SPNS Leg 3 - CANCELLED

After organizing 3 legs and 2 legs of SPNS in 2008 and 2009 respectively, it is sad to see that SPNS 2009 Leg 3 has to be cancelled. There are many factors contributing to an event's cancellation, from political reasons to natural disasters, from human errors to finding locations, just too many reasons. While cancellation does not seem too positive, it is common when certain factors dont fall in place.

USPL changed from their original promised 5 legs to 4 legs with the reasons of maintaining prestige and level of quality. These in turned allow the teams to recover both physically and financially for the next event. International PALS events in Thailand and Philippines were cancelled due to political turmoil and civil unrest, making travel a hassle. PALS Taiwan was called off by the organizers when the returns were not as rosy and teams not agreeing with the vision set out by the organizer. And if I can remember, there was also a cancelled event in last year's MPOC when the opposition parties won seats during the General Election and the organizer who is a strong supporter of the losing party did not receive the necessary fundings. Hurricane Katrina robbed NPPL in Houston...

So there are many many reasons. For SPNS, it is just sad to see a cancelled event. Nevertheless, we will strive to do better for the next event for the great people always say "everybody deserves a second chance"... let's aim for 20 local teams!!!

Single Pane vs Thermal Lense?

Photos ripped from propaintball and pbnation

Definitely two schools of thought... asking this question is as good as asking which is better: curry or laska? Some people think that single pane is good, others affirm that thermal lense works wonder. So which is which? If you are thinking about buying a mask, this question should be one of your considerations but not your ONLY consideration. I have used both single and thermal before, so if you ask me, I say both are as good as the other.

The brand V Force has always stick to their single pane anti fog lense, what it means is as simple as a single lense with anti fog coating on the inside. Afterall, if big teams such as Vicious, Icons and Aftermath are all using single lense goggle, who's that kid bragging that thermal lense is a better choice? Ok, so if single lense is good enough, then what's the point of buying a thermal lense mask? Simple, for its anti fogging capability. A pocket of air is contained between a glued goggle lense and a plastic sheet thus creating a "contained space" to prevent the mask from fogging. But the downside to this...is if the mask is not properly maintained. Wipe off the paintball marks instead of washing them under a running tap. If you need to give it a more thorough wash, clean it with a "watered tissue" instead. But yeah, anti fogging for thermal lense does work 1) if the mask is properly washed, 2) if the glue doesnt get worn out.

So which is better...? It all depends on the user.

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.

Paintball is fun - Just enjoy the game

Why do people participate in sport?

Some exercise to gain fitness, to make friends, to compete, and the list goes on... But most importantly, I think one of factors in which people play sports is to have fun. I was once told by a friend that I have taken away the fun from his passion for the sport when I emphasized too much on winning and being too competitive. He no longer feels fun playing the sport.

I thought this is pretty interesting because when everyone started playing a sport, it is always out of curiousity for the game and playing it for fun. When one decided to take the sport on a more serious note, the reasons of their participation changes to... perhaps its for fitness or perhaps its for the competitive edge. Some went on the compete at a higher level with regular trainings using the best gears. They formed an identity for themselves. They become more involved as an individual who is passionate about the game. They become ambassador for the sport and spread the love to everyone they know. At this point, there will be some who will drop out for various reasons, usually time commitment, mostly family reasons and a handful of them due to financial reasons. Not that they dont love the game anymore, its just that their priority changed. Taking time off from the game may not be a bad thing as they can spend some time for other things in life.

After playing for a while and a strong passion for the game, comes the "businessmen" model. Who are these "businessmen"? People who feel that they can do more for the sport after playing and experienced competitive games . These are the people with ideas on how the game can be improved and envision changes in the game. They begin looking for money opportunities in the game. I am pretty sure these "businessmen" still enjoy the game. Some went on to become coaches, some went on to do retail, some did publications...they become "businessmen".

Seems like everyone will end up becoming a "businessmen". When the individual becomes a "businessmen", he will have to juggle between his love for the sport and his means to make ends meet. Yes, it might not always be the best option but I am sure this "businessmen" is trying his best. For anyone wanting to go down this route, all the best to you. Its a matter of time that someone like you will pick up the game with the reason of having fun and eventually becomes a "businessmen".

"Paintball is a sport but it is also a business"

Very very disappointing...

