RC at SAPPA Round 2, 2012

Yesterday, Sunday the 29^th of April, was SAPPA Round 2 at Skirmish SA in Strathalbyn South Australia.  This year, SAPPA is running 3 man events to begin rebuilding the enthusiasm of the 5 man events in the past.  We are slowly but surely gathering momentum as more and more players and teams come out.  This past weekend there were 7 teams competing in the open division. I must have been excited for this event because it was clearly posted that the gates opened at 8, and I was parked at the gates at 7.

RC struggled to field a team this round for a number of reasons.  Some players are saving up for the interstate trip to PAVS round 3 which takes place a week afterwards.  Some players play for RC but also have teams they’ve developed over the years.  And quite simply, some players are off the grid at the moment… we miss you Jas and Wags.  So this round we picked up a player by the name of Zak.  Zak has played heaps of woodsball, and participated in his first speedball/tournament day at SAPPA round 1.  Scout and I (Wimpy) filled out the rest of the three man squad.

Early on, we got beat down pretty bad.  We hadn’t really hooked up as a team, and our opening games were against some of the stronger teams of the day.  I think our first two teams we played ended up taking 1^st and 2^nd place in the end.  After each game, we dusted ourselves off and talked about what we did well.  In the following games we’d managed to pull some draws as the games were limited to just two minutes.  We played aggressively, but put the pressure on the opposition to win the games.  We actually maxed one team, though I couldn’t tell you how it all came to be because Scout and Zak seemed to run the field while I was pinned down in the back.  All of a sudden the paint stopped raining, I picked my head up and Scout and Zak were all the way up the field. 

As I said, we got smashed early on, but as we found our game, we started winning games and forcing draws.  My favourite game of the day was against James, Mark and Peter.  These guys are competitive players, and James especially knows I’ve got nothing but love and respect for him (I’m doing my best to scalp him).  Anyway, off the break I took our back right laydown, Scout was back center and Zak took a left 30 stand up.  They were in back center, center 30 dorrito and mirrored with Zak in left 30.  After about 30 seconds of play, Zak got pinched out and we were down 2 vs 3.  In the flurry of activity I heard the other team call, “G1, Back Center and Back Left.”  Scout seemed to have the same idea as I did, “Let’s get somewhere other than Back Center and Back Left.”  We both bumped and I made it to a small 30 bunker.  Only Peter in Back Center saw me move up, but I think I snapped him on his shoulder before he was able to relay the bump.  I was then able to wrap and gog Mark out of the 30 dorito, to which he replied, “Where the @#$ did that come from?”  James pushed hard up the tape and won a quick snap battle with Mark as I was trying to push to the middle of the field.  James saw my move and we immediately snapped each other out at the exact same time.  It was a great game for both teams, and we took a moment to congratulate each other and share some love.  There’s split screen footage of this game at the end of the video posted below.  It doesn’t show the full field, but you get the idea.

At the end of the day, South Syndicate took 1^st, Kaoz took 2^nd and Hard Luck took 3^rd.  Everyone played well and played hard including The Dishonored who are new to the tournament scene.  RC played well throughout the day, we won a few games, drew a few games and made teams work hard for their wins.  In the end we finished last, which is a tough one to swallow.  But we are building our game and filling our ranks.  At the end of the day the reffs; Gaz, Ed and Richard, were generous to offer me the ‘Best and Fairest” trophy.  I really appreciated that and it took it’s place on the shelf with the few other trophies I’ve collected in my time here in Aus.

Anyway, despite our losses it was a great day of paintball.  Scout was solid and is quickly adapting to the speedball genre.  Zak played aggressively and also adapted well to the style of play.  Well done guys, thanks for playing with me.  Next week Ed, Troy, Scout, Rob and I head out to Victoria for PAVS round 3.  I’ll keep you posted on that.  Meantime, check out the video below.  It’s a few clips from the day which lead into a full split screen RC game.