GRIP Nº12

N.ยบ 12 January 2015

GF Boomstick review

England vs Scotland scenario

Scott Kemp paintball athlete

Paris

millennium

Ronnie Dizon interview

WELCOME. TO THE 5TH DIMENSION. CURE 5 BOLT ZICK3 RAMMER

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The new ETEK5 takes your perception of mid-range paintball markers to a whole new dimension. Whether you’re just starting out or on your way to the top, the ETEK5 offers incredible value and super-reliable performance. Are you ready to enter the 5th Dimension?

LV1 inspired drivetrain SL4 inline regulator 2-piece barrel system (14.5” / .693 bore) Shaft4 compatible Precision machined aluminium Durable GRN composite parts Optional OLED display upgrade

© 2014 Copyright Planet Eclipse Ltd. Eclipse, the Estar Logo Device, LV1, Geo, Etek, Etha and EMC are all either design trademarks, registered trademarks or trademarks of Planet Eclipse Ltd. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

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18-33 Millennium Paris

14-15 Profile Jay Lasheras

44-51 Gallery

index index 06–07 Team

Editorial

10-11 News

12–13

Highlight Media

14–15

Profile Jay Lasheras

18-33

Millennium Paris

36-39

Paintball Athlete Scott Kemp

40-42

The New Legacy Zane KJ Mañasco 04

index

44-51 Gallery

52-57

Interview Ronnie Dizon

58-69 TOP 5

70-77

Miss GRIP Ana Martins

77-82 Scenario

England vs Scotland

52-57 Interview Ronnie Dizon

78-82

Scenario England vs Scotland

84-85

Review GF Boomstick

86-88

70-77 Miss GRIP Ana Martins

Review Woodland-envents.com

84-85 Review

Thanks

GF Boomstick

index

RITA PEREIRA GRIP Magazine’s Art Director. She works as a professional graphic designer.

PEDRO SIMÕES GRIP Magazine’s photography editor. He’s also an accredited photojournalist.

ANDRÉ FARIA The scenario man. If we’re talking about camouflage, gun replicas and lots of fun, then that’s where he is.

team

DANIEL TEIXEIRA GRIP Magazine’s kid. He is the man in charge of our website and all bits and bytes.

ZANE KJ MAÑASCO If he is not shooting, he is pulling some serious magic on the computer. the Design madmen and genius together in a unique guy!

SIEGIE KELLY Who better to help out than one of the RSH designers? Any subject related to image, he’s your man!

HUGO BETTENCOURT If there is something new in our sport, he already know it. The news man!

RITA RISCADO Our «Irishwoman» translates and puts up with us and all our doubts. Without her, you simply wouldn’t understand us!

SCOTT KEMP There is only one person in the paintball scene that grew as much in paintball skills as in his body. He is your nutrition and fitness coach.

ANDRÉ GOMES One of the “kids” of the team. Dominates the English language. and helps us translate a few thousand words per issue.

team

Property of André Filipe Sobreira Garrido NIF: 227215290 Legal address: Rua General Taborda Nº3 - 1º 1070-137 Lisboa ERC Registration Nº 126231 Frequency: Quarterly

DIRECTOR EDITOR MARKETING ADVERTISEMENT PHOTOGRAPHY

André Garrido (mail@grippaintball.com) André Garrido (mail@grippaintball.com) Carla Peixoto (carla.peixoto@grippaintball.com) GRIP - Photo Services

GRIP – Paintball Magazine or André Filipe Sobreira Garrido are not responsible for the content of the ads nor for the accuracy of the characteristics and features of the products and/or goods advertised. Their veracity and accordance with reality are fully and exclusively the responsibility of the advertisers and advertising agencies or companies.

IT IS STRICLY FORBIDEN TO COPY TEXTS AND IMAGES BY ALL MEANS advertisement

editorial By André Garrido Director GRIP

ith this edition we can finally close our third year. And it seems like it was just yesterday when we started this as joke. And I’m not saying joke in a sloppy manner, we just never took this project as a very serious one. Our great «problem» is that we have raised the standard to such a point that it isn’t easy to surpass our previous editions. On the day that we sat down in my home and decided to create this project, we chose to have as much quality and research as possible in every edition and be different and innovative every year. That is the reason for us to keep it at four editions a year. We have faults and we think we can identify all of them. Some we want to correct, some we will just ignore since it’s impossible to affect them now. We can only reach the concept of perfection with the tools we can’t get, such as more strong human resources and high capital spending. But we aren’t looking for perfection. We wish for this magazine to continue being one that is interested in promoting the sport and worry about its players. We don’t wish to be a power in the community, just another member of it! In this edition you will meet the Spanish captain of the team FiveStar – Jay Lasheras. Once it comes to players you can read about the humble and quick Ronnie Dizon. We also had a participation coming from Scot Kemp with an article dedicated to nutrition and sport. Regarding events we will have our usual Millennium write-up and the England Vs. Scotland game. Much more can be seen, including our lovely Miss GRIP!

editorial

eNMEy .50 Caliber

A new marker called eNMEy .50 Caliber was launched in the market. It’s perfect for the younger players and most likely for the fields because its dualgas compatibility, using a low pressure (130psi) and simple to maintain. With an average velocity of 250fps it can shoot over 1200 shots in one tank.

Empire AXE Pro The Axe Pro is out! Empire decide to provide it in four colours: Dust Black/Grey, Dust Blue/ Blue, Dust Silver/Brown and Dust Red/Black. Some of the features include a bolt removal using a push button, a relay regulator ASA with an on/off lever, accessible eyes for simple cleaning, two-piece barrels, joystick interface with energy efficient OLED, etc.

