Have any of you quit tourneyball to go back to rec play?

[afultz075]

I've been on a pretty well-off tournament team for about 5 months now. We practice several times a month at an indoor field about two hours away. I love the field and people there, but the traveling and the fact that our practices never seem definate until last minute have do get on my nerves a little bit. I have a blast when I play with these guys, but planning my entire weekend around all of this is something I've grown to not like. That and it seems like I just never have money to do anything else (Paintball is my major interest, but there's other things I like too).

Anyway, i've been thinking back to last year when I just played at my leisure with my friends and did a little bit of scenario as well and how much of a blast it was. So i've been seriously considering selling off all my tournament equipment (I don't even want to think how much it's all worth) and buying a real nice Palmer gun and a pump or something with a good chunk of cash to save and do whatever I want with and going back to what I did last year.

I'm just curious if anyone here has ever been through a situation like this and if you regretted it or not?

[Fatjon]

I thought about doing it for a while, but tourny season picked back up and i cant get away from it. I work at a proshop, so i work every saturday, and I have not played recball in over 7 months. Nothing but practice and tournys. I love it though. Wouldnt know what to do without my team.

[Tunaman]

We always had so much more fun in the woods. Nothing really matters. Have a good time...laugh your butt off...can't wait to go again real soon. :D

[teufelhunden]

Yeah. It got to the point where I wasn't playing paintball to have fun, I was playing paintball to win. Like, I still enjoyed playing with my old team and stuff, but paintball became a chore that I had to do every week instead of a good time with buds when we feel like it. So I got a Phantom. And played in the woods a couple of times. Actually haven't played more than.. uhm, 3 or 4 times since June. Kinda miss it, but I don't miss having that large of a time and financial committment.

[afultz075]

Yeah. It got to the point where I wasn't playing paintball to have fun, I was playing paintball to win. Like, I still enjoyed playing with my old team and stuff, but paintball became a chore that I had to do every week instead of a good time with buds when we feel like it. So I got a Phantom. And played in the woods a couple of times. Actually haven't played more than.. uhm, 3 or 4 times since June. Kinda miss it, but I don't miss having that large of a time and financial committment.

Yea, that's how i'm afraid it's going to become for me. EVERY other sport i've been involved in throughout my life I ended up quitting after a season or two because it got to the point where it wasn't something I necessarily wanted to do, it was something I had to do. And it's even worse when it costs $50 for a practice, unlike baseball.

[evilhomer]

I played tournies for a while, though not a lot. Money and time is what drew me back toward playing for pleasure in recball. I also got a Phantom about a year ago before the Phantom craze hit and I would never sell my Phantom. It is so much fun playing with it and taking out the kids decked out in Empire or Dye, shooting lanes... The weird thing is, I've gotten back into the tourny scene again... only this time my team is playing with Phantoms.

[Glickman]

yeppers.


hurt knee, out for ~6 months, never really like tournies from the start.

havent regretted it really.

its not like you really have to choose one or the other. i like the (dont laugh) "fashionability" of the tourny clothes, but i like playing rec and senario.


sooo, eat both cakes :D

[REDRT]

When I took over as the team Capt. My first order was to have fun. If it feels like a job it isn't fun. We really didn't have a Capt. last year, but a guy who thought he was. Though he was a good player he pushed and demanded alot. Players either left the team or were forced out. He looked out only for himself and thankfully moved on to something else. I worked really hard all winter to set up contacts, sponcers, working deals and so forth. Along with getting the whole team back. Other than that one guy we all get along well and play hard. I do the legistics because I like it. All the guys got to worry about is getting the pull and winning. Stepping back into rec/senerio is good sometimes to vent. This year we all might just take some R&R time between tournaments. Skipping tournaments all together isn't in the cards for us though. I don't think any of them would or could do that just yet.

[50 cal]

All I play anymore is rec/scenario. Always have a lot more fun. Tourney ball got to where it wasn't fun anymore so I gave it up.

