Zen and the Art of Paintball

The key to surviving and remaining relevant in Major League Paintball’s professional division (in any division really) is not a team’s depth of roster, funding or any myriad of things… sure, these aspects certainly lend to successes. But the real key, in my opinion, is a team’s ability to adapt. Adaptability is the difference between success and failure. One could go as far as to take the stance of British writer, Max McKeown that “All failure is the failure to adapt; all success is successful adaptation.”

The New Orleans Hurricanes, whom I truly believe are one of the most adaptable teams in paintball, did not adapt well at this event. Which is strange since I also believe that one of our strengths as a team is our collective ability to recognize and see aspects of layouts rather well. That, and we had actually worked on a form of adaptation the weekend before in preparation for the blind layout. We knew how to play this layout. We knew what the optimum set ups were. We were in good position several times in all four matches and yet failed to follow through on execution or, in some instances, recognize the opportunities we had just created. This marked our second missed Sunday out of three so far this season… not where we saw ourselves at this point in our third year as pros.

“Our identities are always changing and growing, they’re not meant to be pinned down. Our histories are never all good or all bad, and running from the past is the surest way to be defined by it. That’s when it owns us. The key is bringing light to the darkness – developing awareness and understanding.”

Vs Blastcamp

We respect Blastcamp and their approach to the game. We wanted to really set a tone with this match, leverage our creativity as well as our roster. That was the plan with the first play call. Go big, be first outside, signal a balanced approach on the box when we had no plan to do so, use some misdirection… you know, the usual. Our guns on the break were stellar and positioned well just in case they decided to go big too (which they did), and the misdirection was unnecessary as we win the point in approximately 20 seconds. Great read by Jacob Searight to dunk the missile Blastcamp sent to fifty Dorito. 1-0 Canes

Blastcamp answered well with solid guns of their own shooting two of us off the snake side. We took one of theirs off the D side and immediately took ground in an effort to turn the field. On this layout, a body advantage early was a big deal, so in turn, you had to take advantage and create opportunity quickly. Daniel Camp understood he had to shut down that 50 snake wrap while Searight and Drew pressed the action D side. Valiant effort from my players but Blastcamp took ground, probed the middle, found the opening, and closed out. A 3 minute 40 second point. 1-1 Tied

We felt comfortable attacking the wides again getting guns up in the center. We got the kill but Drew Bell got caught out in the open. Had he committed earlier to going forward, he more than likely would have been fine. Even count, four on four. We had good position in snake and wide dorito way with Blastcamp essentially pocketed. But we allowed Blastcamp to take snake and filter into a three man operation that way. Not optimum as my two man operation dorito way with Mike Brown and Justin Bailey now had to contend with two cross field shots. The key would be eliminating Dorito side can. Blastcamp repositioned further into snake side which boded ill but we did picked up the D side can kill. This meant that Blastcamp’s remaining assets had to respect that the side was blown. They decided to run though, Danimal diced him up on over-watch before he got to Pate but no penalty. Danimal went tall, caught another and then commited forward getting the last Blastcamp player. Our push close should have come from D side but it still worked out. Quick concession from Blastcamp. A two and half minute point. 2-1 Canes

Data from my guys showed a comfort staying wide and maybe pushing the issue a little further D side. We made our spots, five on five paintball. My guys all made secondaries and were looking good. Searight pressed the action D side. Point drug on as both teams were zoned up and Blastcamp developed that three body set up snake way. I felt that, with Searight inside and Daniel inside, Pate could have been a bit more proactive here, especially since we had Bailey in the snake side aztec controlling the outside of the 50 snake brick. We eliminated their D side can just before Blastcamp began probing the center in order to take Daniel off the field. They traded. Four on three advantage us. We were in good position, had the lead, and the clock was burning. We had this one and should have extended the lead. That was when things got weird. We got a minor because someone somehow sensed or complained that Daniel’s gun was hot. So they checked his gun… not with the chronograph he chrono’ed onto the field with… no, with the other pit’s chrono. He shot hot so we got a penalty and they pulled Pate out of the snake. This changed the strength of our positioning and improved Blastcamps. They closed the point but not before Justin Bailey almost turned the point around getting 2 of the 3 remaining. 2-2 Tied

