Failure is a harsh mistress. One that, if you aren’t careful, will continue to show up at inopportune times. Especially in the world of professional paintball. You’re only as good as your last performance and after our 2nd place Las Vegas event, where the team gave the PB world a glimpse of what we can do when we execute, the New Orleans Hurricanes have consistently fallen short of our capabilities. Especially on the goals front set by the team at the beginning of the season. We didn’t meet a single set for this season after the first event. But sometimes, we can get so focused on winning, that we fail to recognize the lessons learned from the losses. It is said that failure can improve resilience, incite innovation, and even generate creativity that may not have occurred otherwise. And I thought that’s what we accomplished in preparation for this event. That being said, you better have resilience if you continue to under perform and play like we have. The lessons may start to get old and finding that tenacity, tapping into that “dog” in you, can start to become difficult. Well, not really… not if you are a true “dog” … a real warrior. And my guys are the real deal. But something is wrong. And we have to fix it.
Disappointed doesn’t seem to have the full connotation or essence of what I am trying to convey regarding my guy’s performance (and mine) at this year’s World Cup. This is now the third year in a row that we have gone 1-3 at the final event of the year, losing matches we should have won. We knew how to play this field. We knew the keys to the kingdom so to speak. We knew the set ups, we knew best where to close from and how, we knew where to push, where to create pressure, had good adjustments planned and prepped. We had good understandings of read offense and our opponent’s stack. We just simply failed to execute after the buzzer. We weren’t ourselves and frankly we haven’t been since Atlantic City.
And that has to rest on my shoulders. That’s where I failed. With most of your top teams in professional paintball, paintball is the priority. This is not the case with my Canes. Paintball is a passion. The priority is our families and jobs. Since going pro 3 years ago, we knew it would be tough and that we were in for tremendous difficulty if we wanted to be competitive and relevant in this league. So, my job was to figure out how to be competitive and relevant with limited time and assets. My job was not just to help them prepare, but to draw that great performance out of them… Each member of this team had a point at World Cup this year. Unfortunately, it isn’t individual performance that makes the dream work in this sport. It has to be a team effort, which I have always felt was our strength. And we were just discombobulated. As the leader, I take accountability for not having the words and/or wisdom to draw better performance out of my guys. This season is going to haunt us, I’m sure.
VS Brooklyn Bears
Point 1 – We knew the bears would play a similar match to us. I felt between the two squads there would be aggression on all three fronts of the field but that we would win the day with guns on the break and better comms. And it looked like I was right in point one. Even though Drew Bell was team killed off the rip by getting shot in the foot by a teammate, we shot the Bears’ snake runner on the break with our pocket shooters. Britt Simpson took ground d-side and Nic Ripple was in the snake 50 by himself all within 15 seconds. Daniel held the Bears out of the snake, Stuart spread behind Britt. We are in excellent field position. I am smiling in the pit because this is the set up we want (granted I wanted that 5th body as force multiplier but…still). I knew we were going to win the point. But then things start to deteriorate. Nic picks another body off but we lost Britt. We are now 33 and this field has turned into an island drill. Nic got dinked making it a 2 on 3 but Stuart Ridgel steps up dorito side and peels another off. 2 on 2 now after we had blown the advantage. Daniel Camp zones up and sure enough catches the Bear’s dorito side making it a 2 on 1 with the snake corner the only body left.
It was the first point so I wasn’t concerned. First point jitters kind of stuff maybe. Nothing prepared me for the continuous drop off in performance the rest of the match. 1-0 Hurricanes
Points 2- Should have been a 4 on 2 favor to us mid-point. We bounced three of them this point. However, the Bear’s paint did not bounce when they had their shots. 1-1 Tied
Point 3 – We won the break shooting the Bears snake runner but we let them fill out. We were once again in position to close out the point and win. We had the snake side stacked, and I’m ready for Nic to go do the guy in front of him. Instead, he retreated and got dinked out. Stu and Sakaguchi trade in the snake, so now both teams had 2 bodies dorito way, and one body each in the snake. Aaron Pate won the snake war decisively! Again, I’m thinking to myself, great job, we’re gucci. But then he got picked up by either one of the greatest or luckiest shots from the dorito 2 retreating back to home… it ends up in a one on one with Drew Bell. I felt good about the odds but… no. 1-2 Bears
Point 4 – Bears win the breakout, we are down bodies and time is low. I concede. 1-3 Bears
Point 5-7 Bears play paintball and we forget how. The end. 1-6 Bears
*Point 8 – We got a major in the point before. Bears are on the power play 5 on 3 off the break. We hold.
Big wake up call. We had now put ourselves in a precarious situation and it was just the first match. No worries. Stay positive, understand the mistakes, get it together. Absolutely no reason we shouldn’t and couldn’t win out.
VS Ronholt Dynamite
Ronholt are a Norwegian team and I really like those guys. But we needed to hang it on them, so we set out to do that. They were predictable, not the best laners, and I knew we were better gun fighters . They normally have 4 weeks on a layout so I felt confident they weren’t as prepared as they would be for an event in Europe. We knew what they were doing, we didn’t need to adjust anything to beat them.
Point 1 – we went aggressive and win in 45 seconds. 1-0 Hurricanes
Point 2 – same thing but it slowed down a bit. Pate shot the first body, someone shot Dynamite’s snake, then Pate shot the rest. Pate gets a 4 pack and should be in the running for Prelim move of the event. 2-0 Hurricanes
Point 3 – Dynamite found there guns on the break but we still should have won the point. 2-1 Hurricanes
Point 4 – we won the breakout, made our closing spots, clean close. We are on our way to do what we needed to do to erase the first match. Or so I thought. 3-1 Hurricanes
Point 5 – I got a little concerned on this point. It took us way too long to close this point out, especially since we knew the situation and where they were. I feel our dorito side should have been in the fight sooner. Searight should have felt comfortable coming to Dynamite’s side as none of the three were in position to slow his progress. Dynamites mini wall can’t go anywhere. Drew Bell has to be a little more careful than Searight as he had to push the S2 in before he can go but once through, it should have been over. I feel like we should have won that point with at least 7 minutes or just under still on the clock. 4-1 Hurricanes
Point 6 – One player had to rush to the box and is pulled for leaving early… he wasn’t shot. That’s on me. I had no idea there was a gun issue and frankly, there shouldn’t have been. Next body looks into a ball… d side was blown. Its 5 on 3, Dynamite’s advantage but Nic got to the 50 snake, and peels not one, not two, but three bodies off before he dies. He did everything he could to save the point. This left us in a 2 on 2. Unfortunately, my two last bodies didn’t know where the two bodies were and it costs us. Blind shot on Drew Bell costs him his body. Trade at the end with Daniel Camp in the snake and Dynamite is on the board again. 4-2 Hurricanes.
Point 7 – We win the break and they got a penalty I think. They concede with 2 and a half minutes left. We needed to win by 5 just to get back to 0. So we need to get on the board in about 1 minute 15 seconds or so average to make me happy. That would not be the case. 5-2 Hurricanes
Point 8 – We just couldn’t stay alive. I don’t know what was going on… 5-3 Hurricanes
Point 9 – We stay alive but Searight drew a minor. The “hit” on his pack was obviously rub from one of the bunkers but it is what it is…. We burn the clock. Game. We did not accomplish our goal to win by at least 5. This would haunt us. Match should have been 6-1.
VS AC Diesel
We scouted Diesel and were ready for them (or so we thought). We knew they liked to use the pocket, and press the snake action.
Point 1 – They break as we anticipated but they still win it. 4 on 5 advantage them but we beat them to the snake. We bait Godlman into a gun in the snake making it a 4-4. However, we lost Dorito containment and got sloppy in our bunkers. Cortez makes Britt pay for it. While that was happening, Nic kills the god and was on their side of the snake. Cortex shoots Pate, Nic has no idea what was going on, they hit the buzzer. We shouldn’t have lost that point. 1-0 Diesel.
Point 2 – I wanedt to use the center on them because I had a sense they would go snake corner and weak d side. They did. Unfortunately, they made their first shot on Pate count. While that was happening, Britt had made it to Diesel’s side of the field. But he decided to over gunfight. We were just giving them bodies. We had fed the snake so I decide to give it some time to see if we can eek one out. Sure enough Drew Bell makes a moving cross field shot from the D side on Mouse in the snake! He then shoots the D side one! We have now evened the body count up 3 on 3. Daniel Camp shoots the D side 2 cross field! There we go!… But Clint Johnson sneaks one in on Drew. It’s a 2 on 2 and my guys later reported they didn’t know where Clint was… we dropped the ball again. 2-0 Diesel.
Pt 3 – The next point was a cluster. Get this, they shoot Camp on the break but the ref next to the one calling Daniel out, thinks the other ref is talking about Nic! That’s right, Nic was clean but the ref kept yelling at him to get out so he did. So Diesel gets a free one thanks to a ref not just taking a beat to understand. We got one back and Britt is on their side of the field in their Doritos. He missed his first shot and now they know he’s there. But Pate picks up Clint Johnson. It’s now a 3 on 3 again. A minute goes by, Pate feeds the snake but then… both Drew Bell and Britt Simpson come walking off. I don’t know how. It’s a 3 on 1 so I concede the point. 3-0 Diesel
Pt 4- We were pretty confident they would spread and they do save for the 1 dorito side who went a little further than we thought. Drew Bell asks for a paint check on his back. The ref called him clean. As he progressed up the field another ref found the hit the first one missed. Penalty… I had to concede. 4-0 Diesel
Pt 5 – we finally play hurricane paintball 4-1 Diesel. Too little too late. Game.
VS Aftershock
We scouted shock and had a great understanding of their game plan. They literally had one play they ran 80% of the time with two guns up and 3 heads down running. We would try and take advantage of that.
Point 1 – Well, those two guns up were good. 1-0 Afteshock.
Point 2- Same. Except this time, we shot two of theirs shortly after. 2 on 3 but my two are Drew Bell and Searight, so I let this go a bit. Drew gets in the snake, shoots Hosky, Searight shoots Cory Hall! Drew put a ball on Thomas Kim’s neck, we all saw it from the pit. The ref calls him clean. Searight should have shot him as the ref was checking him. Anyway, one on one, Thomas Kim wins it. 2-0 Aftershock’
Point 3 – 4 on 4 break which quickly became a 4 on 2, Aftershock advantage… I concede. 3-0 Aftershock
Point 4 – I have officially left stoic demeanor and am now in putting my foot up everyone’s butt demeanor. We know what they will do and want to do. If we can live past the break, quit giving our bodies away, we will beat them! We shoot two on the break (finally), Arod threw his body away, 3 on 1 advantage us. We were on the board finally playing the way we knew how to. 3-1 Aftershock.
Pt 5 – We lost the break but get the advantage snake side when Danimal took Hosky off the board. Searight pressed the issue dorito way as well and he eventually worked his way to their side. He shot their god, they send a body to get him, that dude got diced, we close out. Another point where we are looking like ourselves! 3-2 Aftershock
Pt 6 – We know they will go back line and we decide to go short snake way (snake way shooter was hot). The read was right and we shot their 1 dorito way and their 2 snake way who drew a minor. Corey shot Britt but Nic caught Corey, 4 on 1 advantage us. I don’t think we knew about the minor and were looking for a second body. At the very least, this issue was better than the issues we had been having. Good close considering. And a third point in a row where we played to our potential. 3-3 Tied
Pt 7 – We know they will do their standard break out. Two at home, one body short dorito way, god and snake corner. They did. We missed our shots though. Both teams for the first time this match are 5 on 5. Arod missed his shot on Daniel who is on their side of the snake but we didn’t. Arod takes the walk. We shoot Parrish D side, and I remember thinking, it is 5 on 3 with just over two minutes. We got this. I’m thinking Daniel will launch and stab out Hosky. Instead Hosky went highway. Then a strange thing happened… a ref throws a minor on my player who asked “whats on his head?” Hosky had a BUNCH of paint on his head and there did seem an instance where it looked like he took a lick in the snake. We were going to win this point and potentially the game… but a ref had inserted himself into the match, on a talking penalty no less. Oh well. Control what you can control. I have to concede the point with a minute forty left. 4-3 Aftershock
Pt 8 – Arod gets away with one this point. We watched him get shot from the pit. He was hit, he realized it, and launched before a ref could get there. Stu points at Arod asking for the penalty and they throw a penalty on us for pointing… pointing everyone. Nic trades in the snake making it a 2 on 2. But Drew Bell and Danimal pinch the home. Drew trades with Parrish. Daniel waits to hit the buzzer until about 6 seconds. 4-4 Tie.
Overtime – Aftershock takes the win after we lose the break and team kill one of our guys.
So what did we learn here? We have learned that you have to be at your best every moment of every point of every match. You better hit your off the break shots like you were at practice. And you better close cleaner by checking in and realizing your down count because there was probably a guy doing a job… and if he isn’t there anymore doing said job, that is bad… more so when you don’t know it. The Canes are known for two things – guns on the break, and disciplined team work. We had neither at this event.
The New Orleans Hurricanes started this season off well with a 2nd place finish in Vegas. We had two goals this season, neither of which we met after Vegas. Make every Sunday and win an event. I have a lot more to say on this and maybe I will write another blog later this month to cover all of it.
But first…
Seneca taught that “Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it.” And he is absolutely right. But I’m not a perfect stoic yet.
…But I am always trying. With that in mind, I will avoid commenting on a “distraction” that reared its ugly head the day prior to the event. Now to work on that Christian value of mine regarding forgiveness, too. That one will be tough. To the “source” that fed the lie? Pray I don’t find you.
The rumor of our demise is greatly exaggerated. We have work to do.
After starting the season off with a 2nd place finish in Vegas, I find myself sitting down to write about yet another disappointing and subpar performance by the Hurricanes. This marks our third event where we went 2-2 and missed Sunday. We are now 11 and 8 on the season (61-68 for/against). If you had asked me if we would be in this position after Vegas, I would have confidently and perhaps with a little defiance, stated no. One of the goals we set for this season was to win an event. We have missed that goal so far. Since Vegas, we haven’t hit one of our goals set for the season, one of which was continuous Sunday appearances.
I think we have proven we are adaptable and can play any game, whether it is fast and bloody, slow and disciplined, or a mix of both. We are a team that beats you with team paintball. Our process and successes have been from our ability to process data as a team and play selflessly. When we have the information, when we can connect on the layout, we are very dangerous. However, the layouts as of late have proven that you must be comfortable going forward without all the data and in some cases, none. It’s about risk taking and our processes have been about risk mitigation. Breaking that mentality we have ingrained in ourselves to punch and counter punch based off data has been difficult to say the least. Our processing speed and read offense has always been data based… if A then B… If B then C…. that has not been the case as of late. And that’s on me. Our system was good enough to get us to the pro division. It was good enough the first two years to keep us competitive and a threat. It was good enough for Vegas. But good enough isn’t good enough anymore. It is time to adjust the system. To sum this event up, we knew how to play this field. We were ready and the game plans were solid. The issue was simply a lack of consistent execution. My ones applied pressure but were just getting “dinked” out and my twos were inconsistent on when to apply additional pressure and follow up. Don’t get me wrong, my guys played some good paintball… some of the time. The inconsistency bug has struck us again. That falls on me. Time to rework and readjust the system.
Vs Ironmen
The first point we wanted to attack and attack hard, to make a statement. And we did. We went aggressive D side with a relentless push from Britt Simpson with a plan for Stuart Ridgel to follow up quickly and apply pressure. We would get Nic Riippel in the snake as well to show we were coming from both sides. We lose Stu on the break but Drew Bell knows the drill and quickly plugs the hole d-side. Britt trades and on the Chaos, Drew takes the Ironmen’s side of the field. I feel Britt could have got two but I will take his aggression just as well. Drew peels one but misses his second opportunity on a kill. Drew catches a penalty as he gets a skimmer pack hit. This leaves Nic in the ironmen’s side of the snake in a 3 on 1… 0-1 Ironmen.
We showed we would attack and be a threat on both sides the first point so I wanted to show we could do that AND be a threat in the center as well. Stu just missed his shot on Ironmen’s snake player who ends up shooting Mike Brown cross field in our dorito side. Drew Bell quickly filled the gap though and with Justin Bailey containing, was able to mount a second offensive on that side. Drew crosses onto the Ironmen’s side and shoots snake corner, snake 2, and their home. He them went to trade (unnecessary but I dug it). At this point, Daniel Camp is on the Ironmen’s side of the field snake side and we still have Stu and Bailey to close out, which they did. 1-1 Tied
Point three, I felt we were in the driver seat off the rip. We were the aggressor again and had the snake 3, snake corner for support, and the dorito 50. We were in better position and I felt confident we were going to take the point. Daniel Camp gets out of snake corner to support Britt Simspon in the snake 3 so if there is a trade, we don’t lose the ground. I felt we should have been out of that can dorito side to support Nic who was in the dorito 50 way sooner. Especially since Ironmen’s snake was applying no pressure. We got out to the first dorito though and I once again, felt confident. Britt got into the Ironmen’s side of the snake which made me doubly happy… I thought he is going to go trade eventually and then Daniel will be in position unseen. Instead, Britt got picked off by a bounce shot…and the Ironmen got out of the snake corner and join their own two man team in there. Then Stuart Ridgel got caught. We are now in a 5 on 3. Nic got peeled next. 5 on 2. Daniel makes a move, got 1 but…4 on 1 and I want the time. Conceed. 1-2 Ironmen
This next point was difficult for me to watch. We knew what has to happen on this field. We had to be first, create pressure, and get our twos in the game to clean up. I called the play knowing we had made a small mistake with point one. Both teams went aggressive. We were in the snake and first to the corner. They were first out in dorito 2 and 3 but we were first into the dorito 50. Nic got to the snake 50 and eliminates dorito 3 for Ironmen. Daniel Camp fed the snake again behind Nic to be gain ground and be a force multiplier. Drew Bell (Home) and Stuart Ridgle (dorito can) now had some freedom to force multiply and increase pressure. We were now in complete control of the field. But we lost Britt out of the dorito 50… Although, at the same time Nic had improved his position to Ironmen’s snake side and I am positive he landed his shot… ref didn’t see anything though…Omara moved to snake 3 and shoots Nic… I feel like Nic needed to stay posted that way with Drew Bell now in the snake side center wedge on overwatch. Stu was at dorito 50 but repositioned back… not sure that was the play. Camp gets into Nic’s former spot and missed the shot on Omara. Had this landed, Stu could have taken ground, eliminated home, and we could have closed tieing the game. Time had dwindled to a point where we were committed as there was just about a minute left. The personnel I had out there I trust to make it happen. When Drew went to center, I thought, okay… wait… major penalty. The rest is history. Two opportunities squandered. 3-1 Ironmen.
