#Zenandtheartofpaintball

Las Vegas 2024 Event Recap

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Have you ever heard the story about the little engine that could?  Let me tell you that story … toot, toot… and how Charlie rigged the trestle!

Okay, on a serious note…

Preparation

When the layout dropped, I think many had mixed thoughts about it, including myself.  At first I thought, okay – Lonestar concept from 2022 (as one Hurricane staff stated, “As if Vegas was cheating off Lonestar’s test but Lonestar said, make sure you can’t tell it was me”).  We met an important goal at that event two years ago and made our first Sunday.  I believe that success came from our due diligence of walking that field for 5 hours and putting together some good theories.  For this layout, I ended up doing a quick digital field walk live for The Coaches Show which was highly rushed. That is where I first recognized some possibilities. And then met with my guys to do the same thing on a Zoom call that same evening.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that some of us were a little apprehensive during and after the initial discussion.  We recognized early on that this layout had a lot of “holes” depending on circumstances displayed on the break. We would challenge that hypothesis during our layout practice against the ML Kings. As someone who wants to understand how to “control” a field, I was banging my head against the wall until two of my guys Justin Bailey and Britt Simpson said, “You have to let it go and trust us to make good decisions.” They were right. The prevailing wind was that, to lock anything down, you had to take ground early and fast (risk).  We decided, well heck, if we are going to do that, why lock down and not just attack.  In other words, you had to attack forward to get position to control… why not just press the attack. Pressure would be the key.  Once we decided this, it then became a question of statistical analysis on where best to attack from, the timing of it, how to create it when you couldn’t on the break, who to bully/pick on, so on and so forth.  It wasn’t that you couldn’t win from a pocket, but you were certainly at a disadvantage if your opponent was first and beat you out of it. This field could turn like a clock too.

So, we decided it was time to show the “old Canes” from before our pro debut.  Time to start throwing punches… and hard.  This approach became somewhat jeopardized due to the fact that Nic Ripple injured his ankle early on Sunday morning against the Kings along with Britt Simpson who tweaked his knee.  Couple that with not having one of our anchors, Aaron Pate, we were at a little of a detriment.  Or were we? This team has shown time and time again we can address adversity. What I love about my guys is they almost always rise to an occasion and this wouldn’t be any different. We adjusted. No fear, no complaining, just work. And that’s what I got out of them.  My guys answered the call and frankly, I didn’t have any doubt they would.

Headed into this event, we felt that the “D” side could be exploited occasionally along with a fair mixture of the “snake side” aggression. Our guns on break were still showing good statistics as well. We knew a lot of teams would put heavy guns snake way, allowing our risk vs reward approach on the D-side to work percentage wise. We worked on some center pushes, but the D-side attack made more statistical sense to us as the center was susceptible to several guns from several locations on the field.  Pretty much everyone could shoot you from somewhere and the routes were precarious.  We also wanted to try and hide our stack on top of mixing up where we would put players in an effort to be a little harder to scout. Not sure if the latter ended up working but the effort was there none the less.

VS IRONMEN

We had scrimmaged the Ironmen just 2 weeks prior to the layout dropping.  I thought this was advantageous for two reasons.  One, it would give me a good look at where my guys stood heading into the season after our disastrous World Cup and, two, give me insight into the Men’s new talent pool (we knew they were our first match at the event).  The data I got was insightful but when the layout dropped I had a new conundrum from the data set.  I wasn’t sure the data would hold given the layout… but it was better than nothing and we weren’t too far off with our assessment. Now, I don’t want to give too much away here but we were certainly paying attention to their stack on the box.  The first point both teams get all 5 out alive.  We overloaded the D-side and the Ironmen went for a heavy snake presence but pushed the weak D-side with Nicholaou.  We ended up in much better field position with the Men in the pocket save for Nicholaou.  But we made a mistake and a bad read/job was dropped here. We let Kyle take ground. Once Stuart made the corner, Bailey repositioned to counter Kyle.  But now our initial attack has stalled when we allowed Kyle to get a kill. Bailey tried to salvage the point. He made the right call but went just a little too wide on the stab. The Ironmen closed out the 3 on 2 well. 0-1 IRONMEN

We went with a snake attack with the intention to spread when the guns shifted.  We won the break out and Searight made the Ironmen’s side of the field pretty quickly. He began peeling bodies which allowed quick follow up guns with our 2’s.  Apologies to Omara- glad you found that wedding ring brother! 1-1 TIED

Similar break outs save for one asset with the Ironmen pulling up just short of snake where we tried to take it and got eliminated.  With our center tower holding snake way, and Daniel getting into the corner, we stalemated for a moment.  However, the Ironmen made the correct secondaries to the wides as well as the center.  Daniel countered with a snake move but we left him on an island. Which, I didn’t feel was the correct read.  Britt Simpson went to dig out Sentz who sold the ref on a penalty. 1-2 IRONMEN

We had to play a body down on the next point but that didn’t phase us.  We had a goal in mind and I had a time limit in my head for my 4 guys to get it done.  The play worked out but we lost Daniel on the break.  That didn’t change my time frame, especially since we got the set up we wanted… just meant one job had to change.  Even when we lost Drew, I saw Stuart see the line so I didn’t walk towards the concede button.  He almost pulled it off. So, now I had to concede since we lost Nic behind Stu too.  But there was still over 5 minutes on the clock.  PLENTY of time. 1-3 IRONMEN

We send Searight wide and deep to draw the gun out and up on the next play. Daniel then filtered underneath from home.  We also knew that the Men had shown a penchant to go weak D-side save for Nicholaou.  Daniel made it in, and we peeled a body for good measure blowing that side.  We knew that you could counter opposite side so jobs shifted to keep that from happening.  It was a well-executed play that took about 1 minute. 2-3 IRONMEN

I just knew that the Men would try to get to that snake corner. We keyed up, got the kill and were blessed that it wound up being a penalty for the Ironmen as well.  After 5 looks, we send a rabbit but with a twist.  We got to the D-side corner and fed from the home again.  It paid off. The Men were only using one gun to protect that way and with the penalty…well, there you go.  We won the point in about 45 seconds or so.  Tie game with 3 minutes left.  We had the momentum, but we weren’t going to come off the gas. 3-3 TIED

We wanted to get 5 out alive.  I gave Searight the freedom to make the read.  This was actually kind of funny… we shot one off the break and it drew another penalty for the Men which blew the side.  Searight entered the pit upset saying “I screwed that one up coach”.  I said, “You’re fine, we shot two on the break.”  He looks shocked and says, “Man, I REALLY screwed that one up then!”   Love that guy. He holds himself to a standard and, as a coach, you love to see it.  With the Ironmen’s D-side blown, Daniel shifted out to the corner for the wrap and trap. Drew Bell went aggressive on our D-side.  There was plenty of time on the clock. My guys pieced together the correct effective push.  Stuart backed Drew for a two man operation while Bailey and Daniel worked together to change the fronts.  When the Ironmen’s snake allowed it, Bailey took our snake and that was the nail in the coffin for the Ironmen.  They conceded with 21 seconds left on the clock.  But, as we had seen at practice, that is all the time you needed to punch a hole and get a body through.  So now I’m thinking, gotta risk some kill zones to protect…4-3 HURRICANES

We spread the field because we knew they wouldn’t get accurate guns up with 21 seconds. We made it out alive and zoned up. Game.  Close one.  We would have to play much tighter against the next team.  Hats off to the Ironmen. They will have a good season.

VS DAMAGE

I was happy we were able to catch Damage early in the prelims.  I was not happy we caught them after a loss.  Joey and I are both scouters who like to understand nuances about our upcoming opponents.  The question became, how to surmise their adjustments after the loss.  We concluded it was going to be leveraging Raney through the center.  We had shown how we ultimately wanted to play the field in the 7 points against Ironmen. I was hoping we could just make them play our game, react to us, chase us.  We also knew they would be staring into the sun the first point. I want to make sure we won everyone of those points, so we had to make it count.

Sure enough, we got in the snake and they used Raney up the center in what I assume was a plan to ambush my guy on his first engagement (whack a mole).  However, we shot their backline early.  This was probably because of the massive glare/sun they were looking into.  But Raney couldn’t see Searight who got a quick wrap and two kills before Raney cleared through the center to shoot Searight in the back.  Too little too late. 1-0 HURRICANES

The next point we were now facing the sun. We figured let’s get guns up, spread D-side to draw a gun and filter underneath into the snake.  Keith Brown made that snake side dorito (what we were calling the god) but seemed content to stay on containment, that or he wasn’t risking it weighing their guns against ours.  Again, we only had one gun to beat on that same top side. With it drawn deep, we determined we could go underneath with the late launch.  It worked.  Raney released to the center to maintain snake side dominance but I don’t think he knew or received the call that we were in the dorito side snake.  Daniel got a free kill on him.  Damage responded by Keith taking additional ground and getting support out behind him in that can.  We knew they were in there with us now though and we had the body advantage.  Damage was set up to push that way but Daniel readied for the trade and, having over watch, it essentially would come down to a gunfight… and we didn’t have to engage/fight Damage… we knew better.  Unfortunately, that led to them taking ground on the other side as well.  I’m in the pit WAITING for Keith to trade… and he does. We still had the 4-3 body advantage. 