Its bad... its very bad. No... its very very very bad. I shall named this blog as "very very disappointing" for the fact that I wasnt really happy about something that was wrote about paintball development in Singapore. Well, everyone who blogs has his/her share of their views so I will not judge anyone, I respect your views and I am glad that some of the best suggestions were brought up by you through local forum, websites and blogs about how you think Singapore paintball should grow. Living in a liberal community, we have our rights to shoot off. So here's my piece...and of course disclaimer before some ignorant people starts shooting away..."shooting away"... how irony? And its funny cos everytime I write about a "very very disappointing" piece, I have to go like...."Okay, its not about my team, its not about the operations that I run, its not about the sport association that I am in" BUT all about how I feel as an individual who is passionate about paintball. But short of the dough to have my ways and do the things I want.

It is "very very disappointing" because after trying my best to develop and help tournament paintball grow in Singapore, I have been classed as not improving, surely not good enough for everyone. If there is one thing that is not improving...its not the development but the buy in. Surely, we did not convince all and we did not get the support from all. In fact, we were so bad in convincing that we were banned and slammed. Oh surely... it helps to say that its not my fault for trying to promote speedball... BUT, yes, there's always a big BUT. Of course, we all know that people make some money and pump some money into developing the business better... but to what extend? Losing money? Already we are running red doing paintball leagues. You might be thinking its bullshit, why do you still do it when you are losing money? Well, people dont shoot much with mech (everyone shoots emarkers up North during tournament), we have less than 15 teams every leg (an average tournament up North has more than 30 teams), there are thousands of people playing paintball up North (we have a community of less than 300).

Okay, to set the record straight. I feel that comments like these are not good for the game. Come on... "support your local field". Hey, I didnt come up with this... if you have been reading paintball magazines long enough, they always have this "support your local field" for several reasons, no business no paintball, yes, it a game that we all love but still its a business, look at how F1 has grown...to me the F1 is a business, surely its a sport but no business no sport, its simple. And to have business, you need support and where do we get these support? From the people who pay for the business operation. I can tell this to my grandma and I think she can understand this simple formula too. No business = No paintball. If I am a rich man, then the story is different. Its the same for everyone. I like to play in tournament with a mimimum budget, if its free its even better (heard of teams paying for people to play in their team and then ended up to complain about those non-paying players? So how to sustain?)...I like to be able to train without burning a hole, I like to improve in my skills, I want to use better equipment, I want good customer service, I want good referees, I want a good organization, I want to shoot e-markers, I want big fields, I want to play 5 on 5, I want this I want that...

Okay, let's examine this closely... firstly, there are a group that dont play in Singapore, so regular or not, they dont fit the bill as a regular. Yes, they play in the local league but that's maybe like 4 times a year, not good enough to be call a regular. We do have regulars and its surely NOT them... regulars are people who support local development and grow to play at higher divisions when their time is riped, these regulars head up North to play and these people understand the limitations, red tapes and restrictions in Singapore and for them to improve in their game, the only choice is to go North. Regulars... I respect you. But dont just end there, bring back what you have learnt and contribute back to the local community. And I dont mean slamming and comparing... we can never be the best in the world and that's life...oh yes, perhaps the best example is downunder... the country is one with the most affected H1N1 cases today and we all know how strict the Aussies are with quarantines, so its surprising. I am going off topic here anyway. But seriously this is what people shouldnt do... find newly formed teams in the forum, offer coaching services but instead of getting them to improve in their skills and going through fundamentals and in turn introducing more people to play this game the proper way, they set them up with the idea of playing in places which sells cheaper paintballs along with the tagline... "come and see what real paintball is". Its surely not helping... why? Simple, we will never grow in numbers. Want to see the real paintball? Go USPL, go Millenium, go COFA... those are real paintball.

Already off my head, I can list a few Singapore based teams who play competitively in Malaysia but not in Singapore. How to grow? How to develop? If we look at how our neighbours got started...things were tough back then too. But as more and more people play the game, certain restrictions were laxed. Ask them how many years of mech were they playing before the first emarker arrived? How much did they charge for a box of paintball back then? How many players were playing? How many tournament players were there? I have said this many many times, it just takes time.

