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Happy CNY!!!

* Photo is own by respective owner

This goes out to everyone who wants to help promote paintball in Singapore. This CNY, spam your friends and relatives about paintball in Singapore. Tell them about the game, promote the benefits of playing paintball, inform them about the current state of Singapore paintball and dispel the myths about paintball being "painball" or just brainless shooting. Proudly wear a paintball t-shirt (you can buy them in Paintballers World) when you go for house visits and let them know about your interest. Promote paintball to them!!! Promote paintball as a sport...

This is what we need to grow paintball (speedball) as a sport in Singapore:

1) Paintball fields with speedball facilities. At the moment, only Red Dynasty Paintball Park is promoting competitive paintball. To have more facilities catering to competitive paintball in Singapore, there will be more players and thus the tournament scene will grow.

2) Promote paintball as a sport. Paintball can be a great recreational game but to see it going somewhere, speedballers need to promote the game as a sport. It is more than organizing a game of recreational paintball for your friends but rather introduce the sport to them.

3) Support. Enough said. Paintball as a sport can never go anywhere without the support from relevant parties. These parties include Singapore Sports Council, Singapore Police Force, paintball operators and the paintball community.

4) Electronic markers. Who doesn't want that? This is also the root of the problem... and more than anything else that I have mentioned earlier. It is not about people perceiving paintball as a plain shooting game, it is not about not getting support from the various organizations, it is not about not getting a big sponsor into the game, it is not about having more paintball facilities in Singapore.

It is about paintball being a firearm and that there is no individual possession. If you are sitting in that position where you have the authority to legalize paintball markers as a sporting equipment in Singapore, would you want to put your head on the chopping board?

Let's do our part to promote paintball! Action speaks louder than words...

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

What should I do next?

The million dollar question: "What should I do next?"

I have decided to write this after watching last weekend's Red Dynasty Rookie Challenge. It is not too difficult letting your team mates know which bunker you will be running to after the referee's come down but the uphill task is to let them know what you will be doing behind the bunker.

I have to assume that your team do have a breakout plan... you know where you are running to... you know how you are going to do that (mad dash, sliding, gun and run, etc) but what are you going to do when you reach there safely still remains a mystery. As the saying goes: "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail" and it is no different in paintball. You'll need to be able to think about your next step having survive the initial spray of paintballs. Let's break it down to steps:

1) Do you know where are your opponents?

This is extremely important. It is a MUST for all players to know where your opponents are running to after the break out, this is especially important for back players as you will need to relay this information to your teammates. You might not be sure but as long as you can roughly make out who goes where... so that you'll know where to post up, which lanes to shoot, etc.

2) Do you look cross or do you look down the tape?

Ask yourself, what is your assigned role for the game? Have you been tasked to look cross field or have you been told to lock down the tape side? Either way, just do what you are told and DO IT PROPERLY. Discipline is the keyword here... you might have nothing to shoot at or you might have already spent 2 pods shooting into blank spaces but be patience... do what you are told. Of course, field awareness is important too... if you are outnumbered, you might not want to just look tape side.

3) Listen! Listen! Listen!

Yes, just listen. Listen out for instructions, listen out for referee's calling players out, listen to your teammates, listen to your back players, listen to your opponents. The signal is out there... just keep your ears open. Be calm... and listen. Don't panic...

4) You are worthless.

If you are not shooting, you are not helping. If you are not communicating, you are not helping. Make your worth count when you are in the field. You can either shoot and communicate or you can do neither. Surely if you are not shooting, you cannot win games. So you need to shoot in order to win. If you are under fire, you need to communicate. Take time off - You can a) reload b) communicate with your cross field c) check the number of live players in your field. DO SOMETHING!

5) Plan your route well.

When you walk the field. It is often easy to know where you will be running to upon breakout... but what happens after that? Plan your route well... identify a secondary bunker. Plan to reach your secondary bunker during the course of the game.

6) Techniques.

