The News!

Spring Kickoff at AC Paintball, Sweden.

Daylight Savings sprung forward on Sunday, 27 March, here in Sweden. Yes, it's a bit later than in the U.S., but we are nearly at the same latitude as Anchorage, Alaska... (just, you know, on the OTHER side of Russia,). So we dusted off our markers after the long winter and took to the field for some small, but intense firefights and friendly matches on the ice. There were places, especially the parking lot, where ice skates might have been more appropriate than combat boots, but we all managed to survive.


We kicked off the season at AC (who have a slick new website!) with about 20 people. There were some new faces, some people trying out new gear, a father and son, all-in-all a good mix of people. We ended up playing four games, two going East-West across the town and two going North-South, competing for two Forts in the center of town.

Just like this.... except more buried in snow. 

It was fantastic weather (for Sweden). Temps were sliiiightly above zero, the sun was shining and as long as you kept moving and didn't get too sweaty, it was quite a comfortable first day of the season.

My girlfriend Valentina had said probably the hottest thing a woman can say a few days before Sunday... that being...  (on her own and without encouragement)
"I would like to play paintball sometime soon! I think it would be really fun!"
So after I recovered from being blasted by such awesomely 'winning' news, I lent her some extra camo and she came out with the rest of us, the only girl bravely shooting it out with the guys. She did well and managed to merc a few people at close range in a tunnel and quite nearly got her first "bunkering" kill. Maybe next time.

AWESOME!

The games ranged back and forth in the town and the woods, both teams seeking advantage and trying to out-maneuver eachother. I camped in the woods on the flank the first game and racked up a nice headcount. The second match led to an intense shootout in the woods, far away from any of the flag stations. The third match also led to a standoff in the woods with players creeping through the snow and sniping at eachother, while on the other side of the field in the town some intense CQC was raging.
All the games ended in a tie with Red and Blue team each controlling one of the crucial Forts and their flag stations. I did pretty well for being rusty, no painful shots until the very end of the second game... when I had what I like to define as a "close call."

Whew. Thank you JT for reinforced crotches.

It was a good day. Hopefully the remainder of the snow will melt soon and the trees will turn green. Rikard has big plans for the field, always modifying it and building it up, so I am excited to see what spring will bring.

I iz Rikard. I haz bIg planz 4 Painbolls... and also a neck shot that looks like it stung a bit. 

Be sure to check out the UWL which will be played at AC on in July!   UWL SWEDEN!

Next game will be WEST POINT, COMBAT CLASSIC, NY, USA



Til then, check out these vids of the day.

AC Game 1.

Vid 2

Vid 3

Train. Harder. 2011

I figured it'd be easier to just inject a few Train. Harder. posts here than to run an entirely separate blog.
Plus this way maybe proponents of the Tooch. Harder. regime can get their ideology across to counteract my own.


It's been a rough six months. I pretty much fell off the Train. Harder. wagon and into the abysmal doldrums of Swedish Winter.... aka 7 months at or below freezing with as little as 5 hours of daylight... which is usually hidden by clouds. Needless to say it can have an adverse effect on your disposition (at best) and make you want to kill things/despair/drink yourself into an early grave (at worst).

Cabin fever is an idiomatic term for a claustrophobic reaction that takes place when a person or group is isolated and/or shut in, in a small space, with nothing to do, for an extended period (as in a simple country vacation cottage during a long rain or snow). Symptoms include restlessness, irritability, irrational frustration with everyday objects, forgetfulness, laughter, excessive sleeping, distrust of anyone they are with, and an urge to go outside even in the rain, snow or dark.

During the autumn, I did manage to swim 1-2 times per week, but that was the extent of my activities outside paintball and as the weather worsened, so did my work ethic. 

I was lean and tasty in December. 

However, in January I started an internship helping teach immigrants different sorts of classes, including swimming and ice hockey. In the middle of February during their winter break from school, this included playing fullout hockey from 10am until 3pm. This activity, combined with the efforts to fly me to West Point and the chastisement of my little brother Josh (who is now getting his Masters in Athletic Training) helped light a fire under my ass. Josh blew his ACL in a skiing accident and has just gotten surgery, so he is entirely bedridden.... and yet he continues to break my balls about working out... angry little cripple...