BR1 Bullpup Project You can’t buy one yet but the BR1 Bullpup Project started with the goal of creating the world’s first bullpup paintball marker. As HonorCore Industries say: «By having the action of the weapon located behind the trigger, designers are able to decrease the overall length and weight of a rifle while retaining the same barrel length.»

Tippmann upgraded Engler Customs created the first upgrade to the new Tippmann TCR. This new upgrade allows the player to use any M4 style buffer tube stock on the Tippmann TCR.

New Exalt Pod Swab, Custom Goggle Straps and Headbands! Straps, headbands and pod swabs; that’s only a fraction of what Exalt is launching this month. The straps can be fully custom or you can choose from a pre-made selection. A new limited edition was also released for headbands using a camouflage fabric, perfect for the woodsball lovers.

news

Loaders from Globtacs arrived GRL is the red dot sight replica and the GSL is the ACOG sight replica. Both have a 20 round capacity and a patent pending 10bps gravity feed system, for a milsim or limited paint style games. They fit and work in any marker with central up or side feeding, and rail interface system.

Supâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;airball new obstacles Supâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;airball has always provided new obstacles every year. This year was no exception, with the addition of six new cones and one snake beam. Two obstacles that are highly technical positions to play will bring a new mentality to the game. advertisement

MEDIA

We can’t avoid the fact that almost everyone is a reporter, pho and journalist in today’s world. We all have a phone that takes records sound and video. Aren’t these the tools of a real repor Unfortunately most think that’s the case. It’s necessary to remind those that investigate anything do t research, will study for endless hours to execute an interview, until they find that piece of information that will give them th others and will spend hours out in the rain just to get the perf It’s more than being at the right place at the right time, it’s creating that moment!

highlight

otographer s pictures, rter?

their , they will dig he edge over fect shot. s about

highlight

13 13

Jay

Lasheras J

ay is one of those people who we immediately like. His sympathy and politeness are only put aside when things aren’t going the way of his team FiveStar Lleida. FiveStar are the best Spanish team in the international circuit, and a lot is owed to the fact they train in France with top teams and are fully dedicated to the Millennium Series. This season they bet on the capture of American stars (Nicky Cuba, Kevin

profile

Rudolph and Damian Ryan) to solidify their knowledge and achieve the highest possible ranking in their division, SPL1. Jay has recently become the International Sales Manager of Anthrax and has travelled the world promoting his brand, going to all big tournaments from Millennium to PSP. Jay doesn’t hide his pride in taking the Spanish team to all the SPL podiums and the future that awaits him and his team is certainly bright. •

NICKNAME Jay

DATE OF BIRTH 04/02/1975

OCCUPATION International Sales Manager of Anthrax Paintball

STARTED PLAYING IN 2005

PLAYS FOR FiveStar Lleida

INTERNATIONAL EVENTS Millennium, PSP, NPPL, World Cup Asia, CPS, Med Cup, EP5,

EVENTS WON More than 30 podiums, including several first places in Millennium

BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT IN PAINTBALL Taking a Spanish team all the way through the Div’s of millennium and getting it to SPL.

Text: André Garrido

profile

PARI Paris is always that place that everyone wants to be in, especially in the year that history could be made! GRIP was there to tell you everything. Text: AndrĂŠ Garrido

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IS 19

Paris isn’t any other city. This fact is very clear and it’s difficult to imagine our sport’s evolution if it hadn’t passed through the French capital. We have had better times than the current ones in paintball with more players, teams and a stronger economy to boost the number of casual players. Yet when we go to Paris, everything looks unchanged, and there is definitely an air of nostalgia in this Millennium event. The Disney days aren’t forgotten and will always be used as a benchmark for any European paintball event for many years to come. But those days are

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gone and we must move forward and try to improve the scenario we have been given, the old mews of Chantilly. There is no doubt that this town is the perfect environment for paintball. All the photographers already had their memory cards full of pictures of the palace that sets the background for the event even before it started, which gives the tournament a romantic environment for the whole weekend. The layout of the event is the same as last years, with a central corridor with shops down the centre and a larger than usual food court, where we could play volleyball

or go sliding down some aquatic slides built Regarding the fields, these were found for the event. The Millennium felt the need around the hippodrome, so all spectators to be different this time round, creating a could accompany all moves made within stronger family environment, where there the game, except the CPL field which had could be more social interactions between the paid stands. all those invited; this corridor One of the negative points we essentially stopped being a had was the exclusivity of the place of passage for players event by having it within a In Paris that have just finished games, hippodrome. It is hard to there to one where families and attract spectators from is always teams could rest and socialise outside the sport in this an air together. The idea, although manner and we in GRIP are of nostalgia not innovative, is very welcome strong defenders of making the and helps develop the sport and sport one for the ÂŤpeopleÂť so that it had some visible results, with many those from the outside can understand more people laying around than usual. The our magnificent sport. We have previously amazing weather also helped, something seen a tournament in the capital of Portugal that is very rare in this Parisian event. - Lisbon - in a garden in front of the major

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touristic place and we can guarantee that doritos on the other with an M down the centre. The small backs were used as a we have never seen so many non-paintball passage place and the rest is as normal. If people interested in the sport. it ain’t broke don’t fix it! As we said, the weather was Keeping in mind that Paris is the incredible. The smile on player’s faces and the spectators showed last event of the year, we can The say that a lot was at stake. this. Enough with the bad rain Millennium felt The thousands of euros spent and weather! the need to be The field layout was a trip different, creating by every team on paintballs, equipment, subscriptions, down memory lane, where a stronger family trips, hotels, cars, gasoline the move back to classic environment and training all came down to formats was made and hard and this moment, where qualification aggressive lanes were available, was essential to guarantee a place on allowing all to see a rapid and the table. Many don’t have the chance to be interesting game. Some spectators were promoted, and others already know they will still traumatised with the beginning of the be relegated, yet no one gives up without a year’s layouts, where moving five metres fight in this last European stage. was seen as a highlight of the day but came Even with all this happening, there was at the expense of three boxes of paint. only one topic that everyone spoke of: This field kept it simple: snake on one end,

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would Impact be able to win all events for the first time? The closest a team has gotten to winning all European events was in 2005 with XSV winning four events and a second place in the fifth and final event. In Paris, Impact could be making history.

