SPNS Random

Photos taken by Tilt, tilt.com.sg. Please credit Tilt if you want to use these photos.

Singapore Paintball Novice Series 2009 Leg 3

After 2 days of field set up in West Coast Park, the Singapore Paintball Novice Series went smoothly with no major hiccups. Congratulations and thank you to the people who are behind this tournament, staff of the Red Dynasty Paintball team, the "Ironmen" (people who laid the field), the referees, the volunteers, the photographers, the sponsors and the players of course...

One of the staff told me that one player asked him: "The field seems to be dry, just wondering if you guys will be watering the field before the start of the game?" In my mind, I was thinking "Nah... we wouldnt be doing that". In fact, I was eager to find out who this person was... so I decided to note this down and reminded myself to write it in the blog. That's Singapore paintball...

Well, the good thing is... someone up there heard his request and came the morning shower just before the 8 am mark and immediately, we all knew paintball was going to be fun that day. 12 participating teams for the last SPNS leg in 2009, a reasonable number indeed considering that there were a handful of new players and some of the "older players" (I used older because there are no divisional games in Singapore) who came back from retirement. All games were evenly fought and there were no simple walkovers. In fact, we have seen the most number of draw games in this leg of the tournament in the entire SPNS history, it could have been anybody's game.

Credits to Team X Factor who played with only 4 players throughout the day. It was certainly tough to be outnumbered but the desire to win was evident. The team defended well and made a few good kills... We had Red Bull girls this round... and yeah, most male participants seemed a little happier during the tech breaks, must be the sugar acting up on them. On the sidelines, Mr. J (Junaidi, PALS Ultimate Referee) told me that some players are playing very well and looked very seasoned... that's only a good sign for Singapore paintball.

4 semi final teams from SPNS Leg 2 came out tops again, Dark Militia, Five-O, Red West and Contract Killers... talk about consistency. Again, it was anyone's game. Dark Militia who only started playing in SPNS this year went home with the Champion's title for Singapore Paintball Novice Series 2009 Leg 3. Having came so close on 2 occasions, Grant (Houdini) sealed the win with an overhead shot over the centre 50s bunker.

Top Gun was awarded to Sharkil from Contract Killers though we would usually prefer a new face. So you know what I mean... Series title went to Team Red West for 2009. Elle concluded the event with a piece of good news for Singapore paintball, it was announced that the center barrier, a requirement in paintball field operation has been removed by the Singapore Police Force. Abolishing a requirement that was set out 10 years ago and convincing the authorities that paintball can be played safely in Singapore. We look forward to a more exciting 2010... spread the love and as Kiko always say: "Keep the fire burning..."

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

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...

First in the world!!!! Paintball in Singapore!!!!!

First in the world...that's how I call it. Paintballers from across the world. Let me introduce to you the world first paintball course for any beginners, newbies, noobies (whatever you call people who just started playing paintball) "Basic Tournament Orientation (BTO)". So what is this BTO? What is so special about the BTO? How is the BTO important to paintball in Singapore? Okay...here's the full picture of the BTO.


I am writing this and sharing the BTO...so that people from across the world will have a feel of how difficult is it for us (Singaporeans) to play paintball in Singapore. So you should be glad that you are driving 3 hours to the nearest paintball field for your usual practice on a sunny weekend. Its tougher out here...


The BTO as the name imply is also an orientation course for beginners to know about the importance of paintball safety. There is a regulation that is set by the local authorities and that is for all paintball centres in Singapore to have center dividing barrier when conducting any paintball games. This regulation is to ensure safety so that players do not get into physical contact with one another while playing the game. For the 2 years that I have played paintball....I have never gotten into any form of physical contact with any of my opponent except to shake their hands after a game to compliment them on the win or as a display of good sportsmanship. So it is almost impossible for any player to get into contact with your opponent while playing paintball...not unless you are playing elimination by touch (we saw that recently...hmmm, 3 kills, amazing). Thus, the rule of having a center dividing barrier to prevent physical contact does not justify its stand (to some extend...).