You can have the most brilliant plan in the world but if you can't put that into execution, your plan is wasted. It is important for one to have good fundamental paintball techniques to win games. No amount of training and drills is enough for a competitive player to shine in the field. You need to train, train and train to improve and get better in every game.

7) Don't hesitate if you need to...

There is no time to lose. If you have to shoot, you have to shoot. If you have to move, don't think twice, just move. Don't fall into the trap of "If only..."

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...

Red Dynasty Rookie Challenge 2010 - HEARTBREAKERS Champion!

Heartbreakers - Champion of Red Dynasty Rookie Challenge

Participants of Red Dynasty Rookie Challenge

6 teams participated in the Red Dynasty Rookie Challenge on 31 Jan 2010 and as the competition name suggest the challenge was held in Red Dynasty Paintball Park. This is the first time that such challenge is organized and surely not the only one in 2010. The objective of the rookie challenge is to establish a competitive platform for the purpose of introducing the game of speedball to new paintball enthusiasts who have recently picked up the sport. With a 4 versus 4 format and a limit of 100 paintballs per load, the game pace of this challenge is rapid and provides the same competition intensity for all paintballers.

The 6 participating teams who took part in this challenge are Phobos and Deimos, Black Aces 2, Raving Lunatics 1, Raving Lunatics 2, Dare Devils and Heartbreakers.

Playing a round robin format during the qualifying rounds, it was Raving Lunatics 1 who topped the table with a impressive run of 4 wins and 1 lost. They were followed by Semi Finalists, Heartbreaks (2), Phobos and Deimos (3) and Black Aces (4). In the Semi Final games where the best of 3 games format is adopted, the Heartbreakers took an early lead by getting 2 wins from Phobos and Deimos. The Black Aces 2 and Raving Lunatics 2 took a game each with the event winner meeting Heartbreakers in a Finals. Eventually, it was Black Aces 2 who adopted a defensive strategy against the Raving Lunatics 2 that went through. The final game was settled through a 1 versus 1 by Ben Junior (from Heartbreakers) and Joshua (from Black Aces) when both teams were tied on a win each and a draw in the earlier game which saw no surviving players on the field.

The Heartbreakers eventually won the challenge with a patience approach during the 1 versus 1 game and saw them clinched the first Red Dynasty Rookie Challenge title. Congratulations Heartbreakers... and as the Head Marshal, Fuzz concluded about the challenge: "Keep the fire burning...", we hope to see all players developed themselves into better players and help to spread the love of paintball in Singapore.

Singapore teams in MY-NPL 2010!

This weekend will be the start of MY-NPL 2010... and yes, there will be a few Singapore based teams playing in this league. Regarded as one of the major paintball league in Malaysia, MY-NPL started in 2006 and has since developed numerous renowned international paintball teams, the like of Nemesis Legion, Delta Rovers and Macdev Ronins are just some of the most fear teams that have come through the ranks in the region. With the participation of Raskals and Demonz Red make this year's Division 1 games more exciting to watch this year as the Championship title can go to any house.

Singapore teams participating in this leg of MY-NPL as follows:

Xtreme Estrogen - Division 4 team with mostly female players... but don't be fooled by them.

Seekers Inc - Division 3 team with committed players who are ready to make an impact in the Malaysia scene after participating in SPNS 2009.

Team Karma - Division 3 team who was recently promoted from MY-NPL Division 4. Team Karma has been a house team with the league since 2008 and has gone away with several podium finishes in 2009.

We wished them all the best for this weekend and may them do Singapore proud too!

TEAM ZOO wins MPOC Div 3!

Photos from Team Damnation

You might have not heard of Team Zoo... but surely Team Damnation does ring a bell. The senior team of Team Damnation has won Leg 1 of Malaysia Paintball Official Circuit (MPOC) Div 3 tittle last weekend. This is by far the highest Divisional win from any Singapore based team, CONGRATS guys.

Team Zoo has come a long way from the original Team Damnation who participated in the Singapore Paintball Novice Series (SPNS) to clinch this champion title. The team trains regularly in Malaysia and has a growing legion of players under its belt. We wish them all the best in remaining legs of the MPOC and fly the Singapore flag high!