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In the last division, OD2, everything was up for grabs as usual. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s common for teams that win an event to drop to last place in the next due to inconsistency. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also common to see teams like Oslo Embers go from a 24th spot in Bitburg to a second place overall. This inconsistency ensures that those that stay in

the top 6 consistently will always have a spot in the final with the team from Montreal, at the top of the table. where J-Rab’s brother Brandon Rabackoff The Norwegian team managed to win plays. Second place overall was enough for this event, but were unable to pass fifth them to conquer the golden medal for the place and beat Whazzup Moscow. Whazzup 2014 season. had a very humble 2013 and this year they Even after a seventh place in Paris, managed to show some more ambition Section Paradise won second place leaving typical of Russian paintball; they’re a team third for the Anthrax team, FiveStar 2, who to keep your eye on. would be runner ups for the title had they Third place overall was reserved for not slipped in Bitburg. Slamdancers. Veterans Assala took fifth Being an open division there are no teams place and if they hadn’t had a bad show to be relegated, but the first three places in London they would have had their best are promoted to SPL2. season yet. We want to highlight Harca Gandia’s OD1 had 27 teams playing, many run in the tournament, a team with at least one Millennium on that GRIP has been following Reffing their belt, with others trying since its creation, them being for points European paintball for the first a Spanish team with little should be time. Although it’s an open to none resources yet still rethought, division, it’s the start of X-Ball scraping an eighth place. especially and the rivalry between teams And although it was far from the amount is palpable; there is practically their expectations, Poison of points a fixed number of teams that will Ivy managed to finish in tenth, always be in the first seven places. something that still seems like an There was still a lot to decide, although accomplishment after this all women’s team Indecence were a team to shoot down as suffered major changes to their roster in the they were 32 points ahead of second place. beginning of the season. Even with all teams against them the SPL2 is always a mathematical headache French team didn’t give up and solely lost as there is always the possibility of teams advertisement

millennium

reffing and winning the same number of true, but once it in reality the team that points as a first place. Although this is a is reffing will always come out on top due strange policy, only those that haven’t to the point increase they receive. We reffed can say it’s an easy job. It’s a hard understand the necessity of Millennium event for those wearing the stripes, and recruiting teams for this function, sparing for just having to put up with that costs yet this model should be annoying player that every rethought, especially the amount Mariya team has they should be of points won. Korolyova, commended for their efforts. As it is custom, this is one a female player The big problem is that the of the divisions with the that not many weak teams are then able largest rivalry. Year after men want to to rise up the table and the year we reach the end of the see in front stronger teams create chaos season with literally no idea of them in the rankings, which can lead who the favourites are to win to some unfair changes in the overall the tournament. The team that had classification. A case study of this is Brussels been the most consistent so far were the Heat and Outlaw Lille: up until the London Russian Fighter Pro-Shar Perm that already event Brussels Heat were in front of the had two second places and a fifth, yet French team yet Outlaw was reffing this last Vienna United were only 28 points behind, event, giving them the lead by 22 points. which in our sport isn’t that much. Tied The rules are the same for everyone, it’s with the same score were RedBall. Not

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very far off we could find SPA2, Brussels Heat and Outlaw. After London things didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t change much, ensuring the Russians won first place without ever in fact winning a final. However they demonstrated the most consistent paintball in this division and a lot of that credit is due to Mariya Korolyova, a female player that not many men want to see in front of them. Second and third came Vienna United and RedBall respectively. Accompanying these three teams into the next division was Outlaw Lille with their fourth place. In SPL1, everything changes. There was

a clear winner that would only not finish in first if there was some sort of catastrophe. We are talking about Hulk Kiev, that with the help of Alex Goldman and Marcello Margott have become a big powerhouse in this division. But there are still events that can go wrong and this was without doubt one of them. Paris was a nightmare for this team, where you could see that the pressure of that first place was already starting to build up. When they lost, guaranteeing them solely a 17th place in Paris, they looked like they had been in a car crash where they had been run over with no resistance

