UWL Event One | California
story by Alex Cadalso | originally posted on playuwl.com | reprinted by permission | photo Chris Dilts
I saw big smiles and friendly gestures everywhere I turned during the inaugural event of the Ultimate Woodsball League at SC Village in Corona, CA. The UWL brought in plenty of steep competition, but there was a greater sense of camaraderie and fellowship than you find at your traditional tournament.
UWL Commissioner Tom Cole, a veteran woodsballer who played with Bad Company for most of his professional career, realized that many players long for the days when tournaments were more about crawling than rate of fire.
As both a format and a league, the UWL is a shining star. There are a growing number of players who want to play competition paintball but are jaded or otherwise turned-off by aspects of the speedball game. The UWL represents a happy medium between recreational paintball and full-fledged, in your face tournament paintball.
Playing in the woods presents different challenges and learning situations for players of all ages and skill levels. The UWL is running an advertising campaign featuring the slogan “These players started in the woods” with pictures of Hall of Fame paintball players including Chris Lasoya, Richie Maliszeweski (Image), and Shane Pestana, Darryl Trent and Dave Youngblood of the Ironmen, among others. The UWL’s other tagline is “Woods, Dirt, Camo” which any woodsball veteran can get behind.
The UWL divides teams into two divisions, Open and Skills. Equipment restrictions make the difference between the divisions; Infantry players (open division) can use any electronic marker in semi-auto, Rangers (skills division) must use non-electronic markers. Both Infantry and Rangers must use 9-volt loaders (Kingman Fasta, VL Revolution, etc.).
Teams consist of a captain, a scout, a heavy weapons man, 7 infantry / rangers and one sniper. The captain can use any electronic marker set to semi-auto and calls in the use of special weapons — revives and “missile” strikes to strategically eliminate the other team. Scouts break out 10 seconds before their teammates to pull a flag or set up in a forward position. The heavy weapons player can use any marker in any mode with any mode. Snipers must use a pump gun or pistol and count as a +1, an eleventh player on a ten man team.
Bob Long took full advantage of the heavy weapons position, using his brand new Marq Victory in uncapped full-auto to chop up the competition. I came across Bob in a ravine and was so scared of his machine gun that I retreated to another position.
Tom Cole and the UWL team spent several days grooming SC Village’s world famous woods fields for the tournament. Despite the inherent difficulties in creating even fields in the woods, the two fields in play were adequately balanced, with neither side having an inherent advantage due to a coin flip. Additionally, the team that loses the coin flip receives a handicap — either more revives or the option to start with a flag base in their possession.
The objective-based format evened the playing field because games weren’t won by eliminations, but flag possession time. Good teams worked the fields and developed strategies to control their flag stations while keeping the other team out. More experienced teams often found it difficult, and counterproductive, to steamroll opponents with no regard for pulling and defending flags.
Bob Long’s Assassins took first place in the Open Division, followed by the CA Ballers in second. Playing alongside Bob Long were his son Zack Long, Tyler Harmon, Kimo and a number of the LA Hitmen.
The UWL offers an placement program for players who can’t find a team to play with. The CA Ballers were a team of players assembled for the tournament by the UWL. The UWL offers this service as a way to build new teams and relationships in the sport.
The San Diego Daggers, captained by the voice of paintball, veteran Ironman Matt Marshall, took first place in the Skills division. The San Diego Daggers were a motley crew of grizzled vets and familiar faces, including Nicky Cuba (Ironmen), Todd Martinez (Dynasty), Brandon Lambertson (ex-Infamous), and Roy Richards and Cedric Roloff (ex-Avalanche & KAPP Factory).
The Daggers faced Team Gat in the final, a showdown many called the game of the tournament. Team Gat, using 7 pump guns, took the Daggers down to the final buzzer before they captured Team Gat’s base flag for the win.
The event was a big success because everyone left the field feeling good about the weekend. Teams played with honor, respect and a tremendous amount of sportsmanship. Players of all ages and walks of life found common ground on the paintball field, and that has forever been what our sport is all about.
Tom Cole is doing a fine job running the UWL, the event went off without a hitch and everyone in attendance had a fun weekend. A hallmark of a good commissioner is the ability to take criticism and suggestions from their players. Tom was vigilant in pursuit of feedback from teams, constantly asking them how they were doing and what the league could do better.