Unfortunately, we gave them a body back (glare got Bailey, like a Douglas Dauntless out of the sun).  3 on 3 but Searight reacted well by getting that ground back D-side.  With Drew in the corner, Stu saw the opportunity and moved up the center with a smart probe and got the drop!  A 6-minute chess match of a point. 2-0 HURRICANES

We were back on the shadow side.  We had gone to the snake a lot so I asked Searight to take the corner.  Unfortunately, I got him shot.   Gratefully, our guns were hot and we traded him for Keith Brown AND Chris Horn.  They tried to take advantage of the chaos, but our zone control took another body. Nic got in on this one and clocked in.  We lost Stu but we were in a 3 on 2 situation and with a 2-point lead.  I looked at the clock and started trying to get it to go faster hoping Joey wouldn’t concede it.  He did. 3-0 HURRICANES

Joey pulled one out of our book by having Rainey shoot from home and feed weak D-side to that important wedge.  The rest was the same with Keith pulling up short in that large dorito snake way.  We lost one on the break but Rainey was picked off, leaving Britt Simpson in the snake alone on that side. He crawled into their side to apply pressure.  Damage looked to plug the hole by getting out into the baby dorito in front of Britt.  Keith finally fed the snake too.  We let a second body get out in front of Britt… and then they filled the corner behind Keith…frustrating.  Tandem line between Britt and our corner was too long.  If Britt had stayed still and relaxed, we would have probably burned more time off the clock.  When he was eliminated, it allowed Damage back into the match as we were now on our heels on the back line.  Drew was caught by Keith which allowed Keith the kill on Stu. This left Mike Brown in the corner.  Mike eliminated two but the Edwards brothers closed it out. 3-1 HURRICANES

About 4 minutes are left on the clock.  Again, we couldn’t sit on our laurels and try to “cross” it up here.  If we wanted to kill the clock, we had to attack and take the fight to Damage. That is what made this layout so derivative.  Our guns were hot on the break the next point, shooting two in conjunction with a minor penalty against Damage. Joey didn’t hesitate and conceded, only knocking 10 seconds off the clock. 4-1 HURRICANES

We were up by 3 with still just under 4 minutes on the clock (last point took less than 10 secs).  Meaning Damage had to win three points in a minute each to tie… certainly within the realm of possibility. But I knew my guys were in the flow state now and should be good.  I knew if we could stuff that next point we would be golden.  But Damage had other plans.  They took the snake and center on the break which we calculated they would do.  We shot the snake and bounced the center… but then WHAMO!  My guys started walking off in droves.  It wasn’t guns on the break, it was looking into first balls… not good.  As a coach I was now thinking I needed to make sure my guys didn’t let that one get in their head…They were way ahead of me of course and were ready to get that one back. 4-2 HURRICANES

We went high probability safety with two short secondaries for zone control (the Dynasty equation is what I am calling it right now).  However, we lost one early.  Not a disaster but not optimum.  People say we were going defensive… my comment to that is that if you felt we went defensive here, you don’t understand how the field plays. One of my guys dropped his job because (I think) he was called off of it allowing Keith into the snake. I don’t think we saw it because when he does get back on the job, he is shooting the zone to protect the snake entry Keith already went through (I later confirmed this was the case).  This causes the entire team to fall. 4-3 HURRICANES

Damage had less than a minute.  Knowing this, they probably aren’t getting more than 2-3 guns up on the break.  We wanted to get guns up and make a play for the weak D-side with a runner.  We shot one on the break and made the position necessary to counter center.  Sure enough, we shot center and now had control of 50% of the field.  I was a little concerned when we lost our snake side but when the clock hit 30 and Damage hadn’t come out of pocket yet, I knew we would win it.  The last second push by the two Damage players was valiant but not enough. My guys had the wherewithal to go get that last point. 5-3 HURRICANES

VS INFAMOUS

Jamroz was a player that could get into the snake at will on day 1. We wanted to get guns on him early.  We used Daniel Camp up the gut to add that on the break force multiplier since we hadn’t been using it.  Infamous put a ball on him anyway.  But we did get the kill… so it’s a 4 on 4 off the break.  I felt we got the better of the exchange though as we got a body wide (Britt Simpson) and we eliminated theirs.  With Britt wide, that allowed Drew Bell to make his way-out D-side and go to work increasing pressure.  Infamous reacted well though and gave themselves breathing room with two quick bumps to expand their pocket a little.  We were set to where they must risk going through guns to counter now and we had one piece (Drew) that could play offense.  Drew got his inside kill which would have been Infamous’ best chance to counter.  He ended up getting clipped by the god counter because we had let off that zone control in order to go offensive with a two-sided attack (timing).  We still had the advantage with positioning but then Infamous did a great expansion move while Mike Brown’s gun was out of the fight on his crawl in the snake.  Both Mike Brown and Infamous retreated out of their respective snake locations.  (Mike Brown and I will be working in the snake some upcoming practices- he said he has a newfound respect for his snake brethren).  He backed up only to have Stuart tell him he was moving the wrong way (you have to laugh at these things)!  Good thing too because Mike worked his way back and blew the side open.  Once that happened, Stu made the right read/move and helped close the game. Infamous conceded an essentially 6-minute point. 1-0 HURRICANES

Infamous wasn’t going to change anything. It would be two at home, the Aztec D-side, the mini wall snake way on a cross, and snake.  We had a similar break but went just short in the god.  We got a minor for a hopper hit which removed both of my home players.  However, Daniel Camp was out a little wider and now we were in a position to at least kill a little clock (as well as shoot a low probability bounce shot…).  But that low probability shot landed!  4 on 3 advantage Infamous but I don’t think Sam Silberg knew where the bodies were or maybe got some bad intel.  He gave us his body.  Now we had evened the count and we knew it.  The comms from my guys on this point (Searight, Bailey, and Daniel) were stellar.  Infamous made a good counter up the center and had the drop on Daniel but missed!  Daniel said screw it and went offensive once he tracked that Nate Schroeder had retreated.  Nate tried to get it back but a heads up play by Searight took him out of the equation.  This put us in a 3 on 2 scenario with Infamous on one side of the field.  As the clock dwindled under 5 minutes, I thought to myself, relax gentlemen, make them come.  Mr. Lemanski knew the score and smartly conceded with about 4:45 on clock. 2-0 HURRICANES

Infamous recognized the situation and had plenty of time to bring the match back.  We knew we had to fight fire with fire though on this field.  And we did.  Regrettably, we ended up in a 2 on 1 (Searight being the one) and they closed it out with about a minute twenty on the clock.  Funny, because that was the average time I had calculated to win a point.  That would play into the next point. 2-1 HURRICANES

Based off what I had seen from Infamous in this match and their two previous matches, I felt we had a pretty good understanding of what they could do or rather what they wanted to do.  If we could get 5 out alive, it would be our game.  They wanted ground so we would take ground too.  Snake on break and dorito corner (this was important) with three guns up was the play.  We made it out alive.  Not only were we in position to have eyes on access points, but we were in position to counter and steal a 3rd point when possible.  Once we got under 30 seconds, I turned away and walked deeper into the pit knowing we had sealed the deal.  Especially when I saw both 1’s for Infamous being overly cautious with their probes.  When the bodies start trading at 15, again, I wasn’t watching.  I was telling the pit crew great job not realizing that Searight would get a 3 pack on Infamous to truly close the door on the match (dorito corner). 2-1 HURRICANES

VS NOTORIOUS

We had 3 wins and were guaranteed a Sunday appearance.  No matter what happened in this match, we would win the bracket.  We discussed and decided we wanted to try a few things.  What I didn’t want to happen was for the match to get out of our hands… never thought that would happen, but it did.  I didn’t want to lose but thought this is exactly what the team needed headed into Sunday.  Hey, we had dodged some bullets earlier and this one landed.  We did get to try some center plays, some rope a dope plays, some pocket guns, and our fast point play. 

Besides their guns being very well dialed, Notorious used the center well (that and we were getting sloppy in our bunkers dying out of spots).  We gave them some help with penalties which was frustrating for me.  When we lost and realized we would be playing infamous the next morning, we looked at this match figuring Infamous would pay close attention to it.  And it appeared that they did.  Notorious (and our own sloppiness) had shown some teams how to beat us.  The good news was we could control the sloppiness and we could do something regarding the “game plan”.

Highlights of this match were point 2, point 6, point 9, and point 10. Yep, those are the points we won. LOL 6-4 NOTORIOUS

QUARTER FINALS VS INFAMOUS

When you are facing a team like Infamous, you’re going to have your hands full.  Like me, Travis was getting production out of everyone, but especially guys like Barret, Jamroz, Messer, and Hall. To prepare for this match, like I said earlier, we watched our loss to Notorious and cross referenced it with the data we had on Infamous already.  We felt Infamous would watch Notorious match and incorporate some of it into their game.  So, we looked at our game plans and made a micro adjustment or two.

The first point, we both came out with an identical breakout. Both teams hit the snake, us with Searight, them with Jamroz. The caveat being Britt Simpson has full reign to counter.  And he does, acting as a stop gap to Jamroz.  As anticipated, Infamous filtered to center to ambush Searight (Messer? Anyway, just like Notorious) and uses the mini wall D-side to contain him on the outside.  We had discussed it, Searight knows it, Bailey confirms it, and now Infamous was wasting two guns on one player.  This allowed our play to develop.  (Searight almost ambushed the Infamous player first but missed his first shot).  Searight settled in and waited while Stu moved behind him in the corner.  Bailey could come off assignment and get on the straights while Drew was able to force multiply top side with Britt.  Perfect execution of the game plan so far by my guys. 

But… Britt got clipped.  This hurt but wasn’t the end of the world.  Bailey now had to shift job assignments again. He stood tall for better eyes and worked towards Drew while Stu joined Searight in the snake to punch a hole.  I got a little concerned because, I saw the line for Infamous through the middle here.  But you could tell he (Messer?) was locked in on his job and wasn’t concerned about creating an opportunity and risking it.  Great comms from Stu and Bailey by the way.  Brusselback started to come and I knew Searight would get the kill. But then he changed his mind which extended this point passed 6 minutes.  Once Brusselback dropped back, he gets clipped anyway, and I knew we had won the point.  Searight could now play freely even with Messer who was probably thinking about that meme “I’m in danger”.  Unfortunately, we lost Drew.  Then, Stuart pressed too hard.  We were in position to take a beat, think it through, but I don’t blame him.  He was trying to make something happen which is what I expect from a dynamic player like him.  Bailey did what I ask of my guys as well; when in a down body situation, try to make something happen.  Jamroz made a good heads up play and hit the buzzer while Searight had to fight too many fronts.  All good.  A well fought point.  Plenty of time to get it back. 0-1 INFAMOUS

Again, I saw no reason to change our play.  I am surprised by Infamous’ choice to go corner D-side.  We made snake and that corner can’t contest us from there…  We got Daniel into Britt’s former spot and were set up well, especially since I don’t think our opponent saw Daniel delay feed the other snake. Infamous was so focused on Searight they didn’t see the second intended threat which was Daniel.  Daniel killed two in front of Searight and then traded with his third kill.  My guys closed the gap well with appropriate repositioning based off Infamous’ last two remaining players.  Tie ball game with just over 4 minutes on the clock. 1-1 TIED

There was a high percentage that Infamous would go back to their standard play of Jamroz to snake and the rest in their safe bunkers to try a slower filter to the center, perhaps use the center tower.  Sure enough, they did.  We made one little adjustment by pulling Daniel short in the mini wall D-side since we figured they won’t fall for it again.  Searight just happened to catch that Infamous didn’t stay in the tower and went to the center wedge.  Good catch as this ultimately saves us.  I will admit Infamous beat us to the punch here and were set up well to counter.  But we had seen this before.  Guns turned out to focus on the 1’s and my guys made the appropriate adjustment to counter as well.  We went with the 3/2 linear while infamous took a 3/2 spread.  It’s a crap shoot layout and this is a great example. But what should have been a total disaster struck with Stuart getting dinked and Drew Bell forcing an unnecessary fill at the time.  I think we were around the minute fifty mark… this was one for concern as I know the longest my guys held during practice in these positions was about 2 minutes (scenario training). But we were set up a little different than the optimum spots… still…concede…?

