Paintball Journal

Now being released earlier than next year’s car models, the PSP schedule has been released far enough in advance that you could probably go out and find some Tippmann toting ballers and convert them into a D3 team in time for the first event. Not to stereotype Tippmann owners, but… yeah, you know what I’m talking about.

Without further ado, I give you the 2008 PSP Schedule!

Event #1
Dates: March 6th-9th
Location: TBD – Phoenix, AZ or Southern California

Mid-Atlantic Open
Dates: May 8th-11th
Location: PBC Sports Park, Rock Hill, SC

Chicago Open
Dates: June 25th-29th
Location: Bolingbrook Recreation and Aquatic Center, Bolingbrook, IL

Northeast Open
Dates: August 14th-17th
Location: All American Paintball Park, Greensburg, PA

World Cup*
Dates: October 20th-26th
Location: Disney’s Wide World of Sports® Complex, Orlando, FL

*Actual dates of play for the 2008 World Cup have not yet been confirmed.

Meanwhile, NPPL hasn’t yet completed the season, with their final Commander’s Cup event happening in the next week. Once they finish the season, I’ll expect they’ll have a schedule out as fast as possible in order to combat PSP’s punctuality. Of course I’ll get on that as fast as is humanly possible.

Meanwhile, back to the PSP schedule and their reasons for releasing early enough for me to give birth to my next teammate and train him into a decent back player.

First of all, I think it was a move to preempt anything that NPPL might have attempted to schedule. Getting the best weekends first is always a good thing to try for with national events. I’m not sure how much cooperation there is between the two event powerhouses, but unless I miss my guess, it’s first come first serve on the event dates.

Yes, the title is redundant, no need to point that out. It’s redundant for a reason, actually.

A closed team practice is one of the best ways to get better results at tournaments. By a closed practice, I mean having a field that your team can play on exclusively all day, as well as a limited number of players. That doesn’t mean that only your team can practice, and that’s where practicing with teams comes in.

First of all, individually, you can get a lot better by going to other team’s practices. Playing against a good team can be very challenging if it’s only you and several other proficient, but separate, players on the opposing side. That’s a great way to work on individual skills like playing down with a handicap. More often than not, you’ll probably find that you’re outnumbered and out gunned, which is just how a tournament game might turn out.

If it’s your own team running the practice, then it definitely shouldn’t be just a series of scrimmages, even if another team is there specifically to practice with you. Instead, start out with drills, especially competitive drills like jousting and snap shooting. That will benefit both teams, and throw a little unpredictability in the mix. Practicing against your teammates is fine and dandy, but especially with drills, familiarity can be a bad thing.

Once you’ve run some drills and warm-ups, then scrimmages are definitely called for. Make the teams even, but don’t mix and match. A lot of what your team should practice should include customized communication as well as coordinated moves and predefined breakouts.

The most important part in choosing a team to practice with is looking for a team that is better than yours. That will ensure that you have someone to learn something from, because if they’re better than you, they obviously know something you don’t.

Don’t be afraid to talk to different teams, most of them will agree to practice with you, because different people do different things and that aspect of unpredictability is important to practice against as well.

First off, I blog for Xtreme Paintball, in case you didn’t know. That’s where I get a lot of my information and tips, so it’s worth checking that blog out as well as this one. I’ve always got a link in my blogroll, so it’s good to check it out. I update that blog three times a week, so typically a little less than this one.

The main thing I wanted to show you lot is the brand new web design that’s swept the site. It looks much better than the old design and I’ve got to hand it to my man Stephen for that, he’s the Webmaster and Minister of Propaganda for Xtreme Paintball. He also gave me my job there. I make millions. It’s great.

Anyway!

First off, the NXe JRNY preview, which I commented on earlier tonight on this blog, was posted first by Stephen Estep on the blog over yonder, ensuring that there wouldn’t be any squabbles between exclusive writing for 451 Press / Xtreme. Boring stuff, I know, but one of them might threaten to cut my pay into the hundreds of thousands and that would just be tragic.

Stuff actually written by me includes this review of the latest RealPlayer which I do tie to you as a paintballer. It’s really detailed so if you’re debating dropping the $30 or whatever the ridiculous price is on the player then you’d better read that. Heck, if your a fanboy of one of the other players, you might want to check it out anyway, just to gloat.

The biggest thing that I’ve got up on Xtreme is the Proto SLG preview that I will not be doing on Paintball Journal.

Adding to the slew of new hoppers entering the market, NXe has released a tiny bit of information on the NXe JRNY…

Here’s what we have so far:

(more…)

Sorry for my recent inactivity. It’s National Novel Writing Month and somehow I’m still 6,000 words behind. NaNoWriMo and school have teamed up to pound me into oblivion, thus leaving my blogging in second place to the rest of my survival.

Today’s topic is winter paintball, one of the coolest styles of paintball. No pun intended, but if you get it, you can keep it.

There are several things to take into consideration when playing paintball during the freezing months, not the least of which is the fact that some fields just straight up close down during the winter. However, that shouldn’t deter you from putting together a day of play with some friends in some woods or nearby forest. Just be sure to get permission from whoever owns the property.

You’ll have much less of a problem using a Compressed Air tank rather than a CO2 tank in cold weather, as air is much less adversely affected by the cold temperatures. However, high tech only goes so far, and often it’s wiser to use a tank like a Tippmann to play in the cold than a high-end gun with parts that may be permanently damaged by the temperature. A reliable gun makes a huge difference in winter time paintball.

Layers are a must, but should also reflect your surroundings. Remember that pure white is rarely a good choice, even after a heavy snowfall. You should break your colors up in a way similar to that of branches and trees contrasting with snow drifts.

Possibly one of the easiest things to forget are your paintballs. If the temperature is approaching freezing, then your paintballs will become extremely brittle and susceptible to breaking as they drop into your chamber. You should try to keep paintballs inside or at least out of the cold as much as possible.

PSP World Cup is over. We have one more national event to look forward to, and then that’s it for the year. I’m not gonna lie, after World Cup, NPPL’s Commander’s Cup just seems anti-climactic. More on Commander’s Cup later, though.

The aftershocks of World Cup are still being sorted out. Miguel Cruz has some of the best photography of the event available online, so take a look!

Prices haven’t dropped as significantly for New In Box items as anyone hoped they might, but used prices are down to record lows, with guns a mere two years old now available for downright painful prices. If you’re going to buy, this winter is the time for it! With fewer events and less time to play, and in anticipation of Christmas, you might want to start thinking about that gun you’ve been drooling over for the past year.

Okay, so World Cup has passed and we are over that. Now, to the future!

NPPL Commander’s Cup promises to be the best NPPL event of the year, probably even rivaling World Cup in its awesomeness. It will take place in San Diego, from November 30th until December 2nd. Registration closes Friday the 16th, so get your information in! An interesting twist to this year’s event is the San Diego State University football game that will take place inside Qualcomm Stadium on Saturday, the 1st. The NPPL seems quite happy to be working with SDSU to cross-promote in what will hopefully be a powerful draw for both crowds.

As for your future, take the winter off! Paintball is an easy sport to get burned out from, and taking a winter off can leave you totally refreshed for the coming Spring. I know it seems like a weird strategy, but even professional players need some time to themselves. At least tone it down to easy practices and relaxed rec games.