Monday, September 22, 2008

The History of the Red Sevens and Paintball In Singapore

MANY FIRSTS
The Red Sevens is a big part of the history of paintball and particularly speedball in Singapore. The team is one way or other involved in many firsts in the history of speedball in Singapore. First team to play in the MPOC, first speedball field, the first speedball tournament in Singapore, the first team to play in the World Cup Asia, the first team invited to the prestigous NPPL ASIAN INVITATIONAL. To sum it up the Red Sevens has brought paintball to Singapore like no other person nor team has done before.

PROMOTING PAINTBALL IN SINGAPORE
A year ago there was only one tournament team and 6 tournament players with no speedball field in the whole country. In a mere 8 months there are now about 15 teams with over 100 registered tournament players. Speedball is played regularly, every weekend at the field there are groups of people coming to play paintball.

Some of the members of the Red Sevens have set up the first paintball arena in Singapore with 3 fields; one with air bunkers and thus for the first time a speedball field is available to aspiring speedball players in Singapore. These members of the team have dedicated their lives to promoting paintball in Singapore as a sport. They set up a place for people to come and play speedball and they facilitated the process of certifying tournaments players in order to conform with the regulations adn requirements set my the authoritues.

PAINTBALL AWARENESS AND COMMUNITY SERVICE
Apart from setting up a field and facilities- the Red Sevens actively go out to promote the sport in the community, in schools and tertiary Institutions. The Red Sevens participate in forums on sport organised by the sports authorities. Recently the Red Sevens were called upon to be involved in to the Youth Oylimpics which Singapore is set to host. The Red Sevens also conduct regular clinics and introduction to Paintball as a sport to the community.

FIRST PAINTBALLTOURNAMENT
The members of the Red Sevens organised the first ever paintball tournament in Singapore with the SPNS - Singapore Paintball Novice Series. The SPNS is not a mere one off tournament but it has 3 legs in a calendar year with proper player certification and international standard mashalling.

PLAYER CERTIFICATION
The Red Sevens and the PBAS worked to create a certification course called the BTO Basic Tournament Oritentation to ensure that all players in Singapore who intend to play in a local tournament, know all the rules and etiquette of the sport. To date the Red Sevens have helped to certify over 100 tournament players through the BTO.

MARSHALLING STANDARDS
Apart from certifying players - the Red Sevens have also worked on writing the Rules of Singapore's first local tournament in the SPNS Singapore Paintball Novice Series. The Red Sevens set up a body of marshalls and wrote a standards of marshalling in line with international leagues such as the Millennium Series in Europe to the NPPL In America and collaborated with the well established and respected Malaysian Marshalls.

REPRESENTING SINGAPORE
The Red Sevens have played in over 15 tournaments in the last 2 years. Below is the list of tournaments that the Team has played in WITHOUT any help from the sports authorities. All these tournaments have been self funded.

The Red Sevens is well known and respected as the only team from Singapore. The Red Sevens represent Singapore with their dedication, professionalism, fair play, respect for the game and respect for fellow players of the sport. The Red Sevens carry the Singapore flag to every tournament despite not getting any funding, recognition nor publicty from anyone in Singapore.

Rookie Competitions (2007):
• Rookie Category 3 on 3 Werdnahol Cup 2007 Leg1, KL
• Rookie Category 3 on 3 Werdnahol Cup 2007 Leg2, KL
• No Mercy 3 on 3 Paintball Tournament, Johor Bahru

MPOC (2007):
• Overall 12th out of 60 teams
• Novice/Amateur MPOC, Leg2, KL
• Novice/Amateur MPOC, Leg3, Penang
• Novice/Amateur MPOC, Leg4, KL
• Novice/Amateur MPOC, Leg5, Johor Bahru

Other Division 3 Competitions:
• Johor Bahru Paintball Fitness Challenge 2007, Johor Bahru

Other Events (2007):
• Command and Conquer Scenario Paintball 2007. KL
• Paintball Awareness @ Singapore Management University (SMU)
• Paintball Workshops @ JB Octville Golf and Country Club

International Events:
• Paintball Asia League Series (PALS), World Cup Asia 2007, KL
• NPPL Asian Invitational 2008, Desaru

