Meet Drew Guppy of Windsor Lockdown

      While Drew Guppy now plays for one of the best paintball teams in Canada - Windsor Lockdown - he admits that he wouldn’t be where he is without years of dedication, hard work, practice, and the encouragement and guidance of friends. Guppy’s paintball journey began several years ago when he started playing paintball with his hockey teammates at SGT Splatters. This quickly became a regular weekly outing and eventually the group, “listened to the boys that worked there (mostly the Levack brothers) and put a 3 man rookie team into a TOC event” recalls Drew. He adds, “It’s funny because Justin Ing and I have stuck together through the years from playing in the sand, all the way up until now”. 
     A couple of seasons later, Drew joined the CXBL on the Toronto Rage roster at a time when there was only one division. He remembers, “We wore red t-shirts which were the laughing stock of the league because everyone else had nice jerseys”. Guppy looks back on his first year rostered in the CXBL as a time of huge progression. Thanks to spending lots of time on the field and guidance from Dan Szpka, Phil Thompson, and others, Drew developed greatly as a player. 
    Guppy has invested lots of time and energy into this sport. Having played in TOC, NPPL, PSP, and the CXBL, he has enjoyed many victories along the way. Some highlights of his journey thus far include: 1^st place at Huntington Beach NPPL playing at the D1 level with Synergy, 1^st place at Chicago NPPL playing D2 with 3CT, 1^st place at World Cup PSP at the division 2 level with Defcon, 3^rd place finishes with Synergy at Jacksonville and San Diego NPPL events in division 1, 4^th place finish at World Cup PSP with Toronto Mavericks D3 team, many TOC wins with synergy, and of course, placing 1^st overall in the CXBL central division five times running. 
     In his early days with Synergy, Guppy was known for making big center 50 runs off the break but now frequents the snake side of the field, keeping watch over his front snake teammates. That being said, Drew has played the doritos before and says that he “might consider making a return to the dark side of the field”. While Guppy would love to play a pro PSP event in the future, he admits, “Where I’m at in life right now with my career, I don’t see there being the time to travel and train to be playing competitively at that level. I’m just taking each season as it goes and enjoying the time I spend with the boys”. 

 Photo Credit: Dale Brezinski

I had the pleasure of interviewing Drew in regard to Windsor's showing at Border Battle. Check out what he had to say!  

• What are your general thoughts on Windsor's showing at Border Battle? Did your matches turn out how you expected they would or were there some surprises?

“For the amount of practice (or lack of practice) we had before this event we did pretty well.  We changed up our roster, and didn't really get as much time on the field as we would have liked due to the quick turn around between the events and the crazy wind storms on our Friday practice in Ottawa before the event.  That being said, we came in to the event with a focus to win all 4 of our games and only came out with 3.  So we have room to improve and work to put in.  We were confident that we would take care of business in all of our games, however we seemed to start slow in our morning games and pick up the pace as the day proceeded.  We came out flat against Cowboys in the first half of the match and that is really what hurt us the most.”
 

• Prior to this event, many were surprised by your team's decision to add a line of Damage players to your roster. Lockdown is already made up of many of Ontario's best. What factors led to the roster changes?

“Simply put, these guys are among the top players in the world.  You would be foolish to have an opportunity to gain guys like this and ignore that fact.  Ultimately the plan was for this to happen from  the beginning of the year, however they were committed to the Millenium Series and were unable to play.  For their own reasons, Damage left Millenium and it just made sense to add them to the roster.  We came into this year with 1 intention, and that is to come out with NAX rings.”
 

• Having played four matches with your new line up, do you feel that your roster changes have proved beneficial? In what ways did your new players add to or take away from Lockdown's success at this event? Can we expect to see your Damage line at Elite Event 3 or will they be practicing for PSP?

“They are definitely beneficial to the team as a whole.  It's a nice feeling to have these come in and be able to critique your play and put you back in place.  They're also all cool guys and we were able to do some "team bonding" in Ottawa outside of paintball which I think just got everyone comfortable together on a personal level.  They bring a real competitive drive to the team, which I can only compare to our own core's attitude of playing to win.  As for Event 3, I'm not sure what is planned and it will be an interesting event for all the teams that rostered players who play PSP. “
 

• At Border Battle, Windsor enjoyed victories against Drummondville Daytona, Scarborough Hustle, and Mirabel Impact. What do you feel your team excelled at during these matches that helped to make you so successful?

