CPPS Round 2 – Back on Track

CPPS Round 2 – Back on Track

The weekend just gone saw us take to the field for the second round of the CPPS – the Empire Shield.  Coming off of a very disappointing result in Puget, we really wanted to redeem ourselves and let people know we were going to come back stronger and better than ever.

We traveled up on the Saturday morning for some training; as we had managed secure a 2 hour time slot on one of the fields with Samurai MV and 2 other teams from Division 2.  This was new for this event, and meant we didn’t have long periods of time waiting to try and get on the field, and it worked very well.

We hadn’t had any time running points on the new field layout so our aim for the day was to play back-to-back points and get a feel for the field and see how it played out.  We took the field with MV and points were going back and forth between us with some very close games.  Unfortunately, in the first point of the day, our captain came off the start gate rather awkwardly and injured his knee.  He carried on for the rest of the day though and was nailing his break-shooting, so it wasn’t all bad!  After roughly an hour off running points, we wanted to run a few breakouts, just to try and a few different options and to get our lanes dialled in.  This was very beneficial, but ended up with a bit of drama.  In what was to be the last breakout of the day, we wanted to try and push snake 2 off the break.  This seemed to work, however on closer inspection after the point finished, our snake player was still on the floor behind his bunker.  As it turned out, on his way into the snake he took a core sample and had his gun for lunch.  This meant a trip to A&E so he could get the inside of his mouth stitched up again.

Having ended training on a bit of a sad note, we still came away feeling quite happy and confident in ourselves on the field layout, and were looking forward to starting the competition, despite our injuries!

SUNDAY

Sunday morning, our captain made the decision to sit out for the day, as his knee wasn’t feeling up to it and he didn’t want to risk further injury.  This meant that our newly appointed coach had to step up and get back on the field, which I’m sure he didn’t mind too much about!  Anyway, our group for this event consisted of:

1. Din Eidyn
2. Sneaky Snorkels Tamworth
3. Warped Wolf City Union
4. NA Angels
5. Impulse 2

Our first game of the day was against Din Eidyn.  Last round we managed to put a 2-0 win on them, but as we all know in paintball, past performances don’t always mean a great deal.  We saw them practice on Saturday and watched them put a point on MV, so knew they weren’t to be taken likely.  The first point we played was extremely long, easily going to 6 minutes.  3 men alive on each time, and paint running out, we needed to make something happen.  Our guy in Dorito 1 made a move to mug out his mirror, which he managed to do cleanly, so carried on to try and take their next man as well.  He got shot on the way and didn’t manage to put a ball on the second player, but he was then called for a penalty for some unknown reason which we still haven’t got our head around.  This meant it came down to a 2-on-1, which we unfortunately lost.  However we came out ready for the second point looking to put a quick point on the board.

Soon after making our primaries in the second point, the referees signalled there was 1 minute left on the clock.  Knowing we had to make something happen, we made a push up the dorito side and the centre.  We were making the kills and it was looking like we could take the game to a draw, however their last player span after taking a good few hits to his side beforehand.  Usually he would have got pulled on a 2-4-1 and we’d get an automatic point.  But the referee just called them both out on a trade, meaning we missed the buzzer by seconds.

We were a bit disheartened by this, and felt hard done-by, but we knew not to get down on ourselves as these calls do sometimes happen and it’s just part of the sport.  All this meant was we had to come out strong and win the remainder of our prelim games to make the semi-finals.

Our second game was against Sneaky Snorkels.  We’ve always had a good relationship with this team, but we came out with something to prove as they beat us 1-2 in Puget.  We took the first point, and then they took the second, in a similar fashion to Puget.  However, we learnt from our mistakes and managed to put the final point on them giving us the win 2-1.  We were happy with this result,counter-coach did seem to be a bit of an issue during this match but it did not phase us.

Our third game was against Warped.  At the last CPPS event, there was a lot of confusion in this game, and we ended up losing 1-2 after having our whole team pulled for an early start.  This wasn’t the case today and we came out very strong, taking bodies off the break, and winning the game 2-0.

Our fourth and fifth games were a similar story.  We took a 2-1 win against NA Angels, and a 2-0 win against Impulse 2.  Our determination to win had paid off, and we were playing well as a team.  Managing to win 4 out of 5 of our prelim games put us into the semi-finals, where we would play against London Defiance.

Defiance had won 4 of their prelim games and drawn 1, so like us they were looking strong going into this game.  In similar fashion for us we took the game to 1-1.  In the last point, we tried to go wide on the snake side, but unfortunately got shot on the break doing so.  Defiance capitalized on this and pushed hard up the snake and down the center of the field to take the final point, meaning we lost 1-2.  This was a bit of a blow to us after playing so well and feeling like we deserved to be in the finals, but all credit to Defiance as they went on to win the final against Sandbaggers.

But the day wasn’t over for us, as we still had to play a 3^rd/4^th play-off match against our friends (now rivals) Sneaky Snorkels.  The counter-coaching continued, but it was of no use.  We won this final game 2-1, putting us into 3^rd place for the event.  The paintball gods will punish you for foul play, so let that be a lesson to you all!

We were happy with this 3^rd place finish, which is an improvement over our last events of the year, but we know we still have more to give, and there is still a lot of room for improvement.  But we are coming together properly as a team, and feeling much more confident in our abilities and being able to rely on each other.  Now to hit the training ground hard in preparation for Bitburg!

Again, huge thank you to our sponsors for providing winning equipment:

#PlanetEclipse – the Geo’s, LV1’s, and GSL performed flawlessly all weekend, even when being caked in mud!

#EmpirePaintball – the Formula 13 is the best training paint on the market, and the Evil outshoots any other paint going.

#HKArmy – the jerseys continue to hold up to all the punishment we throw at them.

#VirtuePaintball – the spire kept going strong through the various weather conditions we experience!

#DromPaintball – the new 1.5 shoes do an amazing job and give us the confidence to make moves without slipping over. #yourdecision

#LiPS – thanks for your support at all the CPPS events and providing us with any gear we need.