This was gut check time.  I asked myself, do I play the numbers or concede the point knowing, on average we will need a minute twenty or greater to tie.  I rolled the dice (we are in Vegas after all) and made the decision to ride.  The personnel I had out there were solid and in relatively good position. Glad I did.  This call wasn’t math or statistics anymore.  It was faith.  And there is a difference between belief and faith.  I held my rosary, said a short prayer, and watched my guys dig out a kill at 40 seconds. Then Daniel Camp makes a SICK snap on Jamroz at 20 seconds. Daniel was eliminated but Hall got picked up by Bailey and Searight traded at 4 seconds!  They didn’t get it!

Thank you, Lord, for that blessing and thank you to my guys for their composure.  This would not be the last blessing we would receive in this match. 1-1 STILL TIED

OVERTIME

Infamous won the break shooting Drew Bell for the first time but we succeeded in getting Searight out wide to draw the gun deep and fed Daniel Camp into the D-side snake again.  Daniel knew we had to win the snake war against Jamroz and posted up.  We went short to the god but Brusselback took the center looking to shut our progress off from there.  But he was clipped by Bailey.  4 on 4.  The pit side of the field is completely blown for both teams, but we had the slight advantage with Bailey’s gun in the pit side wing.  We let Barret Spread.  I felt like we could have gotten out of the back center sooner, but I didn’t know what heat was keeping Stu put.  I felt like we squandered the opportunity for Stu or Bailey to feed the snake or at least get wider.  Stu finally got out behind Bailey into the temple (good… not a big bite… meticulous and smart).  But Barret gets to corner.  Stu gets picked up… again, had we made this decision before we let him spread, we win in regulation, I feel.  Now we were under a minute and Infamous had the 4 on 3 body advantage as well as a slight positioning advantage.  Daniel pulled back to dorito 3 to set a trap for Jamroz.  Barret takes ground but Bailey became the Great Wall of China.  Barret gets Bailey, takes a second to kill Daniel, but Searight tucked tightly in the dorito corner, commits to just protecting the buzzer at 12 seconds. Searight shoots Barret, Messer clips Searight but doesn’t follow Barret up.  Wow… dodged a bullet there too!. AND STILL TIED 1-1

1v1’s

Drew Bell spread on Cali off the break and it was the right play at first.  Drew should have shot him as Cali left the back center.  All the same Drew caught Rudolph with his first jump shot.  Cali pulls the trigger and had paint in the air for the second jump shot but it was hard to catch.  Mutual.

Daniel Camp, after taking the initiative and then letting Joe Barret press the action, shot Joe with 10 seconds left on the clock.  Legend. Enough said. Incredible composure. Well done!

SEMI FINALS VS AFTERMATH

We watched Aftermath’s match against Bears.  I’m a little nervous that it might have been misleading since they mercied the Bears 6-0.  Couple that with the fact that they seemed to have a two-dimensional approach of thinking to the layout, I was a bit anxious.  It appeared they really only had two plays and their closing was inconsistent or rather, they appeared to try to do it alone or individually.  Would they have something deeper in their repertoire?  We were about to find out.  No matter what, our approach to the field, for all intents and purposes, should cancel out their specific approach.

Their VIP side shooter from home seemed to want to shoot wide and if he missed, he would shoot the blind up center then fill out.  They liked to feed the two mini walls and look for openings or try to win a gunfight. This would offer us an opportunity to double attack our dorito side with two bodies.  Searight drew the gun out wide, Aftermath switched his gun in, Daniel fed snake, Aftermath fed the mini wall with their snake side VIP runner short in the god.  We were now in position, but Camp got picked up somehow (he couldn’t tell me where the shot came from and I couldn’t place it in game either). Jacob Searight understood how important that position was to our goal and craftily begins to sneak in to fill Daniel’s former spot.

We got a body back (I don’t know if it was Stu or Bailey who picked off Grayson Gladstone).  Again, here is a situation where I felt Stu could have filtered out behind Bailey.  Bailey was playing that lay down on the straights and just being a rock.  Drew Bell spread to help Searight and we missed a shot on an Aftermath player (maybe a bounce?).  Searight finally got in and Stu spread behind Bailey.  Now, I’m somewhat happy in the pits… Stu got wide and fed Bailey underneath into the snake.  Yes, now we are cooking.  That was the set up that we wanted and needed.  We had penetration on both sides, but Searight was on their side of the field.  Aftermath must fight the wide fronts.  This allowed Stu to do what Stu does.  Work the center to close.  Once Bailey killed the Aztec in front of him, they scrambled into our guns.  A solid composed first point. 1-0 HURRICANES  

Aftermath went with their standard breakout with one adaptation and that was to the first big dorito.  That’s a hard gap and he got dinked.  We were essentially mirrored, and we had the one body advantage.  Once Daniel and Drew fed forward and out, Aftermath’s one in the god was pretty stuck.  That allowed Bailey to get on the straights and work with Searight.  Aftermath’s one in the god decided to gunfight into two guns and got caught.  Aftermath is quick to fill the Aztec behind that god loss but we now have a 5 on 3 body advantage along with a one-point lead and the clock was ticking.  I would be happy if we fed both snakes again at that point, wrap and trap, and make them concede.  Stu again had an untimely death, but Searight and Camp finally got on their horses and fed both snakes. I’m surprised the horn wasn’t blown sooner as Searight politely put 1-2 on the last Aftermath player. 2-0 HURRICANES

Aftermath figured they might as well go to the D-side snake on the break but didn’t make it.  Again, that’s a big gap for the home to shoot especially when you show it on the box and run high to the mini wall.  However, they finally committed past the god, which is what actually prolongs the point AND, should have won them the point too!  Castro has Daniel Camp and Drew Bell dead to rights and missed.  Castro finally got Daniel. Drew Bell tried to counter but threw his body away.   It was looking good for Aftermath, but they slept on Searight. He shot Castro from the opposite snake and then turned to go to work.  Aftermath’s dorito corner almost saved the point from Searight but missed as well.  Woodruff made a heads up play and tried to flip the field.  Mike Brown recognized it and countered by repositioning to back center to at least keep Woodruff honest.  What unfolded next was pretty spectacular.  Searight knew he had one body in front of him.  He backed up to where he can see both sides of the bunker in front of him and posts.  Sure enough, Grayson Gladstone launched on the highway and Searight caught him.  Gladstone missed Searight as I am sure he thought he would be elsewhere.  Aftermath made a desperation move inside, Mike Brown made the call, that Aftermath player gets eliminated by Searight. 3-0 HURRICANES

With less than 2 minutes on the clock we made one adjustment to ensure we got 5 bodies out alive without sacrificing guns on the break and it paid off.  Kill two Aftermath on the break.  5 on 3, we don’t have to do anything… made them come to us into the meat grinder.  We drew a minor but so did Aftermath.  Chaos there at the end. I didn’t envy the refs on this field. We will take it.

FINALS VS SAN DIEGO DYNASTY

Dynasty came out of a grinder bracket.  They were looking like the champions they are, and I don’t see why anyone would think any different.  We certainly didn’t have it easy during our tournament journey, not just because of our opponents but because of ourselves.  If we could fix the one or two mistakes we kept making, if we could process the scramble a little quicker, and keep our guns hot winning the breakout… we could win the event.  That’s what I was telling myself.  Yes, that is a lot of things when going up against the dragon but at no point was I doubtful that we would do these things.  We must, there is no other way to win.  That’s the difference maker in the pro division… processing speed and mistake free paintball.  Usually, the person who makes the first mistake pays for it.

I have heard the speculation that the moment might have been too much for us.  Whereas it is true this is our first trip to a finals match in the pro division, it isn’t our first trip to a finals match.  My guys did not feel any different than before any other match.  Yes, it was for all the marbles.  Didn’t change anything.  It doesn’t matter who we play or when we play them, we have to win.  Its so simple and people who make that part of the game, I get it… but it wasn’t an issue here. Again, I can understand those who thought it might have played a part.

I do want to address something that I heard over and over again this past week or so.  Why did we go defensive against Dynasty when we were up points?  I have a question in return… what match were you watching?  It wasn’t that we went defensive.  Dynasty’s guns got hot on the break and our processing slowed down.  They shot our attack on the break.  And our “attacks” were injured too.  My hat is off to my ones who were running their butts off and giving me everything I asked of them and then some.  Now, if you want to say we squandered some opportunities to have additional offense/aggression, that is where we will have common ground.  That is essentially where our “foot came off the gas” but I wouldn’t say we were defensive.  We gave every ounce of what we had left… and made some mistakes in the scramble. If you really want to dumb it down, it came down to two points. Choose any two points of regulation that we lost, give me one guy that stays alive for 5-6 seconds longer… and we would win 4-3 in regulation. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. It wasn’t our time. But we will get there.

Proud of my guys.  They played well.  They recognize what is in front of them this season.  It will not be easy. As Jocko Willink would say, “Good…”

Lao Tzu said that, “The key to growth is the introduction of higher dimensions of consciousness into our awareness.”  The Canes are aware now. And we are redefining our goals for the season.

Our journey is never ending. There has to be growth, there has to be improvement.  And it will most certainly come with and from some adversity.  We have to live in each of these moments and learn from them.  We must strive to do what is right and virtuous… the winning will come.

“If you aspire to the highest place, it is no disgrace to stop at the second…” – Cicero

Be water my friends.

Critical Mass… or is it?

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How many of you take stock at the end of the season with your own introspection?  What do I mean by this… put plainly, do you or did you take the time to truly examine your own mental and emotional processes.  Did they serve you well during the season?  Did you falter at some point?  If so, why, and how did you address it? This should be done after each practice, each event, each performance, and not just at the end of the season in my opinion.

Did you go back and watch tape?  Did you go back and read notes?  Did you even take notes? Did you track what you were doing, how you were doing it, and why?  What was working and wasn’t working throughout the season?

If you aren’t doing this or something similar to it, you are probably failing yourself as a player… and most certainly as a coach. That is the first point I wanted to make.

But I want to get into something way more introspective, maybe even a little controversial, and heavy. But, hey, this is my blog and if you don’t agree or don’t like it, kick rocks and pound sand. I’m feeling called to talk about this so here we go.

If you have followed me for any amount of time, you have heard me quote the stoics at least once… Outside of my Catholic faith (but not necessarily mutually exclusive), I try to live by the stoic principles of life.  If I were to sum up the stoic mindset, it would be that we are how we react to experiences.

Socrates said, “Let him that would move the world first move himself.”

