We are working on making practice jerseys...

Workout Schedule

Days are counting down and my workouts are adding up. I'm fortunate to live a half mile from the gym so I can go often. My schedule up until the week before World Cup is something like this:
Monday: Indoor Practice
Tuesday: 2 mile run, weights if time allows
Wednesday: Rest Day
Thursday: 2 mile run or stairmaster for 40 minutes
Friday: Rest Day or weights depending on Saturday practice. Run if time allows
Saturday: Rest Day
Sunday: Practice

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Old Indoor Tear down
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Sunday Rundown

Next weekend we are heading back down to Capital Edge Paintball in California for a 2 day practice. We'll be practicing against Fuzion as we did before Phoenix earlier this year. Fuzion is the same team Nate and Alex guested for a few weeks back, check out the last practice vid here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yudTarwPbGI&feature=player_embedded. Tyler and I are flying down, so far the plan for everyone else is to make the 12 hours (one way) drive. We skipped pracice today to save a little money and rest up a bit before the big trip. Tomorrow night we are going forward with our Monday night practice. We've found the ground to be a bit unforgiving when diving hard, and I've started wearing double elbow and knee pads, as have some other players. I have some reoccuring brusing, and the rest day today should help that out.

Currently there are 12 teams registered in D1, 4 of which have paid. Last year there were 13 teams, we'll see where it ends up.

Nate & Alex's review of WCPPL E4

I want to start by saying if you haven’t checked out the WCPPL yet I highly recommend doing so.  The tournament model they run is perfect for the players.  In the NW the debate of affordability always comes up when event planning is opened to public discussion.  Although its great local tournaments give all teams the opportunity to compete, the level of competition is not there.  The WCPPL got it right by mimicking PSP RaceTo format; by doing so D2 teams are able to compete in what feels like a national PSP event by paying significantly more than they would for a local tournament but in return they get top tier competition at these regional tournaments, not to mention a hefty $4K for first place.  To top it off if you win the series prize, bam- all your entry fees are paid for at the following PSP season.  A lot of people will say “There is no way my team can afford to put up $1g for entry plus paint.” The thing is, if you’re playing to win $1,100 for entry is very affordable, and the payoff is four times what you will pay just to enter the tournament.  As far as paint goes- you can bring your own paint (subject to change-some people unfortunately abuse the perfectly good system that’s in place…go figure).  Although it might not be worth bringing your own paint because Hinman sells paint for a very reasonable price.  On top of that the experience you get from playing a WCPPL is similar to that of PSP.  In my opinion D2 WCPPL is just as competitive now as it was when I played it in PSP, granted that was two years ago.  Plus you get to play RaceTo format, on the PSP layout, with REAL refs (who actually play the game and know what they’re talking about…priceless).  If you’re a local team consistently moving up through the ranks but can’t afford to fly across the country to play a national, settle for regional.  The WCPPL has a lot to offer west coast paintballers- take advantage of it. (The numbers I threw up here are just for D2 I’m unfamiliar with D3/D4 entry fees, see www.wcppl.com for more information)

Playing with a new team is always difficult.  Let alone a new series.  Alex and I didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into.  As far as I was concerned I was leaving town for the weekend to kick it with a bunch of new friends and great people.  Paintball wasn’t on my mind like it is when I go to a PSP, don’t get me wrong I was excited to play and mentally ready but I didn’t have that added stress like everything was on the line.  Of course I wanted to play well and win but the added confidence of playing in a division I haven’t seen in years was all the mental preparedness I needed.  Not to mention our game plan… 

Alex and I were able to head down to Sacramento the weekend before the event to practice with Fuzion and get a feel for the layout and our new squad.  We spent all weekend trying different break outs and shooting different spots and the whole time I was thinking this field is too simple.  The MAO layout was extremely fun.  You had two amazing bunkers in the center of the field that could lock off either side and as soon as a kill was generated from either these two bunkers you could capitalize and win the point.  Dave Bains was able to help us that weekend and said “All we (the Russians) did was play slow methodical paintball and wait for the other team to run into our guns.”  That’s what happened at WCPPL. 

I was fortunate enough to play the glorified “2/B.”  A spot I’m not familiar with but playing enough of the game I knew my role- shoot the snake, shoot the snake, shoot the snake.  Then when the other team got impatient and or tried to take too much ground off the break, Alex would capitalize and crush their dreams of winning that point by gunning his way into and down the snake with no opposition.   Alex’s role was similar; he would take the next closest bunker to me and do the same job until he knew it was time to get to work. 

Those of you who think you need 3-4 breakouts per layout.  Think again we had a well-oiled machine at WCPPL E4 by running the same play every game.  Of course we made a minor change by sending someone out wide once every two or three points but that was just to draw a gun or two.  No team had a game plan that could match ours and I was confused as to why no team attempted to simulate our breakout.  The team that had our closest breakout was Critical and they did give us trouble, but I believe that was because it was our first match of the tournament and we just had to get our feet wet.

The tournament went great.  As I mentioned earlier it was less stressful then a PSP, I only got nerves before finals and they didn’t last long, which made the event much more enjoyable.  Not to mention meeting a huge group of new people who were hospitable and friendly added to the overall experience.  It was an awesome event that I’ll never forget.  I don’t know what it was but all weekend I was cool, calm and collected.  I never had to get myself hyped up to win a point I just went out and did my job- which made the win that much more rewarding.  When we won that final point it was like taking a breath of fresh air and it only felt natural to show some excitement.  (Now would be a good time to note some people show excitement in different ways, if you’re looking for a bit more entertainment I recommend watching the D2 finals game via DerDer Productions on Vimeo and checking out Alex’s facial expression after we won.) 