millennium

whatsoever. They put everything down to ago. And when we say they dominated the fate with this play, and they could even game, we mean that they were the ones avoid promotion if Amsterdam Heat and that chose when the other team attacked and where, and what their moves were. MLKings had a good showing. The fight was fierce between all the That’s how good they are. teams to take advantage of the Ukrainian’s The only team that could oppose them collapse, but FiveStar were the first to were Houston Heat that were 60 points falter. In a game against Ronholt Blast, the behind, meaning the Canadian team had Spaniards weren’t able to come out on to finish in ninth for them to take their top. Believe us when we say that the mood place away. Not even Heat believed that after that game was deadly. would happen. In the run for first place Heat and In this division practically everything is MLKings weren’t going to back off at any set in stone except one or two spots. point. Unfortunately they were both left The most pleasant surprise was the behind in the quarter finals, giving rise of Art Chaos back to the level Hulk Kiev an automatic victory. which we expected of them. MLKings This meant that one of those For the first time this year and FiveStar wouldn’t be promoted and we saw them play with their are teams that this unfortunate roll was heads on the right place. would bring given to MLKings. The team Another comeback from the a more from Amsterdam could finally French Tonton was welcome, aggressive breathe. after their shameful season edge to CPL It is a shame that only two where they finally managed to teams go up in this division, as teams head in the right direction in their like MLKings and FiveStar are teams that hometown Paris. would bring a more aggressive edge to The problem with these comebacks CPL, in a way that the weakest teams is that you’re adding a big block of TNT there are struggling to show. to the best teams in the world, which is If in SPL1 there are favourites for the going to wildly destabilise many of their cup, for CPL we don’t even need an event performances. to already know who is going to win. Unfortunately for Impact they had to stop Impact were destructive this year, they in fifth place from a flawless victory, as they never stopped to give their opponents were stopped by Breakout Spa that have had some breathing space. As we said before, one of the most interesting seasons this year only one team was close to having a and ultimately proved they’re a team to be perfect season, yet Impact this year reckoned with. showed absolute domination of the field, in If they maintain their team in 2015 they the same way Dynasty played many years will be a strong force. Although they beat

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the future victors, they didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t pass fourth place, losing against those that went on to become the champions of Paris, Art Chaos. In third came Tonton that lost the semifinals against Houston Heat. In the overall ranking, first came Impact as expect and second for Houston Heat. In third came Polar Bears that didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get anything better than a sixth in Paris, but had an overall incredible season which they will find hard to keep up without Lang and Greenspan. The big surprise this season were Nexus that for the first time in their history ran the risk of being relegated. This fact is

millennium

important as they are one of the only teams that have been part of the Millennium since the start. Fortunately for them they beat Vision and Hellwood which are the two teams dropping to SPL1. Overall this was an interesting year. There was a break of some teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s total hegemony over the competition and created a vacuum for new and better teams. Another important part of 2014 was the incredible weather during all events. Once again we can notice the huge difference between the North American teams and the European, where although they had one or two good moments, the

Europeans struggled to keep up with the Millennium has to risk more, and leave their American professionalism. We need more of infamous triangle (Germany, UK, France) that for paintball to grow in Europe. and explore new locations: Spain for their With all the locations and dates of development in the sport; Portugal for the 2015 events out, we can’t stop the amazing weather, touristic feeling incredibly disappointed. and unmatched sport facilities; Millennium Players are starting to get Italy for their recent paintball has to risk tired of the same places all boom; Holland for the sake more, and leave the time. Chantilly is nice and of having a different sporting their infamous different, but the rest is too environment… we could triangle and similar. Puget reminds us of an mention so many more! explore new American trailer park even after We honestly don’t know locations their considerable improvements. what to expect of 2015. But we The German and British events don’t would like to see paintball with more have a confirmed location yet, but just women and children. It has to stop being the fact of not seeing a new country on such a selective sport and move to a sport the list makes things so disappointing. for everyone! • advertisement

millennium

training and nutrition for the paintball athlete By Scott Kemp

As a personal trainer, fitness coach and unable to drop body fat. You’ll just be professional paintball player, I can tell you spinning your wheels all year long and it first hand that everyone has different goals can be very frustrating. First off, if you are that all need to be treated differently. overweight, you need to drop your body Your nutrition and training need to cater to fat. This alone will help you be faster on your goals, not just a generic meal plan or the field and a smaller target. This should workout you find in fitness magazines. Some be step one. The scientifically proven way people want to put on muscle, some want to to drop excess body fat is to be in a calorie lose weight, others want to increase speed deficit of 500-1000 calories each day. and some just need to lower the amount of Meaning, you are burning 500-1000 more doctor visits they have each year. So if you calories each day than you are consuming. are looking to enhance Too much of anything good can be bad. If you your performance on the paintball field, drop your calories too low your body will go then you need to into survivor mode, thinking it’s starving. follow the proper training and nutrition in order to improve your skills. I’m going to Your body is constantly burning calories start with nutrition because I truly believe it every minute in order to function. You burn is more important than training. Most clients calories when you exercise, eat, sleep and I deal with start out overweight. That being even just sit there reading this article, said, I’m going to focus on how you can drop but it’s not much. When your heart rate your excess body fat. is elevated from exercise is when you will burn the most amounts of calories in the NUTRITION least amount of time. Let’s say you are not You can train your butt off each day but if exercising. How many calories is your body you are eating junk you will find yourself burning in 24 hours on average? Take your

paintball athlete

JUMP SQUAT

bodyweight in pounds and (men multiply by 13, women multiply by 11). That’s the total number of calories your body will need each day in order to maintain your current weight. Since we are looking to drop weight and not maintain, we need to do two things. 1: exercise 2: lower our calories. Start by lowering 500 per day. If you workout for an hour each day that will be about 500 calories burned. Thus, leaving you in a 1000-calorie deficit each day.

EXAMPLE 90Kg man x 13 = 2600 -500 = 2,100 calories per day plus exercise. So why don’t I just drop my calories even more and get faster results? Great question! Too much of anything good can be bad. If you drop your calories too low your body will go into survivor mode,

thinking it’s starving. It will then hold onto all the body fat it can and eat away muscle mass. A good indicator of how much weight you should be losing is 900g. per week. This is the average amount of body fat you can drop in a week. Anything more and it’s just water and muscle you’re losing. Now that you have your calories

paintball athlete

in check, you can start to lose body fat and get in shape! Once you are as lean as you want to be, re calculate the formula above to find your maintenance calories and stick with that.