Players: Grant aka Houdini (Capt), Marcus (Nabelrock), Allen, Brian, Abdullah, Shakil (Krank).

Missing from the squad is Robert who is down with hernia... DUH!

Semi automatic and ramping...

One guy came up to me the other day and asked "if semi automatic is something like firing a machine gun"... seriously, I don't know what to say but just nod my head. I was thinking maybe he got confused with the word automatic... which in the first place why do people call it semi automatic? and why not just "non-auto"? Its clearer and easier to understand. In paintball, as long as you are shooting a non-electronic marker (forget about those with upgraded board or response trigger etc), you are shooting in semi-automatic mode... or in my world "Non-automatic". You pull the trigger once and one paintball comes shooting out of the barrel. You pull the trigger 5 times, 5 paintballs will be shot out. You pull the trigger 12 times, 12 paintballs will be.... you get what I mean.

On the other hand... automatic in paintball means ramping mode. So what's ramping mode? Think of you holding a AK 47 and you press the trigger and bullets come shooting out of the barrel like there's no tomorrow... that's ramping. There are several different modes when it comes to ramping, PSP, NXL, Millenium... but doesn't differ too much. Recently in Malaysia, the ROF was changed to 13 bps for all divisions using electronic markers, well that's a pretty good move considering that a low ROF allow players to maintain survivability and thus its more paintball skills than just high ROF and plain shooting. More action helps paintball to grow... plain shooting is just plain stupid.

So what has this change got to do with paintball in Singapore? Lots! For a start, players who are intending to play in ramping mode division will need to ensure that their markers are good enough to go on ramping... which translate to higher investment. Gone are the entry level markers. The good thing is... you might save some money after all... get a good marker. Yeah... just buy one damn good marker!

Singapore paintball on TV this Friday, 10 pm

Paintball fans tune in to Channel 5 this Friday, 10 pm for Sports@SG, a show that feature some of the best local sporting action and the latest in the international sporting scene. Hosted by seasoned sports presenter Kui Jien and MediaCrop artiste Jade Seah see them in some paintball action! The 2 local teams which are featured in this show are Red West and Contract Killers! Catch our very own paintball spokesperson, Ian Berzerk talk about paintball developments in Singapore too!

Singapore Polytechnic FTW!!!

Once again, Singapore Polytechnic (SP) has gone where no other polytechnics in Singapore has done before... introducing paintball to their students!!! Last year, SP became the first institution in Singapore to host a paintball exhibition game during their CCA fair and this year, they did the same to introduce this growing sports to their prospective students. The paintball booth was overwhelming and always fill with students wanting to have a go at shooting some paintballs!!! Venting frustration some said... More than just a shooting gallery, the booth was designed like a battle course where students were briefed on the 10 facts of paintball in Singapore, snapshooting, gunning while running and OH MY GOD!!! Changing hands to shoot! And yes, for that run while shooting and that change of hands, they get double the points! Winners went off with a SP t-shirt or a yo yo... yes, yo yo... dont ask me why...

SP FTW? Definitely!!!

2010...

Another year... this makes it 11 years since paintball was first introduced in Singapore. Let's do more for Singapore paintball in 2010. More exposure perhaps? Hoping for these to happen in 2010 but let's see if they do materialized:

1) 2 playing divisions in all Singapore paintball tournaments. Novice (Div 4) and Open division.

2) Average of 20 participating teams in all Singapore paintball tournaments.

3) A Inter-school paintball tournament consisting of at least 6 institutions.

4) At least 10 Singapore based teams playing in World Cup Asia 2010.

5) More collaboration with industry stakeholders.

Singapore Paintball Championship tied up with MPOC!

OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:

The Malaysia Paintball Official Circuit - MPOC, in collaboration with Red Dynasty Paintball Park and Paintballer's World in Singapore would like to announce that the following will be implemented for the 2010 and 2011 season.

- Recognition of the Singapore Paintball Championship (SPC) as an associate league in Singapore - Feeder status in 2010.