Lastly I just want to say thanks to the whole Fuzion family, CEPP, Dave Bains- Karen I didn’t win Phoenix and shout you out, so here is yours!  Especially Feddy and Nita- thanks so much for the opportunity, told you guys you wouldn’t be disappointed! Our pit crew who we couldn’t have done without- Chim, Kim, Little Jerry, Tim, John Cruz, Ben Thai, Pete, Shane, Paolo, Ben, Bundy, Jaime, Jerry, Patrick, Oli, Gabe, Eric.  Sorry if I’m forgetting anyone!!!      

    

WCPS E5 Coverage (By Max Winderbaum)

I rolled over and groaned. Light poured in all around me, and there were no covers to pull over my eyes. I sat upright, and through my sleep-filled eyes realized I was in my car at CDR Park in Oak Harbor, Washington. I glanced at my watch - it was seven thirty. I was playing paintball for the first time since PSP Phoenix, and in an open division tournament at that.

I got out of my 'wimpmobile', a fuel-efficient bubble of a car, and glanced around. The parking lot was already chock full of players milling about, securing valuable table real estate and gassing up their markers. I was to guest for DBSpaintball.com, a team of hungry guys who practiced with DBS and lived for the win above all else. Teammates Justin Manao and Dale Todd waved at me from across the parking lot, and I trundled over to the staging area they had picked out.

The captains meeting was at eight thirty, and I was selected to represent the team. I glanced around at the rest of the teams. Some teams, such as CDR and Swagger, I knew from intense battles back in the day. Others I had only heard of a few times. We stood in our little semicircle and shared a common sentiment: it was early and we were tired.

The refs, on the other hand, were lively and excited to be there. They breezed through the rules of the event without a hitch, one crazy guy asked a question about a scenario that could only happen every 1000 years ("So if I get hit in the pack and a ref tells me to get out, but I don't hear them and instead run to grab the flag and get shot again immediately after touching the flag, do we still get the pull?"), and we walked off to start the games.

Prelims were interesting to say the least. We lost almost immediately to DBS Titans, our rookie counterpart in the tournament, but won many other games along the way. In the course of prelims we managed to beat every team but CDR and Swagger, the two other teams in our division. With one more game to play, all three teams in the open division sat with three losses.

Our final game of prelims was, of course, a rematch against DBS Titans. We summed up our energy and barely managed to scrape out a win in a hard fought but friendly game. As all teams arrived at the scoreboard at the end of prelims, we started to realize just how close it was going to be: only two of the three teams would enter finals. The cards fell in our favor this time, with DBSPaintball.com and Swagger making the cut; team CDR was only three points behind.

Finals were exciting to say the least. All three games lasted for what seemed like forever, with both teams taking ground off the break and using their gun skills to prevent movement. DBSPaintball.com won the first game after slowly whittling down Swagger, and the opposite happened in the second game. Tied at 1-1, a tiebreaker was required. The final game was typical of two teams of similar skill: it went to time with nearly all players on each team alive. When the dust settled, four players remained on Swagger, while five remained on DBSPaintball.com.

Overall, the event was run extremely well, with quick games, an enthusiastic reffing crew, and a great bunch of teams in attendance. In the award ceremony DBSPaintball.com and DBS Titans took the honors for the Open and Rookie divisions. Below I've listed the placements for the tournament.

Open Division
1st Place- DBSpaintball.com
2nd Place- Seattle Swagger
3rd Place- CDR

Rookie Division
1st Place- DBS Titans
2nd Place- PLAYA H8RZ
3rd Place- Code Blue

Beginner Division
1st Place- H8R Kidz
2nd Place- Code Blue
3rd Place- STK

Big Geoff's story

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How much do I love paintball? Every week...
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New Vid

Tough practice, rained most of today. This video was shot by Joel.

Check out the New site! www.dbskidz.com

Link: www.dbskidz.com

Our new site is up and it's looking pretty good. We should be filming tomorrow and hopefully will have a new vid up tomorrow night sometime. Nate and Alex are back from guesting for Fuzion in Cali, and fresh off a win. Check out the finals vid here: http://vimeo.com/channels/133891#14952265

The WCPPL league looks amazing, hopefully one day we'll get a league like that up here. (Read: wishfull thinking!) Tomorrow is another scrim at CDR and our first as a full team on the World Cup layout. Most of us have played it already and we're coming together on some game plans. 

Check out the Facebook page for some reallly old school photos: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Everett-WA/DBS-Kidz/99615764427#!/photos.php?id=99615764427

Best of Western Washington!

DBS needs your help! Follow the link to King 5's Best of Western Washington Contest, and register to vote. Don't forget to confirm your email address, or they won't count your vote.
http://best.king5.com/doodlebug-sportz/biz/583116

WCPS Photos, error yesterday??

Big Weekend for DBS teams

Congrats to dbspaintball.com, DBS Titans, and Nate and Alex, everyone took first this weekend. Max Tomorrow: practice. What you get out is what you put in.
Pics courtesy of Bjorn Bainto:  here

WCPPL and WCPS

Good luck to DBSpaintball.com and DBS Titans at WCPS tomorrow in Oak Harbor.
Nate and Alex are in Oceanside, CA guesting for Fuzion at WCPPL.

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Ground 1, finger 0
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Light practice at CDR today. B hurt his knee and Sam jammed a finger. World cup layout is fun.

Vids

I've got a little footage from the 24hr game. But more importantly, Blazestorm got footage from the game. Look for something epic from him in the near future.World cup practice is Sunday at CDR.