Photographer extraordinaire Chris Dilts was on hand to capture the events of the weekend; his photo galleries are posted at the UWL’s website, www.playuwl.com
Thanks to SC Village, Giant Paintball, Chris Dilts and all of the teams, friends and families who came out to share the weekend together. Thanks to Kingman Training, DYE, JT, BT, GenX, Ultimate Paintball, Bob Long Technology, and Tippmann, the UWL’s event sponsors.
The next UWL event is scheduled for May 16-17 at Badlandz in Chicago, Illinois; the UWL will return to SC Village August 1-2.
Alex Cadalso played paintball for HK and has published over 100 articles about paintball in magazines like SPLAT, PGI and Welt, among others.
The MAO Webcast
The PSP MAO Webcast. Hosted by Matty Marshall. Filmed by Pat Spohrer. Screamed at by Red.
Teams Ride Tides
by Matty Marhsall | photo Chris Dilts
Teams ride tides.
They are pulled by unseen forces, and, like living things, are moved by the intense power of real life needs: emotion, money, time, the whims of industry, the ups and downs of the economy.
Just as vast seas and oceans are pushed and pulled by the sun and the moon, a paintball team too is a pliable thing and it’s easy to think that a team’s fate in the sport is decided by elements outside its control, a seemly powerful thing caught in the gravity of greater forces.
So much talk, so many words in our world are devoted to these forces, as they are important and do matter. The sport is so gear dependent and so filled with intricacies that it is easy to get lost in the details.
But let’s not get it twisted; this is still about the on-field battle. Despite all the prep and planning that goes into a pro team, all the behind the scene wrangling, on the field is where fate is decided When the horn blows, the guns start rolling, none of complex details matter, the stage is set and the war is on. It is just a battle, a physical application of will power.
Our season has begun. We are heading into the second event. The Philly Americans looked solid in the first tournament, beating a strong Ironmen squad, avenging their loss in of the 2008 world cup. A big reason they won that event is because many of there players are developing into consistent weapons, and in particular the combo of Ryan Moorhead and Konstantin Fedorov on the Dorito side is going to be hard to beat now that K-Fed is finally looking like the super star player the Americans hoped to pick up last year. It has taken him a while to find his form, because knowing your roll is such an important part of the game. In the beginning Federov didn’t know his roll and he died allot, lost in his head trying to find it. It also took him a bit to get used to an american system of practice and training, after coming up in the Russian system of training, which is more about drills and stats and less about the overall game. His roll on the Russian Legion, the team that made him a star, wasn’t the same as it is on Philly; on the legion it was more tip of the spear as opposed to the edge of the sword. He is now the supporting layer on the dorito side, playing behind Moorhead, and he was able to fill that roll aggressively and help his team win the event.
On the snake side of the field, the young Chad George is still getting better which, honestly, is scary, and Pat Roberts is also playing solid and aggressive. With these players backed up and accompanied by Tim Montressor, they’re assembling a tough squad to beat, especially when you take into consideration mid-insert Jason Edwards, who has found a home and an on field vibe. He is easily one of the most underrated players in the game and if he keeps up his training regimen and on field performance, he is going to be one of the best. He reminds me a lot of Yosh Rau: monster gunfighter, super consistent, great clutch ability.
The Ironmen could easily win this next event. They need Brandon Short to handle the snake side of the field, and to keep his composure, which was the only suspect element of his game in Phoenix. Everyone who’s been following the game for a while knows B-Short is amazing when he’s on. Nicky Cuba is in the best shape of his life, but need to make the speed work for him when situation merits it, not try to take big bites of the field and die diving into spots. He’s scary when he can implement his athleticism with his clutch ability, which has won tournaments for the Ironmen. Mikko Huttunen is shooting more people of the break than pretty much anyone in the league and needs to keep that gun rolling hard so his team has the continual one body advantage. Billy Wing played some wicked points to keep his team in the final games and heading into 13th season with the Ironmen shows no sign of slowing down on the field. Ollie Lang continues to play ridiculous points, and on a regular basis pulls off moves that make people understand why he is still widely considered the best playing in the world. Mike Paxson and Scotty Kemp have been solid coming out of the pit. They didn’t play as many points as the other 6 players, but they didn’t exactly warm the bench, and they contributed when they did get on the field. The Ironmen have one of the deepest rosters in the league, and it shows when they play.