We pressed the wides again since it hadn’t been looking like it could be stopped but they did end up shooting our D side one and took the 50 snake quick. It boded ill as Daniel improved his position to snake wedge but lost his first engagement. Pate did damage control by slipping out to snake corner. Clock was under 3 minutes and we were in a 3 on 5 disadvantage scenario. I stood close to the concession button waiting to see my guys try something… I decided I would give them 1 minute. Drew Bell made it out to dorito corner and I breathed a little better but was still not happy. When Stuart filled to the can though, I got real nervous. I thought for sure he would have filled towards Pate. As soon as Pate died, I conceded. 3-2 BlastCamp

I kicked myself just a little for not conceding the point a little earlier but I always trust my guys. So now we had to develop a super fast play. There was no doubt they would want to just make their bunkers, lock up access, and try to hold on for 71 seconds. With that in mind, we knew we needed to take an opportunity early, especially since they hadn’t shown good guns D side. Knowing they wanted to protect the wides and would look for a snake side push, I opted for a different approach with my guy’s buy in. We were going to press the D side action. We would risk one body D side to draw the guns and plan to filter another underneath. We would get heavy guns up, try to get key eliminations on the break, then read into our secondaries. We took a timeout to make sure we were all on the same page and understood what needed to happen on the reads. The point started and we got one elimination, made the doritos, filtered a second body underneath dorito way as the guns went wide, and secondary into snake corner. Even after losing our rabbit D side, we succeeded in positioning Dorito way with Drew Bell and Stuart Ridgel executing well. Drew got the drop on two of them, one of which decided to play on drawing a penalty. Drew hit the buzzer early which I was fine with because I would like to use the time for two reasons… one, to let my guys work their lanes, and two, have a little more time to work on my play call with the team for the next point. 3-3 tied

For the overtime point, we knew what Blastcamp wanted. So we prepared a little rope a dope. I set Searight up D-side with the look to go big but his real goal was snake 50. We placed two guns dorito way and they paid off shooting Blastcamp’s one on that side. Searight got to his spot, trusted his over-watch from Pate, and we settled in to push the snake with a 3.5 man operation. Blastcamp committed on Searight, Pate on over-watch caught him, and the Blastcamp player tried to play on. Luckily he didn’t shoot his gun or it would have been a major instead of a minor. About the time the penalty was thrown, Danimal picked up another kill cross field on D side. We were in a 4 on 1 with just over two and a half minutes to close the point out. Canes win.

Vs Uprising

We were able to scout Uprising during their match against the Bears. We felt we should be winning the break and making it wide again. We had also determined we needed to secondary a little quicker. With that in mind, we headed into the first point shooting Uprising’s dorito one on the break and took quick secondaries out snake way. We also put a ball on their center aztec near snake wedge who drew the penalty. We were in a 5 on 2 situation but Uprising had the snake 50 who quickly wrapped and shot Mike Brown at the home. My guys had the kill count wrong, too. However, they didn’t rush, they figured it out but not before it became a 2 on 1. Hey, blind layout which we had played a whole 7 points on. I’m not going to be too critical… yet. 1-0 Canes

We kept going wide because, why not? They finally picked Pate up on the run and gun to snake corner but he took the home with him. Four on four but Uprising began pressing D side pretty aggressively. They essentially had one gun to beat who came off their zone by the way, so really no guns to beat. Snake 50 dropped Drew Bell in the D side can and then Britt Simpson in Dorito one. Its a matter of time for Daniel and Mike Brown. 1-1 Tied.

Uprising went pocket and we spread D side. They got crafty and used that D side “alley” to get into the D side wedge but not before shooting our D side one (Searight). Drew Bell knew we need that asset outside to keep them checked but got picked up on the fill. Mike Brown did make it out there, however. We picked up a kill making it even again but that lasted all of about 1 second as Pate and Daniel got shot. But Mike “Clutch” Brown shoots another. This means he was in a 2 on 1 advantage Uprising but Mike has faced greater odds before. Unfortunately, you can’t win all them and Uprising took the point. 2-1 Uprising.