Vs Xtreme
We had scouted Xtreme well and felt confident in our game plan. We would emphasize dorito guns, pressure their box to not allow them free reign back there, and concede/contain snake. This paid dividends on the first point as we shot two and they got a penalty. Jeri is left alone in a 5 on 1. He gets one but we closde him out. He would get his later though. 1-0 Canes
We went with a designed play similar to the first but with one adjustment. Stu would shoot his shot, then reposition out to dorito side to support Britt’s dorito push and filter Drew Bell up to where Stu was showing (Dorito brick). Nic and Daniel would contain and when given the opportunity feed to have snake presence. We landed our shot dorito way and landed a second which causes Xtreme to draw a penalty. D side is blown for Xtreme and we had position. Interestingly enough, we scored a shot on Jeri too. 5 on 2. Britt crawled to their dorito side, got the cross field elimination, and Xtreme concedes. 2-0 Canes
We didn’t come off the gas. We got Britt into dorito 3 to wrap for any center presence. We got Nic into the snake 2. We also got our two snake way out quickly. Zone control snake side is on point as we shot snake corner and the fill. 5 on 3 advantage us. We were in control, I anticipated Xtreme to concede when one more body droped. Then it happens. I actually saw it coming… ask anyone in the pits. I say out loud, “We have no snake containment! Holy crap…somebody notice.” A simple statement from my 3 or 2 snake way changes this (“I got this, you get that”). Jeri Caro takes the risk at the right time with the right seam and makes us pay. I hope Jeri got the $500. 2-1 Canes
After a conversation about the last point, we were back on task for the next. We were winning the breakout and I didn’t see a need to make any radical adjustments. They shot Daniel on the break but we took Jeri off the board as well. Drew Bell filtered snake way since Nic is alone and Xtreme has a body in there with Nic. Xtreme was actually in better field position here but our spread was set so that we could absorb a push and counter. Once Drew got out to the corner, he could push Nic forward. Stuart began to press the issue dorito side since Xtreme seemed hesitant over there. Mike Brown was in reserve behind Stu. My guys are communicating well so I felt good about them not repeating mistakes. The point began to drag on, again we are in position to absorb knowing Xtreme has to come being down 1. Mike Brown let Nic know about Canter in the 50 snake and Nic lands his shot. Kraft makes a good move but Nic canceled him out with a trade. Stu got caught but Drew drops the hammer snake way knowing he had the side to himself. Absorption… counter. 3-1 Canes
We felt confident Xtreme would shift their emphasis to the center in some manner. Unfortunately, we missed our shot and lost the first body but get one back when Drew Bell shoots Jeri again. Stuart makes a great fill outside dorito way and got the kill on the dorito side brick. Drew took the opportunity to fill underneath Stu. Josh Taylor for Xtreme went offensive and took the 50 dorito but Drew knew he has to go and sacrifices himself to get him Taylor off the board. Kraft came through the center next and Daniel was in the snake 2 but on the wire. Nic was telling him but I don’t think Daniel heard him. Fortunately, Nic squeezes a ball in on him giving us a 3 on 1 advantage. We didn’t know the count but luckily Daniel picks up on the last body (Canter) who had left the snake and went into the center. Stu drops leaving us in a 2 on 1…Nic spread luckily, Daniel traded and we get the last point. 4-1 Canes.
I’m thinking about spread now… so we had to study our opponents well heading into the next day of competition. Our opportunity would come with Revo who seemed to struggle with their first two matches. And based off scouting of the Legion, they were predictable. But there is a difference between knowing what a team will do and executing the game plan to stop it.
Vs Revo
We were unable to watch tape the night before to reassess our own matches much less watch our next day opponents as the webcast had issues with uploads. So we studied our paper scouting sheets and developed what I thought would be the best approach to Revo.
The first point Revo shot 4 of my 5 players on the break. Ever the optimist, I let Justin Bailey know that he hit his shot on the snake corner runner. 0-1 Revo.
I didn’t think we needed to do anything different, just get out alive. We did but we don’t completely when Bailey gets clipped repositioning to snake corner. We were first to the dorito 50 with Britt who clipped out Revo’s snake corner, but they took Daniel Camp out of snake 2 just before. 4 on 3 advantage Revo but Drew Bell got into the snake undetected. And with Britt and Stu applying pressure D side, he got the drop on both Revo players in the snake before the dorito side for Revo gets a ball on him. We were now in a 2 on 2 with both teams dorito side. Stu slipped out of the doritos into the center. Unfortunately, he does the jump- jump- jump maneuver and it cost him. We get a gift from the PB gods though as a Revo player decides to leave the safety of his bunker and into Britt’s gun and Brit wins the next gun fight. Individual play and mistakes by Revo saved the point for us. 1-1 Tied
Revo wasn’t showing me anything spectacular and after two points I’m not seeing any adjustments from previous data we had. We spread the field and pushed Britt into the Dorito side snake on the rip. Our guns paid off and we have the ground in a 5 on 2. Revo conceded which made me happy because I want to play points for margin. About 10 and a half minutes left on the clock. 2-1 Canes
I decided to push the snake side now as well as doritos. Both my ones made it in and once again Britt was first to the 50 dorito wedge. Revo was in front of our pits and I watch as the first snake player goes in and Stuart dropped a ball in on him from home. They feed the snake again from snake corner and I again watch Stu put a ball in the same zone which caught the player’s foot. So did the ref. Running ref finds the hit and it’s a minor. 4 on 2 our advantage and we closed out clean. 3-1 Canes
Revo hasn’t shown much aggression once they made it out wide dorito side. We felt that would change as this is when they would probably push it or try to slow ours down with a dorito center brick. We spread and decide to try and use the god to check off inside. We get a body on the break and we knew that they were already down 20% with the dorito brick waiting on a shot. We knew they made the snake though so Drew tries to use a shot to contain. Daniel had direction that if the shot didn’t pay off, get in the snake and go to work. He did just as Drew lands his shot on Revo’s snake player. We just had to wrap and trap now which should allow Daniel to go all the way. Revo tried to fill and we picked him off. Stu launched and dropped the hammer on Revo’s center. Drrw traded with last body. 4-1 Canes
Revo attempted to flip the script and take a page from our book going straight to dorito snake and snake on the break. They also shot Dnaiel on the break. Stu got caught trying to fill out. 5 on 3 but Nic took Revo’s player out who had crawled to our side of the snake. I’m thinking okay, we Gucci… then Nic got clipped and I saw a flag go up on our side of the field dorito side… 4-2 Canes
Revo saw success with their last play and knew they have to press the pace. So, I wanted to take the dorito out of the equation and get in the snake. Stu lands his shot on Revo’s dorito attacker and Britt takes the Dorito snake. Daniel shot his mirror in snake side Aztec on the break. At the same time, Nic made the snake, wraps on the Revo home player who was playing too tall. Stu launched forward looking cross field for the snake that Daniel called, finds him, then turns just in time to catch Revos 2nd attacker Dorito side to trade. 5-2 Canes
I wanted to get guns up so we spread the back. It worked out well as we shoot the snake corner and the dorito 3. This also helped us with visual acuity so we knew where the bodies were. Stu launched through the center as we peeled off their bodies from snake Aztec and home allowing Stu to snag Benny Carrol’s back. 6-2 Canes.
To say I was happy with how the match had gone up until this point would be an understatement. I was pleased with how we had come back into form the last couple of points. We were imposing our will and I was confident we had seen all that Revo had. Just over 5 minutes left with a 4 point lead. My hopes for a high margin were being met.
But it can never be that easy… not in this division and certainly not this year… We were now in X-ball and without going into all the detail, let me sum up the next 4 points. The first point comes down to a 3v3 but we fail to know the situation and got dinked out. The next point, we won the break but end up in another 3v3 and don’t know the situation and get dinked out but bring it back to a 2v2 thanks to Daniel Camp. However, he missed a cross field shot and then got caught retreating leaving Nic in a 2v1. Nic did a great job getting out to the dorito side which bought him some time from the snake player. But it isn’t enough. Revo won the break on the next point and then its just a charlie foxtrot… I told the guys “Its time to be among them” and we send Stu up the gut and we win the point. It’s 7-5 now with just under a minute left. We shot two quickly making it a 5 on 3 and I’m thinking, “yes, get me that last point”. But no… dink, dink, dink… 7-6 Canes.
Vs Red Legion
We have played the Legion 6 times now in our professional career. The first time we met was in our pro debut event in 2022 at the Sunshine State Major. After going down 6-1 and on the verge of being mercied, we clawed back making it a 6-4 match with 3:35 left on the clock. Plenty of time to come back to tie. We go up 4 on 3, had them trapped, but didn’t press the d side attack quick enough on the last point.
We would pull them again our first year at the Windy City Open. We would go down again early on 4-0 with just under 9 minutes left if I recall. We came back and scored 4 points unanswered points with Aaron Pate hitting the buzzer with a few seconds left to take us into overtime. We would win in overtime 5 to 4. We were the ONLY undefeated pro team out of the prelims that event and it would be our first top 5 finish.
We would meet them the following year at the 2023 Lone Star Open. They would be our only loss in the Prelims with a grinder of a match 3-1. The score does not denote how close that knife fight was.
We would pull them at our disastrous 2023 World Cup. Ironically, they would be our ONLY win that event as we would edge them out 5 to 3. Though, if we are being honest, penalties killed them, otherwise they would have most certainly won.
We would pull them at the Atlantic City Major of this year where they just seemed indomitable. And yes, the put us away 8-2. We could have made Sunday if we had kept it close but we didn’t. We died on our swords trying to play their game.
And here we were about to face them again. We had done the math and we knew if we kept it close with Legion, we would be on to Sunday. We needed to stay within three… We had also done our home work on Legion and felt confident in the game-plan. We knew where they wanted to be on the field and we knew where we needed to be to intercept them. But you have to hit your shots. The first 6 minutes in, I felt good about where we were. That would not end up being the case. We would be mercied again by this team who has essentially evolved the game of old into a new statistical fast attack. You want to beat the legion? You have to hit your shots. We had opportunities and we let them slip through our grasp. Legion 8-2… again.
As we head into cup, we have our worked cut out for us. We are currently ranked 8th (My goal was to be higher than that at this point) and we have a hell of a draw. Heck, no draw is easy anymore. We have one final goal for the season that MUST be met and that is to actually do well at World Cup for once in the pro division (our last two were disasters). It will take a lot of work, a lot of commitment, a lot of understanding, and a whole hell of a lot of heart.
But if I know my guys, we are up for it. Roll Canes.
Be water my friends.
P.S. Good to see our friend Grayson up and about, inspiring all of us to never give up! #fightlikegrayson
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!
“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own . . .” –Epictetus
I would imagine there are some people out there who, if they were in my shoes, would be upset about following up a 2nd place finish at the Las Vegas Open with a 13th place finish at the Lonestar. Whereas, I am certainly not happy with our performance, my personal attitude is not one of anger or distress. I am quite aware of the opportunities we missed and the mistakes we made. The key is how we will respond to what was controllable and what was not. If we let single events define us, we wouldn’t be in the professional league today. The success the New Orleans Hurricanes has seen in this sport is due to our ability to assess and adapt to obstacles and adversities placed in our path. Yes, some of those are self inflicted but those are usually the greatest lessons. No one should allow negative emotions or reactions to bad performances become a weight around their shoulders…
Additionally, no one wants to remind themselves of mistakes. As I stated above, the key is to understand why that performance happened. Identify the issues and take a proactive step in addressing them. A prime example would be our performance at Cup, our work to correct issues from there, and our performance in Las Vegas. I think most would agree it was night and day. Consistency is key, especially in the pro division. That consistency, whether it is with the team or an individual player, is paramount to success. But when it falls short on both levels, you will not have a good event.
It’s been said by great men that success is “neither magical nor mysterious.” It is the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals. We were not anywhere close to consistent in our execution of play at this event. That falls on me. I failed to lead my men out of an off malaise… I will work on that.
With that said, this event recap may be a little different from others. I will address the matches we lost in detail and briefly comment on the matches we won.
That cucumber is bitter, so toss it out! There are thorns on the path, then keep away! Enough said. Why ponder the existence of nuisance? Such thinking would make you a laughing-stock to the true student of Nature, just as a carpenter or cobbler would laugh if you pointed out the sawdust and chips on the floors of their shops. Yet while those shopkeepers have dustbins for disposal, Nature has no need of them.” –Marcus Aurelius
PREPARATION
I think we prepared well for this event. We had a great practice partner, we worked the right aspects of the field, and we had a good game plan headed into the event. I know this because, when we did execute the game plans well, we won. That’s all the proof I need. We knew this field came down to four things:
Win the break. As with all layouts, a numerical advantage off the break usually pays dividends and for this field, I felt it was multiplied. I also felt our guns were dialed in and ready.
Be first to create opportunities from your secondaries to shift guns and/or get crafty and set traps.
Get lost/crafty to create hesitation and uncertainty with opponent during mid game scramble.
Close clean with a good stranglehold and good clock management.
We had shown a good understanding of how to do this and practiced it significantly. However, when we got to the event, we struggled with recreating that success…
VS Aftershock
I felt confident heading into this match. There was no doubt in my mind it would be a match similar to many knife fights we had endured before. But I knew if we could put Aftershock away, no matter the score, it was going to be a good event for us. We also knew that, with their roster, no matter the performance at the last event, they would be prepared. So we were definitely looking at them as a great test.
Pt1 – We went pocket and Aftershock beat us to the Center punch. We got the first body though with good zone control shooting their snake player. But we gave them one right back from our home. A-rod may have been first in the center, but a slow patient probe in the center by Stuart Ridgel paid dividends when he took A-rod off the board and staid alive. We gave them one back again though in our attempt to take the snake. Came down to a 3 v 3. Another attempt at craftiness cost Stu his body (it’s first point, I like the idea just not how it was attempted). Drew Bell got sneaky but got caught and Searight made me proud pushing forward. We squandered that point. 0-1 Shock
Pt2 – Strong guns on the break, which was prevalent during our prep, show up on the second point and we made smart fills to our secondaries in support of the goal. We were in control from the break and start our stranglehold. A good point. This point was, in my opinion, indicative of how the field would play and how the Canes would play it. 1-1 Tied
Pt3 – We set up with the “Big 5” in order to get eyes on snake, increase guns, and position ourselves to take center when necessary. Shock went pocket save for a d-side wide asset. Shock was first to the center, not with one, but two assets. Again, our secondary is just behind Shock’s but we determined at practice that being first isn’t always best in that center. The two bodies though was an effective counter to the theory. What made me happy was our composure during the scramble. A disciplined understanding of the situation. 2-1 Canes
Pt4 – Aftershock had shown a tendency to crash the center and then expand (a smart approach as most teams would leverage this tactic including us). It was time to use that against them though and beat them to the punch. The goal of our play here was to take the path of least resistance to the center d-side (Aftershock was leaving that hole available), try to snag the center kill, and take anything additional they give us. Hopefully, the chaos would draw attention (at worst trade), and we would build off that crash to take snake and dorito wides. We were rewarded with the play developing better than I had hoped as Stu got two kills immediately, AND we made both wides. We were now set up to kill clock with the lead. Shock helps us by sending a body to trade with Stu. It was now a four on two situation, we owned the spots… Shock smartly concedes the point with just under 4 minutes left. 3-1 Canes
Pt5 – Internally, I was feeling confident in our game plan and was pleased (save for that first point) with the execution up to that point. Shock had shown mostly center push then expansion, where we had shown mostly pocket. The play call was to risk the snake on this one to counter their center push and/or meet their anticipated snake run. Disaster strikes. Our high risk runner made it and my lower risk home died followed quickly by two more from our pocket. This was the point that was the deciding factor for the match in my opinion. Had we survived this break for just 30-40 seconds, we would have won in regulation. Woulda coulda shoulda… 3-2 Canes
Pt6 – Naturally, we felt that Shock would want a combo of center with snake presence. We felt this would be an opportunity to take dorito wide on the break. Again, my high risk player made it but we gave them a home player… followed quickly by our snake side tower. Stu survived the snake attack while in the dorito tower and made a play to take the snake off the board. He succeeded. It was now a 4-2 advantage to Shock. I always give my guys time to win a gunfight or pull something out. They won a gunfight. It was now a 3-2 advantage for Shock. We had worked on the alamo scenario at practice. Daniel Camp knew he needed to make snake corner and did with about a minute and a half left. Again, we played this scenario out several times in preparation so my confidence is high. My confidence SOARED when we picked off another shock player making it a 2-2 with about a minute left and we owned dorito 2 and snake corner. Put it in the bag… or so I thought. A bad decision to gun fight over the top of the snake corner cost us this game in regulation with, you guessed it, 30-40 seconds left. 3-3 tied
Pt7 – We wanted to go for the win. We had a few different fast point plays in the ol’ playbook. The question was which one to use based off Shock’s (and Todd’s) tendencies. There was a little less than 30 seconds on the clock but there were a few instances at practice where we pulled off 20-25 second wins. In this particular case, it isn’t a full send. The plan was to attack hard center and d-side leaving Daniel Camp and Nic Rippel as contingency in case it didn’t work out. We would crash the center with Stu but used Drew Bell on a delay just off center d-side and let Jacob Searight wheel and deal wide. Stu crashed, took one with him, and then Drew cleared through getting two. Shock got a minor but with only 4 seconds left, Searight can’t make the buzzer. Close but as we all know, that only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
OT – We get a minor. On the break. Playing 3 on 5 with 5 minutes on the clock, against Shock, who owned the snake and center… not a high probability positive outcome. Barring a miracle, we just lost a match we shouldn’t have lost. No miracle arrived. The positive take away was, when we executed the game plan well and played as a team, we looked phenomenal. Consistency… we would have to increase that aspect and would be just fine…
VS Bears
We won this match and were in control for the majority of it. Our guns on the break showed up along with our zone control on every point we win. However, I do want to address the two points we lost in this match.
