I am not referring to young players but to the new players that just bought that brand new marker. That new guy that is so excited he can’t wait to start playing. That new guy that is quickly going to find himself drifting all alone on the open sea. It’s also that same new guy that’s sell his marker with the ad description “Selling - Brand new hardly been used..”
There is a huge problem within the paintball industry to retain and educate new players with the fundamental paintball skills and knowledge. There is no support or retention system in place to keep new players involved and excited. We are simply pushing gear unto new players and we are setting them up for failure because a lack of an educational network.
We mainly get exposed to paintball at birthday parties, bachelors or from friends. You have a great time and want to play again …so you buy a marker. Sounds familiar? So you phone your friends to organize a game. On the day, two of the five invited friends show up. You find “one-on-two” not that much fun, but you are enthusiastic and continue. Quickly you find yourself playing against a more advanced team. You are traumatized and oblivious to the pain afflicted on your body. The probability of you returning fades.
If players don’t get drawn into an organized group or network they are lost. No wonder the average paintball player length is a mere 6 to 12 months.
Maybe we should start looking at present growth models in our societies. Find the similarity in Rugby. They start training pre-school kids. The kids play for fun and don’t realize the fundamental training that the coach is drilling into them. Even the parents are involved and support the kids as they grow in the sport.
Take the modern Church of today. They divide their members into smaller “Home Cells”. In these smaller groups they can support and teach each other. Churches that adapted the Cell Model showed growth.
Okay bottom-line is we need to fix it and create structures.
Start with educating new players on the basic gun and gear maintenance. Example how to adjust the velocity, movement, general playing, chrono, etc.
Create the Friend group. Encourage by discussing paintball gear and tactics. Then go play together some social events and step it up to tournaments and leagues if that is your interest.
Be dedicated in promoting paintball safety where ever you go. Keep that barrel sock on and make it visible that you are serious about the safety of the people around you.
KUSTOM PAINTBALL is hard at work in creating a structure to educate and retain players.
We believe that Demo days will be a good intro. The players will know more before they take to the field. With our partner
AWOL PAINTBALL FIELD we offer new players a free demo day at the field where we will go over the basics and teach tactics. We believe by adding purpose in the sense of tournaments and leagues we can retain players year by year. We are creating the MSP(Military Style Paintball) rule book. This will become the standard for all MSP players. Through forming rules and boundaries we can create a professional sport. We are also focussed on the recreational players and believe they should continue their education of technique and skill and not just the competitive players.
Please support us in what we are doing.