[joez]

Yup, combination of a back injury and me just getting sick of dealing with the PBN crowd on the field. I sold off all my high end expensive stuff and now shoot a warp-fed slide frame cocker and play recball. Its more relaxing when you are just playing for fun.

[gc82000]

rec ball out there must be different from here. Rec ball on Guam is crowded and a tedious. Imagine having kids you only met on the feild coming up to you and asking to play with your $1.5k set up. Andafter telling them no and having to deal with a dad who thinks you are just trying to put his kid down. Kids out here start as young as 10 years old I have seen some as young as 7.

There are the parents who come to the feilds just to drink. We call them designatd dads. Punk men who would spend more money on beer, then too give attention to their kids needs.

I don't play rec any more it is more fun to practice and scrimage for me. Then to play a 15v15 game on a feild meant for 7 man.

[atcer]

Im just getting back into it after taking a break from the tourny scene... The whole AGG PBN attitudes these days with these damn kids with all their cheating ramping "semi atuos" (still dont get why a mech rt is banned, but ramping up to 250 bps is fine, but thats another discussion.)
I just got tired of dealing with all the blatant cheating and crap attitudes.

I still remember those first days out on my home feild, with the rented tippmanns. It was always more fun, sure speedball became my love after awhile, but now I really want to get back to my paintball roots. I sold all my tourny crap and bought a Tippmann a5. Im going to do woodsball and scenario stuff from now on. Just had more fun in the long-run doing that.

[Rinaldo]

Im just getting back into it after taking a break from the tourny scene... The whole AGG PBN attitudes these days with these damn kids with all their cheating ramping "semi atuos" (still dont get why a mech rt is banned, but ramping up to 250 bps is fine, but thats another discussion.)
I just got tired of dealing with all the blatant cheating and crap attitudes.

I still remember those first days out on my home feild, with the rented tippmanns. It was always more fun, sure speedball became my love after awhile, but now I really want to get back to my paintball roots. I sold all my tourny crap and bought a Tippmann a5. Im going to do woodsball and scenario stuff from now on. Just had more fun in the long-run doing that.


I still rememeber my first paintballing experience at Paintball world back in 91 ( I think ) and my first outing in the everglades playing pump in 89 (I was 8 and had no idea what I was doing) I miss what paintball was. In my heart, sitting in my nice office making the money I make, I often think about how much fun it was then to play. Now I would kill to start playing saturdays and sundays again... but IN miami the kids all have this "My parents are rich and bought me this gun" attitude, they didn't grow up feeling priveledged to play like I did and so many of us did back then. It was like secret society you were invited to join.
I miss meeting guys like Tom or Bob Long at the World Cup and winning it two times in a row and having them come and congratulate you.

I miss the feeling of a community which is why I'm happy I accidentally found this forum. It's still pure and it's great to see that people still appreciate the game.

If there's any of you that are interested in getting together on weekends and just playing... I will buy some land if you want and it'll be open to those of us that really want to play becuase we love it not becuase we eventually want to be paid to do it.

[Creative Mayhem]

I am in Rec mode right now, I still use all my guns(Xmag, minimag, Illusion, etc) It depends on my mood at the time. I also like to do a couple tournies a year, as well as a few big games/scenarios. I consider myself well rounded... and no, not the beer belly as some would have everyone believe. Besides, it's not a beer belly, it's a fuel tank for a sex machine ;)

[Deep Sixx]

Due to a damaged MCL (knee ligament), I'm taking the season (at least) off of tournament play. I'll still be playing rec though. It's less intense and not as hard on my knee. Maybe next year I'll go back.

sixx

[Wc Keep]

when you have a team of guys who you consider brothers instead of teammates than tourney ball is better. the guys im playing with now arent just teammates. we dont just meet on sundays to practice and play tournies. we actually hang out and act like friends to each other not like jerkoffs like some teams are like. it makes the team vibe better. .

[Jeffy-CanCon]

I played about 20 tournies in the late 90's, but always considwered myself a rec player above all else. Tournies were just a change of pace for me. I've only played one event since 2000, but may play in a local pump tourney this year.

[ben-afficial]

i love rec ball but i dont think a could ever quit tourny ball...........yu here that bryce!?!?