Pt2 – We had good guns on break to start the match shooting the Bears snake runner AND we made the snake. Gun fight losses will happen… but when it came down to a 3 on 3, we made a small mental error. Drew Bell attempted to spread to the d-side from the snake side since we had no presence there and the Bears did. We owned the center and snake which can contest the Bears snake and snake tower. One could argue, we could have used our Center to contest d-side aggression but I digress. I am not upset with Drew’s repositioning per say. More that he tried to push the envelope when it wasn’t necessary. We weren’t at a point where we needed to press anything or make something happen. Had he been content with making the dorito one, we more than likely would have been good. Instead, we forced the issue, gave the body away, and let the Bears back into the game with a short clock.
Pt6 – If just one of the two Canes players who played dorito can or snake side tower, either one, stayed alive, we would have won 4-1 in a 50 second point. Either one of them. But it didn’t happen, allowing the Bears to find the hole and put another point on the board with a 46 second point.
VS MLKings
On this layout and in this division, you can’t play 3 on 5 and expect to win the points much less the match. We were not hitting our shots in this match and if we were, well, we needed better paint management. We knew they were slow into some key bunkers and even when they did this in our match, we weren’t catching the body. We scouted them and expected them to play a little pocket, and we were right. Even knowing what they were going to do, we weren’t able to generate any momentum.
Pt1 – The kings shot two of us off the break and we gave them a third all within the first 20 seconds. Nope. Concede, reset.
Pt2 – Kings pocketed up and we took the center first with a delay out to dorito 2. We were in great position for this point. We shot Kyle Barry followed by the Kings countering through the center only to have missed their shot. We should have now been in control of the point as Stu repositioned in the center to counter their counter. But, once again, we gave them a body out of our backfield allowing the Kings to take snake. So, an advantage lost. Stu played sloppy and got caught. But Daniel Camp and Jacob Searight almost turned it around with Danimal getting into the snake to contest and Searight taking ground into dorito 4 generating a kill. 3 v 3 now. In a rare moment, Daniel missed a shot on the snake tower for the Kings which would have blown the point open since that player was stalling the d-side attack. When Drew Bell got out behind Searight, I thought okay… force multiplier. Then Drew called his shot on the snake player for the Kings. I, too, thought I saw it but, ref calls him clean. The big domino to fall was Searight getting clipped in the loader… I love Drew and Danimal trying to break things open but it doesn’t pay off.
Pt 3 – The Kings spread (that’s the best two bunkers to own to kill clock – Dorito 1 and snake corner). Again, no kills on break for us even though we set up for it. We lost a body again from the snake tower. Searight understood the situation and got out wide on d-side. We evened the count with a kill from snake side tower and then shot another from their dorito corner. We had a four on three body advantage but we gave the Kings the snake again and allowed Kyle Barry to play fast and loose in the center. The snake took Drew off the board. Our only hope was to win a gunfight or to have Searight clock in. Stu ended up getting a bullstuff penalty… it was bang bang. Kyle, like many of the pros, gets to talk after being eliminated and plead a case. I am not allowed to review.
Pt 4 – We were down by three with 5:40 left on the clock. Enough time to come back and win. But we had to execute better. For example, not hitting our shots and then hanging over the top for too long at the center bunker to get shot. Not how we do it. I said I would let the point go until 4:30 unless I saw life from my guys. Searight was in position d-side again (as he was apt to do most of the event) and Pate took the center. The boys bought themselves another 30 seconds. But then, we lost Searight…so no, you don’t get another 30.
Pt5 – At this point, I’m looking at the clock thinking, we need at least two points. Plenty of time to do it. But I wasn’t getting production out of any one of my starters really, save for Searight. A good coach knows what to say, how to say it, and when. This is where I fell short. I thought, let’s take a breath, get our guns up, don’t force the point, get a point on the board with a base play. We lost our d-side tower, Kings took dorito 3 and we don’t see it because of the elimination on the break (best eyes to see that move). Daniel Camp almost pulled off a heroic response attacking down the snake side but with his teammates dying behind him, it was a valiant effort between him and Searight, but not enough.
Pt6 – I’m looking at the clock, I’m looking at the score, and I am looking at my guys. None of those things looked good. Time to see what my guys who haven’t seen the field much can do. We have dug a serious hole in order to make Sunday now. Time to take the opportunity to see how bad my guys want to show me what they can do. I look to the bench and they wanted it. So they got the call. They go out and look better than the starters did the entire match. Searight, Mike Brown, and Ryan Williamson go out and play well. Searight and Mike Brown pressed the issue dorito way as they know the situation and gave me 200%. Ryan Williamson goes full send but we ran out of time.
VS Impact
Based off our scouting report of Impact, we had a good understanding of what they wanted to do. But you can’t ignore the fact that we were playing subpar… I had done the math and knew we weren’t making Sunday. I had a theory though on Impact which was confirmed and would make the difference in my opinion. That theory was confirmed when we went down 2-0, and then Impact conceded the 3rd point when they still had a player on the board. I knew they were playing for the margin. We were playing for pride and pride only. There is a difference. And it was the small edge we needed. My adjustment (besides personnel) was to adapt the game plan to the corners. If we could get wide either on the break or through secondaries, Impact would put us on the board with their aggression into our zone control. Granted, our zone control had been spotty all weekend but my guys are warriors. They knew what needed to happen. It would not go as planned but… it went. And I will take it. This was a great growth moment for the squad as a whole.
Pt1 – We shot their pocket shooter, expanded well and set the trap for Urena in the snake. Urena popped the top though and made a great shot on Pate. Not much you can do save for what I said in the pit, “Well… damn.” Mike Brown clocked in and got wide dorito. We now owned dorito 1 and the snake, so we aren’t in a bad position. Ryan Williamson, who stepped up for me, got clipped once Impact finally got through the zone dorito side. But Mike Brown got it back for us making a great shot on Cornell. It was 3v3 as we crossed the 5 minute threshold. A great shot by an Impact player caught Drew Bell, was returned by ANOTHER great shot by Mike Brown but in the chaos, Impact took the first point.
Pt2 – Both teams have the same breakout with Impact winning the break as we lost Searight dorito way. They then had some really crisp secondary expansions trapping us in the pocket. Daniel Camp, knowing we had to have that snake made it and actually got our first elimination. Stu tried to make something happen through the center but got caught. Drew Bell knew we had to be wide d-side and got out there picking up a crucial elimination on Impact. 3 v 3 again. But the wheeling and dealing went on too long and Drew got picked off. Pate understood where the hole was, tried to fill it but he and Daniel both died almost simultaneously.
Pt3 – We were down 2-0. I explained again the importance of having these corners and why Impact has to come. We risked throwing Nic at the snake corner to draw the gun deep with the intent to feed underneath from snake tower. It worked partially as we made the snake but Nic got picked off. It paid off though because impact must not have seen the feed as we caught their snake coming to our side. We have evened it up and Britt Simpson created an opportunity making dorito corner. We are now set up to let Impact die coming forward. We got some key eliminations, to make it a 3 on 1 and Impact conceded the point. Confirmation of theory and now we were on the board. The guys are all in now. We’re going to win.
Pt4 – It was time to take the fight to them while the guys are spirited up. “Crafty time.” We knew Impacts’ tendency now and decided to take advantage. Britt Simpson got the call and we shot him to dorito 3 on the dorito can route. This would shift at least two guns and allowed a center punch dorito side as well as got a second asset out dorito way. It worked. The penalty on Drew was bogus but hey, it didn’t matter as Britt Simpson and Mike Brown closed out the point with a great shot by MB dotting Urena’s eye in the corner.
Pt5 – One name. Mike Brown… We sent Stu to the snake side 40 wall to wrap and trap, to take a body, and draw a gun to allow snake to feed. We had d-side tower to position for center and be a force multiplier when necessary. Stu did not take a body and got picked up… but we made the snake. Britt forced the outside dorito move since he knew what I wanted and Bell got picked up. We were in dire straights now… it was 4 on 2 advantage to Impact. But Mike Brown and Daniel Camp said “not today” making it a 2 on 2! Mike Brown with his super power of survivability won his gun fight! Daniel heard this and in the chaos launched on Impacts snake player and trades! Mike Brown was still alive and Impact conceded. Mike Brown… way to be. He really has earned the nickname, “Clutch”
Pt6 – I wanted the corners on the break. Let’s just get there. And we made it. Very pleased. But then we lost the dorito corner shortly after. Drew Bell made a play to dig out Impacts center presence but got picked up. Even then, we were still in good spots to hold (snake, snake corner, and dorito can). We lost our dorito can and Impact has the bodies to trade. They hit the buzzer with 5 seconds left. We wanted to play the point so we could work on game plan.
OT – Ride or die… it was time to get back to basics. We had had plenty of practice now… no excuse not to execute the game plan that we had prepared headed into this event. Time to make it work for us instead of against us. Full Circle… let’s see if we had learned. And we had. We shot interior while protecting wides. Paint broke on Impact’s dorito tower. 5-4 advantage Canes. Zone control picked up Mike Urena as he tried to force the snake move. 5-3 advantage Canes. Bell took the center, Daniel made snake corner, Nic took the snake, Searight took the dorito corner, Mike Brown contained. We would win this point barring anything ridiculous. Nic Rippel showed why he is a Hurricane by going down the snake to Impact’s side of the field. He got a three pack to close out the game leaving us with 4 bodies alive.
Not a bad consolation prize finally beating Impact and knocking a top team like them out of the tournament… but I would really like to have that Aftershock match back.
This event was strange. It’s been a few days now, and I still haven’t put my finger on what our issues were other than, we were missing/bouncing some shots on opponents, and I wasn’t getting production out of my starters. Several big moment mistakes by guys who don’t normally make them appeared to be the main issue. My initial reaction is that we were our toughest opponent this event. Not the teams in front of us… us. The goal now is to focus on our next practices and event prep with renewed optimism and understanding. We will assess our performance in order to improve our consistency and not dwell too much on the mistakes and missed opportunities from this last event. Back to the opening message about consistency… Consistency requires you to “be as ignorant today as you were a year ago.” To move forward, the Canes need to review our process, ensure we are emphasizing the proper things, and develop solutions.
I am of a proud Sicilian heritage. Every once in a while, I find myself tapping into that lineage. For instance, there is an old Sicilian proverb that, in a small way, sums up the recent NXL’s 2023 Windy City Open for me; “Non chiedere ciò che non puoi prendere”.
There was a long break between the Mid Atlantic Major in Philly and the most recent event in Oak Forest, IL just outside of Chicago. Plenty of time to regroup and think about our successes and shortcomings at the last event. We were looking forward to this event as we felt we were on the precipice to reach another goal. Once again, the league (or fate for that matter, depending on how you look at it) had handed us another tough bracket. But we were ready. We like the trenches, we live for the challenge, and we long for the fight where we stand, once again in front of the doubters and say, “Come and get some”.
We have hit a stride and have been a rather well oiled machine this season. We have made the best of our limited time together, looking for advantages where ever we can find them, bouncing ideas off each other, having zoom calls, making and watching tape, drilling, scrimmaging, studying… we were feeling good. But fate was not done with us yet.
During one of our off layout weekends, Drew Bell would be sidelined with a high ankle sprain 3 weeks before the event and 2 weeks out from the layout practice weekend.
Stuart Ridgel, a week after Drew and a week before the layout weekend would be out at the field and suffer an almost identical fate. Another ankle injury but more of a tendon issue. And still, fate wasn’t finished…
The week prior to the layout practice, Justin Bailey would be nursing a back injury. Daniel Camp would fly in for one day on the layout practice as he had his brother’s wedding to attend. Jacob Searight would suffer a mild medical issue his first day on the layout only to bounce back for the Sunday practice.
Now, all of this may sound like I am building up excuses. I assure you I am not. I am simply setting the stage for what was to be an impressive event and what has always been a part of our story. Every team faces some adversity. We are no different. When you have a team like us, it isn’t a matter of “if” but “when”. It was bound to happen. We have faced countless adversities before, this was nothing new per say… We have embraced and worked to overcome several obstacles over the seasons. It is what it is. So we adapted, made some adjustments, and worked to put our best foot forward. And I think we scratched the surface of what we are capable of this event.
We were excited that our good friends Austin Notorious would join us again for the layout practice. But we were also joined by top tier team Edmonton Impact. Bart Yachimac and Dave Baines made the long trip to join us at our home field of LA Xtreme Paintball in Slidell, LA. We were blessed with relatively “cool” weather with temperatures in the mid 80’s (but it is the humidity that gets you). With Notorious playing their brand of paintball coupled with Impact running two lines, the New Orleans Hurricanes got our fair share of looks.
*ZEN NOTE – This marks the 5th time I have had the privilege to see the inner workings of an awesome program. It never ceases to amaze me how these teams operate and work. I am fascinated by the process and the opportunity to watch yet another high level program work as it is just more programming for the old man’s noggin. Thank you again to Bart and Impact.
We had a pretty good idea of how this field should play… and so, we pretty much stuck with the game plan, trying to polish it up, learning incremental lessons, while moving some players around to make the most of our strengths. We always feel good after a good beat down on the layout weekend and that’s what we got (okay, maybe not good, but definitely not bad). Both Notorious and Impact seemed to move at will and get into position first on us quite often. But we worked the timing. We played around a little with some concepts but for the most part, kept it paintball 101. It would be about obtaining key spots, creating the “set up”, and executing the game plan. Sounds simple, I know. It isn’t. It didn’t matter if you had 5 alive and they were all doing their jobs… there would still be a hole. The key was to recognize it quicker than your opponent.
So we were quite literally limping into Chicago but our morale coming into this event was high. It was like the saying, “If you have no confidence in yourself, you are twice defeated.” We were determined to fight every step of the way, and we knew we had the right plan. So we pulled up our britches, slapped our face a couple of times, and stepped into the ring for the first match.
VS Columbus LVL
We were the very first point of the event. We pride ourselves on our scouting and preparation for teams. But there would be no opportunity to see how teams were playing the field, no opportunity to see if anyone else was approaching the layout the way were. It was litmus test time and Columbus LVL is a team that can punch above their weight class when they are on. I was aware they didn’t have Damian Ryan but knew they would throw Danny Schonauer at that snake often, probably with Lehman behind him in support.
