Female Paintball "Stars": The Ultimate Poser?

[Cameo]

Edit: Oh, I get it. I'm jealous because I'm ugly and trying to get the pretty girls out of a job. Gotcha.

I'd really like to know who pointed that out to you, and why they think they understand my motivations. I'm willing to bet I know who, and if that's true, I know for a fact they know nothing they're talking about.

Rest assured it was no one that you knew, unless of course you know my father and my brother (who has been involved in paintball longer then I have and aspires to design markers). My brother and I were talking about different topics in the forum during dinner out(he is a member but never posts). My father got involved in the conversation. Even as my father said "steph, you are just different from the other girls. Even though you do not have the spokesmodel looks you still respect the fact that women need attention." So there you have it, not only do I not have the skillz, but I also do not have the looks.. but heck, I still like all the attention that I can get.. :rofl:
I honestly never thought of you in an ill manner. I try to keep my comments as close to generalizations as possible. They are simply my opinions on life. And I must admit, at times I am jealous, I would love to be one of those girls who has 15 seconds of fame, but alas, God did not see fit to bless me in that way.

Well, my guess is if they are getting oogled on the field and not called names, they must be something worth looking at right?
I mean it was just a statement for those who play for the reason of attention. But, I suppose that makes me ugly and jealous right?

Attention is a great and wonderful thing, but I also play because I enjoy myslef out there on the field, not to mention that the people I have played with are WONDERFUL. Oh and the whole LIFE IS TO SHORT SO I AM GOING TO ENJOY MYSELF (any and every way I can).

~steph

[MMM]

It took me awhile to get all the way through this thread and all I have to say is wow, I never knew there were so many problems with women playing paintball. I never have problems with chauvanists on the field. I do see alot of little punk snots trying to prove themsevels through their gear but that, again, has mostly to do with the fact that it is the 14-24 yr old male age group.

Keep in mind that I do live in so cal and it must have the greatest proportion (what like 0.1%?) of female players out there so we see a few all female teams come and go. I have been asked several times why I'm not on one. My answer is always why? Why would I go out and play a male domniated sport to be with some of the worst players out there? Now wait! Before you get your panties in a wad let me explain that last comment.

Again there are probably more female paintballers here in so cal than anywhere else so first off the problem is there just aren't enough to keep a team going strong. Most are usually introduced into the sport by a boyfriend/husband/male relative and didn't start out thinking "Hey I should jooin a paintball team!" but showed up at the field and when their male counter part saw that the lone female paintball team needed another player they were introduced. The se teams are usually desperate for headcount and will take whatever they can get. That means that at least a portion of that team is not the most dedicated, thus leading to a less than stellar showing at practice and subsequently tourneys. Is this the fault of the dedicated girls on the team? No, you work with what you have. Can they use guys to fill in for those girls when they aren't available? Sure but how many of you guys want to be known as the fill in guy for the Pinkey Lee's? Again, you work with wat you got. Until the female factor gets a bit higher there's slim pickins out there and a lot of women like me aren't willing to join in even if we are good, dedicated players (I'm not either by the way. I just like playing.)

Does this mean that they shouldn't be sponsored since they do probably suck? I suppose but I also don't care. They don't affect my game at all. I've met a few of the female am players and they happen to be really sweet people. I have issues with the slutty pics they put up with them but that's my personal opinion and it's their bodies that they are putting up there, not mine. Sex sells, they're selling. If that's how they want to earn the cash more power to them, again, it doesn't affect my game and I really don't think it even affects how I'm treated on the field.

When I'm out playing the guys don't usually notice I'm female until after the game is on and I'm yelling (oh yeah, I'm yelling out there). I've never been disrespected, I get a lot of unececessary compliments on my game and apologies from the ones who shoot me out. The boys seem to be very sensitive to not offending me, the younger ones tip toeing more lightly. I have to remind them that if I didn't expect to get shot I wouldn't be on the field. I do find that I get more advice being female, the one's who know what they're talking about like to make a point of helping my game. I don't know why, I've never asked for it but I do appreciate it.

