you just play on and get away smirking on your "wrong doings". So you have done the right thing... and that is to cheat but dont get caught, cheating even in a feature in the NPPL Championship Xbox game...so its okay to cheat a little in paintball.

What I am pissed about was the fact that this was done under the noses of 3 referees and none had seen him cheat! WOW! Surely a good cheater... To make the referees took back their calling from a normal tradeoff to a "1 for 1" with his protest was the pinnacle... Come on be fair will you? ... you dont call a player out and after his protest changed it to a "1 for 1". What is this? Where is the decisiveness? (point of consideration no. 3) While all these were ongoing, the flag was hang too! And of course, we respected your indecisiveness and the game was eventually decided in a 1 on 1. We lost the game. We respected your decision but not the results. If that dishonest guy had claimed that he had shot my player first, well okay.... but in the midst of his complain, I shot him out too. So where is the 1 for 1? Its a simple tradeoff...

The tournament was concluded with a 3th/4th match against the JB Syndicate and they won the game gracefully.

Thanks to all who have supported us during the MPOC, special mention goes to Daniel from Lemon Ruski, the bispectacle player from PPS Syndrome (sorry I dont know your name but you have been cheering us on), Reuben from Hoodlums for arranging for our transportation back to the hotel, Rudi the scorekeeper who came to us and congratulated us on our "winnings" though we didnt really won, you guys have given us continuous support and all the belief... Cheers!

Until next MPOC? maybe not...