“I am not Socrates… and that’s okay.” – photo courtesy of Fava Photography

But what is the opposite of this?  What is the counter to a person who tries to be the best version of themselves and where can that counter come from?  And why does it rear its ugly head?  If you don’t or haven’t experienced this, outstanding!  If you do, perhaps what I am going to share will help in some small manner.

I am very critical of myself.  More so than with my players.  I hold myself to a standard that, when I feel I have not met it, I become supercharged, almost rabid about trying to “fix” or improve it. In some cases, carelessly so. After all, I am only human. 

I have met people who are similar but don’t have my response. In fact, they have quite the opposite response and you are seeing it become quite prevalent in many of the younger generation. And that is what I want to talk about. It is easy to fall for that inner voice that sows doubt, confusion, and distress.  But what is that?  What is that really?

I was recently exposed to several people like this over the past few months and didn’t realize it until I had a conversation with my wife. So I started reading about it.  In Psychology, there is a phrase called the “critical inner voice”.  It is defined as “… a well-integrated pattern of destructive thoughts toward ourselves and others.”  It’s that voice in your head that leads you to detrimental behaviors or keeps us from avoiding the effort it would take to improve.

I am going to try and apply this to Paintball. Recognizing that you are being too critical of yourself, or your team is difficult but important.  There has to be a balance with criticism, a point that isn’t necessarily crossed.  No, I am not saying you need to be nice or to act or speak about how “everything will be okay.”  I am simply saying we should try to recognize that there may be factors outside of what is really happening that are adversely affecting you or the player or the team’s performance that you may not immediately recognize or see.  THIS IS NOT AN EXCUSE.  I hate excuses. This is recognizing a problem, albeit a convoluted and mysterious one, and trying to solve it.

Criticism is important as long as it is constructive. It doesn’t have to be harsh…

How many of you have said to yourself, “I suck at this.”?  Why?  Did someone tell you were bad at a thing?  Was that person a subject matter expert on this thing or perhaps someone with authority or position?  Did they somehow set a bar that you didn’t immediately meet?  Did they express disappointment and gave up on you?

I will share a personal story with you.  Several years ago, I was told that I wasn’t very good at paintball.  As a matter of fact, I was told, “We can’t win with you on the field, but we can’t win without you at the event.”  I didn’t agree… at all.  And I knew better.  All that did was motivate me, drive me, and believe it or not, that was the catalyst that led to the creation of http://www.Zenandtheartofpaintball.com.

That is an example of an external voice but what about the internal ones…the ones we create.  The external voices from our past can certainly create the internal voices of today.   That devil on your shoulder telling you all the negative things about yourself is a manifestation of some earlier experience.  I’ll share another personal story.  When the New Orleans Hurricanes won the pro spot at the end of ’21, I had an inner voice telling me, “This is a WHOLE different level.  You can’t coach at this level.  You are going to make mistakes and they will be on the webcast for all to see… and they’re all going to laugh at you.  Zen and the art of paintball… ha!  No one thinks the Canes’ can compete at the pro level!  And everyone thinks your processes and your blog are stupid.”

That voice was LOUD.  But that’s all it was… noise.  I would do my best and continue to learn and grow with the team.  And that’s what I did. I doubled down on my thoughts, procedures and processes. And my team doubled down with me and supported me with their incredible minds and work ethic as well. I/we shut that voice up.

When Matty Marshall first asked me up into the booth to commentate (and each time since actually), here came that voice… “You are going to sound or say something stupid.  And then you will become an internet meme. You will no longer be taken seriously!”

I believe this was my 3rd time in the booth. Learned a lot from these two gentlemen, and continue to do so

Yet Matty keeps asking me up.  And that voice has been awfully quiet.  Sure, I hear it way in the distance but I enjoy commentating with Matty and all the cool cats I get to commentate with. I learn so much when I am up there. I look forward to it now because it is an opportunity to learn and, let’s face it, it can be a lot of fun.

When my friend Ryan Gray asked me to do a podcast with him, there came a chorus of voices!  “You are not on the same level as this man or any of the other professional coaches for that matter.  You will be exposed when they hear how you do things, and you will be laughed at by everyone. Not only that, but this is not your radio days, you have a FACE for radio and now you will be on camera.  So not only will you sound stupid, you will look stupid too.”

That voice was with me at the first show having just come off a 1-3 performance at Cup. But the more I listened to my friends, constituents, and the other coaches, I realized they weren’t much different from me. I haven’t heard it since. I look forward to each and every show now. The thing we fear is rarely the monster we make it out to be.

We all have our heroes.  Whether they are a family member, a musician, an actor, a friend, a literary character, what have you… they are our heroes because they were able to DO something, OVERCOME something, SUCCEED at or ACCOMPLISH something.  Now they may have been able to do it without adversity or criticism or made it look easy… but I promise you, at one point, they had a doubt or hurdle that they had to overcome. Heck, my heroes had to overcome HORRORS!

Coach Ryan Gray and author Mike Bianca (Zen) – check us out on our Podcast “The Coaches Show”

Here’s my point.  What is the difference between the hero and the coward?  It’s simple really, the hero acts.  That’s it, that’s the difference.  They both experience fear but one simply doesn’t let it control him. Read that again.

I believe that leadership and accountability start at the top.  The coach is responsible for how the team prepares and ultimately performs. The buck stops here.  So, that inner voice has told me plenty of times that I couldn’t hack it.  True story, I have been told that A LOT through out my life.  But like I have always done, I fought back.  But before I could, I had to recognize a few things.

Where was this doubt, this critical thought process of my capabilities, coming from? Oh, I knew.  It was like clockwork. When I set out to do something and didn’t succeed at first, I was usually told by someone, (whether that was a family member, a friend, or heck, myself!) “You can’t hack it… move on, do something else.  You aren’t built for this or that.”  But if you truly want something, you will find a way.  Otherwise you will find an excuse. And what do we think of excuses?

According to Marcus Aurelius, the rules of a stoic mind are as follows:

  1. Keep an untroubled spirit.
  2. Look things in the face and know them for what they are.
Marcus had an epic beard and Aaron Pate hair…

The ancient stoics didn’t let hardships throw them off balance.  Instead, they looked at situations objectively.  They were able to understand them and recognize them for what they really were… not what their emotions made them out to be.  That’s why we must develop the strength to not immediately jump to conclusions.  We should not LEAD with emotions.  We must be disciplined in our approach.  If we can do that, we can keep that critical inner voice in check and our spirit untroubled, but more importantly, keep our judgement sharp. 

But what if you are struggling on this front? What if that critical inner voice is starting to grow loud and, God forbid, win out? The first thing you need to understand and recognize is that voice is NOT a moral compass. It is not a conscience or anything of the sort. If it were, it certainly wouldn’t be so negative. No, that voice is the enemy. And just like an enemy, it must be beaten, conquered, and diminished to never be a threat again! Once you become cognitive of this, you can challenge it and you can defeat it. Know thy enemy. You are in control and you can now act against that voice and what it is advocating. Take back what is yours and actively pursue your own improvement and happiness. No one needs to be a victim unless you actively choose to be. Look at Epictetus, a famous stoic… he was born into slavery but they could not chain his mind… imagine that kind of power.

You can do this.  If I can, anyone can.  Now… go get some.

Be water my friends

2023 World Cup Recap

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Disaster? Calamity? Disappointment? Bust? The fact of the matter is, none of these words meet the threshold of emotion all of us felt during and after this event. The catastrophic failure this team experienced at the World Cup was heartbreaking to say the least. So much so, I was half tempted to simply post our game footage on this blog and let it speak for itself. But I love this team too much not to address what happened. This blog will not be the event recap I normally do, taking you through each match, each point, and the thought process behind it all. Rather, this will be an examination of what I believe went wrong and led to such a abhorrent and frustrating event.

I have lost count of texts, phone calls, DMs, etc. from others asking me what happened… what went wrong. For some, I gave the straight forward, logical answer – failure to execute the game plan in a professional and disciplined manner conflated with a total and utter lack of communication and understanding of the situation. For others, I gave a more simplistic response because I didn’t want to continually vomit the team’s list of blunders – the guys just weren’t playing well or together.

When you and your team have worked hard to develop a system of structure and processes that have led to achieving several successes and goals, it can be difficult to swallow when something like this event transpires. However, we have no one to blame but ourselves. We have overcome countless adversities since beginning my tenure as coach of the New Orleans Hurricanes. It didn’t matter the obstacle or dilemma, we always met any and all issues with the same efficacy, the same energy, and way more often than not, we overcame the issue(s). And we almost always did so as a unit, it was never an individual achievement. A tip of the spear warrior like indomitable approach to problem solving. We trust each other indefinitely, and this has created an internal confidence that isn’t outwardly exuded nor commonly noticed. Don’t be fooled into thinking our humility isn’t a strength. It’s our trust and honesty with one another that has propelled us to where we are. And here is some now…

As field owner Drew Bankston said at the event, “You guys are built for this.” He is right. We are built to reach our goals. We are built to continually improve. We are built to play a practical, tactical, and strategic game of paintball at a high level. And we are built to overcome adversity.

But sometimes, WE are that adversity. We can’t help but get in our own way. We create a lot of our own problems. And once the team figures out how to remove that one gnawing flaw, we are going to move from being a pretty damn good paintball team to a great one. Not that we aren’t now, but we can ALWAYS be better. Like my friend Ryan Gray says, don’t be better… just be good.

So, what is the answer to what happened? Whereas it can certainly be summed up as poor discipline and bad execution of the game plan… WHY did that happen? What were the elements and variables that were present at this event that weren’t at the last 4 events? As a coach, it is my job to, not only recognize and address the latitude and trajectories that led to our poor performance, but to ensure they don’t happen again.

We have to go back to the beginning on our quest for understanding. Headed into this event, coming off a 5th place finish in Chicago, we were finally whole again. We were healed up and everyone was in a good place. Sure, the pressures of life is constant but none of us were in a place any different than any of the other events. For all intents and purposes, being back to 100% with the entire roster good to go, this was primed to be an excellent event for us. No, personnel was good. Not the issue.

How was our layout practice preparation? Was that an issue? It wasn’t that we didn’t know how to play the field. We did. The game plans and understanding of the field were there. Do I feel it had the pressure testing we have been used to this past season? If I am being honest, no. And that is on me. It is one thing to know that the field is going to play a certain way, it is another to know it will be played a certain way by our specific opponents. But understanding that is completely different from playing, seeing, and being tested against it in real time. Real data and seeing those tactical approaches live, creating that scenario paintball, having those approaches executed on you regularly and consistently is vital. Could this have been part of our problem? I will say yes, it certainly played a role into it but it was, by no means, all or even a majority of it. Notice how I say “part of OUR problem”. That is intentional because it isn’t an excuse…it is recognizing that we created some adversity for ourselves.