MPOC (2008):
• Novice/Amateur MPOC, Leg1, KL
• Novice/Amateur MPOC, Leg2, KL
• Novice/Amateur MPOC, Leg3, Penang
• Novice/Amateur MPOC, Leg4, Gombak

Other Events (2008):
• Port Dickson Paintball Challenge - 3rd Place
• Singapore Paintball Novice Series (Key Organiser)
• NUS Sports Bazaar (Paintball Awareness)

AMBASSADORS OF SINGAPOREAN PAINTBALL
The Red Sevens have many friends in the paintball community across the world. We have played hosts to many regional players and professional players. In June members of the 2 top professional paintball teams San diego Dynasty and Oaklan d Infamous in the US NPPL league expressed their interest to visit Singapore and the Red Sevens took time out and organised 2 cars to show them around Singapore.

The name Red Sevens is now synonymous with Singapore in the professional ranks in the paintball fraternity. Other players like Ollie Lang of the famous Ironmen Team has expressed interest to come and visit Singapore and no doubt the Red Sevens will play host to the best paintball player in the world.

As I mentioned before The Red Sevens was invited to represent Singapore in the NPPL Asian Invitational, the team has also received invitations to represent Singapore in other international tournaments in Taiwan and in Indonesia.

I would dare say that the Red Sevens have done a lot to bring, promote and nurture the sport in Singapore despite not receiving any help. Almost everything has been self funded or done for the love of the sport. The Red Sevens are the authority on paintball in Singapore. And I would also say that the Red Sevens deserve some respect because without the Red Sevens there would be no paintball, no speedball and no paintball teams in Singapore.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Respect is never demanded or deserved...it is EARNED....EARN IT!

BC said...

and you are? i won't respect an anonymous comment.

BC said...

Red Sevens never demanded or ask to be showered with respect... So get your facts right.

We don't tell people "HEY LOOK WE'RE THE BEST IN SINGAPORE" because everybody learns from everyone. It's paintball - anything can happen.

If you got the balls to mouth off, you should have the balls to look for us on the field so that we can correct your misconceptions.

I assume you're one of those people who are offended by one of his posts - if you don't like it, don't frakking read his blog.

Anonymous said...

oh look... it's seburo's little puppy calgar.....

Anonymous said...

too scared to put your name, chicken shit?

Anonymous said...

This is just sad.

All of us should know that blogs are personally-opinioned pieces that one shares with the world. There will be those who will be for and there are those who will be against.
For the local sport authorities to lump the The Red Sevens, the PBAS Paintball Association of Singapore and the SPNS Singapore Paintball Novice Series tournament into one basket and hence 'blackmark' them is going contrary to our Minister's (of MCYS) call for a more open and mature society.
Seburo has not slandered the council, has not implied that they are cheating or corrupt, has not hinted that they are enriching their own pockets. He has merely stated a factand a personal opinion when they turned down funding that PB had NO sporting element.
Yes, Seburo can be hot-headed (at times I think too hot-headed and hence mouth-off without thinking) but to equate him with the rest of his affiliations (and hence, their opinions) is similar of calling a government corrupt just because of ONE lone corrupt official.

I think there needs to be some perspective in this and being typical of the blogosphere - there will be people who will come here and hide behind a mask of anonymity because they have no guts to really reveal who they are while it gives them the comfort of making rude unfair comments about others. Seburo does not mince his words and speaks them clearly (I do not agree with his actions half the time) but I respect the fact that he stands behind his words (and pictures).
We all know who he is.
For the 18 years that I have known Seburo, I've always known him to be one who supports something whole-heartedly and not be wishy-washy about it.
This blog is about his love for paintball, his disdain for noobs (who do not learn) and his total devotion to pushing paintball to be the best extreme sport in Singapore.
So you don't like Seburo - fine.
If he's pissed you off personally - fine.
To try and take down the team and the PB association with it - that's just childish.

Those of you who hide behind anonymous and make insinuating comments - you can continue to lead that life under a yellow sky - we'll just get on with our lives.

Anonymous said...

anonymous> read the post again numbnuts - he's not asking you to respect his team. He is pointing out that the Red Sevens have done a lot for paintball in Singapore. You have totally missed missed his point.

What have you done for paintball in Singapore to earn our respect to listen to you?

Anonymous said...

