So many things you can do in an airport while waiting for a flight. Most of my time is spent in front of the Mac working or as some may thing hanging out on Facebook.  Both can be productive.  As we are here in the airport in Copenhagen at least twice a month we have become familiar faces to those that work here on a daily basis.  Not sure yet if the staff knowing one by their first name is always a good sign.   Time spent in the airport waiting has also brought fruition to many ideas and fostered those already present in my mind.  Some of those are coming to reality, finally!  I’ve had time even to edit some photos for viewing pleasure.

This first event of the season actually is more exciting than before.  Finally I will get to meet one of our cooperative partners with HyBrid Foto (and very good friend of mine) for the very first time!  Helen Grose has made quite a splash and has headed over the big pond to her first Millennium Series event.  She is the official photographer for Houston Heat, who has decided its time to conquer the other side of the world in search of yet another world title.  Helen is along to document the story.  Actually we (HyBrid Foto) and Helen will be working on the sidelines together following Heat.  We were thrilled to have the opportunity to video the team throughout the season over here.  H2 is on the loose so to speak.

This season will be a challenge as many more North American teams have crossed over playing the Millennium Series as well as the PSP circuit.  It was wild to see as the CPL rosters came out the influx of all of the US players!  I don’t think that the Millennium has seen this many American (or better worded, North American) players.  Dynasty left a hole in the CPL division when they decided not to return to Europe after so many years over here, but teams like Edmonton Impact, GI Houston Heat, Polar Bears Tarko Sale, Ramstein Instinct and several others have taken the focus on the California boys and brought fresh blood to our fields.

Art Chaos is our premier team we sponsor and work closely with as their official media and PR service provider for the past three years.  I myself was in awe when I saw a familiar America player listed on the roster, Kyle Spicka from Dynasty has joined this primarily Russian only team.  In the past these years we have become great friends with the players as well as Fedorov himself. We have been working on a training video for the past year and a half and are nearing completion of our labor of love, The Russian Connection.  (will keep you posted on that one.)

It is my intention, along with partner in crime, to bring to you each day of the event blog updates with short videos and photos.  Now it time for our lovely passage rites of TSA security,  for our flight soon awaits to take us away to what we hope is to warm sunny French Rivera.

Ami

PSP
Millennium
UWL
CXBL
PALS
NCPA

During the week we had a ton planned out and we were all running on little sleep from going to Nikki beach Sunday night, a really fun club we visited. We visited a different paintball store each day of the week where we would hang out for a couple of hours and sign posters. The best part of the trip was going to see all of the animals that Africa had to offer. Their “zoos” are not like our zoos in the US. Sure some of the animals are in enclosures, but for the most part the animals are running around on 100s of acres of land. I was able to pet tons of animals like tigers, cheetahs and giraffes. We all piled in this jeep/buggy and drove around the land to see all the animals. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see the male lions up close but I was able to see the White Lions from a far and they are MUCH bigger in person. We were able to see a White Lion from a far. On of the lions was bigger than a small car – it was astonishing to see how big these creatures really are in real life.

Paintball City, which is owned and operated by the Birch family, is first class and very well kept and beautiful paintball park. The clinic that was held there on Saturday went very well and I had 35 people attend. The guys and gals in the clinic were great and were very eager to learn and better themselves as players. It’s awesome traveling to other countries and seeing just how hungry some people are to better themselves in the sport that I love so much. The best clinic you can run is one where everyone has a great time and enjoys themselves, but most importantly is leaving there knowing they learned something from myself that will help them in the long run to better themselves as a paintball player. Sunday rolls around and this might have been the highlight of my trip because I was able to play with each team 1 game apiece. I was able to meet each team and play a single game with them, as well as against them. The RPL was very organized and impressive with their scheduling and ability to get things done on time. I had an amazing time at the tournament and during my entire time there. I want to thank everyone that was involved in my trip:  Nick Birch, Chris Birch, Mike Argento, Jax Klopper, Paul Grobler, and all of the stores that I visited. You all showed me a time that I will not forget!

In any case I have to say I really enjoyed the event. The weather was great, I mean it was wonderful. It felt so nice to just sit and soak up the sun. This is mostly because I knew what was in-store for me as soon as I came back to Chicago. The venue at Cousin’s was very nicely laid out, it was wide open, and the vendors were there in force.

Things got off to a good start for the team, Houston Heat, as we walked the field and gathered our new gear from G.I. Sportz, DLX, and Raza. We registered with the PSP/APPA/Paintballaccess in such a smooth manner I don’t even remember it. Camille and the gang had everything arranged in such a way that they moved the teams in and out with out a hitch, at least without any that I know of.