Well, as far as I am concerned... paintball is improving. People are more aware about the sport, mostly still think paintball as jungle games but its better than nothing, we can change that misconception depending on the interest. I have known the most scenario player in Singapore and yes you can see him enjoying himself playing the scenario game. He understand that its hard to have forested game in Singapore so he is planning trips for interested Singaporeans. He works what is best for him. He didnt slam no one, he didnt slam peoples business, he didnt say "very very disappointing things". He just enjoy the game and develop how he think scenario paintball can be best developed. Okay enough is enough, we have gone through this so many times that I am really sick thinking about it. Since I have been slammed. Maybe its time I start my very own blackbook and start blacklisting people who pretentiously support local paintball but slammed local field operators. No discounts, no specials, no give face (oh...someone might need to explain this to non-Singaporeans). Yes, its expensive playing paintball in Singapore, its cheaper to play in the North... its a fact. The truth is... everything is more expensive down South. Ever heard of Singaporeans going North to buy mik powder? I dont see anyone complaining to NTUC about their price. Even Australia is more expensive than Singapore. Try Congo... do they have paintball there? Even if they do... I am sure its damn expensive. Milk powder too.

Do I need to justify what has been done for this sport in Singapore? I think we all have eyes to see.

Want to help? I guess not... but of course if there is anyone who is so adamant about developing paintball in Singapore. Dont focus on the cost. Its not the cost. Its the red tape restricting the access of having markers by your bedside. Perhaps, we can get someone with a good command of english to write letters/petitions to all the MPs, to Vivian, to Ser Luck, to Jin Teik, to Nathan, to Hsien Loong, to someone who calls the shot. Until then, paintball can never be considered as reaching its full potential. So anyone with good "Ang Moh"? Ang Moh?

Give me a break will you!

Paintball shop / store in Singapore

Coming soon...

Oakland BLAST in Singapore!!!

Senior Tsuda, Ken is in town this week. Ken is manager of USPL Pro team Oakland Blast which came in 3rd position after DC Arsenal and Dynasty during the recent Huntington Beach. Red Sevens had the chance to meet up with Ken over dinner and took this opportunity to find out more about this fine gentleman. During dinner, Ken gave us tips on how to play the back bunkers and shared his views on players selection. His son, Kenny is also a member of the Blast and plays on the snake side. If you have played the game NPPL Championship 2009 before, you would have noticed Kenny Tsuda as one of the players that you can use in the game. Ken shared with us how the game producer got Kenny into the production in Hollywood and how they hooked him up with the sensors to capture his moves. The icing to the day was when Ken passed 3 pro jerseys to Arthur. Before parting, Ken did mentioned that should his schedule permits the next time he visits Singapore, he will be coming by to Red Dynasty to give some pro tips.

Random SPNS Leg 2 2009

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

Well done Singapore Paintball Teams!


PBAS Referees

Ares

Kamikaze

Mid Life Crusaders

Wargh!Cooks

Seek and Destroy

Dark Militia

Death Mavericks

Contract Killers

Surprise visit to Red Dynasty by Exkay - Division 1 Team X-Fox

Since establishment, we have seen many regional big names in Red Dynasty giving paintballing tips: Dean Apcar, Matthew Nekvapil, Daniel "Junior" Goh and our very own Francis Lucena Kiko. Today, we bring you ExKay...



A deadly Kisser indeed... not off the field but on the field. ExKay, whom he is commonly known in the Malaysia paintball community was in Red Dynasty the other day... yeah... the other day simply because the trip was so secretive that we were unprepared for him. A great day to come by on 6 June 2009 (an important day to Red Dynasty), ExKay was greeted with an unusual quiet weekend day in RD. Luckily, there was an ad-hoc impromptu paintball clinic and one lucky soul managed to get away with tons of knowledge playing the snake.



ExKay who used to play for Xposure, Xtioneers and now a member of the MPOC Division 1 leading champion (after 3 legs) X-Fox, you cannot go wrong with the things you tell you to do in the snake. While his visit to Red Dynasty was short, he still managed to impart his unorthrodox ways of playing the snake to Fadly (our newbie in paintball). "A good paintballer needs to shoot with both hands" was his quote of the day when he showed Fadly how lightning fast his hands were when switching the marker from left to right.



Yes, Red Dynasty has not seen the last of ExKay for he will be coming by to Singapore again in early July. And a prelude of his next paintball clinic will focus on the snake side (yes, both the snake and his back player). So if you are keen to improve your style of playing the snake, fostering the communication with your back player, or ways to interact with your snake player while supressing fire. This is a chance not to be missed!!!



On behalf of Red Dynasty, we would like to thank ExKay for his time and introducing to us his "weird" but powerful way of playing in the snake.

Paintballers Weddings...