While I'm nowhere near at former SPbTV Train. Harder. levels of awesomeness (see video), I have been bouncing back pretty quickly. I don't recommend (and neither does your doctor) going from cold turkey into overly intense workouts. The best thing to do is start small and build up, but MAINTAIN A SCHEDULE. If you can get in a habit of working out, then you'll be able to increase/intensify/goballsoutcrazy. But until you've maintained a routine for a few weeks, jumping into Insano-body-crusher workouts will probably just injure you.


Josh gave me a 3-day lifting regime that I have also supplemented with Jogging, Swimming, Icehockey and paintball. Here's what I've knocked out in the last 3 weeks.

Monday

Jog (15-20 mins)
Bench Press
Compound Rows
Inclined Press
Dips
Close-grip press
French (overhead) press
PecFly
ABS (See end of post for the ab workout of DOOMINATION!)

Tuesday
Swim

Wednesday
Jog (15-20)
Pullups,
Military press
Chinups
Rows
Lat pulls
Curls
Butterfly
Curl-to-overhead-press (w. barbells)
ABS
Swim (1 hour)

Thursday
Swim (nearly 2 hours)

Friday
Leg press
calf raises
leg extenstions
abbduction/adduction
lunges
side lats
ABS
Ice hockey (at night)


Saturdays
(rest)

Sunday
Paintball

The Abs of Doomination:
designed to finish off whatever shred of self-respect, toughness or energy you have left. Good luck. You'll be dead at the end... or a Spartan.

Persians Don't SITUP!

Inclined Pushups: 25-30
Floor Sweepers: 25 each side
Superman: 15
Fist Pushups: 25
Flutterkicks/legraises: 25
Superman: 15
Wide Pushups: 25
Walkouts/planks: 3-5
Obliques w. medicine ball: 25
Crunches: 50-75
Judo Pushups: 20
Situps/slow letdowns: 25

Repeat circuit as necessary until you Die.


I have managed to stick to it. Even though it's sucked. Going to the gym or out for a run is the worst feeling. Overcoming all that inertia... bleeeek

I can't help myself. 

BUT the feeling afterwards is great. So if you aren't all Training. Harder. yet, it's time to start.
Spring is here!! So get off your butts, get outside or to the gym and start getting in shape.


West Point is only 2 weeks away!


Also, Josh really wanted to come play at West Point before the knee injury. We're trying to convince him to still come... we're sure that despite his injury we could find someway for him to participate..... anyone with any free space in a Tank... or a Mongo, please contact spbtv.

Seeking one overly strong grunt of a man to carry injured brother into combat.

To Hell and Back- Paintball Charleston

Is this thing on? Can you hear me OK? Great.


Still being something of a new hand to living in the south, there are certain things you have to get used to. The random friendliness of total strangers...the average 11 year-old's ability to spit forty feet...and the "just-go-with-it" attitude you need when it's 82 degrees out and technically still winter. I had spent the last three days doing semi-forced hydration, along with an intense mental preparation regimen of every great movie speech I could find on Youtube.

Damned right Keanu. You send me out there to kill!

GET SOME!

Millennium Paintball Productions (www.mppgames.com) set up their latest in a series of simulated wartime role-playing games: To Hell and Back, depicting the actions of Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier of World War II. Murphy felt inclined to make up for his 5th grade education, and rejection from 3 branches of service by hopping on top of a burning tank destroyer and dealing hot, messy, .50 caliber death to an entire company of German infantry.

Paintball Charleston is a field made up of several different challenging areas. If you visit for a regular game, the ref will take you out one area at a time. In the case of a scenario situation, you'll have the run of the facility:

Scale: one inch = two enchiladas

For those of you rockin' back in the northeast leagues there are some minor similarities: think part JUNO Beach at ION, a little bit of Strategy Plus' castle, something like Hornet's Nest's Killhouse only outdoors, and nowhere in evidence the almost maternal-like cradle of West Point's terrain! Any one of these areas was designed to be attacked from multiple vectors...a nightmare to defend and yet an extreme cost in lives to assault. We were also looking at a player to ref ratio of about 15:1.
Playing on the American side, a selection dictated my my conscience, standards, and clean All-American way of living, I looked over our assets on our side:
-Lots of short people. Good. Harder to hit.
-A badass tank with a scuba tank of CO2, twin Tippmanns, 4,000 rounds and a drink holder.
-Lack of radios...uh, OK...hey, who wants all that mindless chatter for the first hour anyway: "I see a player over there! I see him! Or her! I think they're on our side though. Oh, wait...okay, I'm out. I'm leaving now...bye!"
-Cough syrup and Red Bull! Whee...this is the south!
-And a dedicated Medic, ready to answer all your emergency needs from map directions to severe bleeding! I felt good, baby...I had my comfy socks, black armor, my wife's good luck favor, and my padded underwear on! I looked fabulous! Plus I was doped to the gills on Powerbar gel, and antihistamines, which is like the equivalent of those tribesmen that drank a potion and believed they were bulletproof during the Boxer Rebellion!

