SNPS2

SPNS 2 Singapore Paintball Novice Series - was another first for Singapore paintball. It was the first time a 5 man format was played and it was the first time a speedball was played outside of Red Dynasty Paintball Arena. SPNS has done something even the XPOC hasn't done which is to play a leg away from their home ground.

First of all congratulations to Jane and Ben for pulling off an amazing weekend at Pasir Ris Park for SPNS2. I thought it was amazing to have everything brought out of the comfort zone into a national park. The nets were really something else - I was working behind the nets all day and I didn't get splattered much thanks to the double layer NPPL nets. The infrastructure of the netting is really superb and safe and thanks to the Ironmen guys who really went though hell to get them up for everyone's safety.

I must say I felt really proud to watch some of the teams in play - the standard of play has grown so much higher since we first had SPNS1 in 2008. When I watch people like Mark from Kamikaze and Shamel from Contract Killers play that snake so expertly. I felt really proud that Ben and Jane's hard work have produced teams and players of this standard. I was one of the assessors who stood in the dark and rain when Mark did his BTO. Watching him play that snake in SPNS 2 a year later gave me a lot of personal satisfaction.

I was happy to see that the snake I designed the week before was used on the SPNS field- that snake was designed to be challenging and it took something special for the snake guys to play it well. I wanted a snake fight and we saw plenty of gun fighting in the snake alone. I thought who ever got into the snake first, had a short lifespan - he had to do his job quickly as the risk of getting countered was high. The player that was going into get the snake guy had a higher chance of killing the first snake player. The taller tombstone allowed the snake guy to stand/squat to gain height over the other snake player.

Congratulations to the guys on Red West - Ryan Zach Gerald, Paul and Mark for winning SPNS 2 following their win in SPNS 1. I guess with 2 wins out of 3 legs - that also makes Red West unofficial overall SPNS champions for 2009 (?) Congratulations to Zach who played without sleeping on Sat night and while being half drunk. (Hey it works for Infernal). I saw Zach snap shoot on his knees and beating out the guy standing in the dorito - awesome play action.

A bit shout out to Contract Killers who played like pros- their individual skills and team work is wonderful to watch. I am sure their time will come soon.

My MVP of the tournament is no doubt Fuzz of Five-0 whom I think single handedly lead his team all the way into the finals - just as he said he would to play against Red West. His heart and perseverance certainly merits my call for him to be voted as the MVP of SPNS2.

Thank yous to all the Refs who came out and stood in the sun the whole day. SBen and his crew did a great job out there. Thank yous also to 'Datuk' Junaidi Khalil of the Malaysian Marshalls along with Faiz and Azlan who came down from Malaysia to grace the SPNS with their expertise and knowledge.

Special mention must be said of Daniel Goh of the Lemon Ruskies/SPECTRE who flew down from KL at his own expense to help conduct a clinic on Saturday and also to help out with the marshalling on Sunday. When I started playing tournament paintball it was the Immortals who were the guys who we'd have a little rivary with and never did I thought I would have a great friend with one of the Immortals in Daniel. On top of generously sharing his time and knowledge with us, Dan also donated a Dye Ollie Lang T shirt to the winner of the Top Gun which is a 'one on one' competition which was won by Sean Low of White Death.

Last but not least the Ironmen - Kiko's merry crew who maintained the markers, changed the tanks, pumped pegged the bunkers, fixed the nets, carried out all the trash and worked well into the night on Sat and Sun to get everything going. You guys rock.

I had a great weekend watching all the games - I can't wait for the next SPNS which hopefully will be at another exciting venue...East Coast park? Siloso Beach? Or my ultimate pick- the floating pontoon at Marina Bay.

SPNS 2
1st Place RED WEST
Ryan Stoll - Captain
Paul Poh
Mark Wong
Gerald Lee
Zachary Hagy

2nd FIVE- 0
Fuzz - Captain
Ivan Low
Alicia Soh
(sorry I dont have the names of the other 2)

3rd Contract Killers
'Shark' Shakil Captain
Aaron Tan
Benguin Tan
Shamel
Mayor
Mohd. Fazly