Alright, back to basics. Get Nic Rippel in the snake, draw the gun out wide with a dorito runner and filter underneath D-side with Drew Bell. Leave Pate in reserve as overwatch with Nic. And that’s how it went. We shot their D-side can but Uprising seemed to panic a little with Nic in the snake. This allowed Searight to go offensive with Drew right behind him. Bailey swung out behind them as force multiplier knowing this was the window. Welcome to the meat grinder. 2-2 Tied.

It isn’t broke. Let’s go. But it was broke… kinda. Nic’s hopper decided to give him a problem. We were in great position. We had shot one of them on the break and had Dorito one, the forward D side aztec, the snake 50, snake side aztec on over-watch and home. But we allowed Uprising to take the snake and get a drop in on Drew. We got a body back giving us the 4 on 3 advantage. Uprising was in Dorito 2, snake side aztec and snake 2. We had Dorito 2, dorito can, snake side aztec, and 50 snake. We had Uprising’s snake 2 contained and their dorito contained. Not a lot we could do with their 3rd though. I was thinking Bailey would be able to get out of the can but he hunkered in and got small preserving his body. Uprising committed on Nic for a trade but a sloppy secondary follow up cost Uprising their second to last body. It’s a 3 on 1 and the clock was ticking (I believe it was 2:30 left at that point?) so, barring a catastrophe, I knew we were going to take the point. Whether my guys knew the count or not (I could tell they didn’t since they were still covering some zones that had NO ONE), I was just waiting for Uprising to concede. 20 seconds later, they did. 3-2 Canes.

Still plenty of time on the clock. We decided to pocket up and get guns up. We got one but they made snake 50 pretty quick. We knew they were going to go snake 50 and wanted the quick wrap . Nic actually shot the wrap, I know this because the Uprising player even asked for a check, and the ref called it “rub”. Stu heard the snake call and tried to get to that wedge to catch him napping. Unfortunately, the snake looked inside just at the right time, otherwise, great play. I remember thinking to myself, just get to the dorito one and this point will be fine. Mike Brown made it out there as if he heard me through telepathy. But then got shot almost immediately after… dang. Had he lived I feel this point would have gone longer or finished differently. Uprising closes well. 3-3 Tied.

We played the 10 second point and we decided, heck, let’s go for it. We got to the 50’s and that was about it. Time. Okay, into overtime.

I waited to call a time out after Uprising’s time out for two reasons. One to ensure we were good and comfortable with the play call (I sent Stu out to the box to ensure the five were good). The second reason was to play a small psychological game against Uprising’s 5 on the box. Unfortunately, neither really did much. We should have lost that point. But Aaron Pate and Daniel Camp put the team on their back and won a 5 on 2 with help from our opponent who kept throwing body after body at them with no coordinated effort or close. Nic got shot on the break, Pate and Daniel made their secondaries and Searight went a little offensive but past that, we just sort of stagnated…Uprising pressed with the body advantage and had moved the skirmish line to the 40 and 50… I started a decade of my Rosary I keep in my pocket at that point with about 2:30 left… This is when it all happened. Uprising shot Drew out of the can and their D side immediately launched to bunker Searight. The first one got picked up and the second got picked up as well! So, now it was a 3 on 2! Uprising’s snake player 50 launched and got roasted. 2 on 2! Daniel Camp caught one and Aaron Pate caught the other… holy smokes… my prayers were quite literally answered. Canes win.