Dynasty is also poised to win an event very soon. They won two last year, and look as good as they did then, maybe even better because the team solely consists of salty veterans. Davey Williamson and Todd Martinez are playing extremely well. They have two of the most experienced and explosive snake players on the planet in Alex Fraige and Angel Fragoza, and when they are on the team is simply unstoppable, especially since the emergence of the killer inside Justin Swartz, who has been one of the team most productive players. He plays mostly on the dorito side and is very good at capitalizing on the chaos Dynasty creates with their aggression, and can create his own if the need arises. The team picked up Johnny Perchak in the off season and it couldn’t be a better fit, he was on Dynasty for years, winning tournament after tournament, until his brief retirement two years ago. They also have one of the smartest coaches in the league in Kevin Bredthauer, who know the team well because he help start the team years ago. Also, to make matters worse for their opponents you also have to take into consideration Yosh Rau and Ryan Greenspan. Yosh, like Mikko from the Ironmen, Jason Edwards of Philly, and Mike Carthy of Tampa Damage, is one of the more silent killers on the field. He actually has a loud on field voice for communication, but he doesn’t talk about himself much. He is probably, like Nicky Cuba, one of the most clutch players in the game, and wins lots of close points for Dynasty. Ryan Greenspan is, hands down, one of top five players in the world on his good days. On his really good days he’s the best. After Oliver left the team two and half years ago, his game excelled, and he now can single handily win points.
The Russians struggled on Sunday in Phoenix, the stand out on that team now is Justin Rabackof, who played so well during some points in Phoenix I thought he creating a new style. Some moves looked preprogrammed, and so fluid, like he had already performed the move in his head’s computer, and the simulation work out so he just programmed the autopilot and pushed play. It will be interesting to see he can keep up this level of play, because if he can, he will be one of the top players in the game. The hardest things for him will be to keep his head straight, as he is only 20 year old.
However the rest of the Russian line looked like they were struggling to find their groove towards the later part of the event, and weren’t playing with the necessary fire. It’s going to take a more combined effort to take them onto the podium. They are just too inconstant at this point.
Teams do ride tides, they are swayed by outside forces, but their fates are decided, more often, by the gravity created by what their players do on the field. Winning events take on an energy and power of it’s own. These are the top four teams in the world right now based on the last event, which is how we measure these matters here. But the cool thing about the PSP is that the field is so strong, like having a royal rumble going on with every fighter possessing a devastating over hand right, all the top teams have a puncher’s chance, and that is what makes our sport so exciting. Yeah, there are a million things that can go wrong outside the net, but once you get on the field you weave fate; your gun is the force of gravity. And on a good day, regardless of what happening in the grand scheme, you create the tide the team rides.
Matty Marshall is Transcend’s Senior Editor and Matt has also won a lot of professional paintball tournaments, played for the Ironmen and XSV, was the Editor at Large for P8NT Magazine and has written for just about every other paintball magazine. He’s appeared in the films Push, Sunday Drivers, Cereal Killers and Heroes for a Day.
Q and A : April 2009
If you have a question that needs answering, feel free to ask. Our staff of pros will answer your question, and we throw the answers up for everyone to see. This way, everyone can benefit. Go ahead, give us your best shot.
I’m sure you get this a lot but I’ve been playing on Div 4 and Div 5 teams for about 5 years now and they were all poorly organized so I’ve decided to start my own team with a lot of young talent and hungry hearts. We practice two days a week and work out 5 days a week. I was wondering about getting sponsors, do you have any advice?
Lance aka Hollywood
Getting sponsors is very tricky, and a question we get asked alot. Yes, normally Div 4 and 5 teams aren’t well organized. Unfortunately that is reality a lot of times, that’s why those teams are playing in the lower divisions. I’m glad to see you have the tenacity to keep competing and to start your own team. Now the organization is up to you; tend it well. However, how organized your team is only puts the players in a well-oiled groove where they should be able to focus on playing. Possible sponsorship opportunities can be helped out by having your act in order, but it’s not the determining factor of whether or not a company will sponsor you.
The grim reality, even for the best teams and players in the world, is that sponsorship dollars have dried up in the wake of the economic mess. So now, more than ever, there is absolutely positively no free lunch.