“Against Drummondville we started slow, however were able to work out all the kinks we had from the little time we had as a team together on the layout.  From there I think we were able to just get our lanes on point and work together as a team on closing out points and capitalizing on any body advantages we had.  We were nice and calm in the pits, were well organized, and had good communication and calls laid out for the field. “
 

• Your match against Tremblant Cowboys was anticipated to be the most exciting match of the event, and possibly the season. While it was certainly a great match, Lockdown came up short by 1. Can you tell me a little bit about this match--what were you and your teammates doing right and where if at all did you go wrong?

“We came out flat in the first half simply put, I believe by the end of the first half the score was either 6-1 or 6-2.  We weren't putting enough paint in the air and flooding the lanes, and they were able to get down the dorito side of the field quicker than we were.  After the half the field seemed to tilt, and we had points going up quick.  There was an extremely long point that was a nail bitter to tie up the game, and unfortunately in closing out the point Keith got a major penalty.  This left us in a 5 on 4 situation, and in turning around the point Jason was unable to get to passed the chronograph ref, so we started 5 on 3.  Matt got laned off the break busting snake side, putting us in an even further predicament playing 5 on 2 essentially from the get go.  Chad and Jacob played solid that point, and they were almost able to hold off the rush and shoot out a bunch of guys.  We had the decision to make to see if the flag hanger was hit, or to towel the point with 14 seconds and try and draw the major swing point.  We toweled the point, and the boys came out hard for the final 14 seconds.  Unfortunately, no major penalty was called (I believe there was a minor) and although we had grabbed the flag,  there wasn't enough time to close out to send the game to a draw.”
 

•  I couldn't help but notice that the familiar Rage faces didn't receive very much playing time throughout this match. As a spectator who has become familiar with your playing style, I found this match to have a very different feel. How did the team decide who to put on the field? Were you and your former Rage teammates disappointed with the lack of playing time? Do you feel this match may have ended differently had you maintained your typical style of play?

“The game started with a regular 3 line rotation that we had been utilizing for our previous games.   When you're in a situation where you are losing points consistently, you just have to turn to the 5 guys that are on the field and hanging the flag.  That was the reality, the two rage lines simply weren't putting the points on the board and the Damage line was.  At that point you just have to suck up your emotions and just do whatever you can to help those guys keep winning.  Sure it sucks to be sitting, but it's not like we have never shortened the bench before even on previous teams.  We've all sat to run 1 line constantly to go for the win at some point or another, regardless of which jersey we are wearing.  Do I feel the outcome could have changed if we had played more points?  That is impossible to answer.  A game can change by a single shot, getting to a specific bunker, laning a guy off the hop, a penalty going in your favour, etc.  There's too many factors to go into depth, and the reality is that teams will always go with the hottest guys on the field.  Unfortunately for the "Rage" boys, we just weren't the hottest.  That just means putting the work in the next few weekends and getting mentally prepared to go out and be the best for our future events.”
 

• Windsor plays against Kitchener Recon and Medonte Ntwo Factor at Elite event 3. What are you doing to prepare for these matches? Has Medonte's win over Cowboys changed the way you view them as a team?

“We're getting back to the basics, and are going to be focusing on doing drills/breakouts and learning the layout.  They're both good teams that will be practicing hard to come for wins as they are looking to secure NAX positions.  Medonte played a great game against the Cowboys, but I don't think this changes any views on the team.  The league is tight this year, a lot more concentrated amount of talent than what we're used to.  It might be a new aspect locally to see top teams losing games, but if you look in the PSP you will find that that is just how paintball goes.  I know they will be showing up to win, and so are we.  No team will be taken lightly.”
 

• With Windsor currently leading the CXBL division, it is certain that you will have a place at NAX. Who do you expect to find yourself competing against at NAX? 

“I'm not sure. There's still a lot of games to be played to judge how the standings will finish.  I'm hoping to line up against Vancouver Thunder first game though, and get redemption for last season.”
 

• Is there anything else you'd like to add?

“Yeah, I'd like to thank our sponsors Combat Pursuit, Next Paintball, and Dye Precision. Trevor/Jeff van Dorsser for all that they've done to put this team together and efforts throughout the season, our pit crew boys who hustle hard for us, and all of the people who cheer us on to win the rings.”

Drew- Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions! It is nice to get honest, well thought-out answers. I look forward to watching your matches at CXBL Elite Event 3. Best of luck to you and your teammates! 

Signing off, 

The Paintball Wife