So in order to convince the authority that paintball is a safe sport (in fact, according to statistics, playing paintball is safer than playing golf or tennis, blar blar...I know some people will dispute this fact on the number of people playing paintball versus the number of golfers in the world....so based on distribution, this statistic is inaccurate...blar blar blar...I have heard this before, so lets move on), we will need to devise a way to determine who are the better players and who are the "not so good" players. Now, see this...(are you with me....?) most of the people have not heard of the word speedball...they have played paintball before...yes, but when it comes to playing speedball, it is usually their first time. So how then can we differentiate players who have gone through 5 sessions of paintball versus the guy who have just picked up a paintball marker because his neighbour introduced him to the game this morning. No way!!...are we able to differentiate that...but we can identify a player who understand more about paintball safety as compared to a total noobie...For example, putting on the barrel socks after the game and not removing the mask before he moves out and into the safety zone. Thus, the BTO is in fact an orientation to allow players to understand about paintball safety. TRUE?


And if a player understand safety...he is thus a better player (well in terms of safety), so he will be more aware of not coming into physical contact with his opponents (although this doesnt really happen during games). So a group of us...with the assistance from the people in Paintball Association (Singapore), PBAS, came up with the BTO! Viola! A test to determine if a player is "educated" in the game of speedball, well at least the rules of speedball and paintball safety...


The BTO is a test to determine if a player is competent to play without the center divider. And if he passed the test, he is then registered with PBAS as a registered player and thus to be allow to play without the center divider and play in paintball tournament in Singapore, in this case, Singapore's only paintball tournament, the Singapore Paintball Novice Series (SPNS). The BTO is comprised of 2 parts: 1) Theory 2) Practical. The theory part of the BTO is actually an hour lecture informing participants about the rules and regulation of speedball, the do's and don't's. E.g. What do you do when you are hit? Self check, hands on the head, walk out off the field through the shortest path to the deadbox. No talking behind the deadbox...and the list goes on. The practical part of the BTO (which is the more exciting part) is two game time experience in which we will test on situation awareness of the players, their ability to comprehend competition rules and their awareness on paintball safety. For this part of the BTO, there is a 20 points demerit system. If a player accumulates up to 20 demerit points, he fails the test and thus is not allow to play without the center line. An example of an immediate failure is when a player removes his masks after the call for "GAME OVER"...its game over for him too. For the records, we have failed one participant of the BTO so far...


We have recently made a revision to the BTO. To make it more challenging and for us to single out people who are totally unfamilar with the rules, we have changed the 1 hour lecture to a 50 multiple choice question written test. The test is set with 3 objectives in mind: Safety, Rules and Regulations and Situational Awareness. This has proven to be effective as we are able to identify participants who have zero knowledge about the game but is keen to take up paintball thus the ability to segregate players' competency.


Once you have passed the BTO, you are a registered tournament player in Singapore. Tough yeah?


You must be thinking....this is stupid...yes, I totally agree with you. I do...no doubt. But this is the closest we can get to playing paintball without a centre divider. Is this BTO effective? Oh yeah...field owners who are reading this...how many times have you shouted "PUT on the barrel socks!!!" or " Put that #$%^& mask ON!!!!" until you read about the BTO on this blog? And if you are keen to start this at your field for noobies who are keen to take up tournament paintball, trust me this is the way to go...to ensure safety. Can we do without the BTO? Perhaps....when paintball is an Olympic event and enough public awareness of the game. Yes. we can be like the rest of the other countries....But why not get your field, or country or association to follow what we are doing? Sounds stupid yes....but at least safety is ensure to some extend.


So to play speedball in Singapore....you need to get yourself BTO-ed. We have so far more than 150 BTO-ed players in Singapore...and counting...so its not that bad afterall.

Relationship between Singapore Paintball and World Cup Asia 08

With the World Cup Asia 08 drawing nearer, we will see the best paintball teams in the region flocking down to Malaysia to gain a spot in representation. Unlike other conventional sports, this event is not represented by national selected players but instead teams/clubs who are keen to take up the challenge to represent their countries. It is interesting to see the different representation from the various countries; teams waved the country flag up high with patches of the country flag sewed onto their jerseys. Players enter the field with a sense of pride. For example, at the end of the day, the game could well be remembered as "Singapore vs Malaysia" even if it was only a matchup between Red Sevens and Johor Pirates, this is the kind of representation that I am referring to. How is the World Cup Asia different from the other paintball tournament? I would say it’s a big difference...Literally, you are playing on the same field against the same team...but the difference lies in the "pressure to be the best in the region". It’s not so much of just being there to get represented but also to do well. The reason is simple, the world is watching... teams are going there to win...not to be represented. Team registration and paintballs are sky high, teams dont pay this kind of money to get representation. Only the seasonal teams will try and have a go at the prizes, new teams, dont even consider. But of course, the word is representation...

