[gmore70]

January 17, 2013. I just create part 2...things are moving, so lets keep the conversation going!

This post has been edited by gmore70: 18 January 2013 - 01:21 AM

[Ironchefxingba]

great video, you bring up alot of really valid points. and i think that doing lessons like that would do alot of good for some of the kids looking to really get into the sport more.

[nighthunter]

I never really thought about it like that, but giving lessons to newer players would be a great way to introduce them to the sport and get them started with their basic skills, while reassuring parents that their kids will be safe.

I can personally think of quite a few parents who won't let their kids play ball mostly because they don't know enough about it. I can also think of quite a few kids who end up leaving the sport after one or two outings because they feel overwhelmed by the learning curve that comes with the sport.

Every now and then, I'll try to coach a newer kid for awhile so he doesn't get blasted; but I don't always have the time or patience, and dedicated coaches would be a great add-on.

While I'm not sure that a dedicated national coaching commission would be enough to get paintball in the olympics, it would certainly help to get newer kids (and parents) into the game.

[Steephill]

nighthunter, on 16 January 2013 - 12:39 AM, said:

I never really thought about it like that, but giving lessons to newer players would be a great way to introduce them to the sport and get them started with their basic skills, while reassuring parents that their kids will be safe.

I can personally think of quite a few parents who won't let their kids play ball mostly because they don't know enough about it. I can also think of quite a few kids who end up leaving the sport after one or two outings because they feel overwhelmed by the learning curve that comes with the sport.

Every now and then, I'll try to coach a newer kid for awhile so he doesn't get blasted; but I don't always have the time or patience, and dedicated coaches would be a great add-on.

While I'm not sure that a dedicated national coaching commission would be enough to get paintball in the olympics, it would certainly help to get newer kids (and parents) into the game.

I agree with everything here. I also think it'd help get rid of a lot of misconceptions out there. The 20" sniper barrels, frozen paint, etc.

[Klub]

This is a good idea, I'd have loved to have lessons as a beginner.

Why don't we start a national body?

[Nokified]

It feels like every sport started out that way. Basketball. Polo. Baseball. It's all weird until there comes some strong voices.

Paintball isn't for kids.
It doesn't quite have the public image it needs. You ask most parents they'll tell you paintball is not for their kids. It's safe if used properly like everything else. Unfortunately the sport will be dubbed dangerous in most parents eyes.

Paintball has a big hurdle for newbies to overcome - the pain. Yea you got your pads and whatever but newer players aren't gonna have those. And even the idea or the sound of pain will make them refuse.

Lastly, cost. A basic setup will run you over 200$. A basketball? 20$. 30$ at most. Which one will the parents pick? The latter of course. Sure they can get a fog mask and a balloon tied on to their spider with a cone holding the balls. But what if the kid wants to get serious? He can save forever to buy a piece of the equipment because his daddy wants him to play football instead so he ain't paying. What about the paintballs themselves? Expensive. You can go to the court or a field and play basketball or football. But paintball? None of the above! You have to go to a field which cost money and buy the paintballs which cost even more money. So you got yourself a 200+$ equipment fee and a continuous 40-80$ every game depending on how much you're gonna shoot.

As I stated, there are many limiting factors such as cost, the fear of getting hurt, and the public image that paintball community needs to address with incoming parents. If we can solve these obstacles then we will be in a good position.

[voad]

Klub, on 16 January 2013 - 01:57 AM, said:

This is a good idea, I'd have loved to have lessons as a beginner.

Why don't we start a national body?

We had a thread a while ago where some one suggested Tech PB start giving lessons or camps through out the country. Nothing on this scale, this is an even bigger better idea. I would love to see Tech PB spear head it. I could take my god son who is just starting in this sport to a class.... and I would probably attend myself lol.

[nighthunter]

The great thing is: paintball coaches/teachers wouldn't necessarily have to be professional players. They could just be older, more experienced players who know their stuff and are willing to show some of their tricks to others.

Classes would include things like safe marker handling, moving up the field, picking the best cover, basic communication and so on.... Basically any more seasoned player could be a coach if they had the time and patience to do so.