*Zen Note – congratulations to Columbus LVL, our practice partner for this event, on their Sunday appearance! Well done gentlemen!

I do want to address some comments I received about part of our problem being that we didn’t participate in the 7-3 format exhibition on Wednesday. Whereas, I certainly agree that the teams who participated had an advantage with additional looks and were warmed up for the next days play, we didn’t see it as necessity. You have to weigh matters when considering these things. We were way more banged up in Chicago than we let on and we had just gotten healthy. I needed everyone to remain healthy through World Cup and taking the risk of injury prior to the actual event itself didn’t make sense at the time. Couple this with the fact we are a self funded team, that additional expense of entry and paint just wasn’t in the cards. Those two major factors were enough for us to decide not to participate. We also saw it as an advantage to scout and see if our theories on how the field would play were accurate, as well as obtain data on our opponents. Hindsight being 20/20, sure it would have been advantageous, but you play the cards you are dealt.

*Zen Note – We did opt for a quick practice with the Lucky 15’s. Great sparring partner for the day before to warm up our guns and give each other feedback. By the way, congratulations to them as well for their Sunday appearance!

Okay, so perhaps our practice/preparation played a small role in our performance but I still think that was not the major factor that led to this dismal performance. My guys are highly intelligent paintball players and recognized what needed to happen. And it didn’t.

It wasn’t the paint. I personally tested the paint (which I do every event and anyone who knows me or has seen my process knows I am a paint snob for lack of a better term). The paint shot great all weekend. BUT… we were not hitting our shots on the break like we were at practice. We had solid guns on the break against LVL the weekend before and that continued on the Wednesday practice against the 15’s… so no, it wasn’t the paint but our lanes, which we are known for, weren’t there consistently. And that is the whole purpose for the team to have the 1 hour practice the day before, get those dialed in the day before. Have to chalk this up as an element.

We can’t blame the penalties. Sure, maybe one or two of them were thrown a little sooner than normal but for the most part, I didn’t see any that under the rules, shouldn’t have been a penalty. You get hit in the hopper and don’t know it? Yeah, that’s a minor. You get hit in the pack and didn’t know it? Yeah, that’s a minor. No, you can’t blame penalties. And any team that does is missing the bigger picture. Though, I must admit, the amount we got this event was greater than our combined total for the last two years. It was as if we were “forcing it”. And that can lead to mistakes. Usually, penalties like that and as often as that usually lends to a lack of focus by the players, at least in my experience. Okay, maybe we are onto something here…

What can we look at next? The psychology or mind set? Psychologically, as I stated earlier, we all seemed squared away. It wasn’t overconfidence or looking past anyone. We treat every match as if we are playing Dynasty. Our mindset has always been nothing is given, it must be earned. What was happening mentally that may have taken a toll? Was it the pressure of the moment? Possibly. If so, I’m not in my guys heads as much as I thought apparently because I don’t believe the moment has ever gotten to us. I have had countless conversations on the topic over the years that are to the contrary, and have seen no signs that elude to the pressure of the moment ever being an issue at this event or any other event for that matter. Unless something is being hidden and I don’t think that is the case as we have always been incredibly open with each other about happenings in each others’ lives.

Drew Bankston – Field Owner of LA Xtreme in Slidell, LA

What other variables or elements may have occurred or were present that was out of the norm? Could it have been that we had several wives, girlfriends, children, and parents staying under the same roof with us? Quite possibly. I know on every team I had coached prior, we had a standing rule, no significant others until after prelims. The team stays together and does everything together. No exceptions. And after discussing with several other coaches, it would appear this is the standard by which most teams abide. But here’s where I doubt this one. We have had wives, girlfriends, children and parents at other events this year and we did fine. No, we were not all under the same roof, and no, it wasn’t all of them (just a few), but they were present at the event or even in the pit. So there is a flaw in that theory. But it may still be valid. And who am I to tell a grown man paying his own way that he can’t bring family? Was that the issue? Were we in “vacation” mode? Distracted from the event at hand thinking about our loved ones and their safety/fun? Perhaps the answer is, the team all stay together and everyone else stays together somewhere else or arrives later? Maybe I implement that next year… I don’t know. Certainly a topic of discussion heading into next season that must be had. Because I can’t think of anything else that may have added to lost focus.

When I come to these events, my focus is the performance of the team. I need to put my players in the best possible position to succeed. We work hard prior to and during the event. I don’t come to events with any other intent than to win and put our best foot forward. We are spending a lot of money and time to participate in this sport and play at this level. This is not a vacation for me and I have never looked at it that way. If anything, it is additional stress but it is with people I love and that’s why i do it. The passion of the game and the comradery. I love being around my guys and I honestly hate that we all don’t live closer together. There is no one else I would rather win with. You know, because winning is fun. And we need to remember that. I love each and everyone of them and their families. And I love what we have created together. And that we include the families because they sacrifice a lot too. Balance will be the key.

Where does this leave us? Deductive reasoning, unless told otherwise by my guys (which at the time of this writing has not happened obviously), we need to shore up our event prep, pressure test ourselves more against top level teams, and limit distractions at the event. But ultimately it was our lack off communication, lack of discipline, and lack of execution that cost us. No one and no one thing is to blame other than ourselves. That’s it. Done. Move on and fix it.

Ultimately, the answer to this is simple… It comes down to a failure of leadership. It falls on me. It starts at the top and no one understands this better than me. “Victory has a thousand fathers but defeat is an orphan.” I have to do better. Whatever the causes, I either missed them, didn’t recognize them in time, or if I did, I chose the wrong solution. The journey of a leader/coach/captain is never ending. There must be growth, there must be the constant quest for improvement, and there must be a determination to overcome adversity. If I can continue to do what is right… if I can continue to grow in this role as my team grows, if we can live in the moment and truly recognize what that means… then we should be fine. I would much rather chase continuous improvement than perfection. A harsh lesson that was heard loud and clear. It is time to OODA loop! (my military friends will know…). Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act. I will save this for a future blog.

If you haven’t had a chance to see this great vid produced by Planet Eclipse about the New Orleans Hurricanes, here is the link. Go check it out, give it a like and share. Also, be sure to like and subscribe to the https://www.facebook.com/thecoachesshow where Ryan and I will bring you the latest and greatest news, stories, and analysis in paintball.

Until next season…

Be water my friends.

2023 NXL Windy City Major Recap

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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”…

Be water my friends,

NXL Sunshine State Major 2023 Recap

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When the draw was first released, I was very pleased. I knew that if we could get through that crucible of a prelims to start the season off, it would not only be a good event, but set the stage for the rest of the season for the squad. Getting tested early is always a good thing.
Here is how I looked at it. Heat was the #2 team in the world headed into this event and I wanted them first. They would be a great test early on for our unorthodox approach to the layout. We had Revo next. I also wanted to catch them early. Revo is one of those teams that usually the deeper you meet them, the better they are. Obviously Mark Johnson’s power moves in the off season with AC Diesel would make for a rather difficult test for our sophomore debut. And finally, my friends Shane Pestana and Mike Paxson coaching and rebuilding the Ironmen was going to be a “hum-dinger” for sure.

There were two ways to play this field successfully in my view. Knowing where your opponent is and where he wants to be is an important aspect of the game (duh). My approach to this particular layout was you either took ground early and aggressively, then permeated and let your opponent fight his way to you, forcing moves, or you sat back, let things develop a little, and then threw a well planned/timed counter punch. This concept of mine was initially met with some consternation from my guys. And that was understandable. We like data and knowing where people are for zone control, counter punching, and offense. But you couldn’t always know where an opponent was on this field. Sure, you had an IDEA…but you didn’t really know for sure until you did and even then, he may have switched positions seconds later. So, we had to make fear of the unknown our ally. And we did. We did this through intelligent assumption (we will say deductive reasoning) and focusing on our communication. With the right discipline and comms, the guys would discern the data.

Vs Houston Heat

We wanted to get a little aggressive the first point. We pushed dorito side. The penalty on Stuart Ridgel was absolute horse manure. I watched him from the pit because he and I discussed getting his gun up and moving from center up into the center aztec to make a read. When he went into the bunker he steps on a ball and it squirts paint up on the back of his left thigh. I know this because I watched it happen. I thought the ref was headed in to wipe him off…
Anytime you are in a 2 body deficit against Heat, it is grim. Time was important on this field (I had determined 70% “slow” and 30% “fast” at the previous weekend’s practice) so when we lost Britt almost 3 minutes after the penalty, I figured I’d give my guys a few seconds to dig a surprise kill out, especially when the two are Drew Bell and Aaron Pate. Heat did press but I decided to get 5 guys back out there and start fresh. 0-1.

Our guns on break and zone control gave us a 2 body advantage on the next point. Then we began our slow meticulous squeeze. My guys didn’t get in a hurry, understood their roles and what needed to happen when we drop the d side. On this field, just because a side was blown did not mean there were not threats. However, we also know that if you are in that position, you will want to spread if possible. We positioned appropriately and made Heat fight too many fronts. 1-1.

The next point ultimately decided the outcome of the match. Both teams traded bodies early from key positions creating a 4 on 4. Heat established a center presence early but Mike Brown’s discipline on his job was outstanding. Unfortunately, MB got caught (hey, it happens) creating a 3 on 3 scenario. And this is where I feel the deciding factor took place in the match. Sam Monville’s patience can only be described as extraordinary. It’s almost as if he was wearing a Canes jersey. He became a part of that bunker. And, as was apt to happen on this field, we lost a body in the scramble and didn’t piece his position together. The guys would tell me later where they thought he was. The clock continued to dwindle. At one point, I got pretty excited because Sam did come off his post and went inside for a moment. When Nic did decide to go, I thought to myself, he knows and is going to stick Sam! He did not.This point I feel would be completely different if Nic traded or we knew where Sam was to begin with. Lesson learned (and discussed at length)

We were now forced to press into the guns with 1 minute left. We actually made our spots but our snake side attack looked into the first ball once there. The coup de gras was another minor, this one legit. A good chess match but penalties killed us. Two penalties and a loss by two. Coincidence? Probably not. But that’s my story and I’m sticking with it. Britt Simpson would have pulled off a point stealing run if there would have been 2-3 more seconds on the clock in the final breakout. Heat wins 3-1.

Vs Baltimore Revo

We never played Revo in our rookie season last year. I always thought it would be an interesting match up of styles. We only had a chance to scout their match against AC Diesel, and even then it was while we were playing. Even with the limited data, we were able to extrapolate a rough conceptual idea. Then it was a matter of addressing that concept with our own approach. Like I said earlier, Revo is one of those teams that gets better as the event goes. Revo liked to get those guns up D side with a pocket shooter (I think they used Benny Carrol for this) so we thought on the first point, we should take advantage of that. Revo won some first engagement shots though and went up bodies early. They were quick to their secondaries too, much faster than in their first match (good adjustment). They made some good reads and upped the aggression. My guys quickly adjusted to slow things down and assess that first point but Revo found the hole. 0-1.