Our opening volley was pretty simplistic. We wanted guns up, eyes on, and get to the snake. LVL is similar but they filter a body up into the snake side wedge early. We match them about the same time European/German snake player but 100% Hurricane Nic Ripple shoots Schonauer on the wire to win the snake war. Drew Bell sneaks a ball on the D side tower who was attempting to wrap his bunker. This leaves LVL fighting from a position of inferiority as we are wider on both sides of the field than their widest players. At this point, it is anaconda time. Nic catches the snake wedge and crawls to the end of LVL’s snake. Daniel Camp sees the line, takes the center and polishes off the last opponent. Canes -1 LVL – 0
We decide to keep it simple but Drew Bell and Mike Brown know to look for the read. And they see it. LVL sends a player shooting snake way to that inset baby dorito. He misses his shot but Drew/Mike don’t. Schonauer returns the favor from the previous point and clips Nic on the wire. LVL stays doubled in that home a little too long and lose a gunfight. However, Schonauer has the snake too himself and for all intents and purposes, LVL has the advantage. But we studied this scenario at practice. We had a code for a situation when our opponent had the snake uncontested. The code goes out and Daniel Camp takes the snake wedge looking to play wack-a-mole while Aaron Pate filters wider to add to the gun but not before he puts a ball on LVL’s snake wedge. We now have the numerical advantage even after Schonauer takes Daniel out. Pate assesses the situation and drops the hammer clean. Interestingly enough, the last LVL player is in the home. It’s a 3 v 1 in favor of us, so my guys check in and milk the point a bit. Mike Brown moves down D side and wins the gun fight. Canes – 2 LVL – 0
We are up two now and LVL had shown they would break snake but they weren’t in any hurry to get a body behind him. They wanted to fill that snake wedge first. So we decide to kill the clock a little by going wide and spreading the field. The thought being, if we make it out alive, we slow snake progress, and should be able to shoot the late fill to the snake wedge, isolating their snake presence and putting us in the driver seat. You would have thought we scripted it. We get to corner and stop Danny at the first snake knuckle, and shoot the late fill to the snake wedge. Aaron Pate, with only one gun to beat (the juice box, because the home and d side tower have to try and contest the potential D side push as we are wider than them) filters underneath into the snake. LVL realizes Pate has fed snake so they quickly fill the snake corner. Nic catches LVL’s snake rounding a knuckle. Barring a lost gunfight, we were now set up to drain the clock and suck the life out of this point. My guys all check in and know the situation. With d side and snake side containment in position from the snake, this frees two of my guys to shift the skirmish line and increase pressure on LVL to either make them concede or force bad gun fights. Mike Brown and Drew Bell add pressure through the center and D side respectively. Regrettably, we let LVL back to the snake but it doesn’t matter. We tighten the noose. Canes – 3 LVL – 0
We decided to spread again except we wanted to test the route to the dorito 1. Funny thing is, so does LVL. We mirror up and both team’s dorito 1 runner take the walk. We both make snake but LVL actually fills the dorito 1 immediately. This tells me their ploy was to concede a shot or two and push the field on both sides. It begins to bode ill for us as they get to snake corner but Nic Ripple gets a shot on him. Drew Bell vacates the home to throw a wrench D side and Daniel Camp fills the snake corner. Four on three body advantage to us. One could argue that LVL has slightly better field advantage but we are in position to counter if necessary. We have two pivot positions now so we are set up well. No sooner do I say that to myself in the pit, we pick off LVL’s D side one player. LVL’s next D side player decides to try and make something happen (good man – take it out of coaches hands). This leaves the snake player in a one on four scenario and LVL quickly concedes with just over 6 minutes left on the clock. Canes – 4 LVL – 0
But LVL is a pro team for a reason. And they show it during the next point. They shoot our snake corner on the break while taking the snake, and don’t let us spread. We get caught in the pocket and don’t get our code out to counter. Disaster. Danny comes all the way down the snake and finishes the point. LVL is on the board. Canes -4 LVL – 1
We put two pocket guns on the snake and bounce him. Unfortunately, they didn’t bounce Nic and he comes off early. Though, at the same time Daniel Camp shoots his mirror. Four on four action to start the 6th point. LVL comes all the way to our side of the field, the super secret code reaches Daniel and he posts. But he decides he doesn’t want to guess and just goes and gets him. LVL gets overzealous D side and runs into Drew Bell’s gun as Mike Brown takes ground. This relieves any pressure on Drew who can play freely now. He tracks LVLs next snake attack, feeds data to Pate who launches and removes the snake threat. At the same time, Mike Brown had dispatched LVL’s juice box. LVL concedes with 3:20 left in the match. Canes – 5 LVL – 1
With 6 points under us, we have a good understanding of LVL. They showed us an opportunity in their break outs so we decide to exploit it. We throw Nic up the gut doubling the snake lane and then cut him across into the snake. It pays off as we shoot LVL’s snake runner and Nic makes it in . BUT – we did not anticipate the big dorito side run. This man shoots at least 3 of my guys before trading leaving Nic in a two on one situation. Nic trades with one of them leaving one LVL player to go get the buzzer. What should have been our point is foiled by a ballsy move by LVL. That one is on me. Canes – 5 LVL -2
2:20 left on the clock. Plenty of time to pad the point spread. I felt confident the previous play would work again but to be safe, we have a gun shifted. I felt we shot the snake runner but the ref doesn’t find a hit. No worries though as Nic gets payback with a good shot down the wire. LVL takes the center brick but for some reason gives his back to the snake. Perhaps he was depending on his home player to have filtered snake way by then? Either way Nic gives him a tattoo. Then… chaos. People are everywhere and I black out. Kidding, it boils down to a 3 on 1 and we shoot the last LVL player. I figure LVL will let the time run off. Color me surprised when they conceded the point at 44 seconds.
Now, Stu had dressed out to keep up appearances. We didn’t want anyone to know (like they wouldn’t notice… but hey). He wants to test the ankle. I agree…hesitantly. We decide to get heavy guns up and let Stu take the line. It is there and he gets one but should have got two. A lot to ask though for the hobbled player. Justin Bailey reads and reacts perfectly, reaches the corner, wraps and traps shooting the home player leaving only one D side player for LVL. Bailey launches but time runs out. 2-3 more seconds and Bailey would have increased our win by five instead of four. However, prior to point, we decided not to jeopardize anyone’s injuries. FINAL SCORE: CANES -6 LVL – 2
VS Latin Saints
The Latin Saints and NRG Elite are the only two teams that the Canes have not faced in our short two year pro career. After Word Cup this year, NRG will be the only team we have never faced at least once. Headed into this match, I was NOT looking past Saints. Heck, I don’t look past anyone, but the Saints had just taken Diesel deep, scoring 3 unanswered. Granted, it looked as if Diesel was trying something particular or rather specific after going up 4, but I am not in Mike Hinman’s head so I won’t speculate. The Saint’s guns on the break were solid and I happen to know 3 of their players very well. So no, we would not take them lightly. A team that has nothing to lose is very dangerous…and can be quite unpredictable.
Point 1 we would go with a base play looking for the set up of 3 bodies snake way and 2 retaining the read option. Similar breakouts but we beat them to the snake wedge. Saints did a good job of keeping Pate from spreading to snake corner so he filters to the god instead. We know they want the snake wedge so we keep Mike Brown on the gap and sure enough, he picks up the secondary fill. Greg Turton played well at this event and he decides to get offensive D side for the Saints by taking dorito 1. This spot has an excellent bounce shot into the snake. If a snake player is playing “tall” inside, that bounce will eradicate him quickly. Nic stays disciplined on snake wire while Colin Cherry tries to clear a zone and make snake corner. We have it on lock and Cherry takes the walk. It is now 5 on 3 advantage to us so, we zone up, sporadic paint, allowing the remaining Saint players to burn their paint off their backs. Pate moves to the head of the snake.
*ZEN NOTE – I was asked about why we do this and not get to the corner. It is a risk/reward equation. It has some good shots on the wrap, can stop a spread with good protection, it protects against the highway run, and if we lose asset one in the snake, we still have a snake presence. But it does have a significant weakness which is shown in point 2 (and other matches).
We set up here to choke them out again. Saints make a desperation run highway, zone control addresses it, final Saints player tries to build off chaos, zone control handles him too. Canes – 1 Saints – 0
We did have a small discussion in the pit after that point. My four guys were at the buzzer checking each other over and discussing the point. That was good. BUT… since we were a bit skeleton crew-ish, I asked them all to check each other over, choose one guy to stand at buzzer, and the rest get in the pit so we could get ready for the next point. Efficiency people!
We decide to make the Saints beat us at our game. Keep it simple, gather some data on their adjustment, and go from there. The Saints smartly take that snake corner on the break and we allow them to secondary D side, filter to the god, and get out of the doubled home. Pate ends up taking the snake with Nic but this decision was made unaware that we had lost Drew behind him who would have naturally filtered out behind him. The Saints quickly take ground in the snake and D side. But like I said earlier, if you come into that snake wedge high and unaware, the bounce will take you. And that’s what happens to the Saints player. Once we eliminate the first snake threat, Mike Brown is free to get wide D side to contest the Saints presence there and create more options for himself. Incredibly, the Saints player filters to the D side wedge. On top of this, he doesn’t seem to know the situation and gets picked up by Nic from the snake. The Saints snake corner is forced to feed the snake since I am pretty sure he was out of paint. We pick up another kill D side and are in a 4 on 2 body advantage but the snake player for Saints gets a free kill D side on Mike Brown. This is the issue (one of a few) with not having snake corner and having the head of the snake instead. I would learn after this point, there was a “caution D side corner” call which is why Daniel Camp kept eyes on that way. I am pleased my guys eventually work it out (well, the Saints do that for us) but it was concerning none the less. Pate had the ball early and could have traded with a clever highway run when Evan Manners was in the Home. However, once Evan filtered to the snake wedge, coupled with the miscommunication (lets call it a misunderstanding?), we have now allowed this point to get out of hand. Deductive reasoning. We had discussed at practice that there has to be an “assumption of risk” on this field. But when data is unsure, cover the fronts and that’s what my guys essentially did. Saints win this point if not for the penalty. Canes – 2 Saints – 0
We are on the power play here for the next point. It was a 5 on 3 to start, Canes advantage. We know they will take the back line three bunkers. I anticipate the moment we shoot one, they will concede to get 5 back on the box. I would be lying if I said I was not looking to pad our point margin headed into the 2nd day. To be safe, we double guns up at home, get our cross guns up to foil a big run or at least see it, and take the snake. Saints get wide but their dorito player runs into Nic’s gun from the snake. And then the concession. Canes – 3 Saints – 0
I want to push the D side a little. We decide to spread a bit and see what Saints show us being down 3 and with 3:30 left on the clock. I found it interesting they spread (we would usually do it from the “red” side as well but not sure if they were doing it for the same reason we were). Perhaps they saw no issue with their secondaries. The Saints finally get the right set up. They have the snake, snake wedge, snake corner, coupled with a Home and a dorito 1 (which eventually moves to dorito wedge). Britt Simpson had already made his primary and knows the Saints will more than likely make what we were calling the snake 2. He times it well and shoots the snake 1. Saints home player filters out and draws a minor leaving them with snake corner and snake wedge only versus my five. I would have liked my guys to create a little more pressure at this point and we had a brief discussion afterwards about it. I had also not shared with them my desire for a point spread so that is on me, too. Just the same, Drew Bell sees the line, and makes the right read. He trades with Evan Manners in the snake wedge. The penalty that followed surprised me as Evan was looking that way. I thought I saw a ref call a mutual but then saw a flag go up. Tough break. Canes – 4 Saints – 0
We are on a bit of a power play again (5 on 4) and I am now thinking we are going to get out of this with the bare minimum spread I wanted. But… with 1:26 left on the clock, I don’t want to take any chances. They haven’t been shooting our snake so we are going back. I want to spread to use a “alamo” play but with assets that can shift gears and attack D way if necessary. I state that, if we get the opportunity, I want the point but let’s not be careless. Justin Bailey wins his first engagement with his mirror making it a 5 on 3 advantage. We lose Britt out of the corner (pretty sure Saints snake player got that shot) but Bailey smartly takes the snake corner. Daniel gets hyper aggressive in the snake (I like it!) but the Saints snake player gets a ball on him. But to do it, he had to come out into Bailey’s lane. Bailey, knowing the situation, launches down the snake route, gunning the whole way, and gets us that 5th point. I would have liked him to wait a bit before hitting the buzzer but I don’t blame him. He looked good and that feeling of hitting the buzzer at that point is pretty cool. Canes – 5 Saints – 0
Now, here is where coach makes another mistake. I initially want to take another alamo approach and get out of the match with a 5 point win. In addition, I don’t want to risk further injury on the team. But I let myself get talked into a play call by two of my guys. I normally would have vetoed the request but they were feeling it and I need to let the dogs hunt occasionally. Regrettably, we would pay for it. Not that it was a bad call by my guys, it wasn’t. It was a bad call by me. I am accountable.
During the final point, a decision to call Ryan Williamson off his zone allows Brandon Portman to take a seam and round our D side corner. Ryan does turn in time and they lock eyes both raising their markers at the same time to shoot each other. BUT – Portman hits the buzzer. He is clearly hit. As a matter of fact, Portman wipes himself down immediately after hitting the buzzer (left forearm). You’re probably wondering how I know this for sure. My man Ryan Williamson came to the pit and was adamant that he had got a ball on Portman. I asked for a review which was graciously granted. Jason Trosen confirmed for me that I was, indeed, correct. He concurred that Portman was hit and did attempt to wipe the hit. However, because the on field refs called him clean, I had no recourse. I appreciated his candor and that of the head ref as well (who also felt he saw the hit). Shouldn’t have come to that anyway. Woulda coulda shoulda… FINAL SCORE: Canes – 5 Saints -1
We now had two wins by a margin of 4. I was pleased with the teams performance on day one but the real test was awaiting us on Saturday. We had AC Diesel who surely were addressing the issues they had day 1 and the defending previous event champions, Tampa Bay Damage. We had scouted both and both were playing the field similar to us when it mattered. I had chatted with Mouse on the way into the event that morning and he briefed me of his injury. The dude is a fine tuned machine so I wasn’t weighing his injury too much. I suspected that Hinman would call out the mistakes from their previous matches and the experienced team would adjust. During our scouting of them, we saw a small nuance in the snake and we would try and exploit it (something we learned during our scrimmage with Notorious and Impact). We also had a good understanding of their breaks depending on personnel. We anticipated a knife fight and that’s what we got.
VS AC DIESEL
The first point we kept it simple and took high survivability bunkers to assess while not limiting our options. We bounce BJ (dang it) and they break essentially the way Impact would on us at practice with smart crisp secondary moves. We counter but once again, Pate can’t get to that corner so he options up. This also allows him, Daniel, and Nic to have easy conversations. Once we reposition, I think, okay just don’t let mouse out to the snake corner and we’re Gucci (coach is learning the nomenclature of the youth). Maybe 30 seconds later, I look up and dang it if Mouse isn’t in the friggin’ snake corner. Since we don’t have snake corner, Nic has to be more defensive facing two guns. BUT, my man Pate finally makes it to the snake corner too. Sigh of relief from coach there. Spicka smartly re-positions to the center brick to set a trap. Spicka misses his first shot though and Nic backs up to place the inset mini wall between him and Spicka. I felt Nic could have used the mini wall to block out Spicka and try the bounce off the pin, especially since Clint Johnson had vacated that D side Wedge and was now at dorito 3. If that bounce worked, that relieves tremendous pressure. But Drew Bell gets caught which now creates a small problem, especially based off Clint’s positioning. Daniel Camp has to shift the gun. Mike Brown gets out to D corner which actually sets up a line for Spicka who doesn’t miss his first ball on Daniel Camp. The dominoes fall as Spicka obviously knows the field layout and our positions. I concede the point. A well executed point by AC. Canes – 0 Diesel – 1
We know if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it and figure AC was coming with a similar game plan as their last point. Only difference is they double home. We match them without the two at home. Drew Bell lands his shot on the D side one player for diesel and our nuanced snake approach works catching BJ crawling. The guys check in and once they understood kill count and where Diesel was, Drew knows he needs to filter up the gut and Jacob Searight knows to wrap and trap from dorito way. Spicka makes a smart move again to counter but Drew survives initial engagement and then wins the gun fight. Now its just a matter of polishing things off. A good answer from the Canes if I say so myself. Two well played points from both teams. Canes – 1 Diesel – 1
Diesel spreads to D corner the next point and we go short that side. Both teams take snake and Nic posts up. Daniel Camp filters to snake wedge putting an asset in place to address either threat either side. But dang it if we don’t let Mouse get to corner again! We miss the snake shot opportunity and Mouse is wrapped keeping Pate from getting wide. So once again, he optioned to the god. This point ultimately goes to us because BJ tries to finish his run on Nic in the snake while Daniel was over-watch. I saw it coming actually and threw my own imaginary flag when he got shot by Daniel and continued forward and pulled the trigger on Nic. Baginski tries to stop the hemorrhaging by spreading back snake way from the D side but is picked up and stalled. Hinman smartly concedes the point around the 8 minute mark. Canes – 2 Diesel – 1
When we see BJ and Jess out on the box, we know they will go snake corner and snake on the break. But just because you know doesn’t mean you can stop it. Spicka wins his first or second engagement against Daniel in that center juice box near the snake wedge. However, Nic once again wins the snake war with a clutch shot on BJ. Nic does a head check and sees Diesel’s late fill to the snake wedge. Up a point, he retreats to connect with Pate and piece things together. Then moves back to snake one. Spicka successfully re-positions himself in order to fill the snake. Nic just misses Spicka as he rounds a knuckle. Would have liked for Pate to get to corner but he ops for the god again. Probably because he has been trained by our opponents at this point as they only let him get there once so far. Nic just misses Spicka a second time. But then the read happens. With Spicka that close, Nic knows he has to go, jumps the beam and pulls off a dynamic highway run to get Spicka clean. In the chaos, Pate fills the snake. Drew Bell moves to center to increase pressure. We are just under 5 minutes so I am okay with my guys doing our slow strangle/choke-out, as I am anticipating to win the point. I am hoping to burn another minute or two. We have position and eyes on the three remaining Diesel players. All we have to do is maintain the pressure, not lose a gun fight, and let them hang themselves. I end up getting about 2:20 before Diesel concedes. Canes – 3 Diesel – 1
I would not be an honest man if I were to tell you I was comfortable with a 2 point lead and 2:40 on the clock against Diesel. We were now going to get a peek at Diesel’s bag of tricks. I am confident it will be D side but that is about it. Diesel gets a kill on our two position snake side on the break. We are now dangerously exposed with only Nic on snake side. Drew Bell filters out from home to stem the bleeding. Spicka clocks in AGAIN and scores a kill on my D side corner… Now the cookie is crumbling faster than I anticipated. That’s a terrible feeling when you see two of your back line die and leave your snake player alone. But I’m not hitting that concede button. So Nic has to wear it to further tick time off the clock. Leaving Nic hanging in the wind as sacrifice gets us 10 more seconds off the clock. Canes – 3 Diesel -2
Based off personnel on the box, we assume they want the snake corner and the snake simultaneously again, so we call the audible. Drew Bell does the right thing and keeps Daniel Camp on that D side cut so Drew can take the snake wedge. This was done because Mouse made the snake corner and won’t let Pate spread to match. Once this happened and we were just under a minute, I felt we were in position to contain and dictate, for the most part the next 50 seconds. I was wrong. Jesse makes an amazing crawling shot in the snake on Nic. Then a shot in on Drew. Now the back is broken and the hope is they don’t recognize it in the next 30 seconds. But they do. Spicka clears through and Diesel hits the buzzer with 6 seconds left.