Vs Bears

Britt Simpson wanted to go and sometimes you have to let him. And that’s what we did on this first point. He made his primary, read the paint and made dorito 3. We mixed it up a little getting Nic Ripple out to snake corner with Aaron Pate at home, Daniel Camp snake side forward aztec, and Drew Bell rounded it all out in the Dorito can. Pate struck first by scoring his shot on the snake side wedge route. Five on four advantage to us as we settled in for what would be the longest point of our event. Nic fed the snake easy enough as Bears weren’t in the best position to stop him. I was a little disappointed that we allowed the Bears to fill the snake as we had discussed using Drew on the cross to potential see/stop that. Daniel Camp fed up into the snake 50. At this point, I would have really liked Drew to get out behind Britt on the Dorito side. He had the opportunity early on whether to go lateral or to go forward and up into dorito wedge. However, once the Bears made the snake, that was going to be difficult… Daniel got picked up from the dorito one who had slipped out on us too (probably wouldn’t have happened if Drew had shifted earlier). I would have also liked to have seen Pate take snake 1. This would have given him a better perspective D side as well as given us an asset further forward if we lost ground there. Britt appeared to be the only one who got the memo and increased pressure by taking the 50 dorito. But that tandem line was now too long between him and Drew and that was frustrating. As we headed into the 7th minute of the point, I knew my guys are low on paint and something had to happen soon. Drew finally decided to take action but only because he was almost out of paint. He got pretty creative and I thought he was going to catch the Bear’s dorito 2 hopper. It didn’t happen and he got into their Dorito Wedge. I was happy for what, once again, seemed like, one second… as I watched Britt stand up after getting eliminated by the Bears snake. I don’t know who shot Drew… we went from having a 5 on 4 body advantage and position, to losing the point. I wanted that one back bad. Lots of squandered opportunities in a 10 minute point. I saw Nic trying to be proactive but Pate wasn’t. Had to keep time so I conceded the point. 1-0 Bears

I put the same line back out on the next point. There was nothing wrong with play call. It was execution so I wanted them to understand the mistakes and that I believed in them. Britt made his run and Drew got out behind him quickly this time. Nic hopped into the snake one quickly again as well. He ended up getting picked up cross field though. Pate didn’t hesitate and took the ground back. Britt did what he was supposed to do and attacked that dorito side harder. This allowed Drew to move as well as it created more pressure. I can’t blame Britt for getting shot here. He was trying. I said out loud in the pits, “they got 20 seconds to put something together”. They didn’t so I concede the point. 2-0 Bears

We had a come to Jesus talk after that point where I explained that the aggression looked great for the first bit of the point and then we just vegged out. Closing had never been a glaring issue with us but it was damn near blinding to watch at that point. So I lit a fire and explained we had to go. Now, we had no choice but to go. And go we did…finally. We got our guns up, got crafty D side, pressed the issue with our access points, lived behind our guns and won the point in 25 seconds, 5 seconds better than I anticipated as I felt we would need at least 45-60 seconds for the next point. Well done. 2-1 Bears

Luckily, the Revo/Aftermath point gave us plenty of time to develop our next play. We came together and developed our plot. We knew we wanted to flood two narrow access points, one dorito way and one snake way. I got frustrated at first because we bounced that D side can on the break. Nic ended up trading with him though. By this point, we were now at both 50s with approximately 50 seconds. Plenty of time. Stuart Ridgel and Jacob Searight were gun dominant, threaded the seams and went for it. The guys pushed with Drew Bell blocking for Daniel Camp who showed great field awareness and timing. He hit the buzzer with 10 seconds left. Yes, you know we were going to play it. 2-2 Tied

That overtime point marked the 2nd point I want back in this match. Searight made a great read, got to dorito 3 but decided to stand tall even though his teammates were yelling the snake is hot. Bears made the 50 snake and shot him. His reaction caused him to injure the same foot he injured just prior to our practice the weekend before. The good news was we got our set up for the snake side. The bad news is it would have been better with a Dorito 3 presence. With the body disadvantage, we are not in a good spot, especially when they finally shot Drew out of D side can. It was now a five on three with just under two minutes. It did not look good for us. Stuart kept over-watch effectively stalling the Bears’ snake side attack and we picked up a cross field kill as Nic put a ball on the Bears’ dorito one player. 4 on 3 but the advantage was still with the Bears. But then we dug out the Bears forward D side player… but they were quick to take ground and replaced that loss. 3 on 3 with about a minute twenty left. We hold. On to one on ones.

As a former teammate and coach of Evan Manners, I knew the Bears would send him out. That young man is a terrific gun fighter and has not been given his due in the pro division. But I feel he has finally found a team where he can be seen and shine. Headed into this event, we worked one on ones with big gun Drew Bell proving his mettle so he got the call. He pressed the action early and it looked like he had Evan trapped in a can. Drew was dynamic and created pressure early on. But, as he has proved time and time again in the past, Evan can put a ball on just about anyone. Drew ended up on Evan’s side of the field and crossed paths with a ball. Bears win.