High jump high knees (knees to chest) 20 reps 4 sets Plank on elbows and one foot off the ground 5 sets each leg 15-20 seconds each leg

TRAINING

THURSDAY

Applicable for athletes over weight or already in shape, the training program I have designed will burn calories, increase metabolism, improve speed, improve endurance and lower your risk of injury. It is a mix of plyometric, strength, power, agility and cardio.

Steady Cardio 45-60min of a steady state with your heart rate elevated to at 120-140 beats per minute Bike, stairs, treadmill, swim, jog, elliptical or row machine.

MONDAY Plyometrics Box Jumps- 20 reps 5 sets Buries- 15 reps 5 sets Squat to jump- 15 reps 5 sets Incline clapping pushups (hands on bench or ledge knee high) 15 reps 5 sets

TUESDAY Power and Strength Weighted squats: 10-15 reps 4 sets Weighted lunges: 12-15 reps each leg 4 sets Standing overhead dumbbell press 12-15 reps 4 sets Pull ups (assisted if needed) 10-12 reps 5 sets

WEDNESDAY Agility and Power Incline sprints or parachute 50 metros 7 sets (at a park or none busy street) Backwards sprint 10 metros 4 sets

paintball athlete

CARDIO

PULL UPS

FRIDAY Rest

SATURDAY Paintball

SUNDAY Paintball Notes: Perform each exercise in order from top to bottom until all are complete. Finish all assigned sets in each exercise before moving onto the next exercise. Rest between every set and every

exercise. Your rest time will vary. Keep it minimal. Each training session should not take more than 45 min. Remember, you might not ever be the fastest person in the world, but you can always be a faster you. Your speed can continue to improve from power and resistance training as well as keeping excess body fat down. â&#x20AC;˘ advertisement

paintball athlete

there is no off season By Zane KJ Mañasco

As the season draws to a close we look back anything the hunger is worse now that we at what has made our team so strong on can see how hard we need to work. and off the field. Whether we win or lose To end the season in style Harca we have always looked at this journey as a Gandia travelled to the PSP World Cup in real group of friends having the time of their Orlando to compete as a Spanish team and lives. This team was made by players for essentially try and keep the same squad as one reason, to win, and with 2015 in sight Millennium. The experience was amazing we can say that we are just getting started. and everyone was able to cross that event Each event has given us something off their bucket list. Needless to say the to learn, fix and try to adapt. Harca game and skill was on a different level and Gandia is still a very young team. All the Harca was humbled by the qualities and players have some experience and bring aspects of the PSP format. something to the table. Yet the most Florida also proved a harsh mistress important aspect is that win or lose we with increased humidity and intense do it together and off our own backs. We games. The whole squad was tested are lucky to have great sponsors and our and enjoyed every second. We knew it families that give us the We have potential but still need to power support we need. It’s this system which gives through those eight places and get the win. us strength when things don’t always go as planned. was not going to be easy, the level in Ending the season in the Top10 of our the states is extremely high and you are division has been a great thing for us to playing a different game with its own allow the team to realise that we have aspects to overcome. We also had issues potential but still need to power through of fielding players we had never worked those eight places and get the win. Nobody with so we had to get used to a different in this team feels like their job is done, if squad structure. All in all this was a

the new legacy

dream come true; we wanted to win and show the PSP what we were made of and yet happy to live through an unforgettable weekend of friends and paintball. Unfortunately we had a catastrophic injury to our snake player in just the second match of the weekend. Manel Molina fell and suffered a serious knee injury preventing him from playing the remainder of the event. We quickly reached out to some friends and managed to replace Manel with Jorge Filipe Silva, a Portuguese player and friends of ours that happened to be in Orlando. With these changes we battled through

and saw improvements in our game as we got to 3-3 against Wild Monkeys. This was a close game which we almost won, but a major a penalty in the last 60 seconds closed that game with a heartbreaking loss. This was one of the most enjoyable matches for us and a real pleasure to have played against all the teams in our bracket. We then played REVO who had won the last three events PSP and the truth is that we put up a decent fight but those guys were on fire and we ended our run in Orlando with a desire to return to the PSP in 2015 with a better understanding of the series and enough

the new legacy

grit to get us as far as possible. pits, (you know who you are) and all the With a few months ahead the team is sponsors and businesses that have given focusing on rebuilding and refining the us advice, equipment or funds to help this squad. We are polishing everything and journey move forward. ensuring that the basics are on point and We need to thank Vicent, our ‘Uncle’ ready for the next year’s challenges. In with a very big heart; Nuno for his the off-season we take stock of what has constant help and finally a massive happened, what works and what does not. shout out to Vincent and our brothers in During this break we also hit It is amazing to see how many people the gym, work on drills and start to speak to sponsors to have helped us and truly taken us in. plan the next stage in our evolution. Indecence PB Team! You guys deserve the Harca are thankful for all the friends win and we look forward to sharing more we have made this, our first year in the memories in 2015. Millennium Series. Even though some of In the words of the great John Madden: our players have been here before, it is «Self-praise is for losers. Be a winner. Stand amazing to see how many people have for something. Always have class, and be helped us and truly taken us in. A massive humble.» Thanks for everything 2014, get thanks to all the guys that helped us in the ready 2015 we are coming for you! •

the new legacy

By Siegie Kelly Photos: Dave Stuffelbean - Aztek

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Ro D

If we had to describe Ronnie i humble and hard-working. And this attitude is wi for this amazing player. If you want to 4 player got into one of the best teams i

interview

GRIP: You started playing at Arson, a Division4 team. Don’t you miss those times? Ronnie Dizon: Wooow! Arson… Yeah! Those were my first PSP tournaments, I still see those guys when I go home and they are still good friends of mine. Those are old memories, I miss those!