There is always a first time... yup, go there, try out games, be represented, have some fun, make friends, get some teambuilding done, meet some objectives, these are not for World Cup??? These are only suitable for seasonal tourneys, definitely not for the World Cup. There was a rude shock last year, when after playing for an entire year of seasonal tournament, the team decided to meet the bigger boys... we were amazed. Booted out of the tournament after Day 1, lost more games than we can even count. At the end, we had to fall back on "at least we are represented in this event" as our consolation.

Are Singapore teams ready for the rude shock? Definite NO. Why? Lack of play time, lack of tournament experience, lack of resources, lack of training, lack of a paintball culture, etc. Rude shock? Definite YES. This is the World Cup Asia that we are talking about...not some other competition.... I once said, Singapore teams will do well in Division 4....and we did. World Cup? NO for sure. Just be mentally prepared for the lobe-sided scores.

To all Singapore teams who are going for "representation", good luck and see you guys on the field. Cheers! Oh yes, remember to bring the Singapore flag along.

Bye 2008...Hello 2009!

We have concluded the Singapore Paintball Novice Series 2008. It was all fun.

The Overall Champion went to PSG Warfreakz, having participated in all 3 legs, 2 podium finish and accumulating enough points to pit everyone else, see them sitting comfortably at the top. Congratulation guys! You have made history. First champion of the SPNS!

Also, it was good to see the rise of another paintball team, Team Carnage which is led by Thomas Lee, the nominated MVP for Leg 2. Carnage has always been a formiable team, good in paintball fundamentals and obviously young and fast enough to make the dives and get into bunkers quickly. They have recruited a guest player, Sean from Death Maverick for this leg. I must say this is a good decision. Sean was playing paintball way before anyone else, before Thomas, before White Death was even formed, before there was Red Dynasty. I remember him wanting to play almost every weekend when he first hooked to the game. Young, humble, skillful... I would like to see how this young man can spur on the development of paintball in Singapore.

Little mentioned was this Leg's MVP, Faris who plays for Team R.A.G. Fine young body builder who just picked up paintball 3 weeks ago and there he was, recognized by the paintball community as the most valuable player for Leg 3. Fair enough... the other day, I was training Contract Killer on snapshooting and asked him to join us. This kid was amazingly accurate. While he still need some improvements on his stance. This guy is a natural...good on you mate! I could see the disappointment on his eyes when his team didnt make the cut to the 2nd round but there are so much potential.

We didnt get much media coverage for leg 3.

Kudos to redsports.sg for seeing the potential in paintball. I was actually quite disappointed that we only have a listing on TNP and nothing else. I was thinking maybe this time there are more things that could be newsworthy...but it doesnt seem like it. Never mind, we will continue to work hard to dispel your misconception about paintball.

I have heard this so many times, "Oh....paintball is not a sport" yah right! Next year, it will be in the World Games. If its not a sport, what about cup stacking? ballroom dancing? Anything can be a sport. Walking can be a sport. Just come and look at the intensity of how the game is being played. It is DEFINITELY, 100% NO DOUBT a sport. We have marshals, rules, fixtures, wins and losses...so how is it not a sport? I am confuse...all we need is a chance. So let us have it! A fair one please! So will it be a sport if we have a PALS Singapore next year? maybe, perhaps...

