The journey
8 minutes later and I'm outside Dave's house after what's usually a 15 minute drive, all the bags are lugged into my boot, Dave gets in the front and new addition Tom Stafford and special guest Jonathan Clarke of The Manchester Firm jump into Andy's car and we head off to pick up Shayne and get a move on.
We get to Gatwick in time, on the flight with no issues, a bit of shut eye later and we touchdown in Rome.
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| EasyJet could do with cleaning the windows.. but you get what you pay for. |
We saw quite a lot of Rome that we didn't necessarily need to see, Dave was using the map as opposed to actually using the sat-nav as he didn't get my Android phone, being the Apple fanboy that he is. Therefore we spent a lot of time lost in a terribly planned ghetto - when the roads weren't one-way I was in the left hand lane risking the lives of myself and others.. the stalling definitely didn't help either, especially on the busy junctions.
Thursday training
We got to the venue on time (just) and hooked up with Helsinki Cyclone who were ready and waiting and welcomed us onto the field. The site was a little smaller than we expected at first, but they had managed the space well. We simply played point after point with Cyclone, the London Impact guys were on site as well and so helped us out in the pits. We won quite a lot of points and at this stage our main game plan was to send one up the middle to the A shooting the snake side, 2 to push teabags and the rest to control the snake side. We tried a few different breakouts revolving around that concept but usually we had a midfield attacker and a teabag push (my role) and just anchored the snake side down - it didn't seem to be a good side to push. We were almost always shooting guys off the break. This did build our confidence but also didn't mean that we particularly knew how to play this field in the mid-end games when on the back foot or level pegging.
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| The field layout |
I was running to the first can on the teabag side (what we call Cali) and shooting my first few balls between the pin (apple) and my mirror, before shooting my main lane at either the teabag corner runner or my mirror depending on the breakout and what my team-mate going to house (the tall temple) was shooting and/or whether or not we pushed the teabags hard and stuck an extra guy going to apple (pin) to get some aggressive movement on that side.
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| Home sweet home! |
After we finished up at training we headed to our campsite where we had a mobile home with 6 beds and a sofa! It was pretty cosy. We made a rule that from here on, the player who got the most penalties would be sleeping on the sofa. We started to go over the game plans and what we learnt from training. We discussed a few different game plans with the same 4-5 positions being played (cali, house, orange (snakeside temple) and snake 1/corner) with a 5th person used to either attack the A or push a particular side harder. Either way my role was the same - get to Cali before moving into the teabags to start doing damage. Usually by the time I had hit my primary we had shot the teabag corner and so I was looking to dominate my mirror before moving into the first (small) teabag and working my way from there.
Paint shot: 1 box.
Friday: Prelims
We got on site with plenty of time to spare, we found a space to kit up and went to get some paint from the ever-enthusiastic Nuno of Emboscada paintball. He welcomed the team and asked for me by name - he had messaged me after I registered the team to the CPS and I signed us up to shoot his evil paint so I guessed that maybe he wanted to deal with me. "Hi yeah, Luke Williams - Reading Entity" I said. "Luke! Your pictures always make me laugh!" he said with a big grin. I knew what pictures he was on about - if you haven't already been following my dating shenanigans, I recommend you do (message me for a link!). It's spread internationally now, one day I will be an internet superstar / role model / fashion icon. Anyway, let's get back to the paintball!
So we played Celtic Druids first thing on Friday. We won most of the points off the break by shooting the teabag corner and often more then moving down the field to close out the game. We changed up the game plan and tried a power play when we were 3-0 out. We sent two guys out to the corners to draw the guns wide and put 2 up the middle to try and get a couple easy G's and shock them. The point ended up with a lot of chaos followed by a slow 1v1 between me and the guy in the Orange bunker. I moved up the teabags and dominated him most of the time, only gunfighting when I was comfortable and eventually I clipped him in the hopper to win the last point 4-0.
Prelim 2: Black Legion
Black Legion shocked us. We were to and fro a couple points and they were very scrappy. Our paint seemed to be bouncing them on the break, but they started pushing the snake side really hard - not something we were used to whatsoever!! They really dominated us and our snake guys didn't have the right angles to contain the snake from the Orange / Snake corner. We tried to control them through middle moves and had a couple penalties really hurt us. During one point I was played out of position and got bounced on the way to the A shooting at the snake side to try and contain them - I missed the snake player but hit his support player meaning I was sat there waiting for the snake guy to show himself, I then put the pressure on them and we won that point, but asked not to be put in that position again as I felt I would have been hit off the break if I tried it again. It turns out where I was running in a straight line towards the center A, the correct way to do it on that field was to stay towards the teabag side before cutting across. I have learnt a lesson in this and that is to try and learn not just my own role but the roles of everyone else on the field in case I have to be played out of position.