Getting sponsors isn’t really a factor of how well you are organized, or how much your team loves paintball, or how much you team practices/works out, though all those attributes are important to your eventual success– it’s a factor of how much money you are worth to the person giving you money. Companies sponsor teams because two reasons:
1. You own a store or a field or both, and you can sell X amount of product to get Y amount for free.
2. You are winning everything in sight, or are so paintball famous, that the company thinks by giving you money or product, they will get a greater amount of marketing value out of you or your team than the actual amount of dollars.
This isn’t about current hard work or your talent level, this is about the bottom line and your resume. Another thing, unless you are pro or semi pro, maybe div 1, even if you are winning everything, you still won’t be able to get decent sponsorship. There just aren’t enough dollars in the companies marketing budgets to give out to the lower div teams. I would focus you efforts on trying to get local stores and fields to sponsor you, so your bottom line on paint and field entry fees is lower. Another way to get funding for the team is to throw local tournaments. Also, hitting up emerging companies who are trying to make a name for themselves might go better than approaching big companies who already have their budgets locked in for the year. Also, some companies do have deals set up where you can buy a package of gear for a discount, it’s not really sponsorship, more a glorified group discount, but in this economic climate, it’s better than nothing. Good luck bro.
Profile: Alex Fraige
Alex Fraige is a life artist. He moves with a frantic, reflective walk, mashing down each new life experience into his vibrant, always churning brain. At 26, he’s seen more of the world than most people ever will. This is fact, not some randomness assembled to make a paintball player sound cool. He is hungry for knowledge and new things, new places, new feelings. Other than Oliver Lang, and Ryan Greenspan, there is no other paintball player who has won as many events, and his opinion is gospel to everyone from league presidents to pro captains to corporate suits. The powers that be listen to what he has to say, may be you should too. He talks to Transcend briefly about Dynasty in 09, big game heroics, why he still plays this game, and Spirit of the Wolf.
Matty Marshall: Lots of changes this year on and off the field, just break down for the fans what Dynasty is up to this year and who Dynasty is going to roll with. Some guys had to go, you picked up a new players, break it down for everybody.
Alex Fraige: Well with the changes to the format you can’t have a full staff of players, you can only have eight rostered players an event, you don’t really have the luxury anymore of keeping guys you might need in certain situations, you need guys that are going to play for sure at the tournament, you need guys that are reliable, experienced, skilled and that are going to perform the duties necessary to win the tournament. So, there are really very few guys out there, who have the ability to go out and play every point,
Matty Marshall: Who have the skill set…
AF: Yeah, the skill set who can go out there and be effective every time at this level. So we have consolidated our team down to all veterans. There’s not one guy on our team who hasn’t won a tournament, or multiple tournaments. Everyone’s been pro for four or five years at least. Most of them are original dynasty guys.
MM: Well the rawest dude on your team is LJ (Justin Swartz) and as far as kill count goes, he definitely kills his fair share of dudes.
AF: Yeah Justin is our least experienced guy on the team, but he’s one of the most experiences guys in the luegue. He’s definitely paid his dues and he can put a plan together. We have a good group of guys….and most of the guys are pushing (chuckles a bit) ya know thirty-five, forty, so we’re getting up there a bit.
MM 
laughs) I mean you’re forty-one right?
AF: Yeah, you’re right I’m forty-one. But when time gets tough I just call on the power of the wolf, I summon the power of the spirit wolf and ya know
MM: I thought it was more like Sampson with those beautiful locks you have right now energizing you up.
AF: (laughs) Yeah that’s where all my power is, in my hair, I’m actually terrible at paintball, my hair just channels the power through me
MM: Like a prism
AF: (laughs) I’m actually stoked for my team this year, it’s a lot of veterans, we’re all on the level, there’s no one out there, on our team at least, that we need to baby sit or groom or up their pedigree, we know what it takes so we just need to get out there, practice put a good game plan together and make it happen. Everyone’s heard the speech a thousand times, so we don’t need to do that shit anymore, just go out there and handle business.
MM: How do you feel about the year, I mean I know you are stoked on the team cause you are all crusty veterans, or crafty, or crazy, but just in general.