Next point we wanted to spread and see. We lost one on the break but we get one back due to an over eager Revo player. Coupled with the data we already had, this was really the point that gave me the insight we needed. They wanted to control the center. Zone control with over-watch gave us another kill. First engagement issues continued to plague us but we closed the point out. 1-1

The next point our play goes a little south as we lost two on the break but we evened it up almost immediately based off the hole Revo showed. Then Stuart Ridgel did some Stuart Ridgel stuff. This man is quickly becoming elite and if his dissection of that close out didn’t show it, I don’t know what else you have to do. 2-1

*Zen note – Just a personal opinion here and I am obviously biased but my thought is he should have got move of the prelims and the $500 cash. It is move of the prelims, not “scenario move” of the prelims. Nothing against Askren but if you don’t know to run your ass down the field with 10 seconds left to try and steal a point, your PB IQ is deficient. But if you can single handedly figure out how to do a 3 pack clean against Revo… that’s DOING something and shows a high in game processing speed.

I decided to get aggressive snake side and see Revo’s reaction. They reacted well but this allowed us to put an asset in position right behind our initial goal and create tension for the center, which is what Revo wants to control. But, best laid plans seldom survive first contact. We peeled one off but lost Nic. Stu played savior once again and traded. Even if he hadn’t, it’s a 2v2 and we were in position where we could burn the clock since we were up 1. However, it was not necessary as Stu did get his trade and we closed it out. 3-1

Still plenty of time on the clock. As the Hurricanes have proven several times this year, the clock is an integral part of the game. Knowing Revo wanted to get that extra gun up, we wanted to try pressing the issue again D side and it paid off. We got a kill on the break and established a heavy D presence off the rip. The beauty of this was, if/when my D side attacker makes it, now they HAD to contend with his presence and they could only do that from one of a few locations (based off their breakouts). If he wasn’t successful, I still felt confident we would kill off time. Couple that with Revo having to push, this would offer us opportunities to intercept them. The asset up front in conjunction with the spread created a win/win scenario. That successful D side run and the short snake presence allowed us to really stymie any aggression from Revo. Then the “Bash Brothers” pull one of their patented “make coach pee himself a little” moves… but it actually ended up working out. Revo doesn’t see Drew join Britt in his bunker. Britt’s gun was inside making Revo think, okay, there he is, and allows Drew to peel two off. 4-1

Revo called a timeout since they only had 3-4 minutes to score 3 points and/or reduce the point spread. There was a small misunderstanding on the box for the Canes. Yes, we had a conversation about it in the pit afterwards but as a coach, you certainly don’t want to let your team dwell on something like that. Especially since I felt I was accountable for not being more clear and concise in my explanation of what I wanted. Move on, next point. Revo did a good job and took advantage to get the point with just over 2 minutes left on the clock. 4-2.

In the final point of the match, we wanted to contest them with a center presence and take the corners in case it didn’t work out. We shot two on the break but they eliminated our center presence. At that point I knew it was in the bag because of positioning. My guys don’t have to engage but can control a zone. A Revo player tried to get creative D side, it didn’t pay off, leaving the two remaining Revo players with a heavy lift of pushing into 3 disciplined Hurricane guns. A trade happened snake side leaving it a 2 on 1, Hurricane’s favor. Pate re-positions to snake corner and Johnny’s your uncle. Canes win 4-2.

One and one for the day. Both our matches were afternoon (2 and 4pm). The next day though we were looking at an 11:20 am match followed by a 4 pm match. That is a LOT of downtime. So we got together for a team meeting, did our homework on Diesel and Ironmen, and then developed our logistics for the next day. We also knew we would have an opportunity to scout the Ironmen one more time. With our plans set, we went to sleep feeling rather confident.

VS AC Diesel

I felt like Mark had respect for us and would not be flippant about our match. We anticipated a slow grind. We wanted to set the pace and drag them into the deep end of the pool with our style of play. We had a good understanding of the field and we wanted to leverage that. But we also felt like they would adjust. It is always a crap shoot day 2 on what your first opponent on day two will present. First point, we got our guns up, got 5 out alive in an effort to assess and counter. As expected, when Diesel saw an opportunity they capitalized. We lost some gun fights but now we were smarter for it. For this particular field, you didn’t necessarily have to engage. We decided to spread and assess again. Small hiccup to begin with but it pays off. Tie ball game. 1-1

We knew there was a statistical probability they were going to spread the next point, it was just a matter of who we were going to pick on off the break. The paint shot straight and true and we found ourselves with a 4 on 2 advantage pretty quick. Knowing we had the higher probability of going up a point while burning clock, Diesel smartly conceded the point to get 5 fresh back out there. And why wouldn’t you? On paper, you had to think to yourself, “AC’s best 5 versus the Canes best 5, AC wins the majority of the time.” But people said that all last year to us. We would just smile and think, keep telling yourself that, it’s eventually going to bite you in the ass, develop lockjaw, and drag you to death. 2-1 Canes

Again, we determine Diesel wanted to stack that snake side. We decided to spread the field with a free wheeler. Their stack would determine where our free wheeler would become a force multiplier. Sure enough, Diesel conceded the d-side, content to hold and stacked the snake side. We contained d side essentially with one gun (a risk but based off 2 days of playing and watching the layout, it seemed worth it). Once the widest D side fell, it forced their home to plug the hole and turn a gun from snake side to contend. Thing is, we weren’t in a hurry. We had the advantage and we were going to make them work for it at this point. And our free wheeler never had to really commit to anything. My guys won some good gun fights too. 3-1

It was obvious now, even with the time left, they would now try to get out D side. Nico was out there so we were confident in the call. We put two guns on it and it paid off. Interesting fact, I am pretty sure we shot that player in the D side can 2-3 different times but the ref could never find the hit. The guys didn’t get rattled though, maintained composure and let that clock roll while nullifying any potential counter push. Spicka tried a desperation move up the center. No go. I was hoping Greg Pauley would let it go a little longer but he is too smart for that. 4-1.

Up by 3, there was still a lot of time on that clock. And with the roster we were facing, you couldn’t count them out. So we had to be smart. We were in X-ball and felt confident in the game plan. But again, that’s where things can get sideways sometimes. And this would be one of those times. We knew they would be aggressive off the break to an extent. We decided to shoot wide and set up to contain. We lost one of our containment shooters on the break though which allowed them to get two bodies to join their center push from the break. We made a valiant counter but not quite enough. 4-2

We had to ask ourselves an important question, would it be best to get 5 bodies out alive and concede ground or fight fire with fire? We chose fire. We make our goal for the point by getting wide and far d side which should slow any progress through center/snake. But we lost Pate on the break from a key spot for the game plan. This made Stu have to come off his assignment and get snake way to help Nic. Either way, once we were set, I felt we were really in position to dictate the point. The break down happened when our D side presence comes off his assignment (he was asked to check something and he trusts his teammate). Once that happened, it allowed two Diesel players to reposition. We actually bounced the one who shifted out to the dorito… it’s a different point I feel if that ball broke (woulda coulda shoulda). We picked up A-rod’s move to get wider on D side. But Britt had to get small at first and was forced to re-engage Mark Johnson in the center. Mark got a ball on him which opened the hole. They got lucky again when Nic bounces Mouse at the snake 50. How lucky? With Mouse’s second life, he peeled off Drew Bell creating a 2 on 1. Mark closed the point out with about 50 seconds left. 4-3

Now they had to come. What would a team’s best access points be down the field? If you aren’t practicing 60 second points, you’re doing it wrong. We knew what we would do in that situation so we prepared to repel it. We made positions 5 alive and once that happened, I knew we were solid with the win. We shot one on the break which helped as well. I preach discipline to the point of nausea. If they were able to get through a line who only had one job, I would be impressed. We hold on with 5 alive and they lost everyone. 4-3

What I didn’t tell my guys was how, inside, I was a little disappointed we had tossed that spread away from a seeding perspective. Would have been nice to have a plus 6 at the end of the day… that’s called “foreshadowing”.

VS Ironmen

My guys were focused during the downtime , staying hydrated, getting some food, keeping out of the sun, and watching some games. We had to beat the Ironmen. We had watched Heat send Diesel home earlier that afternoon. If the Ironmen beat us, they would take the heads up and go on to Sunday. We had data on them but they were kind of everywhere. There were holes in their game but they were random and difficult to pinpoint. We felt that we had better comms and discipline though and decided to leverage that. We tried a goal oriented play D side first point. Interestingly enough, they ran an almost identical play. The only difference being we took advantage first. They did appear to have had two of their players doing the same job though. What didn’t help was my friend on the Ironmen, Mike McGowan, slips a shot in on Britt and in an effort to fill the spot before the men can react Drew Bell quite literally pulls a Goldberg from WWE and speared Britt on his way into Britt’s former bunker! This caused Drew to get shot. So now our D side presence was blown. Ridgel pulled the “get the hell out of dodge” card but gets it declined at check out while Nic decided, hey, we got nothing to lose – full send! Point one to Ironmen. 0-1.

After a short discussion about a PB show from a few years ago called “The Short Bus”, I got my guys refocused on the task at hand. We understood where the domino fell and went back to basics. We would spread and make the appropriate reads/counter based off the Ironmen. Low and behold, we have the same idea again as both teams spread but the Ironmen struck first shooting our wide D side. However, Ironmen dropped a zone and we got back out wide to contest as well as get an asset in place to support. At the same time, we took just enough ground snake side to keep their D side wary. It seemed as if the Men forgot the shadows get long at this time of day (as a team we had discussed using this). Aaron Pate did use that to make a counter digging out a kill from the center. Then it appeared the Ironman in the snake side brick panicked a little and tried a desperation run through to dig out Pate. But over-watch by Drew Bell snuffed that idea out. Head on a swivel, Pate took up zone control and caught another Ironman over extending. We were now in a 4 on 3 body advantage and were in position to counter push which we did. A mistake by the last Ironmen player got them a major. This not only tied us up but put us on the power play next point with a two body advantage. 1-1.

I knew the moment they lost the first body Shane and Pax would concede the point giving us the 2-1 lead with 4-5 minutes left. So I told my guys to go out, make the primaries we have identified and make the point last. We actually shot their D side runner on the break (damn it!) but the concession didn’t come. Or so I thought as it did about 10 seconds later. I got that they were hoping we would get into a feeding frenzy and run down to our deaths or draw a penalty. When it became apparent we weren’t going anywhere, they conceded. 2-1.