Notable on the German side was team Pub Crawling who had come all the way from NH to play...huh...maybe they'll be tired from the flight- wait, was that the start horn?

In trying not to see this as an unfavorable omen to our endeavor, about 3/4ths of us were still stuck in mandatory chrono without radios when the game started. To compensate for this, our Command element spat on the ground, issued some hurried orders, racked his shotgun, and then set out to inspire the troops by kicking a little ass. The distant "foof" of rocket launchers told us that both sides had wasted no time in putting their armor out there in a frenzied land grab.

Missions that day included blue mission cards held by a supervising referee, detailing the parameters of the current mission. This could be anything from finding an object, rescuing a man-shaped dummy with a tape recorder around it's neck, or holding a position for a set period of time. Teamwork and problem-solving skills really had to come to the front here, as the refs were only there to ensure fair play, and not assist with hints or clues. Indeed, requests to play: "Hot or Cold", were stiffly refused.

Battle lines were quickly broken, and the majority of the day turned into a free-fire zone. Fire-teams were deployed on flanking runs but were either turned away or never heard from again. Areas once thought secure could not be trusted to stay that way, and players had to rely on each other to call out positioning. I sprang an ambush on a delicious-looking bunch of fat people, only to discover that their response was unusually swift and accurate when I began spraying into the squad.

Yours truly earned the rank of Medic, and was given a handful of cards along with instructions on game play: if hit, a player has to remain where they are and call for a Medic. The Medic has 60 seconds to arrive at that player's side, wipe off the hit and then record their player badge number on a card. If the player is hit in the head, they are immediately out. If the Medic is shot, they cannot be healed. A player also cannot move towards the Medic. When left alone without standing orders, the best thing I could think of to do was either insert with a mission team, or just head towards the sound of shooting.

My own personal frustration came in following a group into a wide-open area, clear of enemy presence, yet no one wanted to move forward. Any veteran player has been there...a group of players will either not move forward, or even turn and run when fired upon, even if they are numerically superior. To bring home the point, I walked to the center of the field, unarmed...certainly a move that would have gotten me a scolding from any team leader, and also my mother. Yet, no shots came. I tried enthusiastic exhortations, which quickly deteriorated into light cursing, and in the end I took off in search of another group...or perhaps a Border Collie to get them moving.Get back here! It's just one guy with a Goblin!

The second day held a lot more promise due to the mild weather, and we ran with a vengeance to one of the key points of interest in the game. We stomped into the two-story masterpiece/logistical nightmare that was the castle in the center of the field. Four sniper towers were manned and if anybody so much as saw a snake's ass twitch, it was called out. This was where everybody really went to town, as the other side hammered the living crap out of our emplacements, we held on with a rugged stubbornness despite casualties and dwindling ammo. I crawled up a flight of stairs to patch up one of our snipers only to see a brazen attack on the front gate. The fighting at that point was Danger Close, as people were shooting at very personal distances. Anybody that's been to Castle Conquest probably knows what kind of racket was being made, but we held that fort.

Damned salesmen!

With time running out, and more and more players bailing to get an early seat for the awards ceremony, (read: sissies), I stepped up my game, exhorting my team with the windmilling enthusiasm of a third-base coach waving a runner home. I did magnificent headfirst dives to reach people, by now my normally treasonous body had fooled itself into thinking it was fighting for its life! Firing came from everywhere as the shooting lines melded together. Men and boys alike cried out their allegiances to make themselves known...or perhaps the names of their wives or mothers. It was Godzilla versus Mothra out there! Orders were pointless...instead only murderous oaths and foul invectives steeled a players resolve! Sentences became words, and words then became monosyllabic grunts! Sweat and paint ran down our faces to form a thickening pool at our feet! Boots pounded in the South Carolina dirt to a rhythmic dance between the Attackers and Defenders and man, you know it was HOT!