[tallsmallboy44]

I know some professional players, and HK give some lessons, but are more geared towards semi-expirienced speedballers. Lastly, getting one unified body would be very difficult, because when you look at it, we don't even have one governing professional league.

[Cookybiscuit]

Interesting video. First time I've realized paintball doesn't really have lessons.

[Filmer_jake]

Nokified, on 16 January 2013 - 03:13 AM, said:

It feels like every sport started out that way. Basketball. Polo. Baseball. It's all weird until there comes some strong voices.

Paintball isn't for kids.
It doesn't quite have the public image it needs. You ask most parents they'll tell you paintball is not for their kids. It's safe if used properly like everything else. Unfortunately the sport will be dubbed dangerous in most parents eyes.

Paintball has a big hurdle for newbies to overcome - the pain. Yea you got your pads and whatever but newer players aren't gonna have those. And even the idea or the sound of pain will make them refuse.

Lastly, cost. A basic setup will run you over 200$. A basketball? 20$. 30$ at most. Which one will the parents pick? The latter of course. Sure they can get a fog mask and a balloon tied on to their spider with a cone holding the balls. But what if the kid wants to get serious? He can save forever to buy a piece of the equipment because his daddy wants him to play football instead so he ain't paying. What about the paintballs themselves? Expensive. You can go to the court or a field and play basketball or football. But paintball? None of the above! You have to go to a field which cost money and buy the paintballs which cost even more money. So you got yourself a 200+$ equipment fee and a continuous 40-80$ every game depending on how much you're gonna shoot.

As I stated, there are many limiting factors such as cost, the fear of getting hurt, and the public image that paintball community needs to address with incoming parents. If we can solve these obstacles then we will be in a good position.

Well he was comparing it to snowboarding which is probably on par/more expensive than paintball, you have to buy a nice board, a cheap one wont do, which is at least $100, you need to buy the specific snowboarding boots another $100, and Goggles $100, and helmet and then coats etc. And snowboarding can hurt too, when you fall on ice, or just falling in general. You also mentioned a field fee, well ski resorts have a fee, now it might not be $40, but i imagine some might be close to that, plus travel. Not only to mention that snowboarding is just for half a year at the most (assuming you don't live in the mountains), paintball can be played year round.

I think lessons would be great idea to get kids into the sport and to feel more confident and not as scared and intimidated by other players.

[HeroForADay]

It's an interesting idea, and something I've thought about for years. Except, the response I got to it was less than stellar, and in many cases I was basically laughed at, or scoffed off as an idealist. I my case, I actually wrote this out rather than a video, but I had shared my ideas to some locals, which included field owners, and some local players I know quite well about trying to start this up ourselves. Unforuneately my ideas largely went unheard, and true new player lessons do not exist, although there are programs somewhat tailored to advancing knowledge and skills in more experienced players - the foundation is ignored.

I wonder if I can dig up my blog posting, and papers I had in relation to this.I touched upon referee certification, universal rule sets for the league(s), and creating a progression model for skill/feeder programs and series that was less artifical than the one we have today. Then I remembered who I was surrounded by.

[gmore70]

HeroForADay, on 16 January 2013 - 05:35 PM, said:

It's an interesting idea, and something I've thought about for years. Except, the response I got to it was less than stellar, and in many cases I was basically laughed at, or scoffed off as an idealist. I my case, I actually wrote this out rather than a video, but I had shared my ideas to some locals, which included field owners, and some local players I know quite well about trying to start this up ourselves. Unforuneately my ideas largely went unheard, and true new player lessons do not exist, although there are programs somewhat tailored to advancing knowledge and skills in more experienced players - the foundation is ignored.

I wonder if I can dig up my blog posting, and papers I had in relation to this.I touched upon referee certification, universal rule sets for the league(s), and creating a progression model for skill/feeder programs and series that was less artifical than the one we have today. Then I remembered who I was surrounded by.

Do it. I am getting some very supportive emails from people that are well known in Paintball. This is getting a bit of momentum.

