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

[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]

Another ex-tourny player

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. 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