onnie Dizon

in two words we would say: ithout any doubt paying off o know how this ex-Division in the world, just read this. Text: André Garrido

GRIP: After four years you were World Champion with Houston Heat. How did you climb so high? RD: You know what it was… In 2010 I started playing with Distortion which was Randy’s (Smith) team (the Houston Heat owner). We played Division 2, we got second in World Cup in 2010 and we won the World Cup in 2011 in Division 2. The next year Heat was created. I think it was just playing in the MidWest against AfterShock and just grinding with them. That really got my skill level up because I was just practicing with a Pro team all the time. GRIP: You’ve been in Houston Heat for three years now. You had an excellent first year and now things have been a little inconsistent. What is happening with the team? RD: The first year the bar was set really high because of how well we did. We won three out of four events and since we set the bar so high we had to fulfill that or people would think that we are not the same. They expect us to win every event, to dominate, and it’s hard to do that especially when you are on top…. to stay on top! Once you are on top, you start

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in you. How do you foresee the next decade? RD: Hopefully ten years! (Laughs) I’m just going to play with Heat and see where it goes… I still need to finish school. If there are any kids out there trying to pursue this… honestly, stay in school! There is a slim chance to find something like this, but if you are blessed with an opportunity like this, take it! I talk to my parents about this and they told me to take this opportunity to play and travel the world. I’m blessed right now and I just hopefully that continues!

«Really got my skill level up because I was just practicing with a Pro team all the time.» to get comfortable and other people are working hard to get there… GRIP: You are very young, only 22. You have at least ten years of paintball left

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GRIP: You are very dedicated to physical training. How important for you this type of training? RD: Paintball is an athletic sport! You are diving, you are running! It’s a little bit comparable with soccer but you are not moving as constantly so you have to go out there and make those aggressive fast athletic movements, go off the field and then do it again. I think a lot of explosive training for speed is needed and some endurance training for those long point is really what players need to work on. GRIP: We saw you training with a high altitude mask. How does that work with paintball? RD: It imitates being in the mountains and being on a higher elevation. When you are in those places it’s harder to breathe, you are working out your lungs. Imagine training with a heavy suit of armor and then when you go to war you’d wear something lighter. You are training the inside of your body.

«It’s hard to win a paintball tournament! Everyone’s brains need to be on the same point at the same time for that one match.» GRIP: Is the physical training and the mask the secret for your velocity? RD: Yeah… (Laughs) They help! But you have to balance things, I still go out and party with my friends and hangout. You can’t be 100% something, you got to have balance in your life. GRIP: You have already won the PSP Series, World Championship and you are in one of the top teams in the world.

How do you manage to be so down to earth? RD: Greg (Siewers) has a tattoo of this: «Remember where you came from». It means you got to stay humble at all times. You can’t take anything for granted. GRIP: Last year in Bitburg I remember you got an ugly injury. How did you react on this injury?

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«If there are any kids out there: stay in school! There is a slim chance to find something like this!» RD: I remember that point specifically against the Tontons… Man, I still think about that when I play. My ankle is still not at 100%, it keeps me conscious when I play. At the time it was kind of devastating because I’ve never been injured that severely before. I was out for ten weeks and I had to miss London, Chicago… we ended up winning Chicago. It’s kind of rough to not be on the field with the boys and them winning the tournament. It was rough!

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GRIP: This year you are one of the top teams in Europe. What change did you make to go from 8th to 2nd place? RD: I think in our first year we were just getting used to the format. The majority of the team was playing in Europe for the first time. Now we have a lot of experience on the team. Personally it was my second year and we are now comfortable with the format. Maybe it’s the practice, maybe it’s the coaching!

GRIP: Many North-American players complain about the refs in Europe. What is your opinion? RD: The refs are really, really strict! If you go to a bunker, regardless if you think you made it or not, you always ask for a paint check because they are not very lenient on that. They call a penalty if you play on for some seconds. You just got to be on the top of your game when it comes for asking for paint checks. The reffing has been pretty consistent though! GRIP: Which one do you think is better? The North-American or the European style of paintball? RD: It’s tough! It’s a tough decision! The American are more laidback than the Europeans. The Europeans are very strict, so… I can’t compare that! GRIP: This year Houston Heat have been surpassed by Impact throughout the season. What is missing for you to become winners? RD: Hummm (breathes deeply). It’s hard to win a paintball tournament! Everyone’s brains need to be on the same point at the same time for that one match, even the coaches, even the guys that are filling pods. It’s crucial! Then move on to the next match and do it again and do it one more time. I think there is a little luck in that, there is a lot of heart into it. 60% of our team is new and we had to adjust to each other’s playing styles. I think we practice more than any team and I think it’s paying off. •

«You can’t be 100% something, you got to have balance on your life.» interview

Since we start ed GRIPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Top5 we have neve time picking C r had PL players for this list. With start, other fig Art Ch ures have app e a red to push th of the spotligh e Ru t, shown by th e absence of K onsta

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d such a hard haosâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; slow ussians out antin Fedorov.

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MIKHAIL KNYAZEV ART CHAOS Although the Russians had an odd year there are players that still continue to beat all competition. Knyazev dropped one place since 2013 but was one of those responsible for the return of the former European Champions to the main spotlight. Knyazev continues to be known for his stable gameplay and above all by controlling the game as no other player can do.