AF: No crusty and crunchy that’s what we are. Yeah, with the economy and the situation with the two leagues, with the emergence of the uspl and the demise of the nppl it makes things a little unclear for the future, but, you know, just like every year after the off season, not having played for awhile I’m just excited to play the game, that’s thee main reason I play, to play the game of paintball, and play with my friends. With that in mind everything all the other things are just a bonus. Hopefully the leagues have good turn out, and the companies and the sponsors get more business and things stabilize.
MM: What’s motivating you these days, is it just playing with your friends? The way things are going it’s obviously not money, or the need to win another championship to prove yourself. ‘Cause there are no million dollar contracts out there, no need for anther Dynasty championship to satiate your need to glory. Why do you still play the game?
AF: Other than the fact that I love to play the game itself, I like going to practice, or a tournament, and figuring out the best way to play a field with your team. And complete that challenge, or take on that challenge and try to succeed. And then the feeling of actually succeeding with your friends, being on that level, chasing that high, that a lot of people never find in their lives, to be the best in the world at something, and to do it with your friends and your teammates, that’s a profound thing. It’s only maybe for a couple of moments in your life and when you get there… You know how it feels… It’s one of those things that are up there. I haven’t had a kid, I haven’t been married, but it’s one of those things that ranks. I could say some of the best moments of my life were at paintball tournaments, or at least at the end of them. Yeah and I also think that I’m playing because the game of paintball has given me a lot, those feelings and those friends ships, and the game deserves people like me to give back to it, so I’m going to do what I can, and our team is going to do what it can, to help the game grow and to be ambassadors for the sport.
MM: As far as riding the chaotic edge, flying by the seat of your pants enjoying life, and trying to create those experiences? What stuck out in your head this year on the field?
AF: Going into last year we hadn’t won an NXL tournament. After being in the NXL for two years, that was two years, no victory. We were still the NPPL series champs so I really wanted to win an NXL event and we were able to win two. We didn’t win the World Cup, but we won more events than any other team. We won 2 out of 5, which I’m really happy with, and we beat many of the best teams convincingly, that was a new pinnacle that we hadn’t been able to achieve yet. It was new thing for us, most people think we have accomplished it all but, and we had beaten those teams before, but not in that platform and it was elating. And in seven man, with the Houston event being cancelled because of the hurricane we were way too far behind to come back in the NPPL series. There were three teams ahead of us, Ironmen needed to finish dead last and we need to win the event, I mean it was just literally out of our hands. And for the previous two years we had been down on points heading into the Commander’s Cup, to XSV and Impact, and we ended up edging them out but we had a bit more control in those situations because it was a close race. But last year, 08, it was out of hands, and then (laughs) commander Mo (the famous now deceased Maurice Gibb of Bee Gees fame, a paintball fanatic, whom the event is named after) opened up the clouds, smite the Ironmen down to the ground and we won the tournament. It was awe inspiring and it was more than us just winning the tournament, it was divine intervention.
MM: What about you personally, any moves you made, and you can swing the range from practice to Xball to seven man, big games, whatever stood out in your mind, move wise, as far a your play is concerned. Because we need that in paintball, people need to have those signposts, both fans and players, those high water marks, like Tony hawks 900. Our sport is very visceral, it’s not judged, I mean we have refs, but one person shoots another, that’s the way it is, there no judge of the side lines going “well you did that so much more artfully than Oliver so I give you a 9.7 and he gets a 9.5”.
AF: Yeah, I have moments on the field when everything falls into place for you, you dive into the snake and two dude’s backs are to you, then you crawl down to the next knuckle and bunker a guy, those games are in there at events and you have them at times. Sometimes they come at moments when you need the game, and that’s the best. I started playing the game for the rush. Now, I get the biggest rush the ten seconds before the game, because when the game starts you’re just so focused trying to win that you’re acting off your knowledge and your instincts, so you don’t get to enjoy and savor it while you are doing it. After the game your like “yeah that was sick” or somebody comes up to you and says, “great move, you won the game”. But when you’re playing in something like a big game you’re there for fun and you can slow down, you have more time, and you can really savor the good time, you’re laughing, it’s playing, like you’re at the play ground. I went to some big games this year and one of the craziest paintball experience I’ve ever had was at that game in New York with you guys: You, Ollie, Me, Nicky, Yosh, Joe Cuba-Nicky’s brother- when it was like 9 on 100 but with everyone reincarnating it was like 9 on 200 is what it felt like. This thing was like you’re in war with, in battle with, your fucking comrades (laughs) it was intense. I had never experienced that before, I mean, I’ve played in big games like that before, but
MM: (laughs) I could hear it your voice when you came running up the ramp, and dove horizontal through the door screaming “It’s me Matty, get out of the way!” when I was holding down that ramp to the rampart.