I have watched girl teams play and what has been said here is very true. The break is good and then that's it. They don't move, the don't do anything but bunker down. Watching practice is awful, they repeat the same mistakes over and over again. I going to go out on a limb here and make a generalization, it's not so much the agression that's lacking, it's the SELF CONFIDENCE. They don't have it. Men and women work very differently, they respond to different things when training them in anything, not just sports. These women want it, they want to take the field, they just don't believe in themselves enough. Add to that that there's been no role model, that the women who are out there and high up in paintball get a lot of criticism and aren't believed, in general, to be 'Real players' and it doesn't help any at all. This may be different for the Am women, they may believe in themselves more but I don't think so. If they did, there would be no stopping them.

[SCpoloRicker]

^^ excellent post.

[xXHavokXx]

Tell that to some of the members of femme fatales .

I was just telling a mom here at the shop about them.I left out the part about them never winning and getting hosed in points.

[Lisa]

Wow

uhm, I really don't even know where to start! This was a really long thread to read. Let's see...there seems to be alot of people here who know a great deal about what we do, why we do it and how we prepare for it. Let me start by introducing myself; I am Lisa Laxton and I am a proud member of Team Empress. I am also a 36 year old proud mother of 4. Now I will provide you some FACTS to chew on...

I will say that I respect several of the opinions expressed here and I even agree with a lot of them. I will only comment on things I KNOW to be true as pertaining to our team. Since everyone seems to be so interested in what we do, I feel it is only fair you have accurate details. Empress is in the start of our second year and we will be playing DII xball. We are only in DII because they make you move up after your first year..not because we wanted to. Our first event will be the Orlando Open. For those of you who feel we should perform better for our "sponsorship" deal to be able to deserve the attention we get consider this. We have never had our entry fee paid for by any sponsor. We pay that bill 100% ourselves. We have never had a sponsor pay our way to an event. We pay that bill 100% ourselves. We have never had a sponsor pay for housing at an event. We pay that bill 100% ourselves. We have never had a sponsor give us a marker. We pay that bill 100% ourselves. Anyone see a pattern here? We have never had a sponsor cover our way to a practice, pay our hotel or all of our practice paint for us. We pay those bills 100% ourselves. There is not a single Empress player on any Empire Poster or any other type of marketing item produced by any of our sponsors to my knowledge. And I do believe you are correct, none of these poster girls featured are players. But playing is not their job on that poster is it?

Lets take a look at our practice schedule shall we? I mean I really think we should, if we are going to question our dedication to what we do, don't you? You are all correct in the fact that we are from all over the country which makes it hard and expensive to practice. We have recently built a larger roster holding in Texas and therefore have been able to work a lot more on learning to play together. We have had good success in this. The Texas girls have competed in 3 Novice events in the last 4 months here and have placed in the top 5 in each. And there were at least 12 teams at each of those events. The DFW area girls practice almost EVERY weekend. And at least 2 of those are 2 day practices. Did you notice the EVERY weekend? All the girls practice mulitple times a month and all of us do some sort of workout schedule to help us keep in shape. My family has family workouts 3 nights a week running sprints and ect. Sounds pretty dedicated to me...

What next? Attention? Sure, we will touch on that a bit. Do we get alot of attention? Sometimes yes we do. Did any of us ever do anything to ask for it? No. We showed up in LA last year to play. Unknown to us, 720 video was set up to tape our "insert a small bit of sarcasim here" historic first all girls xball team match. How did we feel? Excited? Yes...of course we were! Would we have been just as excited if they hadn't been there. YES!!! Why? Because we were getting ready to play xball at what was for most of us our first national event! It was paintball baby! We were about to go shoot some people and be shot! Did we win? NO WAY! But we left our hearts and souls on that field. Just like everyone who loves this sport does.