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ALEKSANDR BERDNIKOV ART CHAOS Berdnikov is the one who suffered the most in this pick by the performance of his team. The player that won last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best player, responsible for making the Russians win another European title, dropped three places. His intelligence and aggressiveness makes him one of the players to follow in every game he plays. And believe us when we say that you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to see that orange beanie popping behind any bunker.

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JUSTIN RABACKOFF EDMONTON IMPACT Justin Rabackoff or J-Rab, as everyone calls him, took a while to appear in our Top5 players. Although he is one of the most versatile players in the World the European captains werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t convinced by his performance in Millennium in the past. This year J-Rab convinced everyone with his quality of game, way of thinking and the way that he calmly can destroy an entire opposing team. All these aspects helped to make Impact the European Champions.

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JUSTIN CORNELL EDMONTON IMPACT Justin Cornell is a fantastic killing machine. He is fast, he is aggressive, he is smart and he makes Gâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like no other player in Europe. His presence is so important at Impact that we have no doubts that the results would be the same if he didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t play. Without any doubts the best snake player in the world!

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OLIVER LANG POLAR BEARS There are no words for the presence of Ollie as the best player of this year! After 17 years he can still be the top player year after year in different formats. This year he embraced the ÂŤenemyÂť by joining the ranks of Polar Bears. He taught the Russians how to play the Californian style with a huge success, bringing them from a humble sixth place to an amazing third place in the overall ranking and making them the team fighting for their first final in CPL. And if you still have any doubts about his skills he proved that he is not here to mess around by winning the first 1ON1 of this year!

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Ana Martins Photographer: Carlos Rodrigues Model: Ana Martins Makeup: Silvia Ferreira

miss grip

England vs Scotland The remake of England vs. Scotland was a cry of patriotism for each player that attended this event, on the border of Scotland and England, between the 17th and 19th of October. Text: André Faria | Photos: Dave “Taz” Bradley

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GRIP interviewed the well-known Dave «Taz» Bradley, owner of Tazball Paintball and a common general of several UK main games. After running Tazball for ten years, he decided to take over Prozone Paintball three years ago, the venue for this event, and the original ground of this game series. His job is overseeing everything that was going on across the weekend, making sure things were getting done, all the safety protocols were in place and that everyone was having a great time. As for the activities planned for this weekend, Friday was to be a day for chilling and the early arrivals setting their tents up, with a movie planned for the evening with «Warriors» and «We Were Soldiers». But not everything goes

according to the «chill out» plans and as Taz describes: «Though a small number of people were already itching to play, we ended up going out and playing a few games in the afternoon to scratch that itch». Saturday was a mix of extra activities

Small but amazing game clashed two countries that have a great history behind. like Airball Workshop by Gaz Jones, CQB Workshop by the Hostile Intentions, the Tippmann Pistol Challenge by the Scottish Warriors and small games, ending up with a long Bunker Party that went into the early hours of the morning. Sunday was the big day, players loved and enjoyed it.

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As for the games Taz describes what cast their vote and score points. With no happened game wise: «Pond games cover at the top! We provided folks with a generally consisted of one team defending little leeway in getting shot when voting, as the pump station for as long as possible, long as they did it with style and speed.» with a max of 15 minutes, and the other «As for the main game on Sunday, we’d team trying to capture and take This weekend showed a good mix over the pump station, starting at the opposite end of the pond. Due of scenario, tournament, magfed, to the area being 95% natural cover pump, old & young and even and no barricades, we also equipped both teams with riot shields for ancient paintballers. extra support. The games worked out awesomely and we only had one set up a voting system, which involved person fall into the pond!» players carrying votes to two polling «We also had our Voting Slapstick game stations out on the field and voting for mid-way through where players would their team to score points. Either team charge up a hill and slap a spinning stick to could vote at either polling station and

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votes could even be stolen if they werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t being currently used! Both teams had two respawn points, positioned diagonally opposite from each other, which helped with any issue of spawn camping. If a team was boxed in at a spawn point, they could respawn at their other base! As a secondary objective we also had severed heads scattered about, what we called, the Riot Zone. Extra points were awarded for collecting those heads, with a couple of extra special ones for more points.Âť Simon Cole from Maxs UK and Paul Banks from Tippmann Europe and BZ,

were the vendors on site, as well as Stuart Wallace teching for Planet Eclipse. This weekend showed a good mix of all kinds of players: Scenario, tournament, magfed, pump, old & young, and even ancient paintballers. All ages and areas of the sport. The game staff consisted of ten to 15 people, where some were temporarily helping out with running activities through Saturday, before playing on Sunday. As for referees on the field, they had seven in total: one in each polling station, taking and counting votes, one outside each

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polling station to keep eyes on the fight going on around it and three floating refs, keeping an eye on things elsewhere throughout the site heading to areas where the battle was most intense. On a more serious note, we asked Taz what could be done to make more people play this sport, and he answered: «As an industry, I think, in order to bring in these new players to the sport, we need to nurture and motivate them and make sure they’re enjoying every aspect of this amazing sport. And this needs to come from all parts of the industry, whether retail, the paintball sites or the players themselves. Overall, getting new people into paintballing falls on the shoulders of

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everyone in the industry, even the current players now, who’ve been playing for ten years already. Retailers need customers to buy their goods, site-owners need players to play on their sites, and the current generation of regulars need other players to play with or against.» What players can expect for 2015 England vs Scotland? More activities and planned games through Friday and Saturday, new man-made structures and an earlier date for the beginning of October, making use of the hopefully better weather, for the Beach Party. Taz says goodbye with a final message: «hopefully we’ll be seeing some of you GRIP readers over here next year!» •