We lost this game 4-3. It hurt but we had the best possible score going into Saturday short of winning both games so we didn't let it get us down.. too hard!
That night we talked about it and decided that the best way to combat a team like that when we weren't consistently hitting them off the break, was to match their snake aggression and just do it better than them. We didn't feel that many bunkers were able to control the snake very well at this point so that was our best option.
After our games, we watched Ronholt Blast play against Bandits, the two teams we were playing the next day. Blast looked REALLY good and in my heart of hearts I didn't feel that we could beat them. Bandits looked pretty flat in comparison and so we didn't really get a good feel for how the teams would come out the next day.
Both London Fearless and London Shock were also on site between Friday and Sunday lending us a hand in the pits. It was very much appreciated and we are very grateful!
Saturday, more prelims:
So we had watched them get smashed by Blast 4-0 the day before, but we didn't know if that was a testament to Blast or if Bandits just had a bad day. We played quite early in the morning and it was nice and cool, the temperature may have been what hindered our lane shooting against Black Legion, because we took 1-2 G's consistently every game against these guys. After that we closed most of the points quite convincingly! During this game however they did have one successful snake push which wiped out most of the team, it came down a 1v2 where I was in my Cali primary and their snake player was in the 50 and they had one guy left - who I wasn't sure was there or not at this point - in the Teabag corner. A call from Dave coaching at the sidelines confirmed he was there and I realized that I couldn't live in the bunker I was in. Logic would have dictated I try and bump out to the corner, however I realized there was a line of bunkers which blocked the snake guy out and so I moved down them, towards the middle of the field, keeping half an eye on the other tape, until I had blocked them both out of sight. The snake player started shooting at the bunker I was in a couple seconds a go so I shot him in the face (shapow!) and then I switched up to the guy on the teabag side who had just moved to the first bag, a short gunfight later and I had won it! I was elated and in the end we won the game 4-0.
I don't know why I made that move and if the guy in the teabag corner was actually on me from the start I would have been up shit creek without a paddle.. but as he was quiet and I figured I would get pinched from the corner if I made it, I went into the middle.. right or wrong, it worked at least!
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| Make sure you check out my new boots |
Prelim 4: Ronholt Blast
Okay so at this point we were 2:1 with a point difference of 7 (won 11 points, lost 4) so we knew that we had a very good shot at getting into Sunday regardless of this result. We had seen this team play really solid on Friday and we knew they were very established kids who were competitive at the Mills last year. I didn't think we would win.. But then we won the first point, we didn't seem to shoot anyone off the break but then a yellow flag flew in the air above the snake side so we closed the game down. Then the second point, another penalty! These guys didn't seem to want to get shot off the break even though we must have been shooting them. The 3rd point went a bit slower but we eventually won it! 3-0.. we had momentum and we were buzzing! But then the next point, there were no penalties and it was a very slow game which they won during the mid-game. They were putting a lot of paint on me and stopping me from getting out from Cali to the teabags and they had got some real estate and started closing out the points. The score was 3-2, I got to Cali and shot at my mirror, seeing him tuck in I jumped across to the teabags and could hear the paint flying past both sides of my bunker so I tucked in.. then I saw a red flag fly down the teabag wire.. I came out and got a shot on House and we closed down the last guy, to win the point.. 4-2! I couldn't believe it. After hanging the flag I was jumping up and down and hugged everyone I could.. We were definitely through to Sunday and we believed we could win the tournament!
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| We were this happy |
During the games on Saturday, our communication was pretty on point, we were playing as a team and not just individuals. Yeah everyone contributed and had stand out games themselves, but we were winning the games through smart paintball. We ate out that night, at a place round the corner that did awesome pizza, steak and pasta. I asked two waitresses out on a date as it was International Women's day. I'm glad I did as well! I can finally cross it off the bucket list.. Not many people can say they have had the experience of being rejected by two beautiful women simultaneously. We knew we were through to Sunday and were seeded 2nd overall in the prelims, beaten only by Black Legion who beat us 4-3. We could win this.