This reply is already way too long and to be frank includes way more information than most people here are entitled too. So I am going to sum it all up now in one last paragraph for you. So here goes...Empress does not play paintball to impress you, we do not play to make it easier to other girls to be accepted in this sport. If that happens, it is a unintended result that we are thrilled about! We go out there every practice and every event with the intention to play to the best of our ability and if not; then maybe we will learn something that day we can use to improve ourselves. We have never called ourselves "PRO" or even stated that we are a great team. Will we ever make podium? I doubt it, but we can still dream about it can't we? We have fun trying and I thought that was what it was all about anyways. We have never asked for anyones respect, but we hope we have earned it from some. Other than that we just wanna play ball. We did not ask to mentioned in this or any other thread about female players. We would all prefer to just be known as players. Not good ones, not bad ones. Just players who play for the love of the sport and for ourselves. I don't think that is too much to ask...do you?

[SCpoloRicker]

Thanks for chiming in on the boards, Lisa. I think that you've cleared up a few of the rumors floating around about Empress, its sponsors, and the team itself.

Enjoy your time on AO.

[Lisa]

Thanks for chiming in on the boards, Lisa. I think that you've cleared up a few of the rumors floating around about Empress, its sponsors, and the team itself.

Enjoy your time on AO.

No problem! Any time they need to up their per post word count they can call me!

[CodeMA]

Rock on Momma Lisa

[hitech]

...I feel it is only fair you have accurate details...

And that seems to have ended the discussion...

[Miscue]

With all this attention vs. "we are here to play stuff," a question came to mind. What is the purpose of a female team (as it relates with Empress)? Is there some sort of underlying motivational factor, like a "Let's see what we can do" type thing? I just have the feeling that there is some sort of goal in mind that keeps all of you interested enough to put in the extra effort and keep it a female team, not giving up on whatever ideals you may be pursuing.

Wow, those sponsors don't seem to do much sponsoring!

uhm, I really don't even know where to start! This was a really long thread to read. Let's see...there seems to be alot of people here who know a great deal about what we do, why we do it and how we prepare for it. Let me start by introducing myself; I am Lisa Laxton and I am a proud member of Team Empress. I am also a 36 year old proud mother of 4. Now I will provide you some FACTS to chew on...

I will say that I respect several of the opinions expressed here and I even agree with a lot of them. I will only comment on things I KNOW to be true as pertaining to our team. Since everyone seems to be so interested in what we do, I feel it is only fair you have accurate details. Empress is in the start of our second year and we will be playing DII xball. We are only in DII because they make you move up after your first year..not because we wanted to. Our first event will be the Orlando Open. For those of you who feel we should perform better for our "sponsorship" deal to be able to deserve the attention we get consider this. We have never had our entry fee paid for by any sponsor. We pay that bill 100% ourselves. We have never had a sponsor pay our way to an event. We pay that bill 100% ourselves. We have never had a sponsor pay for housing at an event. We pay that bill 100% ourselves. We have never had a sponsor give us a marker. We pay that bill 100% ourselves. Anyone see a pattern here? We have never had a sponsor cover our way to a practice, pay our hotel or all of our practice paint for us. We pay those bills 100% ourselves. There is not a single Empress player on any Empire Poster or any other type of marketing item produced by any of our sponsors to my knowledge. And I do believe you are correct, none of these poster girls featured are players. But playing is not their job on that poster is it?

Lets take a look at our practice schedule shall we? I mean I really think we should, if we are going to question our dedication to what we do, don't you? You are all correct in the fact that we are from all over the country which makes it hard and expensive to practice. We have recently built a larger roster holding in Texas and therefore have been able to work a lot more on learning to play together. We have had good success in this. The Texas girls have competed in 3 Novice events in the last 4 months here and have placed in the top 5 in each. And there were at least 12 teams at each of those events. The DFW area girls practice almost EVERY weekend. And at least 2 of those are 2 day practices. Did you notice the EVERY weekend? All the girls practice mulitple times a month and all of us do some sort of workout schedule to help us keep in shape. My family has family workouts 3 nights a week running sprints and ect. Sounds pretty dedicated to me...