We want to play the 6 seconds so we have time to think about how we want to approach the overtime point. My guys go out and buy us time to confer.
Because we have a margin to play with I decide to spread. Especially since Jacob Searight has shown his willingness to get sneaky and press the issue D side. Nic hasn’t been shot on the break this match so… let’s go boys. I got the feeling Diesel won’t risk anything and will probably go with their base play confident in their secondaries. Sure enough, that is what happens. This is what I call the “kenpo” effect. One strike creates a reaction from the opponent which leads to the next strike and the next reaction. With Diesel essentially using one gun to slow the D side push, Searight does what he needs to do, beats the gun, and gets into the 50 dorito. Spicka filters to snake wedge to look D side and address the now large thorn in their side. Nic catches Jesse to win the snake war while Mouse gets caught in the gap by our gun in D tower we specifically asked to shoot for that fill. The desired effect had been achieved and we have them on their heels. The risk had paid its rewards at only 30 seconds in of the 5 minute overtime point. With just over 4 minutes to play with, Diesel will ultimately dictate how fast we tighten the noose. We comfortably move the skirmish line forward with the 5 on 3 body advantage. At least, that was the plan. Mike Brown gets caught. Okay, not the end of the world. We still have the tactical position advantage. But then Jacob loses a gun fight. Well, this… changes things. Especially since my snake side is unaware we had shot Mouse and still think there is a snake corner (meaning someone died with data). As a coach, it is moments like this that you play the point over in your head trying to understand the issue. But Drew Bell remembers his bounce shot and scores a key kill on Diesel’s widest D side player. But then he puts the team on his back again, hauls butt on a bad ankle and no ACLs to cinch up the noose. He gets Spicka making it a 3 on 1. But Baginksi gets a ball on him. But it was too little to late as Nic Ripple launches and takes Baginski out to give the Canes the win in overtime. FINAL SCORE: CANES – 4 Diesel – 3
We have now had the opportunity to scout Damage three times. I’m looking at my data, I’m looking a Damage, I’m looking at my guys, and I’m looking back at my data. We are playing the same game. It will be a matter of who makes the small mistakes. We felt good coming into this match. But I am a contingency guy. So I am looking at our point margin as well as the rest of the matches that will be played that afternoon. I felt confident in Dynasty and X factor’s remaining schedules, and thought to myself, even if we lose, all we need to do is keep it close and we should have a straight shot to quarters… I know what you are thinking, “Coach, what do you mean “lose”?! You play to win!” – yes, correct. But I have injuries on my roster and I want to make sure we have every advantage. We are facing a champion team with tremendous experience who had no doubt scouted us… and my job is to put my guys in the best possible position. So sometimes you have to think uncomfortable thoughts.
VS Tampa Bay Damage
I think we all knew we were in for a grinder. And that’s what this match would be. Two fighters feeling each other out, probing, jabbing, head movement, footwork… the works.
First point, we come out with very similar break outs. Damage uses the pocket space behind the baby dorito to put a gun on the head of the snake and it pays off as they shoot Nic on the break. This was only the 2nd time he had been shot on the break the event. But that Damage player has to sacrifice his body to do it as he gets picked up as well. A better trade for Damage though as they now own the snake. Keith Brown wastes no time at all coming to our side of the snake and they also release up the gut to the center brick to keep us from countering to the snake. Luckily we don’t take the bait and take the snake corner and not the snake. Keith still gets his first two kills on Mike Brown and Britt Simpson. Pate finds Keith and gets him off the board making it a 3 on 2, advantage Damage. I’m looking at the set up and the clock and decide I can give my two a minute to pull something off. Sure enough, we pick up Chris Horn and make it a 2 on 2. Jason Edwards knows the deal and gets out to the snake corner. With Raney at the center brick, it’s essentially a stalemate. But Raney has been at this game a while and cleverly retreats to spread further to the D side. But Pate is no slouch either and knows he wants to spread. He tells Drew so, Drew Bell does a Drew Bell thing. Full send. And it pays off. Holy hades…. composure and gumption won that point. Canes strike first. Canes – 1 Damage – 0
Drew’s D side shot is still dialed and we strike first on the break shooting Damage’s first attacker D side Chris Horn. Keith gets in the snake again but we get Nic to the snake corner which hems Keith up at snake 1. We feed Pate underneath Nic and now we are in position with dorito 1, dorito tower, home, snake corner, and snake. Damage has snake, juice box, home, and dorito tower. Advantage Canes. Those of us in the pit settle in for what will no doubt be a long point. Raney takes a page out of our book and filters to the head of the snake and one of the Edwards gets out to the god bunker. Drew understands he needs to get his gun in the fight snake side and makes his way up to snake wedge. Still I give the advantage to us. Drew pulls back to a pivot bunker to re-assess. But I felt he was good where he was. Pods are piling up at some of my guys feet and we are a little over 3 minutes into this point and I’m starting to grow a bit concerned about paint consumption… Turns out I was right to be worried as Nic only has 1 pod at this junction. Jason Edwards decides to move back dorito side to even guns up. Raney backs up in a serpentine motion and ends up in the snake corner. At 5 minutes into this point, Nic has pulled his last pod and I’m pretty sure Mike Brown was on his last hopper as well. Now Jason makes it out to dorito corner and Keith takes one more knuckle. Easy for me to say but Pate has an opportunity to go highway here. Unfortunately, Nic is dangerously low on paint and we aren’t really communicating well which is unlike us. We are 6 minutes into this point and no coach wants to hear his guys go quiet. So Keith gives his location away after missing his shot on Britt Simpson in the dorito 1. Drew Bell gets crafty and sneaks into the mini wall next to the snake… but misses his shot! I feel like he should have just committed and taken Keith at that point. We would still have the body and position advantage. But then Jason Edwards gets picked up and shot! I’m thinking Joey may towel… but then, he has probably done the math like I have… keep it close. So he is going to ride it. Especially now that this point has gone over 7 minutes and we are at the 5 minute mark. If Joey was on his way to the towel button he stopped as Keith shoots Britt cross field making it a 4 on 3. Then… chaos. Keith goes highway as Pate launches. Keith gets Drew, Nic gets Keith, Raney gets Pate! It is now a 2 on 2 and my last two guys both have less than half a hopper between them. Nic moves inside (I wish he had stayed… I meant to ask him. If I had to guess he didn’t want 50 brick pushing him into Raney’s gun?). Raney smartly takes the snake, gets down to our side and catches Nic and then finishes off Mike Brown. I want that one back. It was now tied up with just under 3 minutes. Canes – 1 Damage – 1
Both teams make it out 5 on 5. We opt for the 2-1-2 split with our snake side one being the corner while Damage doubles home, and takes dorito 1, juice box, and snake. We had been running Nic ragged so I make the call to put Daniel in for him to get to the corner. Unfortunately, Jacob Searight takes a core sample and has to clear his gun (he ends up taking the front of the barrel off) allowing Raney to get to corner and back Keith up. The first domino falls with Pate getting a tad sloppy in his bunker exposing his hopper on a transition. We get it back though when Daniel Camp wins a gun fight with Raney coast to coast. 4 on 4 with just under 2 minutes on the clock. One of the Edwards brothers sees the opportunity since they have an asset in the snake and hauls butt to backfill the snake corner. Daniel vacates the snake corner with the intent to get Drew Bell behind or at least near him. Damage gets into dorito 3 and clips Drew and then we lose Daniel out of the snake… at this point I see we are under 30 seconds. I am not going to towel for two reasons. One, if my math holds, we are already quarters bound and not wild card. Second, why risk the charge lowering our margin? Or worse, my team is already beat up as it is. No need to pull out a dynamic attack play and risk further injury. My guys will go till the wheels fall off. But I need to save them for Sunday. It was a good match by Damage. FINAL SCORE: CANES – 1 DAMAGE -2
SUNDAY – VS Tampa Bay Damage… Again…
We waited and watched for the afternoon brackets to play out. Sure enough, Dynasty and X-factor won their brackets and the points fell where I had hoped. We would be 5th seed headed into Sunday edging out Xtreme, Infamous, Revo, and Impact who would now have to play a wild card round. We waited for the drawing (honestly, I wish they would go back to seeding for Sunday but… I’m new here). We would draw none other than Tampa Bay Damage.
Some would think, “Well dadnabbit, that sucks.” I would not be one of those people. I was actually happy with the draw. Here’s why… we had lost a nail biter to them in the prelims. We knew their game, we knew what they wanted to do, how they wanted to do it, and who they wanted to do it with. We knew this because it was the EXACT same thing we wanted to do. It would be a good match up. We simply had to tighten up, shore up, be first, and play the mistake free paintball my guys are becoming known for. Unfortunately, we would make mistakes and the match would not be as close as our first meeting. Damage was in a rhythm. I wanted to knock them out of if but it was not to be.
*Zen Note – I loved the fact that Raney Stanczak tried to get in my head following our loss to them in the prelims. That guy is a competitor and is always looking for an edge. He made a comment walking by me afterwards about how I had anticipated the wrong break out in the first point of our match. I joked back and forth with him a bit about how I had not. But he was adamant. I smiled ear to ear. What Raney doesn’t know is you can’t get in my head. It’s too crowded and there is no room. But I certainly appreciated the effort.
We wanted to change it up just a bit for the first point. We had planned on using space to get three guns on Keith. We knew if we could shoot him on the break, contain the fill out to the corner, we would be in control. It was a risk reward ploy that didn’t pay off. Couple that with Damage shooting Nic on the break quick followed by a Daniel Camp death out of the back center… I look at our situation, let it go about a minute to see if my guys can dig a kill out. I scan Damage’s posture and positioning compared to our own. This is the stranglehold approach we had used successfully in the prelims, and decide I want to get 5 back on the box. I hit the concede and we get back to basics. Canes – 0 Damage – 1
I knew placing Searight out there would give Damage a consideration for a bite on the D side in hopes of drawing at least a gun away from snake side. The plan was to keep it simple and send him short to dorito 1 (but the goal was for him to press as his stature allowed for him to maneuver better than most over there). Sure enough, they only put one gun snake way and Nic makes it in. Drew Bell had his dorito shot dialed again and gets the dorito 1 elimination. And dang it, Pate bounces Raney on their first engagement… meaning we would have returned the G2 favor Damage gave us the previous point. Again, woulda coulda shoulda. Pate moves forward and we let Raney get to corner. Drew Bell works his way into the snake wedge to be a force multiplier where needed. This point begins to play out past 5 minutes long and we know we have to start making things happen (all my guys are carrying an extra pod or two now). Nic makes the bump and gets clipped on his heel. I feel this is where Pate and Nic should have connected better. Couple that with dumb luck as Keith Brown just happens to switch his gun at that moment. We are now tied up on bodies but Searight is sticking to the game plan. He makes the 50 brick D side. Damage isn’t dumb though and sends the body to trade with Searight. And then another disaster… it appears that Mike Brown got caught in that same exchange somehow. I’m about to towel but Pate catches Keith. It is now a 2 on 2 with Drew and Pate. I’m going to give the boys the opportunity to try and dig the cross out. Regrettably, Drew gets caught making it a 2 on 1 so I concede the point. Opportunity squandered there. Canes – 0 Damage – 2
Time to adjust. Get those guns on Keith again but ensure we get the snake corner with the plan to fill underneath with Nic and as a contingency push the gut. Daniel gets the call to book it to corner with Nic playing the two to slip in underneath. Guns pay off as we eliminate Keith but we lose Daniel. Nic decides we need the corner instead of the snake and makes it out there but we let Damage fill the corner as well. It is looking to be another stalemated point which is obviously Damage’s advantage but Drew Bell sticks to the game plan and takes the center 50. Obviously Damage is spread and should have no plans to vacate these bunkers. With a 2 point lead, just under 6 minutes, they start to push the d side which was a little surprising. I’m thinking, setting a trap at the 50 won’t work but then, maybe it will if they press the issue. Just as I am thinking this Drew drops his gun for a microsecond, misses his shot, and now they know he is there. Searight tries to make something happen as well and gets caught. Mike Brown tries to push while Drew presses the line through the center not getting anyone but both made the right decision. 4 on 2, down on points, time clicking off… I have to save clock and see if we can’t make something happen. Canes – 0 Damage – 3
We know we have to have that corner and snake connection so, let’s just take it off the break. We have nothing to lose at this point. We are under 5 minutes and have to have that combination early. The goal is to create a skirmish line of snake corner, two in the snake, and let our dorito side players go since there is no doubt in my mind Damage is going back line to hold. And why wouldn’t they? But because of this, we were going to try and exploit the hole. It works but takes us longer than originally anticipated to capitalize on our positions. Pate rewrites the script and thankfully so as he realizes he may have an opportunity to be a bowling ball in the center since we have stalled out. Britt is pressing dorito side and Pate sees the opportunity to help him. Pate hits Raney on first exchange but Raney isn’t stupid, he knows the score and isn’t going away. Pate commits to remove him from the field. But Britt and Nic die out of there spots. Daniel and Drew become men possessed. Daniel dies but somehow Drew falls, gets his kill, and stays alive to get us on the board. The game is all but over but proud of that herculean effort. Canes – 1 – Damage – 3
This last point was a fight for a pride. And my guys made it spectacular. I genuinely feel if Justin Bailey doesn’t slip and fall, he gets the last two backs and we snag a second point. Thank you to Joey Blute for the kind words during the handshake after the match. I have taken them to heart sir. FINAL SCORE: CANES – 1 DAMAGE – 3
The New Orleans Hurricanes finished our 4th event for the season with a 5th place finish. The trajectory, for the most part, has continued moving in a positive direction. As a coach, this is what you want to see. Steady and continuous improvement. The fact we were able to perform with the adversity we faced heading into this event, I am incredibly pleased with our team. Grit and gumption. My guys have it in spades.
After our fourth quarter-finals appearance this season, we would win 17 points of the 28 points played giving us a 61% win average and an overall win ratio performance of 55% over 5 matches. Less than our last event but higher than the first two.
In retrospect, I truly enjoyed having Stuart Ridgel help me on the sidelines. At practice, it created an efficiency where he and I could discuss and deep dive more than usual speeding up the learning curve. The extra set of eyes at practice and at the event was outstanding. But I would be absolutely crazy if I didn’t feel he serves the team better on the field. I feel he would have been quite the force on this layout. Now, we just need to get everyone healed up. I am not that overprotective parent though. Not gonna wrap them in bubble wrap and keep them inside. Grown men need to do grown men things. But the GOAL is to get healthy!
Like every event since I have come to coach the Canes, I made some mistakes and have tried to document them here. Whether it was a play call or a personnel decision, I know I can do better. There were a few play decisions I made and there was a player I should have leveraged sooner and more often. Hind sight is always 20/20. That is the toughest part for me… reviewing my performance knowing that I could have put my guys in a better position if I had just made one different call or considered one more piece of data (or perhaps didn’t emphasize a data set as hard). Just like my players, I need to work hard to improve as well. I have to show a positive trajectory too. One thing I will say, my guys gave me 150% AGAIN. And that’s all I can ask. I need to make sure I can look back and say the same. These recaps help me with that process.
We jumped Edmonton Impact and are currently sitting 6th overall for the 2023 NXL series. That’s a positive take away from this event besides our highest finish this season (7th, 7th, 6th, and now 5th). But keeping it is another task that will require every member of this program to be firing on all cylinders. We have two more goals to reach with cup…
Of course, we get handed another difficult bracket headed into cup (the argument can be made the most difficult). But hey, “Non chiedere ciò che non puoi prendere”…
Remember when you were much younger and you were asked to do something by a parent or an authority figure and did it well? Or maybe you showed responsibility/initiative, and did your job/chores without being asked? Most of us were “rewarded”, right? Or maybe you just wouldn’t get your butt handed to you. Either way, you were basically being taught that, if you did your job and did it well, you would see some sort of return.
Chicago was a little like that.
We know we need to perform well each and every event. I’m a firm believer in that success in this sport is not all predicated on talent as much as it is about team trust, cohesion, culture, reliability, and consistency, topped with necessary improvement. If a team has no ego and understands what it needs to do to improve, they will improve. And improvement will lead to reaching goals. And with each goal reached, you will eventually get to the point where you are winning.