Anyway...here's to the paintball community in Singapore! We look forward to seeing all of you again for "SPNS 2009: Close to Heart"

Paintball in Singapore, the past and the present

Paintball in Singapore, the Past and the Present

Paintball was first introduced to Singapore in the year 1999. The first paintball facility (TAG Paintball) was established in the most eastern part of the city located in a family oriented resort known as Downtown East. This teambuilding game was somewhat similar to what many call “war” where two parties armed with paintball guns (commonly known as paintball markers in the paintball industry) go into the woods to shoot and “gun down” one another. As the famous phrase “no pain, no gain”, participants who are shot often left the game with bruise marks on their body after being shot at during the course of the game. With strict rules and regulations in Singapore, paintball markers have since been classified as firearm equipment. With the essential elements of teambuilding activity such as communication, strategizing and teamwork, the game of paintball has commonly been adopted as the game for all ages to “settle their differences” on the field. This has led to the establishment of 2 other paintball facilities in Sentosa (Power Paintball Park) and Toa Payoh in the late 90’s. However, these 2 establishments had to call it quits early as the cost of operating a paintball field in a land scarce country such as Singapore, is almost not the most cost effective business plan.

Since their closure, paintball was never in the mind of many Singaporeans and it became one of the most unheard of teambuilding activities with lurking myths such as expensive, army-liked, promotion of violence and the most important of all, dangerous. While it took 7 days to create earth, paintball development was in dormant for 8 years, all waiting for the right time to shed its skin. As Singapore moves towards national education, another paintball facility (Cross Fire) was established in 2005 on the western part of Singapore to allow Singaporeans to understand the importance of working together and if it fails so will our city.

While paintball was not potentially developed in Singapore for 8 years, its popularity is growing in numbers in most countries. With a growing number of participants every year, paintball has over the years become an activity that is suitable for people of all ages and different gender. The first paintball game was played in the woods with players dressed in camouflage uniforms spending an entire day out in the woods looking for “kills”. To create awareness and general acceptance of the game by the public, paintball has evolved from woods game into a team sports where many people are passionate about. Today, many people still begin their first paintball experience in the woods but move on the another evolution of the game otherwise known as speedball if they are more passionate in achieving well in the sports.

The first group of people who introduces speedball to Singapore belongs to a group of paintball enthusiasts who call themselves the Red Sevens. Since their formation, they have conducted numerous paintball awareness games and the promotion of paintball as a sport to many Singaporeans. Due to the lack of speedball facility, the team has to travel to Malaysia to practice and learn the game. Red Sevens represented Singapore as the first speedball team by participating in the 2nd Leg of Malaysia Paintball Official Circuit in 2007. Singapore also received its first international representation when Red Sevens was invited as the only Singapore team to participate in the Asia World Cup 2007 and the NPPL Asia Championship 2008. During the National Day Parade 2008, Red Sevens was featured on the segment of “Red on Red” and was shown live telecast to spectators of the parade.

The first paintball tournament that saw the participation of international teams from across the world was held in Malaysia and known as the Nations Cup. This inaugural international paintball tournament which was held in 2004 twinkle the light to allow more people in Asia to become aware of paintball. In 2007, the Asia World Cup which was held in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia was recognized as one of the top 50 events for the “Visit Malaysia Year” to mark its 50th Anniversary of independence from the colonial occupation.

With the support of the Singapore Sports Council, Paintball Singapore Society was formed in 2007 as a paintball interest group; it was not long that the name was eventually changed to Paintball Association (Singapore) PBAS to allow a structural overseeing of the development of paintball in Singapore. The primary objective of the PBAS is to ensure progressive development of paintball as a sport in Singapore. To allow paintball to develop into a mainstream sport in Singapore, members from the PBAS devised a Basic Tournament Orientation (BTO) course to allow beginners who are interested in pursuing the sport to undergo a theory and practical orientation to ensure that participants are aware of the necessary safety precautions when handling a paintball markers and other safety aspects of the game. After its formation, the PBAS was included as a recognized paintball association under the Asia Pacific Paintball Federation (APPBF) which oversees the development of paintball in the Asia Pacific region. The APPBF which is recognized by the Millennium Series and the Paintball Sports Promotion (PSP) went on to organize the Paintball Asia League Series (PALS) and the Asia World Cup.