Photos by Chee Yong

What a weekend... Attended 2 weddings in a week. Not just any ordinary customary weddings, but weddings of paintballers. I am sure those who have attended a paintballer's wedding will know what I mean. A paintballer's wedding is of course filled with guests who play paintball, talk paintball and live paintball. So... what is so special about a paintballer's wedding? Simple... you bring that aggressiveness from the field onto the dining table...and viola! Another series of aggressiveness. Chaotic if I may say... Laughters, laughters and laughters.

When players are on the field, they bump from bunkers to bunkers... during the wedding, guests bump from tables to tables but with bottles of alcohol in their hands and of course who can forget about table hopping looking for more food. I heard someone hopped from tables to tables and managed to eat 6 bowls of sharksfin soup!!!!! Not 2, not 3 but ...6!!!!! I shall not tell you who ate 6 bowls, if you want to know PM me... and I will let you know....hehehehhe...familar style?

Anyway... its a pleasure to attend a paintballer's wedding, congratulations to the 2 couples. Dennis and Rosalyn, Jane and Tay Ling.

SINGAPORE! SINGAPORE! SINGAPORE! YAMMMMM SENGGGGGGGGGGGG!

World Cup Asia 2009 - Singapore Paintball

World Cup Asia (WCA) 2009... Asia's premier paintball event is back again... My first trip to the WCA was in 2006 when I went to KL with a friend to witness the event. The word here is "to witness"... WCA 2006 was also the first time that I was fully exposed to competitive paintball or commonly known as speedball. With zero knowledge of what competitive paintball is all about, everything I saw was new... I didnt know who Oliver Lang was and I didnt know what a dorito was and I didnt know who were playing in the event and that was 3 years ago...

In 2007, my team participated in the event and became the first Singapore paintball team to fly the Singapore flag in WCA. Well... I will be the first to admit that not all of our players were Singaporeans but still, we were playing under the banner of "Singapore" as almost all of the Malaysians playing in the team have worked in Singapore at some time of their life... except for Shaf. But we didnt really care... We couldnt care less if we were not performing in the regular league, we couldnt care less what was coming and we couldnt be bothered with who we had to play. We just want to be part of the event. Of course, reality hit us bad when we did badly in WCA 2007. We ate the humble pie...

In 2008, there were 2 "Singaporean" teams...my team, Red Sevens and a newly formed team, Team Damnation. After a few months of paintballing and a newly found sponsor with Kee Action, Team Damnation became the second "Singapore" team to play in WCA. I mentioned "Singapore" with inverted commas because they too was not a complete Singaporean team. Both our teams did fairly well... but still there were only 2 teams from Singapore. Another local team, PSG Warfreakz participated in the event too but still not a truely Singapore team.

With the November WCA09 approaching, we would have played WCA three times and yes, still in the 3rd Division. I am hearing news that there will be more Singapore teams this year. Maybe 5 teams from 2 Divisions (3rd and 4th Divisions) will be a good number to justify the development of speedball in Singapore. While Singapore speedball teams are growing slowly in numbers, scenario paintball (woodsball) are picking up the trend.

Can we grow from a mere number 5 to a contingent of Singaporean paintballers? I think the answer is YES! A national team for paintball perhaps...? Anyone?

Nominated POSB Everyday Champion 2009 - Paintball

Well done! Paintball received another recognition from the media again.

A couple of months ago, Calgar who is the current SPNS Head Referee and Secretary of the PBAS was nominated for the POSB Everyday Champion 2009 award... Although, he didnt win anything eventually, it is still pleasing to see that the media did made an effort to find out a little more about this unsung hero and about the things that he has done to develop paintball in Singapore.

Calgar, Small Ben, Ombudsman, SB are some of his given names in the paintball community. Paintballers know him as the conductor of the Basic Tournament Orientation (BTO), someone who does not hold back his feelings and is harsh with his words but he can be proud to say that he has come a long way in certifying more than 250 tournament paintballers in Singapore!

Those who have played paintball with him often regard him as a "no-nonsense" player and one who is sometimes "out of control". Many will think that this could be the after-effect of drinking too much ammo energy shots?

While he may sometimes seem a little agitated on the field, this guy is one hell of a good and nice fellow off the field, one who is passionate about the game and willing to share his knowledge with everyone. Yes, we need more of this caliber in Singapore, people who can contribute and spend their time doing something right for paintball. From the little things that you do, like talking paintball to people to big efforts such as organizing paintball games for your friends, you are in some ways helping paintball to grow and creating that little awareness for the sport. I salute you, the unsung heros!

So have you done your part for paintball today?

Thanks Newpaper for the coverage...