That is one thing I think that needs to be pointed out right now, the PSP’s ability to work with and be a part of multiple entities, some of which are you could say close to being the same thing. The set-up crew that services the fields, Paintball Central for the air, the whole Paintballaccess crew, and the check-in crews. They are all continually working together to evolve a better way for things to run smoother then the previous event, in a sense easier for the end user, the player. I do not feel that these people get enough credit for the work they do in the weeks leading up to the events and during the event to keep things moving. Thanks guys!

Ok and now we are back with the team and us getting our new gear. Guys I know I am sponsored by G.I. but you have to check out our new knee and elbow pads! They are so nice! Light and amazingly comfortable. I am so happy. Any way we took our guns to DLX to get some special Darryl and Kieth love, then some of the guys headed over to Raza to get some nice apparel to wear in the warmer weather.

That night like most we had a team dinner and after, back at the hotel, a team meeting to go over the next days games. We had the second game of the day against CEP and this went pretty well. There was 1 point, that I took part in, that got a little crazy. It had come down to a 2 on 1, 2 CEP players verse myself, when I made a move to the snake to eliminate their player. We ended up, as I saw it, shooting each other and we’re both signaled out by the refs and we each held up our arms, indicating that we had in fact been eliminated.

Now as I walked back towards my pit, the opposing CEP player, Velardi went and grabbed the flag and huge it. As I continued to walk off the field I asked the ref if he was dead because both a ref and he, himself had signaled so. At this point the refs got together and a long discussing took part in what had actually happened. I personally did not get all of the details but they ended up saying it was a dirty hang and CEP did not get the point. The match ended with a 7-2 victory over CEP.

Our next match that day would be against Dynasty, the eventual winners of the event. This game we really wanted to go out there and prove that we were prepared for this year and to defend our previous years accomplishments. Dynasty was the only team to hand us a loss at World Cup and they beat us the last time we played them before that in Chicago. Our guys were focused and it showed during the game. We went down the first 2 points but fought back and pulled out the 1 point victory 6-5. This game Fedorov played out of his mind. It was an absolute pleasure to watch. It seemed like where ever he pointed his gun, opposing players just died.

We stayed for a little while and watched games. I have always enjoyed watching games and it is always interesting to see how teams do the first time they step on the field at the beginning of a new year. There was also a feeling of just simple relaxation. Having played the morning bracket and winning both games, especially the game against Dynasty, made things just simple and nice for the rest of the afternoon. The weather as I said before couldn’t of been any better and with the wins and the rest of the day off we couldn’t of asked for a better day.

The next day had us playing the very last games of the day against XSV and X-Factor. We knew going into those games that both teams had struggled. XSV had lost all of their games and had nothing to lose against us. We knew that they would come with all out attacking breakouts and not let up. X-Factor need a win to keep them from not automatically going into the Challengers division.

One note to write about here was that the main difference I noticed between our games on Thursday, yes we started this event earlier because of the new Champions and Challengers situation, was the amount of penalties thrown on Friday and now Saturday. It was a night and day day difference. There were penalties being thrown like crazy. Some of them appeared to be deserved and others very questionable. Regardless it was something we all noted and prepared for…needless to say our last 2 matches of the prelims were filled with them.

So now back to our XSV match. I believe we dropped the first point, with XSV attacking pretty hard and the second point we pulled out with some good laning and the fact that the first penalty was thrown on XSV. The next point had more chaos as Chad “Yaya” Bouchez made a great move to eliminate a dorito player and then as he slid into the next bunker he lost his goggles with the impact of his slide. At this point play was stopped and players were told to stay in their bunkers until the game could be resumed.

At this point it has always been that the player who lost their mask was eliminated and that was it. Now the refs are telling us not only is the player eliminated but it carries a minor penalty along with it. I would like this to be noted as many thought Yaya had played on when in fact he had not. Now in the rules it says that a penalty will be added if the player “intentionally” takes there mask off. This clearly was not the case for Yaya and I felt that there is no way Ryan should of been eliminated.

Regardless of those shenanigans, Sam played a 2 on 1 and shot the XSV player as he tried to bunker him. The XSV player then decided to go grab the flag and hang it…thus giving them a no point a a major for playing on…oh and they gave us the point. So far we are only 2 points in to the game. To make things short we ended up winning all of the points after that and taking the game 7-1.

Our last match of the day and the last match of pro games was against X-Factor. As much as I want to give X-Factor credit for playing a great game and they did play a great game, we simply played very bad paintball. Guys didn’t move effectively down the field, we lost some key guys on the break, and penalties effected both teams almost as soon as the match began. To our teams credit, we were down 6-3 and fought back to tie it up, only to lose the final point.