We were not happy with our performance in Philly. We knew Chicago was going to be a make-or-break event for us.
As usual, we would face some difficulties, but then, who doesn’t? We would head to this event without Mike Brown, who had life events to address. Justin Bailey would also have a life event that would keep him from being with the team the first layout weekend. Aaron Pate would injure himself during the second practice. We would face bad weather the second layout weekend and I couldn’t nab a pro team to scrimmage either weekend. Luckily, our good friends on Austin Notorious (ranked 3rd in Semi-Pro) came through and not only gave us some excellent looks but really opened our eyes to some aspects of our game! (They took 2nd in Chicago! Proud and happy for them. Ryan Gray is leading those boys incredibly well).
New Orleans Hurricanes and Austin Notoriousat LA Xtreme Paintball in Slidell, LA
Coming into this event, I felt confident our approach to the layout would not only work but was, for all intents and purposes, the right way to play the field (at least for the Canes). However, my resolve would be tested early Friday morning. We drew the dreaded afternoon bracket (I prefer morning games) but the one advantage is, you get to see how teams are playing the field. It seemed in those first few sets everyone was pushing the snake… hard. We pushed the snake too but not nearly like everyone else. I was genuinely surprised since, during our practices, our kill ratio for that runner was a high percentage. I thought surely everyone else was having a similar experience and would weigh it. That being said, we decided to stick with the game plan.
Our approach to the field is what military personnel would call a “flying wedge”. If you aren’t familiar with the term, it was a formation used in early warfare, usually with cavalry against infantry. Imagine cavalry in the formation of a giant triangle charging at your squared formation of infantry (phalanx). The concept was to penetrate the ranks and split the opposing force. Now imagine the flying wedge cavalry with mortar fire… In the case of the Canes, I trust my guys’ guns. We drill our on the break shots religiously. So, that was the idea. We wanted to establish up the center, turn the opponents’ guns inside, make them contend with us there, then expand outside, bully a single gun, and then take more ground. But it would require discipline, communication, and solid guns with a good eye for the read. Simple, right?
ZEN NOTE – to those of you (and there were several) who sent me questions asking why we didn’t attack the snake more often… we did. And we didn’t. Calls were made based off statistical analysis and probability of what the opponent was showing as well as our assets. We had contingencies for when our opponent made the snake as “safety valves”. They worked.
Out of all the layouts this year, I felt this was one was ours. A “hybrid” traditional that would allow us to really leverage all our weapons. And for the most part, I was right. But this would be no walk in the park. We would be tested right out of the gate. People keep telling me we won’t be taken seriously until we start beating the elite teams. Myself and the Canes agree. Well… here was our chance.
VS Heat
I have been accused of not being the brightest guy at times but I’m no dummy. I knew if we let Chad George take a breath anywhere near that snake, no matter our contingencies, we would have problems. But I looked over at my man Aaron Smith and I think to myself… when we shoot George and get Aaron in there… Johnny’s your uncle. We keyed up on ole George early. But they keyed up on Aaron Smith too. Aaron is a warrior and understood he had one of the toughest spots to play this event. I am really pleased with his growth as a player. Keep an eye on this one.
Obviously running anywhere past the snake can on this field was a risk versus reward scenario. So, we pushed it on point one to test guns. Aaron doesn’t make it, George does. But Stuart Ridgel does the patented “Stu Shuffle” and takes ole George off the board. However, we lost some gunfights. Point to Heat. Next point more of the same. We went snake corner, their guns were good there too. It was at this point I realized they are playing the field similar to us. And we always train how to beat our own game plans. They were up 2-0. They were going to dig in on this field, roll their guns, and let us try and kill ourselves. We had other plans. Small bumps with tiny edges. Bully a gun. Push. And use a guy named Jacob Searight.
We finally shot George. But we allowed our tandem line to get too long on D side. Dizon did us a favor though and drew the major. The game was tied and we were on the power play as Heat would be playing down. We figured they would take one of the towers early (probably snake side) and shoot for it. It payed off (happened to be George). 3-2 us when they conceded the point.
The next break was a blood bath. We shot two and they shot two. Then Tyler Harmon had a Tyler Harmon moment. Tied again at 3-3. Next point of what would be the end of regulation, both teams did the exact same breakout. However, Heat established the center first. This concerned me because they were in position to push in the last 60. We traded punches, guys held and time expired.
Headed into overtime, we were feeling pretty good. If it bleeds, we can kill it, and that was our thought headed into that last point. The pressure was on them so we knew they would go pocket thinking if they can get 5 out alive, they win “on paper” as Matty would say. But we haven’t read that book yet (heck, we can’t even read). We decided to push Britt Simpson D side with heavy guns and it paid off. We got out wide snake side as the point developed after establishing a strong center. Aaron Pate made a wicked snap on Tyler Harmon, then smoked Ryan Smith and then Ronnie Dizon gets eaten. Good win for what we had dubbed prior to the event, the revenge tour.
*ZEN NOTE – In the last point, I recall Federov making a gesture after shooting Stu (a kiss goodbye or something) and then I made the same gesture when we hit the buzzer. I know… juvenile. Just because someone is disrespectful doesn’t mean I will be. I have to be a better example for my guys.
VS Thunder
We had watched Thunder (when we could) play Uprising and noticed some tendencies. But I did not depend on the scouting as I knew they would adjust their game plan. The key was going to be identifying the adjustment early… which we did. It was a back and forth match. I was particularly proud of my man Britt Simpson in this match as he earned himself a one on one coin in the 2nd point of the match to put us on the board. Three Hurricanes carry those coins now.
A good example of game planning from both teams was the 4th point of the match. We missed our snake shot (it was going to happen) but we got our inside support kill and took big ground D side. With snake hot, we went to our contingency plan, and it worked. But Thunder was a scrappy team and there was still a lot of time on the clock. For the 5th point, we shot their snake side runner again, but they made a good read, took ground, and established early in center and on D side (something we had been doing). It paid off for them as they dropped Drew Bell early and picked up our counter through center. But I felt they had just shown us their best effort. Next point, we wanted to key up on the wides and the boys did a great job sweet spotting BOTH. This is a good example of “permeating” the point, something we had discussed as a team. With the amount of time left in the match, we didn’t have to be in a hurry, especially since we shot 2 and lost 1. We were also in good field position compared to Thunder. My guy’s maintained zone control, had a conversation on who has the ball and where we needed to punch. We burned off just under 3 minutes here. But then we got a little sloppy, let Thunder spread, and lost two gunfights we shouldn’t have. Luckily, Thunder did us a favor and drew the red towards the end. (Aaron Pate shot their center player who continued to shoot).
The next point was another bloodbath break for both teams. Unfortunately, Thunder got the best of it with that late fill to the snake from home. We had lost Stu who would have protected against that move. Britt recognized that, with Stu gone, plan B was to flip the field and got on his horse D side. But it wasn’t enough as Thunder’s player,I think it was Pat Gleason, got himself two and a buzzer.
It was now 4-3 in our favor with 4 minutes left.
*ZEN NOTE -I heard there was a comment made that we went defensive. That is inaccurate. The intent was not defense but to set up a push. The setup, much like snake on the break, has its risks and has to develop. This sometimes creates an issue getting offensive when you lose key components of the set up. Running into a zoned gun on purpose isn’t offense. It’s stupid.
Thunder made the snake corner on the next break. This was a good call but that also meant his support must come from one of 2 places. We shot one of them. The snake fill by Thunder was what slowed this point down. We had the body advantage, but we had to leverage two of our own to contain snake. Both Stu and Daniel knew the deal and adjusted accordingly. Searight understood his role in this as well and pushed D side. Pate saw the opportunity to reposition to support Searight. Gleason got clever and took my Rook (Searight). He got clever again and took Stu who had just positioned on 50 snake. However, Aaron Pate dashed his dreams decisively. Daniel Camp smoked the press from center leaving it a 2 on 1, Pate and Daniel vs Thunder’s snake player. At this point, I turned and began congratulating my guys in the pit for the good first day. Nothing against the Thunder player, I just knew the statistical outcome of that one with those two gunfighters in.
I would have liked that last point though…
VS Uprising
There was no doubt the other boys from Seattle had an axe to grind after our first meeting (and our first pro match ever) in Kissimmee. They were showing a highly aggressive approach to the field, but we also noticed some tendencies that we could exploit. The question was, again, what if any adjustment did they make? We soon found out that, they didn’t really.
The first point was gruesome. There were so many yellow birds in the air… but Daniel Camp finally gave the Canes our first point win (something we struggled with this weekend was coming out strong and winning the first point each match) and gained his THIRD one on one coin.
More solid guns on the break next point. We shot 3. The following point, we shot the snake again but lost Pate early. Uprising beat us to the center but this was where their tendencies showed (no I will not share what they are…my secret). My guys recognized it and acted accordingly making it 3-0.
The 4th point Uprising got the advantage early again. We tried to take ground early D side but they caught us and we miss our shots. We recognized the tendencies again but aren’t able to capitalize. Justin Bailey did an excellent job of killing the clock in a 3 on 1, a minute twenty . 3-1 with just over 7 minutes left.
We decided to give Uprising a different look the next point. I almost didn’t do it because of an injury Pate was nursing. But the guys are all warriors, and he told me he was fine and could do it. I went with the gut and it paid off. We knew Uprising would push center but with our new snake side presence, I knew it would cause them to swivel. And they did. Searight took advantage and got onto their side of the field… again. But, again we let that tandem line get too long. We had to settle for a trade. But, Uprising’s tendency reared, we took advantage and Stu finished with a 3 pack.
The next point was a bit sloppy on our part. Stu looked into a ball and Aaron Smith made the mistake of asking for a paint-check. Minor on us.
We lost Stu early on the next point but take 3 of Uprising on the break with the help of a minor (it was on their dorito player). Uprising conceded the point leaving approximately 3 minutes on the board down by 3.
We shot one on the break but lost Pate early again. Though, once Searight got wide and Stu established in the center, it was simply a matter of time… literally. We knew if we won the point they would let time expire in an effort to maintain point margin. Funny note and I don’t know if they show this on the webcast but as the guys are standing around watching the clock go down, Searight decided to shoot Stu in the foot… on purpose… But the joke was on Searight as I think the ref called Stu clean LOL
VS Red Legion
Goodness gracious. The revenge tour almost came to a screeching halt with this one. But the guys showed composure, discipline, belief, and a whole lot of grit. If there was ever a match to define the New Orleans Hurricanes, this would be it. We never quit.
I can sum this one up rather quickly. The first point we just lost gun fights. The next three points of this match, the Russians essentially took our game planning and just did it better than us. That and we got penalties and they didn’t. We were also trying one or two things differently since we had already made Sunday. That whole plan went out the window quick though as things were getting out of hand. This was the most penalized I think we have been in a match. I told my guys, back to basics. The game plan was solid, the Legion was simply beating us to the punch. If we quit getting penalties, we will win this match! That, and our guns on break had taken a dip for some reason. Down 4 to 0 now but there was a BUNCH of time left in the match. They went up 4-0 on us in Kissimmee and we brought it back to tie only to eventually lose. But we are a completely different team from that first event. And this was the revenge tour…
The Heat/Thunder match put us in X-ball rather early which I felt was an advantage to us. We already knew what we wanted to do and how to do it.
That 5th point was the game changer. They put in their 2nd line as if they felt the game was in the books. But we didn’t get that memo (and remember, we can’t read anyway). There was just under 10 minutes left after all. We put one up on the board. And that’s all we would need to steal the momentum.
It doesn’t go unnoticed that Sergei was playing tall over home on the previous breaks and then filtering to the center. We decided to turn a gun on him and get the elimination. Now, I am only guessing but perhaps they looked down on paper and figured their 5 best alive on the break beats us a larger percentage of the time. We decided to start focusing on taking that snake side tower sooner which would “trap” the Russians and hopefully force them into the kill box. We had seen them do what we called “double double” before, so we took center early and got a second point on the board. Letting Berdnikov get out to the snake side was disappointing but we flipped the script D side. Justin Bailey got to drop the hammer on Berdnikov as a bonus for our 2nd point.…
I did not anticipate them to continue with the double/double… but this is why I make the assumption in the paragraph above that they figured they would just need to get their best 5 out alive and kill clock. I called a timeout to give my guys a bit of a breather and make sure we all knew the game plan and situation. We knew that if they didn’t take that snake side tower early, they would most likely concede the gap between the doritos and that first small brick D side. And if they didn’t take the first dorito looking inside, that would allow us to take a line through the center undetected.
Strangely, the Legion came out with double/double again (meaning everything stated above could come to fruition). So Stu took the center-line and got the kill but got caught. We spread to snake corner drawing guns which allows Drew Bell to do Drew Bell stuff down the D side and trade. That drew a gun and now Daniel fed the snake. Daniel shot the last Russian but Aaron Pate decided to run through with the goon hand just to make sure and hit the buzzer with 1 second left.
Goon hand Pate. Thanks to Trevorwillpb for the shot! Check him out on IG and FB
And this is why I am religious.
Even though we had just had an amazing point, emotions got a little high. The Canes have several rules about pit control and we all started to break them… but just for a bit. The disruption was over the 1 second point. We needed that additional time to get my guys squared away but it almost put us over the edge… not really. But it could have. That’s on me. We finally get our decorum back with a little laughter and knew that, with the overtime point, we needed to get back to base play, didn’t get in too much of a hurry, and let the play develop the way we knew how. Once again, the pressure lay squarely on the Legion.
This was a crap shoot point. Part of my job is to determine what I think the opponent may do. I was torn here statistically. Again, in my mind, they were looking at the “paper”… their 5 beats our 5… So we figured they would go safe with a Dorito 1, the two cans and home. That or their double/double. When they broke with double double, and we made it out 5 alive, I smiled ear to ear. We shot one on the break and quickly dropped another… slow steady grind until they were none and we were three. Five unanswered points against the Russians in 9 minutes. Incredible performance from my guys.
VS Heat (again)
This was a chess match. Best way to describe it. We made a couple of mental errors here and they ultimately cost us the match. But I think we gained a little respect…
Both teams lost a can on the first point. Stu made a great center push but we died behind him leaving Pate in a 1 on 2 situation. Heat struck first. Heat followed that point up by shooting two of us on the break and we couldn’t generate anything. 2-0 Heat. Obviously Heat was taking our approach and just executing it better. Our guns came back into play on the 3rd point and we were back in it with 5 bodies alive. 2-1.
We both broke the exact same way on the 4th point and we struck first shooting Federov. We also established a strong center with Stu and Pate early. Monville attempted to wrap and paid for it allowing Stu to trade with Harmon in the Tower. Searight got the last kill and we were now tied. The execution of the goals on that point were pretty darn near perfect.
Of course, this is where we end up shooting ourselves in the foot a bit metaphorically and literally. The guys decided to let the clock run down a bit (40 seconds if you only count standing at the box). I was at the net with my arms open wondering what they were doing. Then Searight decided to shoot himself in the foot…yes, on purpose and for a laugh. I did chuckle. The time loss would be one of a few mental errors that would haunt us later.
The next point haunts me still too. We shot two on the break but gave those bodies back with a penalty (top of the pod hit on a dive – it happens – these were our penalties all weekend. Pod or hopper hit penalties). We shot another but we then gave two more almost immediately in exchange. Devolved into a 2 on 1 in about 30 seconds. 3-2 Heat.
We know we can win the match. And it looked as if we were going to tie it up on the next point. We lost a 4 on 3 instead. But still lots of time on the clock. 4-2 Heat.
We struck first and got Monville then get a shot in on Federov. However, we spent a little longer than normal filtering but I was okay with it since we were still well above 3 minutes. Searight caught one but Daniel made it out snake way and we repositioned to close. Stu shot Tyler and the rest fall. We are one point down with about 2:50 left in the match.
I felt all we needed to do was be a bit quicker with our secondaries. Thing was, Heat knew that too. As I watched the next break, it was if Todd and I both had the same conversation with our teams. We lost two quickly but I am in the pit begging (not too loud of course) for a penalty on Sam. We got it and it was now 3v3.
What unfolded over the next 2 minutes was… crazy. Aaron Pate made a WICKED wrap and snap shot on Chad George in the snake at about 30 seconds. Daniel Camp got on his horse and fed the snake and went to Heat’s side of the field. He saw Federov who had re-positioned and applied pressure. Pate cleared and wrapped putting a shot on the back of Ryan Smith’s head before Federov shot him… just as Daniel shot Fedorov. If Searight had 2 more seconds, we would have hit that buzzer and taken it into overtime… again. Or maybe Ryan gets a major… the world will never know.
5th place for the event. As I understand it, we are the first rookie pro team to ever go undefeated in prelims and have the first-place seed headed into Sunday. Not a bad consolation prize, however, we felt that had we got past Heat, the revenge tour obviously would have continued and very well may have culminated in another first in PB history…
We have to take these mistakes (Coming out flat, tandem line getting too long, penalties, clock management, coach not arguing for a call, etc.) and learn from them. Trust me, they are fresh on our brains. But I have to say, I am incredibly pleased with how my guys carried themselves. Not just with the way they played, they played great… but they really kept their composure and a “can do” attitude all weekend. I know the goal of a coach/team is to put wins on the board. But the more I watch these men overcome obstacles, haters/doubters, life events, and still maintain a positive and good attitude while bringing their A-game, the more I feel like we are chalking up wins in the right column. We will be better for it. See you at Cup. Until then…
Recently I posted a photo of the New Orleans Hurricanes on social media where I quoted Andrew Carnegie. He said, “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”
Unfortunately, we don’t see this type of thought embraced very often, especially in paintball.