With just over 5 minutes on the clock and Shane/Pax at the wheel, I found myself honestly a little stumped. I decided to take a little ground snake side and put my other guys in position to contain and counter easily. Sure enough, the Men took snake brick, the center wedge, and the d side wedge. I watched the Ironmen player wrap inside the snake brick and launch to our center/snake wedge. As he did this, I saw a hit come off his shoulder. I don’t know if it was one my guys or one of his own. But what I saw did, in fact happen, since a ref ran in and a flag went up. This left the Ironmen with one body up the center and two across the back line. My guys now understood we are up 5 bodies to 3 with a 1 point advantage. We don’t have to force the issue but allowed the Men to kill themselves as the clock dwindled down. The Center brick got crafty but his shadow gave him away. He made the mistake of popping the top and got eliminated. The remaining two Ironmen were still in the back. With the body advantage and the lead, Shane/Pax conceded the point leaving about 2 and half minutes in the match. 3-1.

With just over 2 minutes left, we knew if we could get wide, we should be able to seal the deal. We got out 5 alive and I looked at everyone in the pit and said, “Game”. We had a single snake side gun controlling the snake side entrance and an Ironmen ran into it. Their home decided to spread wide going behind the first D side can to the d side corner. He and his teammate in the inset D side can both get eliminated. This left snake side wedge and the snake side “block”. Wedge (Gomez maybe?) moved to snake side brick. So, not only are they down bodies but essentially linear. Turns out that snake side block was Al Fernandez and he moved to snake side wedge. No longer linear but still not optimum (what can you do though?). We shot Gomez and then Al. With the heads up play, Nic Ripple rushed in for the point to help with margin.

Vs Los Angeles Infamous

We went home and did our homework. We had set the goal to make Sunday for this event. Now that we were there, the next goal was to win our first match. We had made Sunday twice last season but lost our first match each time. We were determined not to let that happen again. The more I looked at Infamous’ tape, it was obvious they were highly aggressive on this layout, taking ground early and with speed. And why not when you have that type of speed. But after further study, it became apparent their approach essentially consisted of wanting to use the two center bricks to cross up defensively and let their other three “play around” in the back. Remember at the beginning of this, I said their were two ways to play the field? Yeah, they were most definitely the first approach. So we decided to take Lao Tzu’s approach to this match. “An army that cannot yield will be defeated. A tree that cannot bend will crack in the wind. The hard and stiff will be broken; the soft and supple will prevail.” We decided to concede that positioning since it appeared the way they played was to simply take away the head of the snake and the dorito 2-3 gap. Okay… we won’t go there. We will set traps since you are basically taking two of your guns out of the fight leaving us 5 guns to pick on the 3 behind them.

I know what you are thinking. Boring! Yes, you are absolutely right. But our goal was to win. If I see something we can exploit, a win is a win. Say what you want about that match but it was a controlled chess match. The guys executed perfectly. And we had the pieces on the board standing at the end of it.

We knew our basic set up was a good way to control the Infamous approach. And we knew EXACTLY what Infamous would do (scouting and statistical analysis for the win). So that’s what we did. Sure enough, Infamous came out hard straight to the snake 50 brick. They also positioned the center/d side wedge player who would want to go inside to the center 50 brick. The easiest to isolate was the wedge and he was the first to die. We then spread because, with that wedge eliminated, the snake side brick can’t stop the counter very well. The risk was worth it. We let them spread D side too though. Because we knew that snake side brick wanted to control the 2-3 dorito gap, we snuck into the dorito side to keep their dorito player honest and ensure that Snake side brick STAYED that way allowing us access to him. Stuart made the read, saw the opportunity and got the elimination. If that hadn’t worked, the goal was set to get another gun out behind our first dorito and bully the crossed snake side gun (there was a bounce shot). Their dorito presence somewhat stifled that though. Stu then carefully set another trap with a tactical retreat (we had worked this a few times at practice to good success). Regrettably, Stu misses the opportunity as Infamous got crafty D side and dug one of our dorito side attackers out. Opportunity missed, Stu tries to get clever by resetting to our secondary plan…but just a little too much as Brusselback wrapped on his blocked out creeping (he showed just a smidge and Tim got the shot). But in order to get that shot on Stu, Tim exposed himself and gets eliminated as well.

What took place next is textbook. We didn’t have to worry about margin. A win was a win at this point. So we took our time piecing things together with our snake corner staying in reserve if necessary. Infamous had both corners. We owned the snake, the snake corner, and Dorito 4. Pate became aggressive because he was out of paint. I’m pretty sure all 5 remaining players were anemic on paint as the shooting was quite sporadic. Comment of the event though was the question posed by Nic to Pate. “Pate, do you want me to get in the snake now?” In typical Pate fashion, he responded with, “Hell yes I do”. This is because Nic was no longer needed for reserve and we could now press the advantage. Mike Brown’s presence was a thorn so Infamous smartly tries to progress down the D side but Nic had begun crawling forward and had the infamous player’s side. Nic scalped him. This happened at almost 10 minutes in! This created a 3 on 1 Canes advantage and Travis was quick to towel. 1-0

We knew this is when Infamous would send Sam and Zack to the two center bricks. Were the rolls reversed, this would have been the play. It was time to implement and execute our pre-planned response. I gave the audible from the pit to the box when I saw Sam and Zack line up (we had a call ready for this). They went right where we called it. Their two center players shot a lot of paint at gaps that no one was going to go through. And because we knew to control the wides behind them, they couldn’t really generate an attack. It also allowed our back center to play tall, pick shots and see the field. He shot their snake side tower followed by the dorito corner. Three Infamous players now had to push into 5 zoned guns and they got chopped up. We actually had the time to hit the buzzer but it wasn’t necessary. We wanted to be respectful.

Milestone and goal #2 reached.

Vs New York Xtreme

Similar to Infamous, Xtreme really played the layout aggressively and fast. Yyou had to respect it because it appeared they were doing it with significant success. They really worked in the off season and it showed. It was like a whole new team out there. But we had scouted them and felt we had the right game plan to beat them.

And our game plan looked solid the first point in. 1-0

That second point was a friggin bloodbath of a knife fight but Nic Ripple said not today satan. 2-0

Nothing is ever in the bag, especially with this layout, with that much time left, against a Sunday quarters pro team.

The third point we know they will go center brick with the route through the center. I put Drew bell off the right hand side of the home to shoot that lane. Xtreme shot our dorito corner runner but we definitely shot their center brick runner. Our entire pit saw it happen. Ref runs in and calls it rub… jeez. Okay. Fine. We tied the body count up by shooting Cantor. About 3 mnutes went by and we ended up losing our dorito side can when Corey Hall and Drew trade. But Xtreme has Cantor in our 40. He could have closed it out sooner as our center line was exposed (I was chewing gum vigorously hoping he wouldn’t think of or see the line). Around 4 minutes left, Cantor and Caro figured it out. Both Pate and Camp got peeled quickly followed by Nic. They hit the buzzer with 3:45 left. 2-1

NYX’s guns were solid on the next point as we lost two on the break. We took Pat Kraft out of the center too. But Xtreme capitalized on the kills by quickly and efficiently taking ground. My boys held tough and Drew Bell took 2 of them with him. We both decided to wait the clock out and let the overtime point decide it. 2-2.

I felt confident we were going to take this match. The play call was good, we were set up for success. Lot to dissect on what happened that overtime point… but not today. This is long enough as it is.

Congratulations to NYX making top 4! A tremendous amount of growth. Mad respect to that crew. And of course, congrats to Dynasty.

I have this theory that I was told sometime ago. It is called the ratio of thirds. It’s for when you are chasing a goal or doing anything difficult or hard:

A third of the time you’re going to feel absolutely great… on top of the world, all is going well, you are seeing what you want and need to see.
A third of the time you’re going to feel “okay”… not great, not bad, its not a bad spot or a good spot, you’re just kinda there.
And then, a third of the time you’re going to feel like crap. Nothing is going right, you’re frustrated, you aren’t seeing or feeling or hearing what you need.

It’s a cycle and it repeats… sometimes. But I would argue that, if you maintain this ratio, you’re actually doing pretty well.

You might think the Canes are feeling “okay” about this event or maybe even “crappy”. But you would be wrong. We feel great. We finished last season in 11th place and a 3rd tier team after working our way up from 5th tier. We made Sunday this first event and met another milestone by winning our wild card match on Sunday morning. Lots to be happy with. We know there is more work to do but we look forward to it. We are up for the challenge and can’t wait for the next test. See you in Texas.

Be water my friends.

S.C.U.D. (Sustaining Concentration Under Duress)

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The NXL’s Mid Atlantic open was June 17th-19th.  The next NXL event (not counting the Golden State Open) was the Windy City Major held last month near Chicago from Sept 9-11.  There was a 12 week, or an approximate 3 month time frame between the Mid Atlantic and the Windy City events.

In paintball, that’s a long time.

So, what are the Professional teams doing during those 3 months?  If you are the New Orleans Hurricanes, you are working your day job (in some cases, two jobs), ensuring your career is still on track, taking care of family and significant others, balancing the checkbook, paying bills and taxes, and then shoring up individual and team paintball skill sets at every opportunity.  Because we are so spread out as a team, members get to the field when they can to work drills and teamwork.  If a member of the team can’t make a practice, they are practicing local to where they are.

The everyday life grind coupled with the paintball grind can be difficult.  Priorities for one tend to interfere with priorities for the other.  And that is understandable.  After all, this is the only professional sport that I know of where the pros (or at least a large portion of them) must pay to play at this level.  We are husbands, fathers, sons, and men first.  Our priority and ultimate responsibility is to our loved ones.  We must be solid and good on that front first and foremost before we can be solid and good on the field.  I truly believe this is one of the Hurricanes strengths.  Our support system is a large part of our relative success.

Focus. One voice at a time. What’s the goal and how do we execute/accomplish it?

Okay, but what can we do when your team’s focus appears to be a little blurry?  What can you do if the life grind is interfering more than usual with the paintball grind?  How do you maintain the team’s focus?

How many of you are familiar with the 80/20 rule?  Also known as the “Pareto Principle”. It essentially means that, 80% of your results come from about 20% of your work. More specifically that 80% of outcomes result from 20% of all causes (or inputs) for any given event. So how do we apply this?  It should be obvious, we should focus on that 20%… work the stuff that matters and don’t get distracted by the feeling of “we have to”.  In other words, we should prioritize the 20% of factors that will produce the best results. Logical, yes? But it isn’t always seen that way by a good many…

I see teams fall into this trap quite often.  They over plan.  Whereas, having a plan to begin with is important, and most certainly helps with goal setting, direction, and success, it doesn’t have to be overly complicated. Do not create an environment where, if you don’t do something, it will cause the team to feel they are not prepared.  No need to hamstring the team by developing a “to do” list that isn’t manageable or practical.  It isn’t necessary to get too detailed.   Understand, details are terrific and important but it is a fine line that must be walked.  If we get too detailed, we can get bogged down and miss out on what the real issues are or will be. Efficiency is key. Try not to do something just because other’s do it. Focus on what YOUR team needs. Is this making sense?