AF: (Laughs) I felt like it was the end, that this was it, we were going to hold this castle, and we were out of paint, out of air, and they were flooding in like ants. That was intense, and it’s for moments like that is why you play paintball. That and coming up over a hill at a big game and bunkering like ten people at once, that’s a pretty insane feeling you can never get in tournament. But winning a tournament against the best in the world, having a good game shooting two or three guys, I’m going to have to say that is the top. Just knowing those guys are on the same level as you, the playing field is equal, that’s the apex of any competition, of any sport.
MM: Are you guys going international at any point this year?
AF: I don’t know yet if the team is going to but a lot of the guys are, so if the whole team doesn’t go you will see Ryan Greenspan, myself, Yosh Rau, and a couple of the other guys possibly head to some interesting places, South America, and possible Iran, there talk of going over there. We’ve done the whole European thing and sponsorship is kinda tight right now so we will see what we can afford.
Profile: Nicky Cuba
Some random dude rolls around the side of the dojo, and blasts Nicky in the face, blowing his Call of Duty character to pieces. On the replay we see the bob and weave, the face blasting.
“Goddamn it!” Nicky clenches his giant fist in the air, sitting on his bed,
Mike Paxton laughs and gives him shit, “Damn, you are just getting handled right now.
Nicky grimaces, fist stays up in the air, ready to smash it down on some imaginary enemy as he starts to walk out the room. “I was protecting that dumb ass who should have been running the flag in”, he turns around, reaches down for his headset, and yells into the mic, “Hey Alex whatever your name is, grab the flag dumbass and run it in next time.”
“God Nicky, what if he like twelve or something”, Nicky’s girl, Melissa, says half joking.
“Yeah, what if it was your kid?” I say, continuing to mess with him. We love seeing Nicky get riled up, it’s one of our favorite things about him.
“He needs to learn to play the game, I’d do the same thing if I was my kid. Even more so.” He says quite sincere.
Nicky is an intense person. Though he has become less emotional and more logically sharpened doing his turbulent career and life, he still wears his strong heart on his sleeve, especially during any sort of competition, whether it’s Call of Duty, paintball, or a casual game of beer pong.
“Alright let’s do this interview”, I say.
“Fine,” Nicky says now calm, but still fronting funny mock anger at his COD loss. We sit on the dark couch in the living room as Nicky warns me of cat pee section.
“Whoa, whoa, don’t sit there, sit here”
This house is owned by Indian John Almera, a Dynasty coach, and former Ironman back in the late nineties. Located in Bay Park, just east of Sea World, with a clear view of Mission Bay from it’s roof top patio, it was actually built mostly by John and Yosh Rau, another tenant, a couple of years ago, and is one of the central crash pads/paintball houses in San Diego. Skinny Kevin, Dynasty’s coach, lives here. Angel Fergoza stayed here for a couple of months on an eventually aborted move to San Diego. Alex Fraige used to live here as well.
Matty: So, first practice of the year.
Nicky: Yeah first team practice of the year, knockin’ of the rust, seeing what we’re working with.
Matty: How many guys are showing up, what are you working with?
Nicky: We have eight, well actually seven cause Mikko doesn’t have a visa yet; he’s in Finland for the holidays. Xalo is in Brazil, and he has a visa, but we’re waiting to hear what happens with Mikko Hopefully both of them can return.
MM: So seven.
NC: And then anyone else coming out that guys have, but I’m not sure if anyone is coming. I was talking to a couple of people, but I’m not sure if it’s going to go through, people want a lot of money these days and there’s not a lot of money to give out.
MM: How is it out there right now, the climate, the attitude of the pro guys, in your opinion. Or just in general.