Everyone was smiling inside this huddle because we had just overcome a tough scenario. Because “team”
This past weekend I was asked by a player for advice on how to eventually go pro. I have been asked this question quite frequently as of late, in one form or another. A simple enough question really, but one that has numerous answers depending on who you are speaking with all while also weighing heavily on your circumstances and a myriad of other variables… and my answer is no different. Heck, I just got here.
Here are two more quotes for you from tried and true champions:
“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” – Michael Jordan.
“Individual commitment to a group effort—that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” – Vince Lombardi
Sensing a theme here?
Big thank you to Cory Andrews of APP Photography
Teamwork is what usually leads to success in most endeavors. Yes, there are exceptions but let’s talk paintball specifically. Again, yes exceptions, but one would be considered irrational if you thought any successful paintball team achieved success and maintained said success through the simple efforts of individual players.
Teamwork has to have a strong foundation. That foundation has to be trust. Personal ambition can be, in some cases, admirable but it can and routinely does poison teams. The team that removes ego, the team that puts the organization as a whole above the individual will usually survive longer and do better. Most successful teams have figured out that if everyone “buys in”, has the same goals and are moving toward those goals together in a unified front, then it becomes a matter of when, not if, success will arrive.
The strength of any team is made up of the individual members. The “weakest link” and all that… but you can overcome that “weakest link” bit if everyone recognizes that the strength of each member IS the team. There is strength in unity which should lead to no weak links if everyone contributes in their own unique way.
I did an interview recently with Matty Marshall and he inquired about what we attributed the success of the New Orleans Hurricanes to so far. The question intrigued me at first only because I realized he understood our goals. To the outsider looking in, we are not successful. In our first three events as a professional team, we have only made Sunday once. We are currently sitting in 10th place for the series (and will probably drop to 12th based off what I see happening in Sacramento). We have played 13 professional matches and only won 6 of them. We were outscored at the Sunshine State 15 to 19, did better in Dallas 23 to 21, and fell again in Philly 13/17 for a total of 51 scored and 57 scored against. Hardly a success, right? So why did Matty assume we were seeing success?
There are a couple of reasons really. One, because he is familiar with the goals we set for ourselves at the beginning of the season as well as at each event. We are meeting those goals as a first year rookie pro team. And two, by most accounts, we aren’t doing too bad regarding the annals of history. But that still remains to be seen as there are still 2 events left (Chicago and Cup).
But I would be totally remiss if I didn’t state that the success is garnered from the guys being a close knit group, who understand the importance of “team”. It is ingrained in our culture. And that’s a very important aspect.
To me, teamwork is absolutely essential and quite honestly, the beauty of our sport. When you have five guys out there, working as one, communicating, selfless, and in a flow state, man… it is something to behold. Even better if you are one of the 5. But if you missed or flew past the word “selfless” in that sentence, then you missed the most important piece of it.
Team, Squad, Crew, Tribe, Clan… Family
Whether most realize it or not, teamwork is the true definition of efficiency. After all, 9 or 10 brains are better than 1. I can’t remember who said it, but it struck me as so very true. What does efficiency really boil down to other than doing something better than what was already being done? And that is where we are seeing our success: in the process of creating efficiencies. The process of learning, the process of repetition, the process of trusting one another, the process of pushing one another, the process of trying to be just a little better than we were the day before. And yes, the process of losing and winning.
When you make that individual commitment to the team goal, you flip a switch that turns on accountability and selflessness. When everyone has that light on, man that stuff will shine bright. It will drown out all the noise and hyper focus everyone on what needs to be done, what has to be done.
Yes, it takes time and make no mistake, we have been at this for a while. But I believe we have kept the focus on the right things. We always start with fundamentals. We don’t lapse on those drills. We don’t phone it in. We don’t go through the motions. We make sure it is productive. There are no attitudes on this team. If we see something that needs to be mentioned, it gets said. And no one gets offended (no betas here).
What is my role in all of that? Easy. Keep them focused on the important things that paint the big picture. I recognize the things that may take us off course, that distract from what we really need to be doing, and kill them. I identify opportunities for my guys, push them to be their best, remove them from their comfort zones only to make that uncomfortable place comfortable and then develop strategic based concepts which allow my tacticians (the guys) to implement, make better, and execute.
Old and busted
So how did we get here and where is this all going? Well, we started with a question from a player this past weekend… how do I become better/pro.
Besides getting out there every weekend and practicing the fundamentals and playing as much as you can? Be something a team can’t do without. Find a job or role that no one wants to do and get so good at it, you are the only name they think of when it has to get done. That.. and one other thing…
As we headed into our 3rd pro event in Philly, the word for the team and the weekend was supposed to be “discipline”. Unfortunately, the word ended up being “disappointing”. That may sound harsh but sometimes it takes a little tough love to fuel one’s team and wake us up. Did we accomplish too much too fast? No. We are just beginning and I don’t believe we have met our full potential. That isn’t intended to sound any other way than I know what my guys are capable of. We did not rise to our potential nor meet our capabilities this past event. We know we can play paintball at the highest level. Beating those top tier teams as well as the lower tier teams has to happen consistently. We are not there yet as several opportunities were missed.
So here is my recap and my analysis of this past event.
Match 1 vs New York Xtreme
We knew headed into this match that Xtreme had a full and healthy squad. They were missing Jeri Caro and Pat Kraft in Dallas but had them back for this event. With the addition of Corey Hall, we thought their aggressive chaotic style would probably be tempered with some controlled d-side attacks. We were confident with our guns on the break and that was the initial plan. Play pocket with guns up, pivot off positioning, get up the field/expand quickly, and slowly squeeze. Perfect example would be the first point of this match. We kill their wide on the break d-side, take center and expand out d-side, this shifts a gun (or at least allows us opportunity to bully a gun) and we take snake as well… slow, steady squeeze on the throat.
That was how the weekend was supposed to go. That type of execution. It’s what I have come to expect from my guys.
Third point in we showed a hint of what was to come this event. Little dink outs. Getting clipped on a knuckle or the like. Just sloppy enough to give your opponent the advantage. We countered appropriately but squandered position. Justin Bailey tried to get clever and burn additional clock but eventually gets caught. The 4th point is another example of that expansion after we shoot Xtreme’s snake on the break. Xtreme countered well but we owned the “high ground” so to speak. A little slow on our reads for that one. That 5th point was not meant to be a defensive play. However, Xtreme had finally zoned up well and beat us to secondaries. Knowing what Xtreme had seen success with and what they would want, the next two points we decided to get our guns up early, shoot their 1 d-side and their center filter early in the first of those points (forcing them to expand into our already expanded guns). More of the same with next point – good zone control and expansion by my guys. We did play one more point and yes, we did play defensively. Mike Brown once again proved why he is on this roster. He shot Kraft in a 2 on 1 situation and then defended the buzzer. The 35 second point, we zoned up, they ran into guns and got a penalty… Johnny’s your uncle.
Match 2 vs Edmonton Impact
The 3rd time, they say, is a charm. This is not always the case in paintball, or at least if you are the New Orleans Hurricanes playing Impact for the 3rd time in your rookie pro season. I heard it said that we got their “adjustment” game. Their adjustment was to play the field like we did… they just did it better. Get your guns up, expand out through center aggression, back your ones up quickly, bully guns, win.
1st point we got a minor for a hopper hit putting us in a 4 on 3 situation. Stuart Ridgel got creative in the center in an attempt to get the drop and even the odds. He missed his shot and re-positioned to try and catch d-side sleeping. Unfortunately, so had Impact’s d-side (Cornell). They owned the snake and D’s and bullied our last two.
The next point a bad seam read (route/line) and an untimely death cost us. The point after that, we beat them to the punch but lost gunfights.
Next, we went toe to toe with their guns for a quick set up of a 3 on 2. Drew Bell took advantage and pressed the action d-side while Aaron Smith fed the snake. We got on the board but that would be the last time.
We continued to go blow for blow on the break with them. Next point a 2v2 which we lost. Now we are in a position where the clock is part of the equation. We had to take some bites meaning taking ground on a team who has guns like us on the break. Jacob Searight did his job, got in the snake, took ground and dug out some kills. Aaron Smith backed him up but lost a gunfight putting Searight in a bad scenario. However, Searight got squirrelly, almost clipped Zuppa in the corner but missed his shot. Great effort by my guy. We had 5 alive on the last point with one of those being dorito one. We even shot one of theirs on the break but gave Mouse the snake. We secondaried quick and had a chance to “turn” the field since Impact pressed the snake side. We matched them in the snake as well as got support that way. This is a point of contention for me as I feel we should have pressed the body d-side. Right before Stu traded with Mouse, Mouse shot our center push. Chaos ensued and it came down to a 1 on 1 between Aaron Pate and Justin Rabackoff. Pate has won a red coin once already this year but it didn’t happen this time. We needed to consider spread so we let Rab run the clock down.
Tough loss. This spread would end up costing us in the end.
Match 3 vs Seattle Thunder
This is the one that hurts the most from this weekend. Great guys on Thunder but this is a match we should have won.
We started off right by shooting their 1 on the snake side, spread snake corner, filtered center, and just started peeling them off. Next point, we won the break again but then gave them bodies with a minor for a pack hit. 1 to 1. Next, Thunder shot our 1 on D side followed by another quick kill and then took big ground (smart). Slow squeeze… 2 to 1 Thunder. They shoot two of us on the break next point. Thunder did a good job of creeping up to get a shot on Daniel Camp. I have to concede since I know Thunder will just sit with a 4 on 2 body advantage. 3 to 1. Our guns on the break show back up making it a 5 on 3 off the break. Smith made the snake, which allowed Stuart to clock in and find the seam. 3 to 2 now. Thunder took snake on the break. Smith matched him pretty quickly but they filtered to the snake wedge setting the trap. Smith got 1 cross field and eventually got a 2nd before trading with Sakaguchi. Drew Bell got a little sloppy in his bunker which makes it a 2 on 2. But Aaron Pate smoked Thunders D side attacker and between him and Daniel Camp, Scotty Grahams’ time was limited. Tied up at 3 and we have the momentum.
Then things went south. On the next point, Thunder shot our 1 on snake side and filtered very fast to both sides of center to trap us in pocket. What you didn’t know is there was an equipment malfunction on the d-side so we were one gun down. We killed one and missed an opportunity to get another and I have to concede it. 4 to 3. When we made it out 5 alive the next point to own the center early as well as pressed the dorito 3 shortly after, I knew we were going to tie it up again. It was a 5 on 3 our advantage… and then disaster struck. As Stu probed the center, Daniel Camp took a hard bounce and called for a check. The ref came in, checked him, and called him CLEAN! So Daniel got tight thinking time to stay alive and piece it together. He doesn’t shoot his gun. Unfortunately, another ref decided to throw a RED on him. This is where I get frustrated. If the first ref called him clean and you as a second ref decided you see a hit, just pull the player! There was no need for a red flag right there. You even see the first ref who called him clean looking confused… We should have won that point. Don’t get me wrong, we shouldn’t have been in that position in the first place. I’m forced to concede and figure out how to score 2 in a minute ten. They zone up, we are forced into their guns, and we lost 6 to 3.
Inconsistent guns, some individual play mistakes, and bad communication cost us that match. After the match we discussed it and were once again, all on the same page.
Match 4 vs San Diego Aftermath
Prior to the event, this was the match I was most looking forward to. I think Aftermath and the ‘Canes match up well. Were I not coaching New Orleans, as a paintball fan in general, I would have wanted to watch this match. Big fan of Mike Hinman’s too so, there is that.
We tried setting the pace by getting an off the break kill and playing our game. We spread the field, Stu made a great trade… then we got a little sloppy D side allowing Aftermath in the snake. However, the one two punch of Aaron Pate and Daniel Camp won the point. Funny note – Daniel shot Thomas Kim cross field with his first ball and didn’t know it. Hence he and Pate trying to find the last body before Aftermath conceded the point. 1 to 0 us. We ended up in another 2 vs 2 the next point after some great counters from both teams. But it was the “Thunder and Lightning” team again of Pate and Camp who pulled off the win. 2 to 0 us.
So both teams survived the next two break outs. Aftermath positioned well in the first breakout with dorito 1 and center snake side brick. We peeled off their 1 on snake side but their center brick got 2 of us in quick succession. We fought back but not enough. 2-1 us. During the second, we took center dorito side first but they owned god and dorito 1. We dropped the first body by looking into a ball but took their god player almost immediately after. Mike Mesa made a great shot on Stu in the center and they built upon that kill pressing the issue making it 2 to 2.
We lost our snake 1 on the next point but countered well on the d-side with Drew and Stu taking good ground. But the clock started to grind here. About 3 minutes in Stu traded with Thomas Kim in dorito 3 but Aftermath made the snake and we didn’t see it. Drew Bell was at the dorito 4. Mesa tried to counter but got caught cross field opening d side up for Drew but not before Aftermath’s snake player wrecked us. I have to towel with just over 2 minutes left. 2-3 Aftermath.
But little did anyone know… I have a secret weapon for situations like this.
Britt Simpson.
In the chaos that ensues after Stu cut through the center, Frank Antetomaso made a mistake. Had he shot Daniel Camp, sat down and just shot cross to protect the box, Aftermath would have won the point. Instead, he ran down the snake and got shot by my boy Britt. This left Aftermath’s back center alone. Drew Bell launched past Britt to trade with the home and Britt, recognizing the opportunity, ran full send train style to follow Drew up and got the buzzer. Overtime. Incredible shot by Britt, incredible read by Drew, and incredible situational awareness by Britt again to keep us in it.
We knew Thomas hadn’t taken a deep route yet so we shoot for the dive. And we got it. Stu, knowing the count and that Aftermath went to snake side brick, understood he had to get that guy off the field. And he did. Unfortunately, we lost Drew filling out. This made it a 3 on 3 within the first 20 seconds of the overtime point. The next 4 minutes and 30 seconds would drive a coach to drink. Mesa started making moves down the d-side but Aaron Smith checked himfrom the god at dorito 2. So both teams are mirrored up snake side but Aftermath is wider with the dorito 2 compared to our home… When Aftermath made it to snake corner, I will admit I panicked a little… my guys saw it but still… until I saw Pate sneak out to the d-side and I was pretty sure Aftermath didn’t see that. But then Aftermath fed the snake! The chess game just got real! Daniel Camp recognized the situation, connected with Smith and sent him to the snake side wedge to bait the snake. But then Aftermath put snake corner into the snake as well! However, Pate took additional ground on the d-side into dorito 3, then dorito 4!! Smith launched and traded with the snake and on that move, Daniel repositioned to the snake corner! Aaron Pate, big gun swinging, smoked Mesa on the d-side! Hallberg decided to go forward and trade with Daniel, and Aaron Pate ran it in to win the overtime point. I decided it was okay to breathe again.
Great match up against a great team.
We end up 2 and 2 with a margin not good enough to snag one of the wild card seeds. We ended up 13th with Infamous and AC Diesel finishing ahead of us in 12th and 11th respectively.
That being said, I had a thought later that day as I watched the scores for the afternoon bracket unfold. As you may or may not know, the two wild cards came from the same bracket. So 4 out of 5 teams in the same bracket made Sunday. The two who won the bracket – Tampa Bay Damage and San Antonio X factor – and then the two wild cards – Portland Uprising and ML Kings. What did they all have in common or why does this matter you may ask? They all got 4 or greater point spreads against the Latin Saints. Particularly Uprising and ML Kings… Uprising with a 6 point win over Saints and Kings with a 5 point win. Just an observation… I am not implying in any way that we should have made it. We shouldn’t have… not with the way we played. But I found that interesting the way it played out.
Key takeaways from this event. The issues that plagued us are not our normal issues. The guys know to take a beat/take a breathe when they make those key bunkers, they know to connect/communicate with their teammates on the field, they know not to play individual paintball or try to do it “alone”, and the twos usually follow the ones up quicker. Oh, and winning those low body situations (3 v 2’s and 2 on 2’s)
We have voiced it to one another and we all agree these issues cost us. But right now, it’s just words. We have to put it into action. And we will. Time to come back stronger for Chicago.
Now that the dust has settled on the first event, and I have somewhat caught up on my real life responsibilities, I wanted to get this written before I got too focused on Dallas. This will be a stream of thought so bear with me.
I will admit, the event was somewhat surreal. That first morning headed into the Uprising match seemed like any other paintball match. It was odd really… it didn’t feel any different, at least for me. We were there to play and do what we do. The only difference was there were people watching from the stands and there were cameras around. It actually all seemed “smaller” than I expected if that even makes sense. Don’t get me wrong. Been on the pro field plenty of times. But I don’t think we let the moment get to us. And that was good.
The New Orleans Hurricanes – Photo courtesy of NXL
We wanted to set the pace in our first match. In other words, be first to key positions on the field. Something else I wanted to do is come out and show we can shift gears effectively. In order to do this, I decided to use two lines for this event. Some questioned my approach but I believe in each one of my guys. They each bring a strength and they all need to be tested. Yes, I believe in running the horses (who is performing best at that moment)… but leading up to this event, everyone showed me they were ready to play. So that’s what I did.