GF BOOMS Text: André Garrido

It’s well known that DYE pursues perfection. And we have to have this in mind when we are reviewing items from them because sometimes it’s difficult to understand why they have released a piece of gear when they already have something similar. Many will say that it’s to sell more things… and in fact it is, but it’s also more than that, it’s giving GF barrel keeps the same something refined to the tradition of accuracy and ADVANTAGES more experienced and efficiency of its «older • Customization professional player, that brother». • Durability improves his game and gives When we contacted DYE • Accuracy him that edge over the about this item they asked others. what bore size we would like DISADVANTAGES And that is what is to test. Between the two • Only two bores happening with the DYE’s new available options (.684 and barrel – the GF Boomstick. .688) we choose the latter just because it’s The GF stands for Glass Fiber. DYE more common. used the same method that already has If on one hand not having removable been used on carbon fiber barrels but this bores is a disadvantage, having a fixed new material is stronger and has a longer barrel is more accurate. The trade-off durability. Besides this the great advantage between «bore offer» and reliability is of this type of barrel is the capacity to difficult to decide for all the players but customize the colors and everyone knows we strongly believe that if you have the how vain the average paintball player is. right size of paintballs passing through the Alongside these new specifications the new GF barrel it would be difficult to find

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STICK another brand that outperforms it. We tried the barrel during a training session, with some singles shots against targets and the results are perfect as expected, but nothing that the CF version wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t already capable.

Does the new barrel from DYE bring something new to the paintball scene? Read our opinion if you want to know.

Without a doubt the big thing here is the customization with colors giving that extra look that everyone is seeking in a piece of gear that everyone can count. In the next season everyone will be changing tips and backs trying to be different from the rest..â&#x20AC;˘ advertisement

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Woodland-e What if someone gathered all the information on paintball events going on across the world on one platform? His name is Miroslav and we talked with him to know everything about his idea. Text: André Faria

On the search for the woodsball player’s perfect tools, GRIP talked with Miroslav Milicevic, the creator of the website Woodland-events.com. This website gathers information about worldwide paintball events and fields, displays them in an easy and attractive way, so you can search what you need without any problems or delays. Some core sections are only in German language, but the majority is in English. How did he come up with this idea?

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Miroslav explains: «I had to read three, four forums, now Facebook got also into it... so there’s a thousand places where you can find a thousand small pieces of information but no big picture about the event/field situation around you». A great idea for any paintballer travelling the world, in business or leisure mode, that needs to cure the hangover, by attending another paintball event. Miroslav started to gather information from about 200 fields worldwide and about

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400 events in the main season times and then transformed it in lines of code to build the website. The website is now on the 1.8 version, and you can find a nice world map overview with all the events, in a very fast way. Just click on it, and youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll get the information you need. In the fields section, you find a world map view, and realize instantly that this service is used on five continents! Click on any of them, browse through all the

info details or get a straight shot from the google street view perk. On the events section, you only see the ones that are due to happen, removing any browsing pain for the user. Click it and see all the game info, venue and links to buy tickets. You can register by e-mail as a field owner or event organiser and put all the information about the field or event, or go all the way on lazy mode and send an e-mail with the basic information.

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Up to 100 daily users from all over the world use the website, with more and more event organizers and field owners supporting the project. Since itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a non-profit project, and to face all the running expenses, woodlandevents is looking for the support from manufacturers or individual player donations.

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For the future, you can expect more services like ticket selling, newsletters, among other great ideas. Go take a look, use and support a service that was created in the best interest of the players, the field owners and event organisers: www.woodlandevents.com â&#x20AC;˘

INTRODUCING THE ALL NEW

DM14 THE CHOICE OF CHAMPIONS™

A TRUE EVOLUTION IN PERFORMANCE AND TECHNOLOGY. The DM-14 represents over ten years of paintball marker evolution. Our customers and athletes demanded perfection, so that’s what we strived for in all our design decisions. Revamped and rebooted, the DM-14 is smaller and more air efficient than previous incarnations of the DM, with a streamlined design, nearly half an inch shorter than the DM-13. It is also easier to clean and maintain than ever before. When you take the field you can be sure DYE has spared no expense in putting pure performance in your hands, as the DM-14 has been born again hard.

TO SEE ALL THE DM14 COLORS AND PGA PATTERNS VISIT DYEPAINTBALL.COM DYE GERMANY Albert Einstein Str. 2 B 77656 Offenburg, Germany, P +49 (0)781 639 349 91 F +49 (0)781 120 302 99 DYE Precision, Inc. USA 10637 Scripps Summit Ct. San Diego, CA 9213, P 858-536-5183 F 858-536-5191 DYE ASIA No. 253, Guojhong Rd., Dali City, Taichung County 412, Taiwan (R.O.C.), P +886 (0) 4-2407-9135 F +886 (0) 4-2407-2090

Copyright ©2013 DYE Precision, Inc. The stylized “dye” logo, the “sphere” logo, the “dm” logo are either registered trademarks, trademarks, or design trademarks of DYE Precision, Inc. DYE Precision, Inc. U.S. Patent # 5,613,483; 7,594,503; 7,765,998. OTHER U.S. AND INT’L PATENTS PENDING. Covered by one or more of the following U.S. Patents, 5,613,483; 5,881,707; 5,967,133; 6,035,843 and 6,474,326. For a complete list of patents please visit www.dyeprecision.com/patents