Singapore’s first speedball facility (Red Dynasty Paintball Park) was established in 2007 to facilitate the growth of speedball in Singapore. In less than 3 months of its establishment, Singapore’s inaugural paintball tournament, Singapore Paintball Novice Series (SPNS), a 3-legged paintball tournament was borne with 7 participating teams. A local team named Redlords was crowned the inaugural champion of the event. In its first, the competitive paintball in Singapore was first featured on Straits Times sports section and on television with Channel News Asia during Leg 2 of SPNS.

While there are cultural differences and disparity in the regulation of laws in all countries of the world, paintball in Singapore will continue to grow and progress with more people getting awareness of the sport. While it takes time to grow a sport with good foundational base, the way in which paintball develops in the world has a direct impact on how paintball can be perceived as a mainstream sport as compared to the rest. While there are upcoming developmental plans for paintball to grow in Singapore, it is everybody’s effort to see and support the continual growth of this sport in Singapore.

Paintball Association (Singapore)

Paintball Association (Singapore), the driving force behind promoting paintball in Singapore. Its legitimacy was questioned today by a forum member. Good, at least someone bothers to ask about PBAS. Bad, when our stinky stench of integrity is being questioned, "merely Jane?" WOWOWO..."lack of info....hey I am the boss, need info...."Hahaha....can't blame him.

In fact, he has opened up a can of worms, which is good as information is being shared among forum members and also getting people to know about history of PBAS.

Yes, I do agree that a website is important, makes it look professional and well structured. But hell no am I going to jump in without some serious consideration. A mockery it will, if we are invited for Asia tournaments and we tell the organizers that our markers are not with us and they are all kept in our neighbouring country....!!!! What do you think their reply will be? What we need is time...not rushing into things. I don't see our Prime Minister getting instructions from me on how we should run a country??? I don't see a fighter plane pilot getting instructions from me on how to fly a plane??? Well....not that its impossible but it just take time. Time to learn, time to embrace the current situation, time to appreciate the things that have been done, time to learn how to walk, time to learn how to drink, time to learn HOW TO PLAY PAINTBALL, time to learn how to fix a marker, time to learn how to fill a gas tank, time to learn how to differentiate good and bad paintballs, time to learn how to change a firing bolt. All these in 1 day? SUPERMAN AH??? Come on...

Paintball in Singapore?

Yes, that's what this blog is all about. 1 year and 7 months into the promotion of paintball in Singapore...and what do we have so far? Media coverage...not bad, a paintball tourney under the wing of PBAS...not bad indeed...15 paintball teams...hmmmm....not so good, awareness....maybe.

The bottomline is there is still so much more to be done...We need to bring paintball out of Red Dynasty! We need to showcase more of paintball to the public's eye. And how do we go about doing that? Posting results on forum? Awareness clinic and roadshow? International events? Sports exhibition? So much more...hmmm...but where do we get all the fundings to do all this? I have no idea. It is good that we have a couple of sponsors for Leg 2, a beggar can't ask for more...but definitely, we need more, More, MORE...

These are some of the things that we can do by the end of this year:

1) Roadshows. Paintball will be featured during the NUS Sports Bazaar in August 08. We have done something similar in SMU before but this can certainly help us raise more awareness about paintballing in Singapore. A unique community that is tuck somewhere around the corner.

2) Get ourselves in for Sports Expo! Every year just before the Standard Chartered Marathon, thousands of people head towards the Expo to register themselves for the race...hey, talking about target audiences. All sports people out there...surely there is a room for us. But then again, each booth cost about $5000 over the 3 days exhibition and this is excluding the amount of effort we have to put in to man those booth...hmmm...expensive.

3) Formation of a proper national team. Being very much involved in the local basketball scene a couple of years ago, I realised that a national identity is very important...Someone to look up to, somewhere for people to excel in their sports and perhaps international representation. So far right now, Red Sevens is the only local team that has been participating in overseas tournament, some people, not all look up to us. But we are definitely not the national team, we are a nation representative. National team? Ney! not yet.

4) Regular paintball league as I have mentioned before....something more regular but doesn't cost much...keep playing, keep improving.

5) International exposure...I will be lucky to have 5 Singapore teams playing in the MPOC by this year!!! I hope!!!