- Paintballer's World to be MPOC representative office in Singapore - Where all registration and MPOC matters can be attended to. Singapore teams that register via the Red Dynasty Paintball Park and Paintballer's World will get registration discounted by 50% for 2010 and 2011.

With immediate effect:

- SPC Player ID will be recognized in the MPOC and vice versa.

- The Champion of the SPC will receive free entry and waived ID into the World Cup Asia 2010 (Either D3 or D4).

Red Sevens - Developing paintball in Singapore

Red Sevens conducted a "Paintball 101" session last Sunday at Red Dynasty Paintball Park. This session was attended by 18 participants, all of whom have some playing experience but would like to know more about playing paintball competitively. This is also the first time since Red Sevens was established that a workshop was conducted.

Red Sevens was formed in 2006 by a group of paintball enthusiasts who wants to promote and develop the game of competitive paintball in Singapore. Often known as the first competitive team in Singapore, this team has participated up to 30 paintball tournaments in the region and will be playing in the Division 2 category in 2010. Highlight of the team was when they were invited to represent Singapore in the Asia Paintball Invitational Tournament (APIT) 2009 in Kao Hsiung, Taiwan as a part of a demonstration sport in World Games 2009 and the National Professional Paintball League (NPPL) Asia Invitational 2008 where professional paintball teams such as Dynasty, Infamous, Bushwackers and XSV were present to promote paintball in the Asia region.

For those who have missed this paintball workshop, do keep a look out for the next one in March/April 2010.

I have a dream...

With reference to Martin Luther King "I have a dream" speech:

I have a dream. I say to you my friends that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment. I still have a dream. It is a dream to make paintball more accessible in Singapore.

I have a dream that one day, Singapore will be able to have our own paintball league of up to 4 playing divisions.

I have a dream that for this to happen, we need to work together to make this happen and playing in different paintball leagues will slow down the process. We are too divided.

I have a dream to see Singapore teams compete in the same league so that we are represented by one voice.

I dream... and we all have dreams, so let's dream about the same thing. We are the ones who can make things happen. Whiners will be whiners forever so let's do it instead of whining and waiting for others to make it happen. I have done my part, have you?

I still dream...

What's for Singapore paintball in 2010?

*Photo is owned by respective owner

An interesting question about 2010 but seriously, no one has a right answer for this. I hoped for a e-marker division in 2009 but it didn't take shape. Looking at how things are progressing... I don't think this is going to happen in 2010, or is it? Let's take a look back at 2009:

1) First mobile paintball arena was set up in Singapore Polytechnic. The first time that paintball was played in a school.

2) First paintball tournament that took placed outside a licenced premise - Singapore Paintball Novice Series 2009 Leg 2 was organized in Pasir Ris Park.

3) First Singapore paintball proshop, Paintballers World was set up catering to awareness promotion.

4) First time a 5 vs 5 format was adopted.

5) Removal of centerline condition under Singapore Police Force regulation for licensed operators.

6) 20 unique teams took part in Singapore Paintball Novice Series 2009.

7) 7 Singapore based teams took part in Paintball World Cup Asia (WCA) 2009. Contract Killers winning the 2nd position in Division 4.

8) First Singapore based referee to officiate in WCA 2009 and certification by Asia Refs.

9) Paintball workshops by Daniel "Junior" (XFox), Ken Tsuda (Oakland Blast), Francis Lucena "Kiko" (Real Pinoy), Junaidi (Malaysia Marshals).

10) Podium finishes by Singapore teams in a) MPOC (Div 3) - Red Sevens and Team Damnation b) My-NPL (Div 4) - Red Dynasty Boys and Team Karma.

Well... that's a lot of achievements considering that competitive paintball was only introduced to Singaporeans in the early months of 2008. So... what's left for 2010?

Plenty.

YES! Year End Sales!!!

Red Dynasty Rookie Challenge 2010 - 31 Jan 2010

Mark a date with us. If you are new to paintball and would like to try out competitive paintball, you have to sign up for this event.