The loss was very disappointing and pretty much ruined our chances at getting the bye into the top 4 on Sunday. We talked about what happened and the main focus was getting the bad play out of our system now and moving forward and learning from this games mistakes. We had the next day, Saturday, off from play, which was weird, and were geared to watch games and prepare for the real event that began Sunday.

Now I said having Saturday off was weird because up to this point we had played 2 days in a row and it felt like it should be Sunday. As almost all the events have been in the past, games were played on Friday and Saturday, finishing up Sunday. This year is the exception with the addition of the Champions and Challengers division to the PSP Pro ranks. So with that being said, Saturday was a relaxing yet strange day to sit back and watch teams play. It was also very important to scout teams that we knew would be making it to Sunday and that we would eventually play.

As it turns out we got matched up with our pre Dallas sparing partner, Edmonton Impact. This was in fact one of if not the worst performance we have had in our teams history. We just could not seem to get things going even when Impact had multiple penalties. To put it simply things just were not firing on all cylinders. It was painful. It is without a doubt one of the worst feelings to have on a Sunday morning in paintball, you play that first game and are just done. Just like that, your event is over.

Well with the event over I got an early flight home to see my family for the first time in around 22 days…that was nice. For now it is some chill time, a little practice, and then off to France for the first Millennium event of the year!

Talk to you in France!

Practice came bright and early over 3 days the week before the event. We went through our normal warm-up routine and then jumped right into shooting one another. One thing most need to realize is that we do not play that many games. We did play a “match” verse each other but we focus just on drills and breaking down the field. We break the field down by each side, dorito, snake, center, and then cross.

We spent on average about 5 hours on the field over 3 days and then had Friday off. While the guys did…well whatever they did, I made the drive up to Dallas to get tournament practice paint for the weekend. After a short 3 1/2 hour drive to Paintball Doctor, I headed back down to Legends paintball to drop off our paint for the following days practice against Impact. The boys at the field were very kind to wait for me and help hand unload 2 skids of paint…no easy task.

The next morning we had our first chance to play against the newly reformed Edmonton Impact. I would say things went fairly well this day as we ran plays called by Tro and learned what could work and not work. I have always felt that, especially with the way we practice, playing another team all day long is one of the best ways to bring a team together. After the intense practices we have against each other, we tend to get on each others nerves. Now united against another team you get to flex the muscle you’ve built while grind at practice.

As the we moved on to play Sunday, the rain came. When we got to the field, it had rained so much it looked like a giant lake. Practice was canceled and we had the day off to relax. Within an 30 minutes of getting back to the house almost everyone was asleep. It was so nice to be able to sleep. Something to add….each night we would have a team meeting after dinner to go over the days events and then the next days plans. This is huge for any team, in these meetings you need to go over things you need to work on. You need to set goals for the next day, you need to point out mistakes, if you haven’t at the field already, and find solutions. You need everyone to have a voice at these meetings.

As Monday rolled around we went back to Legends to finish our practice against the guys on Impact that could stay. I believe they had six players from their ten that could remain. They then proceeded to kick the crap out of us at practice. It didn’t really matter what they did or we did for that matter, we just couldn’t get things rolling. Now I know it is said that you don’t go into to practice to win every game, you go into it to learn. I really feel that we didn’t learn a whole lot there and that we as a team needed to take a break and regroup. We needed to calm down and go over the reasons why we were not working well as a team. We did not though and just pressed on with practice.

The day ended and the only good thing that I thought that came out of that day was the choice to get in another day of practice. This happened and we another day of drills commenced with a “match” against each other. All in all we had 6 full days of practice on the field and we went through almost 290 cases of paint.

Stay tuned for PSP Dallas 2013!

Anyway back to Mexico. What a huge change from the midwest winter! It gets me every time I walk off a plane, all bundled up, and whammy it’s like 85 degrees. I start sweating, taking off clothes, dropping stuff, then go stand in line for entry into the country, women looks at me like “Oh yeah, this gringo is hiding something.” Haha well I got in fine.

We started out the weekend with a clinic on Friday, small and very personal, it went very well and was on one of the fields that the event was taking place. The one thing I love most about clinics is when players have questions and hold nothing back and this group had plenty of questions. Now some might think that the language barrier would come into play and that could hinder things but it is truly amazing how well we paintball players can communicate together beyond using words.