Post SPNS Leg 2

Singapore (23 June 2004) - PSG Warfreakz, a group of Filipino expatriats walked away with the champion medal for the Singapore Paintball Novice Series (SPNS) 2008 Leg 2, which was held in Red Dynasty Paintball Park. A well deserved champion indeed where they have to battle 10 games before reaching the finals. The morning event was greeted by a mild rain that was lurking around the night before, however this did not dampen the mood of the participants as they have long anticipated for the home coming of SPNS Leg 2. After months of training, it is finally the day where they put their practices to the test. A double fold increase from SPNS Leg 1, SPNS Leg 2 welcomed the participation of 15 paintball teams. New to the competition were Carnage, PSG Bravo, PSG Charlie, Wargh! Birds, Red Shadows, Shinpu, Kamikaze and 20th Legion.

New to SPNS Leg 2 is the collaboration between Paintball Association (Singapore) PBAS and the Malaysian Marshals (MMs). This collaboration has indeed raised the standard of officiating in SPNS and provides an opportunity for Singapore Marshals to learn a thing or two from our neighbours. The introduction of PSG Charlie, an all female team from the Philippines, has certainly raised the public's eyebrow on their misconception of the paintball being a male dominant sport.

As the rain subsided, the wet ground becomes the perfect playground for paintball as participants slided their way through the muddy soil with most players perfecting the ideal paintball movement of sliding and dodging. After 8 gruelling qualification games, the top 8 teams can advanced into the 2nd round. Among the 8 newly established teams, 5 teams qualified for the 2nd round with PSG Warfreakz, which was the eventual champion, White Death and Death Mavericks. A well deserving note to Carnage which only lost 1 game during the qualification rounds and emerged as the chart leader.

As the competition rolled on, PSG Warfreakz clinched the Champion Title of SPNS Leg 2 by beating Red Shadows, who had to settle for the 2nd spot. At 3rd position was White Death.

The icing of the cake was given to Thomas Lee, a SIM 2nd year student who was awarded the Most Valuable Player (MVP) for SPNS Leg 2. The winner of the MVP award was selected through peer nomination from opposing teams.

SPNS Leg 2 concluded with an exciting exhibition match between Carnage and Red Shadows. During the process of the competition, footages of the match was captured by reporter from the Channel News Asia and photographed by representatives from The Straits Times. Talk about media coverage...

SPNS Leg 3 will be held on 12 October as "The Final Showdown"...

Things can only be better...

Last year this time, there was only 1 tournament paintball team in Singapore. Right now, there are 6 and growing...all thanks to the creator of this paintball community. You! Yes, its you!

From HotFuzz, Death Mavericks, Red Lords, PSG Warfreaks...more teams are emerging from the scene and all taking up paintball as a sport and not from the angle of recreational. With 10 years of paintball history...if this was done much earlier, I am sure we will breed one of the best paintballer in town...reason is simple, when Singapore started paintball, Malaysia barely knew its existence. But look what's happening right now? We are 5 years behind...and maybe more! Our neighbours are organizing the World Cup! And we only have a novice series! Laughing stock it is...but never too late. With the inclusion of the Singapore Paintball Novice Series 2008 (SPNS) in paintball calender, let us take pride in our every own paintball league, let us take some time off to reflect on the future of this sport, let us tell everyone that we mean business. A new beginning indeed...but we will be there some day.

These are the various key factors for this sport to grow in Singapore and we need your passion and leadership to make this happen:

1) Play paintball as a sport and not a recreational activity! Promote the game as a sport! And dont you ever talk about war, hurting people, injuries, violence...this not only spoils the development, it will only hinder the growth of the sport! No offence to anyone but if you want this sport to grow play it as a sport and dont wear army uniforms when playing! It just gives people the misconception. In Leg 2 of SPNS, all participants are to wear paintball jerseys or their own clothing. No BDUs, no uniforms, no camo! No, No, No!

2) People with passion. People who talks paintball and play paintball...Not people who have tried once or twice and tell people how passionate they are! People who are willing to commit their time to train (Red Lord is one of those)...People who wants to be part of the growth!

3) Dont complain about what you have...but complain about what you dont have! Work with us to make the changes! Not demand for it! It takes time for things to develop. Things dont happen overnight! Instead of complaining...assist us by making a difference. We sure need some talent in leading areas of development.

Brain dead...but there are so much more.