NPPL HB wrap up story

Go down a few posts on the blog to see pics and videos. A few things got stuck in between the story and the rest of the cool stuff.

NPPL Event #1 - Huntington Beach Surf City Open - April 2010

Where to start? How about the beginning! On Wednesday we worked out hard preparing for the tourney. Then on Wednesday night we drove up to LA to pick up Thomas Taylor and took him back to our house to spend the night. Sawyer and him spent the night having a slumber party in the living room on the couches talking about the field layout and game strategy for the weekend. On Thursday we headed up to HB to register and walk the fields and spend some playing in the surf. But first, Thomas and Sawyer played some paintball on the Play Station. Thursday was a very early night as we had to be at the fields to play the next day, Friday, at 7:07 for our first game.

Friday morning came really early – 4:10 am. We were out of the house after getting dressed and eating by 4:30 am and were walking our gear to the player’s area in total darkness by 5:30 am. Here is a quick run down of our games –

Game 1 we won with 3 alive. Game 2 was against our friends from Las Vegas, Sucker Punch and the game ran out of time, but Dad did grab the flag. Game 3 we totally let down. It was against the Hawaiian Tropix 2 team. We love these guys and they have gotten a lot better since the last time we played them, but we should have beat them and instead they rolled over us. Hats off to them for being more prepared for this game than us. This is a game that would come back to haunt us when the weekend was ending. Game 4 we got rolled. Game 5 we ran out of time again, both teams keeping 2 alive with no flag grab. Game 6 we won. To our disadvantage, we were the only team who had 6 games Friday. All the other teams had 5. But we still could have played better and should have played better. The rest of Friday we spent at the trade show (Sawyer in the Kingman Training tent) and in the VIP area (very fun).

Saturday was a good sleep in day and we didn’t get to the fields till noon. Again we hung out in the trade show and watched a bunch of games until we played at 5. Saturday we needed a win and a tie to advance. We played 2 strong games. First, getting a tie with the flag pull as time expired. That meant our 2nd game was going to be huge. We played a great game. But time expired again. We missed the Sunday cut by 18 points. A flag pull is worth 20. This was the first Sunday the team had ever missed in 6 tournaments and it stung a lot. We finished the prelims with a 2-2-4 record. 2 wins, 2 losses, 4 ties and we got flag pulls in two ties. Only the top 3 seeds had less losses, but the ties killed us. We needed 1 more win. The good news is we were real tough to beat with only 2 losses and 4 ties. The bad news is we couldn’t win, with only 2 wins and 4 ties. By the time the games were over it was pretty much time to head home – well, at least for Sawyer. He was bent and headed home with mom while Melody and I headed out to hang with the Rockstar crew.

Sunday we headed back to the fields to pit for Infamous. They had made it thru to Sunday with the #1 seed again and a 6-1-1 record with the flag pull in their tie. Sawyer didn’t come. Did I mention he was bent. We had 7 guys on our squad and we pulled him for the last game. His replacement played awesome, staying alive the whole game and holding it down from back center, but Sawyer still wanted in. He felt they could have won with him in. I love his sense of drive and confidence. 6 months ago he would have asked for the sub with a game on the line. Now he wants to be the guy to win it. Makes Dad proud. But it was no fun having him mad at me. AND he didn’t come Sunday – not to pit for Infamous – not to do a photo shoot with Guerrilla Air – he said if he wasn’t playing Sunday he shouldn’t be there. Again, he’s getting so competitive and his mindset is getting so strong it makes Dad really proud. He guaranteed me he would be at the fields the following Sunday for the RPL tournament in Las Vegas because the team would be playing on Sunday – LOVE IT!!!

So – we finally got to play HB. Last year for the 2009 event Sawyer wasn’t even playing tournament style paintball and at the event we were walking around as total tourists. Big difference from last year to this year. Can’t wait to see what happens by the 2011 HB.