Eventually all things must pass, and the final whistle sounded. We all blinked the frenzy out of our eyes and went to go grab a seat, handshakes along the way. You may have guessed that we didn't quite win the game that weekend...actually our points were about half of what the other team got. However, a few interesting things happened at that point in the adventure, and this is one of the reasons you pick a home field and make it yours:
-Nobody was a dick about winning
-Nobody was a dick about losing
-MPP Games was very cool about justifying the whole bummer of a score. No "everyone's a winner", or "you tried your best" crap to pacify the simple-minded, experimental glue huffers. If you went out there, you went there to play as a fighter. And our defiant heroics in holding the castle did not go unnoticed in their eyes.

I arrived at home in the slow grip of a stiffening lethargy to examine my bruises, while clutching my MVP award, which would be later posted on my fridge.

Best moment of the day: MVP! Hi Mom!
Worst moment of the day: Breaking up a fight between two oversensitive loudmouths who weren't doing a whole hell of a lot anyways.
Ugliest moment of the day: Seeing the after effects of a LAW rocket smashing through our tank window.
Something I didn't know until today: SC has several types of poisonous snakes.

Okay, that's all for now, 'ballers...video to come soon. Remember, if you need an experienced videographer for your game, or just someone to watch your Six as you play, we encourage you to reach out to our dedicated and professional staff here at SPBTV. No reasonable funding will be refused.

Another video from the Nest. I get my duck shot off for the first time ever, and it was by a teammate!

13 March 2011, Hornets Nest Killhouse, Zombies!

An indoor game at the Hornets Nest Killhouse.

13 March 2011. Hornet's Nest

Action from Saturday's game at the Hornet's Nest in Ancramdale, NY, as players assault the castle.
Check out the field here: http://www.hornetsnestpaintball.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb-W5bg8isc

SPBTV Crew Anthony "Toochman" Tucci

1984 was a long time ago when I first stepped onto a paintball field at a place called Survival Game NY. Back then we would sit around in staging and only dream about the future of paintball and where it could go. Most of those dreams have come true, from looking at the Nelspot I first used to the guns available today. We played capture the flag back then, and now we have full blown scenarios to speedball tournaments that attract hundreds of players to an event.
Paintball has gave me countless opportunities that I took full advantage of including working at various paintball fields. I have reffed, written and produced scenario events, played and followed countless speedball events, and have met hundreds of players through the years who most now are some of my best friends. I have also been blessed with 3 kids who also have taken to the sport of paintball and as a family we share a lot of great times.
SPBTV has given me a greater opportunity to try and give something back to the players. A chance to make the average player a star in a video. To hopefully have someone new watch one of our videos and decide then and there that they have to go out and play a game of paintball. We could ask for no better reward then to motivate and inspire anyone to PLAY PAINTBALL.

The SPbTV Crew: Scott!

Scott Hayes "GtrLvr" It means guitar lover. People always get confused as to what that means, I like it that way. I started playing paintball about two and a half years ago. I was recently divorced and had a lot of time (and money) suddenly on my hands. I don't remember what put the thought in my mind but I posted on craigslist looking for people to play with. I got a response from a group of guys who played outlaw in the woods near me. My first game was in the snow, it was 20* out and I got shot within 2 minutes. I was hooked right away. I bought my first gun that week, an old used Tippmann 98. I played with those guys every week until the spring when I went to my first scenario game at a legit field. I never went back. Playing at a legitimate field with experienced players was so much more fun.

Since then I've played probably 50 scenario games along with a bunch of open play. I played Living Legends 3 in Chicago, a few EMR games including a couple castles and countless other games all over the northeast. I dropped the milsim style quickly for a pump, influenced by this crazy team of pump players I played with who call themselves The Rubber Duckies. I must have impressed them with my skills and my attitude because they made me one of them. I love being part of this team, we're like a family off the field (a family that gets drunk together) and on the field we always have each other's backs.

I play pump and mechanical only. I own 7 guns and none take a battery. I frequently lend out my guns to whoever needs one, or to anyone who wants to try out a pump. I feel that paintball is more of a game than a sport, it's here for us to have fun. If you aren't having fun then you are doing it wrong.

The SPbTV Crew: Doc!