What next? Attention? Sure, we will touch on that a bit. Do we get alot of attention? Sometimes yes we do. Did any of us ever do anything to ask for it? No. We showed up in LA last year to play. Unknown to us, 720 video was set up to tape our "insert a small bit of sarcasim here" historic first all girls xball team match. How did we feel? Excited? Yes...of course we were! Would we have been just as excited if they hadn't been there. YES!!! Why? Because we were getting ready to play xball at what was for most of us our first national event! It was paintball baby! We were about to go shoot some people and be shot! Did we win? NO WAY! But we left our hearts and souls on that field. Just like everyone who loves this sport does.

This reply is already way too long and to be frank includes way more information than most people here are entitled too. So I am going to sum it all up now in one last paragraph for you. So here goes...Empress does not play paintball to impress you, we do not play to make it easier to other girls to be accepted in this sport. If that happens, it is a unintended result that we are thrilled about! We go out there every practice and every event with the intention to play to the best of our ability and if not; then maybe we will learn something that day we can use to improve ourselves. We have never called ourselves "PRO" or even stated that we are a great team. Will we ever make podium? I doubt it, but we can still dream about it can't we? We have fun trying and I thought that was what it was all about anyways. We have never asked for anyones respect, but we hope we have earned it from some. Other than that we just wanna play ball. We did not ask to mentioned in this or any other thread about female players. We would all prefer to just be known as players. Not good ones, not bad ones. Just players who play for the love of the sport and for ourselves. I don't think that is too much to ask...do you?

[Vex]

Wow, those sponsors don't seem to do much sponsoring!

I was thinking the exact same thing! What are sponsors for if they're not paying for something? Did you just agree to wear their logos on your jerseys for nothing? Sounds like a good deal for the "sponsors" to me.

[Lisa]

I was thinking the exact same thing! What are sponsors for if they're not paying for something? Did you just agree to wear their logos on your jerseys for nothing? Sounds like a good deal for the "sponsors" to me.

Well, being a new team that, as it has been pointed out, doesn't have a lot of wins to our record at national events; we are working towards our future and trying to build a good reputation as a team. The sponsors we have at this time do the best they can for us and we appreciate what they do help with. As everyone knows national events can be very expensive and every little bit helps out. We would play with or without sponsors, so a sponsorship is a sponsorship. And as I said before..we play to play and no other reason. We don't have an "ultimate plan" to take over the sport or anything like that. At least not that I can admit to in public. :rofl:

PS...While I did tell you what our sponsorships don't pay for, notice I didn't ever say what they do pay for. That is uncool and not something that should be posted in a public forum. And if anyone knows anyone looking to sponsor a great bunch of gals on any of the non-covered items listed above, feel free to have them contact me!

[MMM]

Miscue
As I understand it from the all girls team/s we have out here the reason they play on all girls teams is that they didn't get any play when on co-ed teams. It's kind of like in elementary school when teams are picked the girls are picked last. Not saying it's fair or unfair that's just the way it goes.

[Lisa]

Miscue
As I understand it from the all girls team/s we have out here the reason they play on all girls teams is that they didn't get any play when on co-ed teams. It's kind of like in elementary school when teams are picked the girls are picked last. Not saying it's fair or unfair that's just the way it goes.

That is one of the reasons that I have heard also. But a lot of it is just because it is a totally different experience to play on a all girls team. And it is a lot of fun..at least for us. We are very much a family group. As for me, that is the reason. I have either always played on all girls or on a team with my husband and sons so play time has never been an issue for me. But I will say for awhile when playing with my husband I realized that played totally different with him on the field. It was like I was sitting back waiting on him to make something happen. Once I noticed this I tried to change that so we were all making things happen and play more like I do on the girls team. It helped alot in our aggressiveness.

[MMM]

I usually play as far away from my husband as possible because it does make a difference in how I play. Combined with the fact that he tunes out my voice so well my role as back player is almost negated. I end up concentrating my yelling out to the others on the team while he gets shot out early for not listening...