Vs Red legion

This last match against the Legion doesn’t require too much in depth analysis. I will critique the first six points and sum up the rest as it will be that easy.

We had scouted the Legion and knew exactly what they wanted to do and how they wanted to do it. Knowing that and actually stopping it are two different things, however, especially when they were simply playing on another level than anyone else at this event. We also had an idea that, should we win, great, we were on to Sunday. But if we could keep it close, as in, by 1, we may still be on to Sunday as well.

First point is pretty simple to dissect. They shot 4 of us on the break. 1-0 Legion

Second point we focused our guns on specific access points up the gut and they paid off. We shot three of them on the break, made the read to close out. Drew Bell launched to take the last Legion player in the Dorito, who ended up spinning on Drew. Major assessed on Legion and we would be on the power play next point. 1-1 Tied

We were not even a full two minutes into this match and we were on the power play. We had seen Legion play a 5 on 3 point the day before and knew where they would want to be. So we set up on that very break. I believe they changed one body but it didn’t matter as we shot one on the break. Unfortunately, Nic took a skimmer of a pack hit and drew the minor taking out 5 on 2 down to a 3 on 2. When they got to the corners, I thought it would settle in for a bit of a longer point. But Britt Simpson clocked in and pressed the doritos aggressively while Daniel Camp pushed snake way. Britt got a shot in on the Legions’ dorito player and Drew Bell finally joined the fray. 3 on 1 with Legion in the snake 2. Surprisingly, Legion conceded. 2-1 Canes

We pushed the dorito side but Legion decided to do the same just with a lot more aggression. They made snake 50 too and shot our stalled dorito push by getting a pack hit in on Stu. And then we just started losing gunfights. We end up in a 5 on 2 and were not in position. They were. I decided to save my guys and conceded the point. 2-2 Tied

Both teams lost a body on the break this point but Legion took that Dorito wedge early and caused pressure from the go. Pate decideed to press snake way in an effort to counter but got caught. Drew Bell launched to dig out Dorito inhibitor with a quick follow up from Britt Simpson. Would have been a great counter if Drew didn’t get caught before he got his man. Stuart Ridgel also lookd to exploit but got caught as well. 3-2 Legion

We showed our guns on the break the next point shooting 2 Legion players. On this Stuart Ridgle went hyper aggressive (good) onto the Legions side of the field but just got picked up. 3 on 3. Aaron Pate lost a gun fight in the snake to Malloy and we had to press into the Legions guns. 4-2 Legion

Both teams continued to shoot bodies on the break… this next point it was 3 on 3 off the rip. Stuart Ridgel once again made an aggressive play down dorito side while Daniel Camp pressed into the snake. Stu got picked up again and we ended up in another down body situation. 5-2 Legion

The rest of the story is the Legion continued to shoot bodies on the break and we did not. Legion wins.

So, what does this mean for the New Orleans Hurricanes? It simply means we have to do better. We have under performed two events in a row now. Our processes have served us well up until this point but don’t seem to be enough anymore. The league has caught up and we are seeing there are no easy games anymore. Last year, our draw would have been a gift. As evident, any draw this year will be a bloody battle. We have to look at our scars and learn. Grow smarter…and adapt. And we will. These last two set backs will just make the comeback that much sweeter. Roll Canes.

Before I close, I want to tell you about a young man that is very near and dear to me and the New Orleans Hurricanes’ hearts. His name is Grayson Manning. Grayson is a regular at our home field of LaXtreme paintball in Slidell, LA. He is an up and coming talent in paintball as well as an amazing young man. He was struck by a vehicle on Father’s Day and has been fighting every day since. Please, if you have some to spare, consider sharing to his GoFundMe page found here:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-graysons-fight-and-recovery?qid=36d2a4f54cf22bc7c4bcd3449408fc1b

Grayson, his family, and the New Orleans Hurricanes, thank you!

Be water my friends. And #FightLikeGrayson!