Paintball Magazine Paintball.Media January 2018 | Page 18

From The
Editor
Welcome to the
three week off-
season
It seems like the paintball “season”
gets longer and longer each year—
and that’s a good thing for our game
and for the industry. I get that those
of you that are lucky enough to live
where the winters are mild don’t have
a true paintball “season.” But I’m
speaking in more general terms, as
in when the big events in paintball
are happening. And this is important
because much of the game’s
excitement, vibe and interest comes
from these events.
For many years the World Cup was
held in October—it is now played in
November. And last year the league
introduced its new warm-up event,
the Winter Classic, which takes
place in January. Just like that, the
NXL’s season now starts two months
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early and ends a month later than in
the past. And the NXL is not alone
when it comes to scheduling into
November. Fulda Gap, a 1500 player
scenario game held in North Carolina
each year is played in mid-November.
Viper runs has last scenario game of
the year in November as well—as
do others. Lane Wright’s Southern
Open Ten-Man tournament, a new
event to add to your calendar, was
held the first weekend in December
near Atlanta—the same weekend
of Wayne Dollack’s Grand Finale
scenario game in Ocala, Florida.
You could easily make the case that
the paintball season, which once
spanned March to October, now
stretches from mid-January right into
early December. This means there
ar e more teams practicing before the
events, more players buying gear for
these “extra” events, more players
following these events from the
comfort of their computers or in our
magazine—and more presence for
the game online and on the field.