In that first match, the guys executed the game plans well and succeeded in setting that pace. Our lanes were good, our zone control was as good as it could get most points, our aggressiveness and counters were good. No, we were not perfect but that is understandable. The guys were playing their first pro match against a veteran pro team. We wanted to be first to the punch, get our guns up, control the zone, then get on the attack. We were a little sloppy that first point but Stuart Ridgel made a great read to finish it. Point 2 was solid execution from the guys. We knew Uprising would want to take ground that 3rd point as they hadn’t seen success in the pocket so we keyed up and shut it down with some good laning. Things got interesting on the 4th point. We wanted to stay on the gas but by that time Uprising had found a breath. However, the composure and communication from my guys was solid. When we clipped the d-side player, I knew we were going to take the point, at least from a position perspective. Unfortunately, the pucker factor kicked up when we lost Britt Simpson from D side but Justin Bailey made the read and traded with the center. This could have been played a hundred ways but I’ll take it. And of course, that left Aaron Pate in a one on one. Recognizing he needed to protect the buzzer, he did just that. Here’s something you may not know. When Pate went forward and shot Graham Arnold, he did so because he had no paint left. Big shout to my boy for winning a red/gold coin! Our second pucker factor moment was point 5 where we get a penalty. I thought Uprising was going to head to the corner and throw a guy under him. So we keyed up on that lane and got the wide kill. The penalty on us was thrown bang bang..like fast. Luckily, Drew Bell recognizes our situation and presses the issue. Great shift by the team to counter punch in a down body situation. The final point we continued to pour the gas but so did Uprising. Clutch play and zone control won the point though. Interestingly enough, we didn’t know it at the time, but we had just met all 4 goals we had set for this event.
Aaron Pate wins a One on One coin – guy goes through gloves EVERY match.
The New Orleans Hurricanes had just won our first match in the Pro division against a seasoned team. But we all knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. We refocused and set our sights on Impact. We would get a chance to scout their one game before we stepped on the field with them.
The Impact match is where I, as a coach, made my first mistake and failed my team. I’ll get to that in a moment. We knew this was going to be a major test of our capabilities. You can say whatever you want at a moment like this to your guys; “Paint breaks on them just like anyone else” and “I don’t care what their jersey says, your jersey says New Orleans Hurricanes and that means you deserve to be here and you play YOUR game”. First point we let them be first and take ground. The second point Impact’s guns off the break were spot on and they closed immediately, essentially cutting us off from a spread. 3rd point was more of the same. 4th point what can you say… we are talking world class guns here from a top team in the sport and Axel was in our snake before we knew the down count. But here’s the thing… at no point did we consider ourselves out of the match. There was still a lot of time on that clock. And we now had a confirmed understanding of their approach. Don’t get me wrong – NO ONE wants to go down 4-0 against Impact. But we figured out how to take their game-plan away. We shifted some guns and found one hole. We dropped Zack Hill and Trevor Reasor got shot on the pack as he left his bunker to trade with my guy. Ref 04 wiped him off after the check. Drew was able to turn the field though. 4-1 now.
I remember thinking after that point …
We knew heading into this event, it was a chaotic field. You can build off that chaos or let it destroy you. Obviously we want to build off of it and go forward. We traded with several bodies in the next point and came out ahead. Matt Hamilton made the snake and did damage which is what we needed. It’s now 4-2. We knew they wanted snake corner and we knew they would go short D side in an effort to bleed the clock counting on gun skills. So we put the guns on the snake, took ground there as well and used the center to slow the d-side in case I was wrong. We beat them to the snake and started digging out the kills. 4-3 and we are within 1. I’m thinking to myself, “if I am Impact how do I adjust?” Then I thought their ego may get the best of them. They were thinking, “Guys, get to your spots and just shoot these guys.” So, I thought we should make them show us those guns again. We gamble they would think we would try to make it out 5 alive with a conservative break to get our guns up but instead we took big bites. It paid off. 4-4, tie game. However, Impact would show us those guns again in the next point. 5-4. Some will say I shouldn’t have conceded the point when I did and that we should have thought about point margin. Trust me, I was thinking about point margin but I also recognized that my boys had dug and fought hard to come back and I was going to give them the opportunity to win this match. We would take the snake wedge but they would beat us to the snake on the next point. Zuppa catches Stu entering the seam but Drew catches Zuppa. This gives us the body advantage as Matt Jackson attempted to cross to d side earlier and failed. And then we had the snake… Aaron Smith gets in there which draws the gun allowing d-side to pressure. This is a pick your poison field and Impact chose theirs…with some help from a ref. Now… this next part is very crucial and where I made a mistake. Justin Cornell of Impact gets shot by Britt Simpson. Justin then proceeds to put paint on Britt and Drew (Britt told me he will never be that nice again and I believe him). What does the ref do when he sees the hit on JC? He simply pulls him and doesn’t throw the red flag. Even the crowd roared their disapproval. A hopper hit is a yellow if you pull the trigger (they didn’t hesitate to pull the yellow on Stu in the Uprising match). A hopper hit and then you shoot my guy much less two of them? That is and should be a textbook red flag. They should have pulled Justin and his snake player and Impact should have played down a body the next point putting the ‘Canes on the power play with 1:08 left. A 5 on 4 headed into that last point… who knows what would have happened. But what SHOULD have happened is I should have marched my Sicilian/Irish butt right over to Jason Trosen and said I want that last play reviewed and I want Impact playing a man down. I didn’t. I got caught up in determining what we should do next and didn’t think to do it. That will not happen again. The only good thing that comes out of it is that my boy Daniel Camp beats Nick Leival in a one on one with one of the coolest matrix-esque moves in paintball and gets a red/gold coin! 5-5. We were in Xball now… hats off to Impact on that last point. They did what they needed to do… 6-5 final with the win going to Impact. We were now sitting on a 1-1 record heading into the next day.
Daniel Camp wins a one on one coin!
We had scouted Diesel and the Russians. My initial thought was, Diesel will adjust. Pocket was not working for them. So let’s take this data we had on them with a grain of salt until we can review their fist match tomorrow. After reviewing our data on the Russians and re-watching their games, I didn’t see them needing to adjust too much. They played a very straight game. Bully a gun with two and take ground. Super fast and aggressive. We knew we needed to fight fire with fire. We thought we had the right approach. But then, everyone has a plan until you get punched in the face.
The Red Legion match was the one I was most interested and excited to play. These guys were back to full strength and are a machine. This would be another big test and boy was it. We actually bounced both their wide runners on the break in the first point. Woulda coulda shoulda… they didn’t break so, doesn’t matter. Control what you can control right? But our guns were there. Second point our guns were there again and we had position but the Russians had better field awareness than us. I’ll be honest with you… I don’t exactly know what happened on that 3rd point… they ran guns up wherever they wanted. We stick Kirill but then a grenade went off in our backfield. Jacob Searight tries to save the point with a great counter aggressive move but it is was too late. The next point we were just out-played. It’s going to happen at this level. 4-0. But we had been here before. We knew we had to push the pace harder and we did. We won some gun fights and pressed forward to put a point on the board. The next point both teams shot each others snake side 1’s but we take the center first. Thought we had them contained but we let legion spread out of the D-side can. We continue to press but we get caught each time. 5-1. “Be first, be fast, but check off – there is still plenty of time in this match”. We shot their D-side the next point but draw a minor. 6-1. We are now 1 point away from being mercied. But my guys kept their cool. I started doing the math with us being down by 5 with 6.5 minutes left. We realized we had time and we could still make a game of it. We shifted away from the two line approach, adjusted some line personnel to highlight what we wanted to do. Heavy guns up with a heavy center push to increase statistical survival on break. It pays off and we win the point in under the average time required. I figured we had a minute ten per point and we did it in a minute two if memory serves. We were ahead of the curve. 6-2. We made one more mild adjustment with the guns and it pays off again. 6-3. The guys were feeling it now. We know Kirill wanted to beat us to the center so we positioned for it. We moved the skirmish line to the 40 (save for the snake) and we closed it to within 2. 6-4. And we were still ahead of the average time per point necessary. But now we are in x ball. The Russians call a time out. The point starts and we end up with a 4 on 3 advantage. Then it became a 3 on 3 with just over 2 minutes (hey, the Russians are great gun fighters). Now, I will admit… I was considering point spread as the point evolved. Two small mistakes cost us that point. Again… I almost didn’t towel. But then I looked at my guys, they were composed and we are discussing what had happened at that point. One more baby. Lets go. Say what you want but my guys gave it their all in that last point and that match. I was smiling internally even with the loss.
Be sure to check out Kurrite Photography at https://www.kurrite.com/ and on IG at kurrite_photography
The next 2 hours were a roller coaster. There were some outside factors that may have “iced” our flow. But anyone who looks at outside factors like that and says that’s why we lost is a loser. You have to perform and execute no matter what. By the way, none of my guys let that stuff get them. This was me analyzing as I have a tendency to do. This is paintball. And AC Diesel came to play just like we did against our other 3 opponents. We knew what they wanted to do and we let them do it. We missed shots, played sloppy/loose, and the guys knew it. Hats off to Mark Johnson and his crew. But that is the difference at this level… consistency is key. I remember shaking hands with Diesel and saying to them, “Thank you for the education. Thank you for the lesson.” And I genuinely meant it. My guys are better for it.
Summation of the first event, we played well but we have a long way to go if we want to hang with the teams in this division. There are approximately 200 players who get to play at this level and we deserve to be among them. Yes, we had a good debut but we are not resting. We are learning. And we will continue to learn.
We set 4 goals headed into this event:
Win a point
Connect points (win two points back to back)
Win a match
Don’t get last
We succeeded in meeting all 4 goals at this first event. For that I am thankful and pleased. But there is more to do. More goals need to be added on top of those 4. These 4 will go with us the rest of the season. They won’t change. But goals 5 and 6 will.
A good friend of mine summed up the New Orleans Hurricanes pro debut in a rather succinct and profound way. He said, “You guys ate from every buffet table. You got a 6-0. You got 6-0’d. In bad weather conditions. Got in a close back and forth match against a top team (Impact). And got to play the Russians.”
I want to take a moment and thank Jared Lackey of Tampa Bay Damage (Formerly of Carolina Crisis). John Dresser of JT let me know that he was the one who designed our new jerseys. The jerseys are fire Jared. Thank you.
I want to thank Tim Land of Gi Sportz for taking good care of us at the paint truck. I am, for lack of a better word, a paint snob. Tim gets it. Thank you Tim. You are the man.
I want to thank another Tim but I don’t know his last name. Tim the Tech guy from Planet Eclipse. Dude was right there with us in the pits helping. He was polite, professional, and johnny on the spot. Sure, he is probably in the pits for all the Eclipse teams but it just felt good having him there. Dude was genuine and we appreciated it. If any of you reading this know his name, shoot it to me in a DM so I can contact him.
Shout out to Walker Gautsche from Carbon. Dude is always smiling and is just a pleasant person to be around. Hooked us up with our gear and we appreciate it!
I didn’t get to hang with any of the Virtue crew but thank you too! The hoppers performed flawlessly.
Thanks to Matty Marshal and Rich Telford for the respect. It is greatly appreciated. And a quick shout out to Mike Hinman for the support and after event advice.
Thank you to Matt Engles for making the old man feel like he belongs and to Mikey Candaleria for being a cool cat. A special thanks to George Fava – dude is legit professional and a pleasure to be around.
Thank you to the NXL for a well run event.
Before I close this out, I want to say something to our friends, family, and fans… Thank you for all the love and support. It was overwhelming and we want you to know we will continue to try and do you proud. We are truly blessed to have you all. More to come, we promise.
The first event of the NXL 2022 season is just four weeks away. Building off last month’s blog, I have continued to received even more questions about my personal thoughts on
1. How well I think we will do
2. How we will prepare
3. What we think about the draw
All legitimate questions and I am happy to answer them to my best ability one on one. However, let me answer as best I can right here:
1 – Simply, we will do our best. And that can mean a lot of things. We have a tough road ahead of us on several fronts. And we will meet it with the same vigor and aggression as before and then some.
2 – We will prepare as we always have: thorough study of layout, apply our strengths to said layout, and develop what we feel is the best approach to game-planning and execution dependent on layout/opponent.
3 – It’s a tough one. Say what you will about recent events, Impact still has tremendous talent. Their depth is substantial and they will have an axe to grind. Reports have Russian Legion back to full strength. That’s scary as hell for any team in the division. We know AC Diesel well and those cats are hungry. They were a semi pro team just 3 years ago and are a top 10 team already. And you can never look past Uprising. They have plenty of weapons on that team. They were a top 10 team as recently as 2019. So yeah, baptism by fire is coming.
It’s interesting because no one really cared when we were Semi-Pro. As a matter of fact, there is a large faction of NXL pro fans who still don’t know we are a professional team. That’s on us. We haven’t done a very good job with our brand. That will change. And it will change because we have decided we need to make that change. Us… the New Orleans Hurricanes. We decided to do better. So we are doing our best to up our exposure. We have decided as a team to take a positive approach to this new endeavor. And this is where we build off last months blog.
Last month we discussed developing SMART goals and how they can lend to creating a positive mental attitude… this month we will talk about what that positive mental attitude looks like from my perspective and how I think others should create or incorporate into their routine and, in essence, practice it.
Competitive Paintball teams devote hours upon hours of practice to honing their skills. At least, serious ones do. The physical aspect of our game requires a lot of training. Talent within that aspect of the game can take players pretty far. But only SO far. There needs to be several other components such as communication, teamwork, chemistry… But something that is occasionally overlooked and required (in my opinion) to maximize a player’s (and team’s) true potential is having a positive mental attitude.
Do you believe any elite players in any sport are successful because they hate what they are doing or have a negative perception of themselves, their team, or their capabilities? Positivity can be that force multiplier to get you where you want or need to be. Physical and mental energy, whether low or high, can and will affect how well you ultimately perform. So why wouldn’t we take note of it?
I believe in a positive culture but one that is ruled by accountability. When you have a negative Nancy culture that’s all finger pointing, no affirmation, dissing each other, and a coach yelling… well… yeah, sometimes that environment can create growth but only for so long. Negativity can promote a drive, sure… but not for the right reasons usually.
Being optimistic is not necessarily the same as being positive but it certainly can help. I try to build my guys up and I encourage each and everyone of them to do the same. Now, to be clear, should a mistake be made, and made again… and again… well, this is where the accountability “fail-safe” kicks in. Positivity is obviously not working… now it’s time for tough love. But be honest in that tough love and be sincere.
So what are some of the things that affect us in a negative way? Besides the obvious, like injuries, making the wrong read, giving bad data/communication during a game that costs you the point or match… think there is anything else?
For me, I sometimes get adversely affected by something I read or perhaps a family friend’s troubles (or my own) or all sorts of awful things present in the outside world (of paintball). But I have taught myself to recognize that and try not to bring that into my “other world”. I don’t always succeed and when I don’t, I make sure my guys know. And they usually know too before I say something.
One of the ways I use to defeat the negative creep is by (stand by for something that is going to sound crazy in 3…2…1…) talking to myself. I’ll turn my thoughts around and pump myself up by reminding myself of who I am, where I come from, why I am here in the first place. Or sometimes it is as simple as saying one of my family’s traditional Christian prayers. You can make one of your own – create a “catch phrase” or maybe words from one of your favorite songs, hell, listen to the damn thing if you have one of those little boxes with earphones that plays music (phones can do that now too, yeah?). When I’m feeling particularity spicy, I’ll reach back into the old man’s repertoire… I have been quoting Conan the Barbarian for quite awhile (movie came out in 84 I believe):
“Conan, what is best in life?” “To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women!”
Of course, sometimes just seeing my teammates lifts me up. Just takes that one to realize the camaraderie you have with these men.
Anyway, I find this an effective way to manage any negativity that can get in the way of me doing my job well.
As a matter of fact, research has shown that this technique not only helps reduce anxiety but effectively improves performance. Constant practice of this over a long period of time was shown to be more effective than just physical training alone. Start incorporating it into your training. You will be glad you did.
How many of you have used visualization? I talk about this all the time and tell my guys before each match to play the game in their heads. Visualize what you will see, what you will do, how you will do it, what it will all look like. I use to do this all the time when I was on the field. Still do actually… that is when I find myself on the field which is rare these days. Something I hope to remedy.
A positive attitude can not only help you stay motivated but help you meet any anxiety you may have head on. Listen, it doesn’t happen overnight. As with all change, it can take time. But I promise having a good attitude vs a bad one will positively affect your performance. Create that new mindset and see where it takes you.
Thinking positively before an upcoming and important match is a necessity to grow whether you win, lose, or draw. Self-affirmations have to be there. You have to believe you belong there. You have to believe you earned it. And that is what we will do in preparation for the first NXL event.
We did earn it. We do belong here. And we are going to do our best to be a positive force in the NXL pro division.
I value positive mental attitudes. I currently have 10 under me. All 10 know how to pump themselves up. All 10 know how to control their demeanor. All 10 have confidence in themselves and each other. And all 10 trust me and each other. That’s powerful stuff. But that is only half the battle. It will require us executing, playing as a team, communicating, hitting our shots… but you gotta start somewhere. You have to believe that you can do all those things. And if things go south? Okay – what did we learn? We know where we stand and we will just have to work harder and harder…
Failure is not a catastrophic end. At least not in this sport. But it can be a powerful motivator… as long as you stay positive about it.
Zen and the Art of Paintball 