Sunday Club
We didn't scout Phoenix, we didn't want to underestimate them but they were seeded 3rd and so we genuinely thought we should have a good game against them. They really came at us and we lost 4-0. We couldn't work out what did it, but we concluded that the paint was a bit bouncy - spectators told us our paint was bouncing on the break. They were using the same paint but they were coming at us! They had a guy run to the teabag corner and as we were trying to shoot him on the overslide it seemed they had a guy make it into teabag 2! They smashed us up real bad and outplayed us at every aspect of the game.
It hurt pretty bad. 1st was taken from us just like that. Our dreams of winning the event were gone. It was heartbreaking at first, but whilst we had that opportunity taken away from us, we still had a shot at the podium and the ability to end the tournament on a high. We decided that in the next game, to make up for our break shooting, we were going to have to do what Phoenix did to us and shove our guns into them.
Finals (3rd-4th playoffs): Black Legion, again.
So Blast beat Black Legion and went on to play Phoenix. Who smashed them 4-1, making it feel better for us - losing to the team that had won the tournament! This meant we had to face Black Legion who beat us 4-3 on Friday with their aggressive snake play. We learnt from that and we had realized from watching other teams play that almost every team was dedicating the player in House to the snake side. We figured it can't really stop the snake from getting to the 50, but once there it can contain it by constantly raining on the snake player. Not ideal circumstances so we tried to beat them with our break shooting, along with matching their aggression. I was sat for this game, which was a call I agreed with as I didn't perform in the Phoenix game at all - I was prevented from doing my job and I wasn't sure how to deal with it! Clarkey also happened to be on the bench for the first point. Andy had taken my role as the teabag player and they carried on with House looking teabag side.
We lost the first point after they got into that snake 50 and shot Andy soon after, they then came down the teabags. Clarkey went on and played the teabag corner, making an aggressive move down the bags soon into the game and smashing the teabag side, however their snake player had done the same and we drew a penalty, leaving one of their players to hang the flag. We had lost 6 points in a row at this point.
I was put back into position and we decided to put Andy into house and play Clarkey in the teabag corner again. I was making the bump into teabag 1 as soon as Clarkey got into his bunker as he was drawing the guns out - the same move Phoenix had made against us. We got the real estate quick and Andy shot a load of pods just keeping the snake player from doing damage. We won the point nice and slow.
Next point I got to Cali and realized my gun wasn't shooting consistently for some reason. Only 2-3 shots would fire up to pressure each second and the rest would drop out. I made the decision to try and trade out with the guy in teabag 2 so charged down the teabags. I got to him and shot him in the back as he was infield, but somehow no-one had shot at me yet, so I decided to shoot at the guy in house who was looking at snake, still no-one was shooting at me, next up I shot at Cali, I watched a ball leave my gun with barely any force but it broke on his pack! Last in was Orange who had switched up and realized I was in their teabag 1 at this point! I snapped out the inside and shot Orange out too. The point was so quick that there were still 2 guns rolling from our snake side. We had equalized the game and made them look stupid after I had managed to run down the tape and shoot 4 guys without being challenged whatsoever!
We had faith now, the energy was up, we got the next point to a 3v2. I made a mental error by coming out of my bunker into someone's paint and our other player had traded out soon after making it a 1v1 with Clarkey on the teabag side and their guy on the snake side of the field. This gave them the advantage with the coach being able to talk to their player. Dave decided to stand next to their coach and just scream over him, which worked pretty well as Clarkey got the kill and made it a 3-2 game. The next point we got it down to a 3v1 decisively as a team.. Andy shot the last guy out from house as I shot the other side of his bunker and Clarkey was about to run him down, 3rd place was ours!
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| It's not first, but we'll take it! |
Aftermath
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| Pictured: The entire team sat in the car |
The weekend was great, we had a fun time sampling the pizza and pasta that Italy had to offer (because they didn't really do much else in the way of food), saw some sights, had a laugh and most importantly made our first podium in a Semi Pro division. We have high hopes and expectations of the year to come for Reading Entity. We're capable of a good performance and we know that now. We just have the CPPS to look forward to in the meantime!
Over the 3 days we shot 20 cases of paint (plus some left over paint the Fearless guys left to us) so I would say about 21 cases overall. I would say that although I played a lot of points, I didn't load more than 1 pod in most of them as the front player, compared to the guys laying down the lanes. I'm going to estimate it at about 3 cases overall. Plus the one from Thursday training makes 4 cases over the weekend. Running total: 32,000.
Final anecdote:
On the way through passport control, the border staff asked to see the trophy and read it saying "paint ball??". Clarkey said "Yeah like shooting people" and did gun signs with his hands.
Fucking Clarkey.
Fucking Clarkey.
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