NC: We’ll I’ve only really talked to my guys, a few others, and yourself, mostly, but the feeling it that everyone is just weathering the storm, seeing what’s going to happen, seeing what they’re going to do outside in their regular life, seeing how they’re spending their money and see what we can expect this year, what they can make, what will make us professional. We’ll see if it’s going to be good or see how far into recession things are going to go.
MM: So the recession has hit pro paintball, but everyone knew that already.
NC: Yeah its time has come. With the new rules, with the eight man rosters, only having that number of players…
MM: How do you feel about that?
NC: I don’t like it all, I wish we could have deeper rosters. I understand, but at the same time there are a lot of injuries cause he go hard, and sometimes they come in waves, and then you have three guys down and what do you do? Call up those dudes you let go cause of the cap and you couldn’t have on your team, or have to cherry pick the guys that are left over, guys who are pretty much getting the shaft from pro tournament paintball because the NPPL closed down and the PSP has lowered the roster size. If that’s what they’re going to do, then it’s fine well make it work, but I just wish we could have more guys.
MM: Have you seen the other league, they have pretty long list of pro teams, some teams I’ve never heard of, at least playing at this level.
NC: At the pro level?
MM: Yeah.
NC: So that’s for sure going through?
MM: I guess, I saw the press release, they’re going to have the first event in Huntington beach and…
NC: That’s cool though, Huntington Beach is the shit. It’s just a badass event, it was going to be weird to think of a year without it. I’ll go there, I don’t know if I’m going to playing in it, but I’ll go, I just want to play in every tournament possible.
MM: And again I don’t know how the prizes work yet.
NC: I think it’s, at least on the pro side, the teams invest money but they don’t win money. Just trying to get the league started and see what they can do. Honestly right now I don’t know if it’s going to work. Cause we’ve been trying to get one league for so long, trying to get the companies together to make the sport better. I thought it was bad it closed down, but a good thing overall because it was a weight lifted off our shoulders as far as the internal battle between the sponsoring companies just going at each other through the two leagues.
MM: Another things that scaring me is we have a horrid situation with the economy, before some people we saying it wasn’t that bad, but now everyone understand it’s really really bad, though some people are feeling it more than others. But with all these leagues gearing up for grassroots support, it’s going to be hard for them all to survive cause they’re all going after the same dwindling player base. Like the PSP has been growing is grassroots support for the lower divisions, and doing well. There are a lot of seven man teams out there. But how many teams are going to stop playing this year, it’s going to be interesting to see, there a lot up in the air as far as the greater economy we don’t have control over.
NC: I like the idea of one scenario, one actually style of play, so it can be worldwide and everyone follows it. But I don’t know if I like the race to seven. If you look at last year games, there were a lot of comebacks that happened, like 7 -2, 7-3 games that came back and made it entertaining for the fans. Skunkings are bad for the show.
MM: There are two side of the coin though cause every time we make a change people hate on it.
NC: yeah, I knocked the other one too, I was like “race to nine…. that’s gay” but it was ended up cool.
MM: I felt they was some of the most dramatic paintball I had seen last year, but it doesn’t matter, everyone is always saying “what’s the ideal format, what’s the ideal format?” but these decision are being made in spirit of sustainability.
There are ton of ways to hit a ball with stick. How many different ways are there to throw or kick an inflated ball around a field, how many different variations? Paintball has that similar aspect; it’s so varied, so many different ways to play the game. But the question is where does the tip of the industry want to put it’s emphasis and what do the fans want to see?
NC: I want to see people get stomped out some kicks to the face (laughs)
MM: (laugh) Yeah, people are bitching about the drop in the speed of the guns, shit, let’s drop the rate to ten, lower the speed to 280, take off the facemasks, and give guys mouthpieces.
NC: Hell yeah, old school.
MM: Like back in the day.
NC: We didn’t even wear mouthpieces.
MM: Yeah we didn’t, and you can see your face. (Laughs) Who knows where it’s going to go, but as far as the Ironmen, there’s been big transitions every year, and that’s paintball, it’s not like you’re not used to things changing a lot.
NC: Yeah there have been big transitions on Ironmen, and I’ve seen major changes on XSV, but this year it is really drastic. Because of the rule changes, player changes and because we’re losing Shane, who has been the main contributor in analyzing games, practices, watching games at the events and he is one of the most important pieces of the puzzle, controlling us animals on and off the field, keeping us in check.
MM: Which is quite a task.