I don't know what this is all about but obviously it is a pain for the others involved in R7 and those associated with SSC. I agree this is a personal blog and seburo has made it clear that his comments in no way reflect the views of his fellow team mates but then again it's hard to not associate both when seburo is is also the R7 team captain... and there is an R7 banner attached to this site. I've commented before in this blog about how seburos views will be perceived - sure I don't have to read it but others will.

I hate to see things escalate to this scale and hope the SSC can see the difference between someone's personal blog/opinions and the team's own website http://www.redsevenspaintball.com/

Bloggers have the freedom to express themselves anyway they want - we may not like and agree with everything they say but then again we do have the choice not to come back to the site... on the flipside I personally think that leaders have the responsibility to show leadership qualities in every aspect of their lives - all leaders are held accountable for their actions whether in the line of duty or in their personal lives...

We all want paintball to grow in Singapore - we all want the sport to be more respected by those who can help the sport grow like the SSC and the community. No one is immune from criticism so I suppose it is how we choose to deal with criticism that shows true our character. I hope seburo and R7 can deal with this in an appropriate manner because as a fellow paintballer living in Singapore I'd hate to see everyone's hard work go to waste...

Anonymous said...

Well...there are things that you like and things that you dislike. Everyone has their own views and opinions of things, how things should be done, how this how that...but at the end of the day, I think its all for the good of paintball. While some of the things that we do here in Singapore is unsual as compared to the rest of the world...we just have to live with it. Not that I am saying things will not change, it just takes time. How long? It depends...but surely, slamming one another, saying bad things about one another are just so underhand. Do like the system, just say it. Hide behind the closet and backstabbing...that's bullshit. With all the saga about the "comments given by a member of the public", I just cant help to think that there is a personal agenda behind this. Surely not helping paintball to grow...and restricting us from moving forward. Just like what the army always says: "Do anything you like, just dont get caught".

SEBURO said...

To preserve somebody's anonymity I have edited the original post. So now it sounds like a PR piece on the Red Sevens which wasn't really my intention.

I do apologise for this.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to say this, for those with a burning desire to say things should have a face-to-face meeting with the Red Sevens, or in fact anyone, to talk things out instead of hiding in your room, punching your keyboard anonymously.

noir said...

did i miss something? aren't we trying to promote Paintball growth here in Singapore? these people have been trying their best to bring paintball to a higher level here in Singapore and this is how you repay them?

talk shit about them all you want, at least they can proudly say that they did their best to introduce paintball to Singapore. what can all you outsiders say?

Anonymous said...

sorries but i cann't help it upon seeing e anonymous post n also e amount of stuff smacked here cos of wads seburo posted.

he ishs absolutely right about how Singapore Paintball came forth, wads wrong wids it?

unlike some people who kept saying they wanna help promote Singapore Paintball yet they're laughing along wids others who critise our BTO... stop the pretense man...

i seriously had enough...

Anonymous said...

true.. tru.. dun belive me?
ask my good friend Thomas Taylor and my dear buddy Ollie Lang.

Anonymous said...

haiz...sour grapes again. Grow up dude.

Daryl said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Daryl said...

yeah dude..i feel you..bastards..

A.T.C.A.D.D.S - R.A.T.A.C.A - C.T.I.A

Anonymous said...

Hmmm... seburo dislike noobs....... and pray tell how long has he been playing to not be a noob himself?

I for one agree that respect is earn but so far i have yet to see why he or his team deserve it.

Anonymous said...

maybe you are blind...how do the grapes taste? Free speech mah...so can say anything...of course everyone has to start being a noob right? I am sure if you are a paintballer yourself, you started off as a noob too. So what's the complain? Be careful okay...dont drink China milk...Grow up dude!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous - like Bedok said - read the post again. Seburo never said he doesn't like noobs. And if you cant see why his team deserves some respect for contributing paintball in Singapore then you're a real dumb ass.

If you're harping on about the 'respect is earned' - crap for the sake of saying it. Then bugger off. His talking about something different here bit I guess your brain is too small to comprehend the bigger picture.

Anonymous said...

Wah! so many ppl one here.... got dumb one, got stupid one, got ego one, got no brain one, got little or not respect one, got no balls one, got think they have balls one, got puppy one, but then again all crying over the same thing!!! Lil Seburo need a cry as someone complain about his blog... and now his has all his lil dicks to cry on.

Anonymous said...

Grow up asshole. Go some where else for your mental jerk off.