The one and only (until next time): Cribbs Cup!

A couple of months back the people behind Skirmish Bristol and my local training field: Cribbs Pro Paintball Centre floated the idea of running a tournament. I thought it would be a good idea but to be honest I didn't expect big things. Maybe 5 or 6 teams could scrape together to have a blast on the field and maybe cause a little bit of promotion. But as time went on I was proved very wrong.

Within just a few days of being announced we had 10 teams signed up for the 5 man tournament and by the time of the tournament we had 8 teams in the 3-man division.

The field itself has been worked on so much over the past year and it was great to see it turn from this small field with old bunkers, no netting and no pit area; into a full sized millennium field with shelter, field-side air station and great facilities with a big crowd of people! 

 

 

On the lead up to the event I helped out with the scheduling, rules and ideas but in the main the driving force behind it was Kayleigh of Cribbs / UKPSF / Ultraviolets / Skirmish Bristol (she wears many hats). On the day I shouted teams onto the field, blew the whistle and timed the games, not that any ran to the 5min time limit, as well as try and keep all I could happy on the pitside.

On the field a bunch of my Entity guys were refereeing, under my man Dave Phillips who was the ultimate. Kayleigh was taking pictures and Harry Pitchers, also of Entity fame, filmed the event, creating a very hyperactive video to capture the day.


The Cribbs Cup was a huge success and it was amazing to see such a blend of teams get together to bash heads: Scenario crossover teams such as Shoreline Rangers, Going Postal, Bad Moji, Evil Twin and Fallen Brotherhood came and showed what they were capable of. Whilst tournament teams there to fight for the win included Cardinals, Collateral Damage, Angels, Snatch, UWE paintball society amongst others.

I had a great time and the day practically ran itself with the teams being organized. The games were great to watch as there was a good mix of experienced, fresh and scenario players seeing what they could do.

I was especially impressed with not only the presence but also the ability of the scenario / walk-on teams. I personally think it's great that old barriers are being broken, where scenario and tournament players have often been at odds with each other. Just because one lot wear camo and play make believe in the woods whereas the others wear ridiculous clown costumes and take things too seriously, doesn't mean that we can't all get together, play some paintball and just have us some fun! 

Tournaments like this and the UWL coupled with scenario events offering mini-tournaments are contributing towards bridging the gap, bringing a rise in the amount of crossover teams dabbling in both sides of the game. Competitive tournament teams such as Disruption and the Sandbaggers competing in the UWL and staple scenario teams such as Shoreline Rangers & Bad Moji competing at the CPPS and beyond can only mean good things for our game. 

We plan on running another one off the back of the success, next time there's a gap in the events - possibly some time in August. We don't want to over do it as we want to keep the quality there which gets inevitably lost when the quantity goes up. My advice to you is not to miss the next one!