Focusing on teamwork and execution of job sets will lead to success.

All that said, try to identify your team’s key needs and best assets. Then try to shore them up in an efficient manner so you get the maximum value added. Now… this is a concept. A rule rather and not a law. What do I mean by this? Don’t make the mistake of thinking that since the 20% gets priority, then the other 80% can be ignored!

We should also recognize the difference between individual and team planning.  As I sated earlier, efficient use of time is really the key to all of this.  When we do have the time together as a team, I want to emphasize very specific team-oriented material as opposed to the individual aspects.  I might mention to an individual player something I see or want them to work on at a team practice and will keep it in the mental Rolodex (maybe discuss during a short break but not spend a lot of time on it)… but the emphasis is, and always will be, on the team dynamic when we are together.  This isn’t to say that individual attention doesn’t happen. It most certainly and almost always does. However, at this level, the individual issues are usually smaller or fewer and less dire.

I will almost always have a specific agenda in mind and time frame for each item on the agenda before a practice.  However, that agenda is fluid in case I see something that needs to be re-emphasized.  The domino effect is very real at practice.

What do I mean by the domino effect?  Well, it’s the whole point of this blog.  Staying focused on the goals can easily be derailed if we allow things to fall off or pile up.  We get off on a tangent and now the tangent becomes the focus as opposed to the intended goal.  At the end of the day, you can’t always control the results.  But you can most certainly control your effort to meet them and focus on them.

When you get down to it, your team is simply a collection of people with a common interest (hopefully). Not to get too high brow but I was recently reading a little Thomas Hobbes. He nailed the concept, at least in my opinion, of what a team is in his book “Leviathan” (well, really government or an organization of civilization… social contract theory… what have you).  He uses the concept of the biblical Leviathan, a giant sea serpent, as a metaphor for the state.  Essentially the creature’s body is a giant body made up of ALL the bodies of its citizens in the literal sense.  The same concept can be applied to a team.  Team, very similar to the different states here in the US, are made up 3 components;  the people, the processes, and their systems.

    “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

    Aristotle

Focus on what you can control.

Ultimately, my main goal for the Canes at a practice is to function as one.  How can we be more efficient and ensure we are all rowing in the right direction with the same desire or outcome in mind?  Our focus – acting as one, a single entity with very specific goals in mind.  What do WE need? Having everyone on the same page is as simple as getting everyone to agree to a very specific list of goals.  Then create acceptance and agreement among the team on how best to get there… as a team.  Identifying and developing focus for the team can be finite.  But alignment on all of it is paramount. 

You have all heard the line, “Trust the process”. If the process leads to small successes over time then it is having the desired effect.

So stay focused on the task at hand, whatever that may be.

And remember…

Be water my friends.

2022 NXL Windy City Major Recap

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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 Notorious at 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…

Be water my friends.

10 Man Mech and Other Fairytales

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If playing competitive 10-man mechanical paintball is like riding a bike, then I’m Joe Biden…

About to play my first match of 10 man mech!

I’m kidding. I’m not that bad.

Zen had the privilege of guesting with the Saints professional paintball program at this past weekend’s Pittsburgh Open Classic held at Urban Assault Paintball in McDonald, PA.  And let me tell you, every paintball player should experience a 10-man event like this in their career.  I highly recommend it, especially for competitive X-ball types.

Besides being there with your boys, you get to see and catch up with old friends you don’t see as often and, of course, make new ones. All while participating in a competitive adrenaline-pumping retro style of paintball.  While those things and the nostalgia were rather intoxicating, I couldn’t help but recognize something else.

I started my paintball career in the woods and have played throughout paintball’s progression from woods to pallet fields, to hyper-ball, to air-ball (I have played scenario games as well and those are a good time too).  But as a player and a coach only participating in “speedball” and/or X-ball the last 22 years, my original skill-sets that were needed for those classic styles of play, I found to have significantly diminished.  And I became hyper aware of this before the end of day 1.

The old man back in ’99 or so.

I am fond of saying Paintball is paintball and I still stand by that… albeit with a caveat or two. I’m not willing to eat crow just yet.  Whereas, yes, the basic principles of field walking, planning, and engagement are similar, there are so many more aspects to this style that make it… well…. larger?  No, that’s not the word… complex?  Yes, that’s it.  Complex.

Obviously, the scale is greater; 10 men instead of 5, and one 10 minute (or under ICPL rules 12 minutes) game to get it right as opposed to multiple points within 15 minutes.  And, of course, there are 4 completely different types of fields to walk as opposed to 1.

I must admit, I was incredibly excited about being a player for this event.  The Saints are led by my friends and incredibly experienced players Kevin Fillers, Adam Smith, and Shawn Terry.  My job was to play paintball.  JUST PLAY!  To do what was asked of me and do it the best I could.  But boy, was I in for an eye opener.

Let’s start with field walking.  Now, I am no stranger to field walking, much less walking multiple fields, or even strange fields in the woods.  But it became painfully apparent it is a perishable skill set.  As I stated earlier, scope and scale were significantly different and requires almost 4th dimensional thinking, specifically on one field.

*Zen Note – for those of you wondering what 4th dimensional thinking is, I am no expert but to sum up my understanding of it and the application of its use in this scenario, it is the ability to see “the invisible”.  To disengage your mind from your 5 senses and use your mind to feel and sense the unseen.  To give the unseen substance.

The event venue consisted of a Hyperball field, a Mounds field, a “Hybrid” field, and a Woods field.

The Hyperball field was pretty straight forward, even with 10 guys out there.  This type of paintball, in my mind, translates perfectly well.  It was obvious from the get go that owning the centers, especially the “D” side early, was paramount to winning.  Our first two matches were on this field.  I was supposed to play the 2nd match but after the boys dominated our first match, I wanted to keep that mojo going.  I sat myself so the team could continue that “momentum” (I put that in parenthesis as I recently read an interesting take that momentum in paintball is bunk.  The take was insightful but flawed.  But I digress).  By the way, this hyperball field had an awesome layout.  I regretted doing this later only because we didn’t get to play that field again.

The infamous “Mounds” field…  This one was my nemesis.  It did not like me, and I did not like it.  Which is funny because almost EVERYONE I talked to; this was their favorite field.  I played the top corner area near the net/road which appeared to have the highest early attrition rate on the field.  Walking this field, understanding threat location and probability, developing codes for it, was very interesting.  The guys came up with a zone/area approach which was brilliant and significantly helped my understanding of in-game data.  Trying to apply my normal process to the field walk, whereas it can work, took some finagling.  Luckily, I had some rather experienced guys there to guide me through it all.  This is the one field where the 4th dimensional thinking would have come in handy. Beware the single ball that falls from the above vegetation to land on your hopper below…in front of a ref. I shot 1 guy on this field… and was one of the first three deaths on the field both times we played it. Needless to say I was…. disappointed in myself.

The mounds field… and where I played. Or tried. Those who played it well are greater men than me.

The Hybrid field I felt I contributed the most to as I could actually see things now (both during the field walk and in game).  Solid Communication on this field was imperative.  Of course, solid communication is imperative in all paintball, but it was really stressed on this one specific to getting data from one end of the field to the other. I also had my best game on this field which is funny because I kept wishing I had got to play the hyper ball field… On this field, beware of players losing their minds at the end of the game (inside joke). Shot a few on this one and even lived to the end on one or two.

Old man back in the late 90’s on a “Hybrid” type field. Take this thing and put it in the woods. That should give you an idea of what it was like.

Finally, we had the woods field.  I thought this is where I would really shine.  And then I realized just how large and odd shaped this particular field was.  Cross field communication would be damn near impossible.  You would have to play 2 or 3 “mini games” on this field and hope things went well for your partners in their skirmish area of the field.  This field really stressed situational awareness of what was in front of you and what was potentially working its way around elsewhere to wreck you. A stream of paint would materialize out of nowhere! Old man had some good and some bad on this one. Helped break one game open which was fun.

Quick summary, the Hyperball field was pretty straight forward – roll your gun, work into important spots, take ground, deny them ground, slow steady squeeze.  The mounds was about taking ground early, showing one thing while actually doing another.  Stealth could win or blunt force trauma could win.  One game was won in about 2 minutes… dude just ran straight through the middle, shot 2-3 guys, grabbed the flag and ran back.  His own team didn’t even know what had happened!  Hybrid field was dependent on which side you got.  One side (the right) was better set up to take ground early on the top side vs the other.  Both had equal centers and bottom ends from what I could tell but the key here was blowing out an access point and then flooding it. The woods field was the one field that you could argue there was an advantage to be had from the coin toss (this decided who got to pick which side they wanted to play).  Best way to describe it would be there was a “top” side where you had the “high” ground and could take key areas quickly off the break.

I also found the aspect of scoring at these events fascinating as well.  The way you played a match may be determined by what was happening in your bracket from a points perspective as well as WHERE you were playing your opponent or where one of your opponents would be playing one of THEIR matches.  Very cool stuff.

The moral of the story is this type of play really pushes a speedball/X-ball player’s capabilities.  It takes you out of your comfort zone.  It makes you use ALL your skill sets and strains them to the max.  It pushes the senses.  I came away from the event thinking I (or even the Canes) need to do more of this recreationally on some off weekends as I think it can really round out your strategic game. We should always try something new to keep things fresh anyway. Who knows… you may find a new respect and love for it.

Beginning of day 2 things had clicked with me and I was able to tap into those old skill sets.  Of course, I had a lot of supportive help along the way from my teammates. And that’s what this is really about. Building the sport up and bringing new players into the fold. Having a good time.

I would like to send a big shout and thank you to my teammates:

  • Kevin Fillers
  • Shawn Terry
  • Adam Smith
  • Justin Bailey
  • Ben Foster
  • Ryan Gibbons
  • Josh Baske
  • Sam Silberg
  • Jason Perse
  • Adam Perkins

I hope I get the opportunity to share the field with you guys again.  You guys made the old man feel welcome, showed me a good time, and how cool this style of paintball can be! Thank you!

And thank you to another one of the best pit crews I have had to honor and privilege to be around! Pete and Isaac, you are awesome!

Be water my friends.

Dream Team

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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.

Check Cory’s work out at https://www.facebook.com/CAndrewsPhotography

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…

Be a great teammate.

Be water my friends,

Zen

2022 NXL Mid Atlantic Open Recap

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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.

Be water my friends.