When I was 16 at Christmas, my Dad came home with a handful of Splatmasters for us, and an insanely tricked-out PMI pump with a scope and wooden stock for himself. We had many crazy weekends of Saturday night deck hockey and Sunday morning paintball. I was often yelled at for not having any tactics by my father who had SF training during Vietnam.
Not much call for a good game while I was in college in NH, until I moved to CT and had my first Medic game at StrategyPlus in East Hampton. My job was to safeguard five cigar-chomping, gravelly-voiced Cubans across a murderous bottleneck and I got them all across safely. I was exhausted, but I loved getting the role and decided to play to my strengths.
My big test came during the 2005 Normandy Invasion where several people saw I was a Medic and made sure I had a human shield wall around me as I left Sword Beach. They frog-marched me off the boat and sat on me to keep me safe. When I went to work, slithering through the grass to get to somebody, I heard the call over the radio: "Doc's on the way!", which I thought was the most reassuring thing anybody would want to hear when things go bad. I had no real command skills, my screaming voice sounded squeaky, and I suffered from a handful of annoying medical conditions, but I found that I could override all that immediately when I heard the call: "MEDIC!"
Seeing players and teams from games since that time have inspired me to sharpen my practice, particularly at West Point games. I carry extra ammo, water, and bandages...anything I can do to keep players in the game, which lets people know that they can come to me for help, which they do.
On the field, you'll be looking for a guy in black armor with a Red Cross armband on. If I'm an active Medic, I may not be carrying a weapon but if I am you'd better watch your ass... particularly if I'm trying to get to a patient. I've got a BT-4 Delta Elite named "Monica", and a Tippmann SL-68 which I had converted into a SPAS shotgun.
My next game is March 19-20 at Paintball Chrleston.

Awards:
Franklin Pierce University 1995-1997: Safest Date
ION 2005: Coolest Gun contest winner (M41A Pulse Rifle from "Aliens")
ION 2006: "Nice job, Medic."
ION 2007: "Nice job, Medic."

The SPBTV Crew: Benny

                      BENNY T

Viper's Battle for Serenity Valley, EMR 2010, pic by spbtv

Bio:  I went to my first paintball game when I was 13 or 14 and quickly got hooked. I took a break for a few years in college and picked it up again late in 2007. In 2009 I started the youtube channel SPBTV and started making videos to get people motivated for games, spread information and started the Train. Harder campaign. The original channel consisted mostly of videos made at home discussing upcoming games, reviewing fields or equipment modifications. In 2010 I moved to Sweden to get a Master's Degree and purchased a Contour HD headcam. Since then I have been posting mostly footage from paintball games all over Europe and expanding the channel to include the other members/contributors and the other sites, such as Facebook and these blogs.

As far as style of play, I've been using a pump-gun for most of the last two years, but I also own a Tippmann 98C and a heavily modded Tippmann A5 HMG that I've affectionately named the Megan Fox. I use her rarely and she is currently in the shop getting some upgrades, but if you're not going to play pump, you might as well go all-in with a fullauto machine of destruction. I am also in possession of one of Tackleberry's own M79 grenade-launchers, which can be used to fire Nerf rockets, grenades or several hundred paintballs. I tend to be the guy with 'too much gear,' running around with a backpack full of extra air tanks, water, and paintballs, but many times this has served as an asset and I have been able to keep my teammates on the field when they would otherwise have to leave to reload. Just Train. Harder. :)

I like running missions, playing medic and motivating those around me to keep going all day.
I've learned the best way to get better at paintball is to play with/against and talk with those more experienced than yourself. Tackleberry, Barney, and Dave Cilio (to name three of the many) are all examples of players who have all taught me a great deal about the game, on and off the field.

Currently I am playing in Sweden at AC Paintball with a team called BFP. In two years here I have logged more games at AC than at any other paintball field in the world. BFP and the other teams who play at AC, (The Rock, The Unit, Tåårta) have become a great community and we have been able to travel all over Sweden to some amazing fields. I look forward to many more games with BFP as the UWL will soon be coming to Sweden.




Awards:

MVT at West Point, 2008

Viper VIP Invitational, Sherwood Forest, 2008

Best Player Overall in Jämsa, Finland, 2008
MVPs at Hornet's Nest and West Point, 2009
Master Blaster & Assault Ribbons at Kilsbergsbataljen #8 in Stråssa, Sweden, 2010
Viper MOFO award at EMR with the 518th Brigade from upstate NY, 2010
2nd Place, Division 3, Sugar Daddy's reball 3-man tournament, 2011

I love paintball and I plan to keep on playing, expanding SPbTV as opportunities present themselves.

-Ben Thompson