Event: Red Dynasty Rookie Challenge 2010
Date: 31 Jan 2010 (Sunday)
Time: 9.00 am - 2.00pm
Venue: Red Dynasty Paintball Park Field 3
Format: 4 vs 4 Hopper Ball (100 paintballs per game), minimum of 5 qualifying games

Registration closes on 27 January 2010, 12 pm

Eligibility: All participants must be 14 years old and above. Strictly rookie players only
Team: Team can register up to 6 players (4 field players + 2 reserves)

Registration forms will be available at Red Dynasty Paintball Park and Paintballers World Proshop

Registration fee: $450.00 per team (paintballs used during the tournament are covered in the registration fee)

Prizes: 1st - $200 cash prize + $200 Paintballers World vouchers + 6 medals
2nd - $100 cash prize + $100 worth of Paintballers World vouchers + 6 medals
3rd - $150 Paintballers World voucher + 6 medals

Teams that are interested can register your interest with us at info@weplaypaintball.com

*Tournament will proceed if there is a minimum of 6 participating teams.

Paintball in SEA Games?

Recently, someone asked me if I have spoken to anyone from the Singapore Sports School about promoting paintball in the school. When faced with this question, I felt amused and helpless. With a few years of working experience in sports development, I have worked with people from the Singapore Sports Council, Singapore Sports School and several sporting associations and I kinda knew where this conversation will be going... nothing...

To find a footing for a new sport in Singapore is one of the toughest thing that can ever happened in this part of the world.

A few years ago when a student first approached my department about starting a Bossaball interest group in the school... 2 thoughts came to my mind: "What is Bossaball?" and "Who plays this game?" Then there were other considerations: 1) How big is the Bossaball community in Singapore? 2) What are the resources that are needed? 3) How much money does this sport need? 4) How can Bossaball contribute to school sports? 5) How "huge" is Bossaball interationally? When we compared Bossball with paintball... I do see a few similarities. No offence to the Bossaball people, I think you guys are doing a good job introducing this sports to Singaporeans. But seriously, how has it been so far? The same is for paintball...

The typical Singaporean will understand that unless we stand a good chance of winning some medals in the world stage, we might not want to "pump in" resources into the development. Surely we understand the reasons behind supporting these core sports (swimming, table tennis, bowling, sailing, athletics (1.2 MILLION!!!))... these are the medal winning sports and yes, we should concentrate on what we do best! But I am also urging the good people of the Singapore Sports Council to embrace other sports... and paintball is one of those.

This year, there are 7 Singapore based teams who participated in the recent World Cup Asia as compared to 2 teams in 2008 and only 1 team in 2007 so surely the numbers are growing... and we are not even counting the number of teams who want to be there but couldn't due to travel expenses. We don't need 1.2 million dollars to kick start paintball in Singapore... and $3000 is definitely too little. Singapore teams have proven time and again that with proper resources, a review of current firearms law and support from relevant parties, we can bring back the medals!

With sports such as dancesports, woodball, ice hockey, contract bridge, bowls, Muay Thai, pickleball and powerboat recognized as a National Sports Association, I am sure paintball as a sport (not recreational) will surely fit the bill and we are talking about a team sport which require players to possess agility, quick decision making skills, teamwork, speed and accuracy. People from different gender and ages (14 years old and above by Singapore Police Force regulations) can participate in paintball. You can pit a 14 years old student to play against a 45 years old man and the results can go either way!!! You can pit a female player against a male player and yes the results can go either way too!!! To the good people who are behind sports development in Singapore, please have an open mind towards the game... and yes, we have helped ourselves since 2007 and its about time...

Okay, will paintball in Singapore be as popular as Malaysia? Most probably not... We do not have available Datuks or Sultans who are ready to support the game just for the reason of community building. Just look across the straits... and the number of tournaments, that's what I call support! But again, Singapore and Malaysia are 2 different countries. Will paintball be in the SEA games? That's possible... when Malaysia host their next SEA games... Big bosses of the paintball industry, if you are reading this, please MAKE IT HAPPEN! Medal contention is indeed promising...