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where you get to play about once every 45 minutes to the present day where you play a morning or afternoon session with around 20 min gaps between games.

This has changed many things about the whole tournament experience for both good and bad.

I was talking to Wendy this morning and we thought that we should get a discussion going and look at the pro's and con's of both types of scheduling and see which suits best.

In my opinion even though there are cons and pros for both systems I always prefrered the all day scheduling.

The atmosphere just doesnt seem as appealing now compared to maybe 5 years ago. The majority of players now turn up play for 3-4 hours then go home. Ive always looked at the whole tournament event to be a social event as well as playing paintball.

Over the years ive made many a friend through paintball a lot who dont play now but I still class as friends and see on a social basis around the country. A lot of these were from talking to other players on the sideline of a field while watching games waiting to play myself.

Whats is everyone elses thoughts on this? which type of system does everyone prefer?

Jon

Being brand new to the tournament scene I cant really put any weight behind this discussion but I can say what I see

I was surprised to find that some divisions play in the morning then leave for the afternoon. I was expecting teams to be there all day with the coffee/tea flowing and the social banter to be a 'whole event' thing.

We went to spectate at the January event and stayed the whole day but we did notice that people started to leave and arrive around lunch time.

I would love for events to be all day and, if it means a long wait between games then so be it. So many people to talk to, catch up with, friends to be made and good times to be had.

Im not sure if this would be a scheduling nightmare but I think, from a community closeness point of view, it would be a good idea.

Matt

[quote="Jon C"]

The atmosphere just doesnt seem as appealing now compared to maybe 5 years ago. The majority of players now turn up play for 3-4 hours then go home. Ive always looked at the whole tournament event to be a social event as well as playing paintball.


That sums it up for me but its a difficult one as I can also see the apeal of a good morning of paintball then home for tea and cakes.

I think from a playing standpoint it has its ups and downs; you get a late start now and then and there's less waiting between games on the upside. On the downside it can be very rushed getting to games on time, especially if anyone is running ahead or behind, there's only ever a few people at the award part and there's certainly a lot less atmosphere over the day as whole. On the perceived value front it feels like a lot of money for half a day, and personally if I go to an event I'm there for the day, so for me the best way is a day's play with even spacing between games to avoid long waits, then a nice big ceremony at the end some people even stay around for

My thoughts....

For playing side of things I prefer the split sessions, as I know of quite a few people who play both sessions with different teams. Personally, I have been playing in the 5 man and then coaching for our X-ball team and know 4/5 other people off the top of my head that do this!

For atmosphere..I have to go with all day scheduling with big ceremony at end!!!

i hate the wait (have had 2 hours waits before on an all day and you just get cold and out of the mind frame) 20 mins is more than enough time to chat natter and get ready for the next game. and then its down the pub for lunch/dinner and home, its not a whole day, you can still have a lie in and get a good lunch or get up as usual and have a large late lunch after!

I haven't been to many tourneys but personally at this time mainly its because of the weather?

The last one (UK Masters last month i believe) the only reason we didn't stay towards the end was because we was all freezing our balls off.
Yeahs it's good fun to watch, and we would have stayed but the temperature really does effect you.

maybe doing he morning and afternoon schedules but making it more worth while to stay and watch if you want?

i prefer the 20 mins between games, ur mojo doesnt have time to go off the boil and u get to sit and watch some games in peace after u`ve finished . days when u have to sit and wait upto 2 hours between games can be fecking tedious and it also give`s Brett plenty of time to attack the burger van- he`s more awesome when he isnt loaded down with rat burgers

Having played both all day & am/pm games I guess i'm an advocate for all day games, the atmosphere is constant through out the day unlike am/pm games where people leave/arrive at lunchtime. Yes you may have to wait a bit longer between games but if its all going wrong it does give you time to watch a few games and adjust your game plan.
It also helps with people who need lifts off other teams, if you are playing in the morning & they don't play till the afternoon or vis versa it seems a bit unfair to ask them to get up at the crack of dawn to drive down then hang around for hours to play or to wait till you've finished before they can drive home.