With PSP Dallas rapidly approaching,
and more and more Canadian players digging in to American Paintball, what
better time than now to take a closer look at a few of the teams heading to the
USA this week! Perhaps you are already familiar with the new and growing
Alliance Camp with rosters filled with players from all across the CXBL
divisions joining together to fight it out in PSP this season. If not, this is
your chance to learn all about this awesome camp and their plans for 2013!
Derrick Weltz joins me for an interview, today!
·
Alliance
Camp opened up in the fall of 2012 but they are still quite new to PSP. Can you
tell me a little bit about how Alliance came to be?
“My understanding is that Eddie Ralf and Ryan
Chantler had the first talks of starting this team/camp on the drive back from
PSP MAO last year. I wasn't brought into the picture until late September, from
there Hamish McCall, Ryan Chantler and I started working on plans for 2013. At
that point they had already established the D3 team to play at PSP world cup.”
·
What is the
vision behind this camp?
“Our goal is to offer players an opportunity
to travel while playing paintball. One of the best things about paintball is
the time spent travelling with your friends which essentially turn into a
second family for most players. Sure we could have just played select
tournaments and been a "throw together" team, but we wanted this
organization to be something people were proud to be a part of and to feel like
their home.”
Photo Credit: Helen Grose
·
Alliance had
a D3 debut at World Cup in October, and your D3 team will be playing at Dallas.
What did they learn in the fall that has helped them to prepare for the 2013
PSP season?
“Yes we took a group of players that we were
interested in having as a part of our group this year to World Cup last year to
test the waters with them. We were very happy with how they performed. Although
they didn't place that well, the lessons they learned were valuable. The main
thing that the guys took away from World Cup was how much of a team sport paintball
is and that little errors will easily cost you an event. In the race-to format
everybody has to be on the same page as a team and everybody has a specific
role to fulfill. There is no room for selfish players.”
·
Alongside
the D3 team, Alliance has a D1 team making their debut in Dallas next weekend.
Who can we expect to see on the roster?
“Well APPA has our roster on their website
but I will give a quick lowdown. Myself, Ryan Chantler, Will Scheffel, Mark
Steinke, Rob Martin, Brian Robertson, Tim Danchuk, Dan Zavaros, Andrew Urquhart
and Ben Kanester are making up the D1 team for Dallas. We were planning on
having a D2 team for the entire season but have decided for Dallas just to run
D3 and D1 teams to help keep cost down for the following event which is a month
after Dallas. We also have a couple players that will be on the D1 roster that
are not able to play Dallas because of schooling and personal life. So there
will be many roster movements in Alliance Camp from event to event judging on
performance.”
·
What have
the Alliance Camp teams done to prepare for PSP Dallas?
“We have had numerous practices at our indoor
facility which is Flagswipe paintball located in London, Ontario. We have had
focused practices to help with specific parts of our game. Both our teams (D3
and D1) have players that are new to the PSP and even paintball but with the
dimension changes and added bunkers this year you can expect to see a faster
game and with that you will need lots of speed and legs.”
·
How are you
preparing as an individual to be at the top of your game for Dallas?
“Personally I've been preparing myself physically
in case the situation arises where I have to play every point. We're all aware
that if players have good or bad events, other players have to step up and fill
different roles. But at the same time I've been working on my mental game,
people that have played on my teams in the past will agree that I am the first
person to pull myself from the game if I am not performing. But at the same time
I have been known to be a ‘hot head’- I can lose my cool over a bad call. So
I've been working on controlling my emotions and not letting them get the best
of me.”
·
What do you
think will be the Alliance Camp's greatest challenge for PSP Dallas? What do
you think is your greatest strength?
“Well like stated before we have lots of new
players to the PSP scene, so sometimes the hardest part is keeping people
focused on playing, and not worrying about the little things in the Trade show
(Yeah I am talking to you lil Ben). In paintball the one thing many great teams
lack is support. We have nearly 30 people coming down to Dallas so we will have
the organization and numbers to offer support to both of our teams. We just
need to make sure everybody has a role and we don't hear too many voices on the
sidelines.”
·
What
specific goals do you and the Alliance family have for PSP Dallas and
throughout the 2013 season?
“First and foremost paintball should always
be fun. As soon as people aren't having fun I think you have to take a step
back and reevaluate the situation. My personal goal with Alliance is to give everybody
a year they won't forget. Alliance management has already got a surprise for
all of the players and staff members that are coming to Dallas with us! I
personally cannot wait to surprise everybody! Make sure to like our page on
Facebook and follow us all year, to keep up with everything going on!”
·
Does
Alliance have any sponsors or supporters whom you would like to mention?
“Why yes we do, we have amazing support from
numerous companies this year! For starters as mentioned earlier, we have an
amazing home at Flagswipe paintball and we will be shooting RPS paintball's all
year! We will be shooting the DLX luxe, with the Virtue Spire, Exalt will be
supplying us with their awesome pants, tank covers, micro fibres, and barrel
maids. Also we have Ntensity Customs making all the soft goods we could ever
need!”
·
Is there
anything else you would like to add?
“I would just like to thank all the players
that are involved with Alliance as we are new to running an entire camp and
there will be hiccups along the way but they trust us to do our best and this
wouldn't be possible without them!”
“Thanks Niki for keeping an awesome blog, and
please no more rapping video's!”
Derrick,
thank you so much for taking the time to share about Alliance Camp and your
many exciting plans for the season ahead! I wish you all the best at PSP
Dallas! I look forward to seeing you grind it out on Texas soil! As for the rapping, it’s
sort of like vomiting…no matter how badly you want to keep it in, sometimes it
can’t help but escape! I guess this means I shouldn’t include that rap I wrote
about Alliance, eh?
Signing
off,
The
Paintball Wife
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