[teufelhunden]

when you have a team of guys who you consider brothers instead of teammates than tourney ball is better. the guys im playing with now arent just teammates. we dont just meet on sundays to practice and play tournies. we actually hang out and act like friends to each other not like jerkoffs like some teams are like. it makes the team vibe better. .


I agree 100%. My team and I were the same way. However that's not enough to make it worth working an extra 6 hours a week to go out and play because you have to every weekend.

[Paintmanmike]

I just found that its hard to join a team unless you are all looking for the same thing and act that way. I was invited onto a team that was a group of buddies that all wanted to hang out together and play, winning was important but secondary which was OK for me. Unfortunately they were all the buddies and I and a couple of others were just place holders to them in the long run, all scheduling was done at their leisure and at the last minute when the core team decided what they wanted to do we were informed. That just put me off, that and the cost of the tournment game was too much plus I also found the tournament game was not real well-suited to my style of play. Trying to adapt to it was ruining my game and in the end it stopped being fun. So I stopped and went back to rec ball. The fun quickly came back as my game recovered. :(

I think in the future if I was to join a team again I'd look for an existing team more focused on winning and getting better in which I could just be a true cog in the machine. I would be satisifed with alternate and B team status as I learned and earned my way on to the A team, as long as the practice routine was a real routine and I was really getting better by working hard I think the results would be better and downstream I suspect I'd find I was playing with a bunch of friends.

[Slimm Jimm]

I actually was going to take last season off and not play any tournaments. Instead I planned on being the pod boy for the team and still get to travel with 'em all. They wound up playing a 7-man series and were short a player and grabbed me to play. and i refused to let go. we practice twice a month and are encoraged to play around and help at the field when were not practicing, and most of us have managed to stay with a fun attitude. yes we want to win, but the win is no good if we didn't enjoy the work it took to win and, i think it is more important that we have fun with the team so that we are willing to stick together to play the next season.

I have always played for the fun of the game, not for money, not for being the "winner".

I play for the game.

[magsRus]

I've played with Lost Boys for years now and we've competed in the NPPL, GPL, and now the NEPL. We had a really rough time in the rookie class of the NPPL 7-man series, we did so bad that we thought we just didnt have the talent to progress. But we ended up doing very good in the GPL series along with the NEPL series. I'm 20 years old now and started playing with Lost Boys when I was 15 years old, I never can go back to rec I'd feel like a newbie out there. And besides I totally SUCK at Rec ball.

[hardr0ck68]

yeah i 12 stepped my way out of it...im gettin old and well there is only so much "if your not cheating your not playing hard enough" i can stand....

Will i do tournys again? Prolly, frankly i have reached a level of skill (i know will slip over time) where i feel confident i can whip any cheater gun totin gooner who is playin on mommys cash; i dont know if i will ever be as good as i once was but im cool with that... i just want to get back to playing paintball for fun.

[peewee]

Yep!!! been there done it ,don't really have an interest in going back. I play to have fun!!! Which is what got me started in the first place. :dance: Much happier now.

[afultz075]

Thanks for all the input so far guys.

Another thing I haven't brought up is the fact that a lot of the people on the team that are my age are all really good friends outside of the team as well (i'm not from their area). They all just seem like they've bonded together real well and I kind of feel outcasted at times. One of my best friends was on the team at one point as well, but he left due to financial reasons and after that things have just kind of been going downhill for me as far as the team goes.

[JoshK]

I never started tourny ball...so i never had to chance.

[JimmyBeam]

I have. I just dont have the time to put in to go to practice, or the money for that matter. I may travel once or twice a month still to go play, but its just for a nice afternoon of renegade. And I'll be home to the wife and kid later on that afternoon. And as much as I hate to say it, I am getting older, and i just can't do the things I used to without paying for it the next couple of days. But it doesnt change the fact that I still love the game. Ive noticed alot of people going back to what paintball was.....a bunch of friends going out and having a great day. Theres so much more to paintball other than tournys.

the speedball gear is now on the recball field

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