In any case the clinic went very well and I had a great time with the hombres that took part. Now I’d like to talk about the field. Most major events here in the US are not inside any major cities, Mexico City is home to 32 million people, and this event was right in the city. The paintball fields themselves were on a full size turfed soccer field. The turf was amazing, soft, and once the paint got on it perfect for sliding. It is something that you hardly ever see in paintball.

That night, Sergio and I set off for an adventure! Looking to see what we could find in the heart of Mexico City we spent most of our trip in a cab in traffic, probably some of the worst traffic I have ever been stuck in. As time built we realized that we had not eaten and went in look for some tasty treats in the downtown area. We found P.F. Changs! So tasty. I know not what you were expecting but oh man was it great haha.

The next day I joined my fellow G.I. Sportz sponsored team Riot in taking place in the race to 4 event. Now we only got to play 1 match due to high wind blowing over some of the netting and slowing the event way down but was it a crazy one. We ended up going into over time and playing not 1, not 2, but 3 over time points. All of which were filled with major penalties, cheating, screaming, nunchucks, and some more screaming. As it turned out we lost the match….but the single most impressive thing I saw that day was the fact that there were 68 teams present at this event…it was huge!

The next day turned out to go much better for us on the field as we went on to win all 3 of our matches. A great day, a great event, with perfect weather and fantastic paint. Another night on the town and the time spent with new friends topped everything off as one of the best events I have ever been too as well as one hell of a way to start off 2013!

Stay tuned for my next blog on our practice before PSP Dallas!

This year the combine had super turn out, 65 players showed up to play and show people what they had. Players got a gift package from G.I. Sportz, Planet Eclipse, KEE, and Boston Paintball. Each player then got a custom Raza jersey which in turn designated what team they were on. Mine, Heat, or Infamous, lead by Nicky Cuba.

Nicky and I were separated and on 2 different fields so we could give our camps instruction. I yelled at them a few times…calling them poop faces and what not. Anyway as soon as the players were split into their respective camps we, Nicky and I, began training them with some basic paintball 101 skills.This included snap shooting, laning, 1v1′s, and proper ways to break out during the start of the game.

I had 33 players and Nicky had 32, with that the players were then split into 4 man teams. After the 8 4 man teams were made, the teams were then split into a high and low division. After this was done the teams went on to their pre-selected fields to begin playing against one another. I then tried as hard as I could to manage my 8, 4 man teams on two fields.

Wins were recorded and a mini tournament played out. I do not remember the exact count but Heat beats Infamous any day of the week so it is safe to say my team dominated! . When this was done with players could sign-up for a 1 on 1 tournament. The 1v1 had 2 divisions with guns as prizes. I was pretty pumped as one of my guys pulled off some great moves to make it into the finals and win! It was pretty awesome. Especially seeing his family cheer for him and rush over to him after the victory…made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside hehe.

After the 1v1 tournaments, raffle prizes and awards were handed out and all were happy in the Boston Paintball kingdom! Then all of a sudden, the one called Nicky “Night Night Sucka” Cuba spoke up about how awesome his team, Infamous was. I then politely informed him that his team was alright and not as awesome as mine. He then started talking about wins and dominating. I quickly interrupted him and pointed out Houston Heat’s 3 PSP wins, one against his team, and the PSP World Cup Title and series Championship. Laughter and gasps abounded.

This is when Anthony, Boston Paintball’s fearless owner, spoke up and said to take it to the field! Thus the stage for our 1 on 1 showdown was set. Now a year prior I defeated my foe with a quick and deadly shot over a pin to seal my victory and a pair of tickets to the Bruin/Rangers game. Nicky and I decided to play hopper ball and the game commenced. He went right and then cut back left, on his gun the entire time. He slowly made his way up the dorito side but then suddenly stopped. I called out to him asking if his gun had broke. I got no immediate response…but soon he was upon me! Making a mad dash towards me, in a great move that a noticed at the last second. Unfortunately for him he was a noob and ran out of paint. I simply moved around my bunker and shot him repeatedly into submission…it was AWESOME! Another victory for me and my teammates!!!

After this pictures, autographs, and laughs were had by all and a lot of us found ourselves at TGI Fridays. The rest of the weekend involved drinks with great and new friends, an awesome hockey game, the first of the season, and a little more paintball action.

I could not of asked for a greater weekend that encompassed the entire greatness of everything paintball has to offer. Great memories on and off the field. Younger players enjoying the game to the fullest and what I loved the most was watching them challenge themselves on the field.

Well folks that is it from Boston…next Houston Heat practice in California!!! Stay tuned!!!

You can see more pictures here:

http://alicianicolephotography.smugmug.com/Sports/Combine-2013/27666800_xr5MLp#!i=2330592742&k=S68sRqW

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