NC: Yeah it is! Last year we lost a bunch of veterans, Mr. U (Pete Utchig), Ryan Williams, Josh Hill, and Todd Adamson, and Billy Ceranski the year before that, the first year I got on. Every year it’s been big name guys leaving, and now it’s our coach. It’s just obstacles put in front of us, reasons to make us play harder, that brings us closer together as a team to overcome this next obstacle. Yeah, we don’t have Shane, but we still have each other. We have to look to each other now, but that’s why I think this team is good. People are moving down to San Diego (Scott Kemp and Brandon Short have moved to Pacific Beach) so we are getting to see each other a lot more, train a lot more, and we are now a closer unit.
MM: You guys still look solid. First of all, you guys did great last year, except that last event. And second, you still have a lot of younger guys coming into their own, and a lot of older guys, and I can now say that about you….
NC: Hahaha, like a fine wine….
MM: Shittttttt, you heard Ving Rames/ Marcellus in Pulp Fiction: “If you think you age like a fine wine, you don’t. If you mean you turn to vinegar…you do.”
NC: (laughs)
MM: But yeah, you have a lot of older guys in now in their prime. You especially, now you are one the more responsible, clutch guys, which is the complete opposite of what you were at the start of your career, when you really couldn’t count on you to do shit off the field, or be there on time, when you were wild and crazy, run to the fifty,
NC: (laughs), catch balls in my face
MM: I mean I count on the fact you would shoot people….
NC: ….but not consistently
MM: yeah, but now it’s the opposite, how did you get here? Cause it’s the truth.
NC: It’s just tough love from you guys, and from all the teams I played on. I took it from the older guys on the teams I’ve been on. I would just try to be a sponge, take what I need to help my game out, and then I got rid of what wasn’t helping me. I think that’s what I got from west coast, from the east coast and the Midwest, from going everywhere are in our nation to grab a little bit from all the best players in each region. I think I owe a lot to that, traveling, being around everyone, around hardcore competition all the time.
MM: So you guys are going to play Xball, are you going to play the other league, and what are you plans internationally?
NC: Yes, for sure playing Xball, the other league still undecided, we went to the first meeting, checked that out and I’m waiting to hear back from what’s going on. Europe maybe, if someone’s wants to fly me out there and pay me, then I’d be down. Other than that I’m just doing stuff nationally, getting New Skool out there, more into effect, promoting it better, getting more of my line out there. Growing up a bit more, this is a side of my life that I’ve had on hold for a bit, designing the clothing line.
MM: When’s that coming out and where can people check that out?
NC: Should have some stuff out in the next couple of months. By June, around the time of Chicago, I’ll have a new run of t-shirts, hoodies, and the rest of the line by the end of the year. Go to nicky-cuba.com. Check out my Myspace, which is the same.
MM: Get your social networking on, get your Facebook on.
NC: Don’t have the Facebook yet; I’m not as cool as you guys, that’s next.
MM: Then how are you going to market to all the highbrow college students and hip professionals?
NC: It’s coming baby, it’s coming.
The Last One: NPPL San Diego
I spent the 2008 season back in paintball working for the NPPL as their in-house event photographer. When I showed up in San Diego for the last event of the season it never occurred to me that this was the final NPPL event. Ever.
I went to my first NPPL event in 1998 (Chicago Open). And I played the 2000 season with Farside’s second team. While working for P8NT I was deep on the inside of the political ins and outs of the league – I was there when the split between the NPPL and the promoters group (which became the PSP) happened – I was at the meeting in the Chicago O’Hare Hilton when Jerry Braun said that the promoters group would be fighting for the name, a fight they ultimately lost to Pure Promotions (aka – WDP).
I got the call about the end of the league via an e-mail from Camille Lemenski the Monday after Thanksgiving, from her personal e-mail. The business ones had already been shut down. The phones were gone. The office locked and shuttered.
It happens that fast.
Last I heard the name, NPPL, went for $1500 in auction. Chuck Hendsch, the former President of the league, bought it.
Below are a selection of photos I took at that last, and what turned out to be penultimate, event.
Chris Dilts is a photographer living and working in Chicago. He flies a lot and dislikes airports more than he used to.
Welcome
Welcome to the paintball world.
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Welcome to Transcend paintball.
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–Matt Marshall