and you will discover that you have arrived.
When you have made the commitment and are ready to begin your path to becoming a professional paintball player, you will learn about today’s dominant professional circuits, the NPPL and PSP, the apparently declining APL and the promising NXL. There is also a smaller, but growing, collegiate league and there are international leagues in Europe.
In America, the NPPL and PSP pro circuits are the heart of the hype, the excitement and the passion. They are like the American and National Leagues in baseball and football. In paintball, the venues of the two major leagues are slightly different, but they are strikingly similar in format, spectator appeal and playing styles. So, in the remaining part of this chapter, we are going to profile the basic structure, objectives and rules of the NPPL and the earlier APL, because they give us a format for understanding the game of paintball as it is played at the highest and most popular pro level.
THE NPPL AND PSP
The National Professional Paintball League (NPPL at www.nppl.tv) is the sole sanctioning body for all amateur and professional paintball players in North America. It is a league where player representatives formulate league rules, make business decisions and sanction and preside over all aspects of an NPPL event. It was founded in 1993 and is the oldest such organization in paintball.
The NPPL wants to become the worldwide governing body of the sport of paintball “to ensure safe competitive play for our members and teams, and to support our players and the paintball industry by showcasing paintball as a major sport with integrity and professionalism at the highest level.”
NPPL Super 7
Since the NPPL considered sanctioning a new Seven-Man Series at the World Cup in Orlando, Florida, there has been some confusion and not a little speculation as to what this means to the teams and players who are currently part of the world’s largest paintball league. Here’s what the NPPL has written about its decision to part ways with the PSP and operate its own series:
“NPPL is a non-political governing body responsible for sanctioning quality paintball events and is committed to growing the sport at all levels. We are also dedicated to improving and maintaining the sport’s integrity and professionalism.
“Our goal is to create a positive environment that encourages new players into the game and to provide all players and sponsors with a top quality flagship paintball series with sound infrastructure that delivers on its promises.”
NPPL wants to legitimize tournament paintball by maintaining a body of independent pro referees to enforce rules and standards, referees who cannot be intimidated. Consequently, they must have the knowledge and authority to properly enforce the rules, specifically for cheating, foul language, physical altercations and threats, “which have not been properly addressed in the past.” NPPL has developed a strict sanctioning program to make all event organizers adhere to high standards and work with the teams and industry.
The NPPL Super 7 tournament series was formatted to “globalize” the game and make it more presentable to television, outside sponsors and spectators. The 7-man is a “very strategic game, fun to watch and easy to follow. It fits most venue possibilities.” The NPPL promised pro teams a minimum prize of $20,000 at each event, plus a $15,000 Champion’s Prize. There were also cash prizes for amateur ($40,000), novice ($30,000) and rookie ($20,000) teams. Here is how the NPPL characterized its new Super 7 Series for 2003:
Some good reasons to get into competitive paintball: You travel to cool tournaments, you get to wear very rad uniforms and some of your gear is sponsored (that means you only pay part of its cost). It’s exciting because you play some of the very best players. And you have cool tents and banners with your name on them. Jim Bergman of Troy, Ohio’s BASE Paintball sponsors the traveling team Ohio Turmoil . His guys placed 14th out of 72 teams in their 5-Man division at the Team Event’s 2003 International Amateur Open and won the Sportsmanship Award.
Big games attract big crowds. Most tournament formats do not allow spectators to coach from the bleachers. Whether they are 3-Man, 5-Man or 7-Man formats, rookie, novice or amateur level, games are short, fast and intense.
California’s Team Dynasty, sponsored by JT USA, en route to winning the 7-man World Cup in Toulouse, France, in 2003. To win at this level of international play, player reactions and teamwork have to be near perfect and equipment has to be the very best.
You never want to run out of paint in the middle of a game. Carry plenty of paint … and hitch a ride! Save your strength for the field.
Get ready. Get set. Tournament play at the International Amateur Open north of Pittsburgh in 2003.
For 11 years, the National Professional Paintball League (NPPL) has brought teams from around the world to the U.S. to compete against the best players in the sport of tournament paintball. For 2003, NPPL introduced seven-man play (supplanting the 10-man and 5-man matches of former events). Each team had seven players on the field with one goal in mind: eliminating enough opponents to capture their flag and safely return it to their flag station. These matches are limited to 10 minutes until the semi-finals when game duration drops to seven minutes.
Teams are awarded the following points for each game out of a possible 100 points per game:
1. Three points per eliminated opponent. If any paintball breaks on a player or their equipment, that player is eliminated from the game immediately by a referee. If the player continues to play after being hit, the referee has the right to pull one or more of the player’s teammates off the field as well.
2. One point per player who is not eliminated. Following the game, each non-eliminated player is inspected by a referee to ensure there is no paint on the player. For each “clean” player, that team earns one point.
3. 32 points for pulling the flag. Each team has a flag hanging in the other team’s flag station. If a clean player pulls their team’s flag from the opponent’s flag station, they are awarded 32 points.
4. 40 points for hanging the flag. The first team to have a clean player retrieve their flag and hang it in their flag station is awarded 40 points.
There are numerous referees on each field who are each assigned zones to watch. If a player steps out of bounds or is hit by a paintball, the referee will eliminate the player by removing the player’s armband.
The playoff system for all divisions (professional , amateur, novice and rookie) is as follows:
Preliminaries: 10-minute games with two minutes