[HeroForADay]

gmore70, on 16 January 2013 - 06:48 PM, said:

HeroForADay, on 16 January 2013 - 05:35 PM, said:

It's an interesting idea, and something I've thought about for years. Except, the response I got to it was less than stellar, and in many cases I was basically laughed at, or scoffed off as an idealist. I my case, I actually wrote this out rather than a video, but I had shared my ideas to some locals, which included field owners, and some local players I know quite well about trying to start this up ourselves. Unforuneately my ideas largely went unheard, and true new player lessons do not exist, although there are programs somewhat tailored to advancing knowledge and skills in more experienced players - the foundation is ignored.

I wonder if I can dig up my blog posting, and papers I had in relation to this.I touched upon referee certification, universal rule sets for the league(s), and creating a progression model for skill/feeder programs and series that was less artifical than the one we have today. Then I remembered who I was surrounded by.

Do it. I am getting some very supportive emails from people that are well known in Paintball. This is getting a bit of momentum.

I actually found my works, I file/categorize written projects of mine based on the year I worked on the original project. It's 5 pages of my ideas, and pratical/functional ways to implement it. If only I had a scanner.

[tallsmallboy44]

I still think it would be very difficult, because as you probably know, we can't even decide on a governing professorial league. As for referee certification I think that it should only apply to tournament refs, because I think it would be a little ridiculous to have every ref at every field have to go thorough a certification process.

[cport]

You know I think we may be getting off track as far as talking about professional leagues and refs. If we could have a body that covered strictly certifying instructors, this would be ideal. I have actually done something similar to this at a local field with the younger kids that wanted to get started in tournament play. This also actually doubled as a feeder type team for those that wanted to be more than just a walk-on on Sundays, but didn't know where to start. I would be more than willing to do whatever I had to to get this of the ground.

[tallsmallboy44]

cport, on 16 January 2013 - 08:17 PM, said:

You know I think we may be getting off track as far as talking about professional leagues and refs. If we could have a body that covered strictly certifying instructors, this would be ideal. I have actually done something similar to this at a local field with the younger kids that wanted to get started in tournament play. This also actually doubled as a feeder type team for those that wanted to be more than just a walk-on on Sundays, but didn't know where to start. I would be more than willing to do whatever I had to to get this of the ground.

I was just saying that it may be hard to create one governing body, seeing that we can't even create a governing body for the professionals.

[lovebunny]

cool idea:) ii will host a newbie day at my fiekd hats for sure.

[nighthunter]

tallsmallboy44, on 16 January 2013 - 08:20 PM, said:

cport, on 16 January 2013 - 08:17 PM, said:

You know I think we may be getting off track as far as talking about professional leagues and refs. If we could have a body that covered strictly certifying instructors, this would be ideal. I have actually done something similar to this at a local field with the younger kids that wanted to get started in tournament play. This also actually doubled as a feeder type team for those that wanted to be more than just a walk-on on Sundays, but didn't know where to start. I would be more than willing to do whatever I had to to get this of the ground.

I was just saying that it may be hard to create one governing body, seeing that we can't even create a governing body for the professionals.

On the plus side, since there is no existing group of instructors, it would be easier to make one; whereas with pro leagues, there's NPPL, PSP, and dozens of other semi-pro or regional leagues that are all run by people with their own ideas of how pro ball should be played.
If the soon-to-be instructor's league accepted one single governing group from the beginning, there would not be such a mess later on.

[cport]

tallsmallboy44, on 16 January 2013 - 08:20 PM, said:

cport, on 16 January 2013 - 08:17 PM, said:

You know I think we may be getting off track as far as talking about professional leagues and refs. If we could have a body that covered strictly certifying instructors, this would be ideal. I have actually done something similar to this at a local field with the younger kids that wanted to get started in tournament play. This also actually doubled as a feeder type team for those that wanted to be more than just a walk-on on Sundays, but didn't know where to start. I would be more than willing to do whatever I had to to get this of the ground.

I was just saying that it may be hard to create one governing body, seeing that we can't even create a governing body for the professionals.

Please don't take that the wrong way, I completely agree that it is ridiculous that we cant merge the two pro leagues, however there are many other sports out there that have multiple pro leagues, like Roping. I believe that if we were to direct our efforts towards the field owners and their revenue, we would have more success.