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06-15-2017, 01:59 PM
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#1
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DirtNap.com
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: field 6
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Ask me anything! The open book thread
Greetings and welcome to the TBD Forum! Allow me to Introduce myself! My name is Joe Barrett, a 26 year old from Buffalo New York, now living in Tampa Florida! I am a rookie pro player, brought up from the TBD semi-pro team of 2016 to the Pro squad this season!
I created this page for any and all Damage fans to ask questions and have them answered! You can ask me about.....
-TBD questions
-Florida paintball questions
-Northeast paintball questions
-any questions you have about pro paintball
-advice on paintball, layouts, tips and tricks!
-Healthy eating and workout habbits, as well as other useful tools for the physical side of paintball like stretching, and yoga (for flexibility)
And you can even ask me personal/deep questions about
-The psychology of professional sports
-The struggle and climb to play pro. What it takes, lessons, etc
-insight on decisions you may have to make between teams or to further climb the game, wisdom and perspective from experience. If your the next dreamer, Allow me to help you!
-How to become self aware, concsiously understand your habbits and actions to take control of your journey, rather then spectate the effects of your decisions. How to act and become professional off the field first, and take the actions towards your goal so it becomes more then just a dream!
Since I was 10 years old, I only ever dreamt of playing at the pinnacle of our sport! I am sure there are a lot more young dreamers out there who wish to do the same. I remember what it was like to be you, hoping for mentorship and advice from the veterans. I am no veteran pro, or "OG", and I know enough to know that I know little compared to some of them! However, I have the advantage for communicating with you all of being in that rare moment of time, "the cusp" where I am in their realm, but the divisional world and my old mindset is still fresh. So to you young dreamers, this one is meant for you. Use the resource, take advantage, ask whatever!
Lastly, Please keep it positive! This is all I try and promote. Any negativity, or rude trolling will be ignored then deleted. Show good character, think smart, and ask away!
Joe Barrett
#50
Tampa Bay Damage
__________________
Tampa Bay DAMAGE
DLX/VIRTUE/FS/BUNKERKING/ANTHRAX
Positivity, belief in yourself, and commiting to your Dream will take you anywhere you imagine. Manifest your Destiny
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06-28-2017, 01:48 PM
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#2
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Gloversville, NY
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You and Edward's brothers should come to NY and host a clinic!!
__________________
518 Paintball!!!
UPSTATE NY!
New York Infectious
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07-04-2017, 11:32 AM
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#3
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Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Dunedin, FL
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Out of curiosity, where do you guys practice in the Tampa area? I'm assuming you run practices on a private field somewhere?
Also, what's your favorite field when you're not playing as an organized team?
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08-01-2017, 12:17 PM
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#4
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DirtNap.com
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: field 6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by c0tt0n i joe
You and Edward's brothers should come to NY and host a clinic!!
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What part of NY? I was born and raised in Buffalo and used to do them or jump in with other teams and share insight all the time in my off weekends of semi pro seasons! I'd be down if you'd like to contact me on facebook and we can set something up
Rookie177^^^^^:
We actually practice out of CFP in lakeland, central florida. It offers several up to date xball fields, and is generally where most teams in the entire central florida area, tampa, orlando and even some from down toward miami drive to for practice. So you get a dozen or more teams every weekend and good competition for our Camp teams.
Personally, thats a tough one. In Florida, CFP is still my favorite hands down for the atmosphere of 5 on 5 streetball during off weekends. My all time favorite fields though would have to be GRC paintball in wesllville new york where they have indoor/outdoor speedball fields, massive woodsball fields, a village, and an original tournament 10 man hyperball field! For Scenario or rec play I always enjoy TNT i (dreaded legends) and CPX (living legends). And for a field in a scenic location and near alot of culture, I love Arturo's (TJ allstars) field in gjuadalajara mexico! Surrounded by mountains and colorful landscape and the best food ever all around you for dirt cheap!
__________________
Tampa Bay DAMAGE
DLX/VIRTUE/FS/BUNKERKING/ANTHRAX
Positivity, belief in yourself, and commiting to your Dream will take you anywhere you imagine. Manifest your Destiny
Last edited by derder Joe : 08-01-2017 at 12:23 PM.
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08-01-2017, 12:52 PM
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#5
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Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: WI
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Hey Joe,
You should give who ever that guy, who made a documentary about your time on crush, a pro jersey. Wait that was me.
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08-01-2017, 03:38 PM
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#6
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Pennysylvania
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What is your profession outside of paintball (if you have one)?
How much travel does pro/semipro play require (days away from work/home)?
I am mainly interested in how you balance pro playing with "normal" life?
Thanks.
Sean
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08-04-2017, 10:59 AM
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#7
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DirtNap.com
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: field 6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by paintballer3
Hey Joe,
You should give who ever that guy, who made a documentary about your time on crush, a pro jersey. Wait that was me.
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haha, man I would love to and in time I'll be giving jerseys to everyone who helped me along the way. Sadly we only get one of each this first season and we have to keep all of them as home/away jerseys depending on the events. i am currently only able to release one of my blue ones as they are the same style, and I'm raffling it to help with my medical bills
Also, is that documentary still online somewhere?
Quote:
Originally Posted by ghilliesuit
What is your profession outside of paintball (if you have one)?
How much travel does pro/semipro play require (days away from work/home)?
I am mainly interested in how you balance pro playing with "normal" life?
Thanks.
Sean
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Hey Sean, good questions!
Outside of paintball I do not have a profession. As a young upcoming rookie pro player, many of us who have made it in this year have had to live the struggle of odd jobs, random work, and moving around to pursue tryouts and better opportunities, which unfortunately pidgeon holes us out of locking ourselves down to one area or one career to climb up. I have a college degree but the well paying jobs i was offered dont give you every weekend off (both days needed for pro and semi pro teams practices) and generally 2 weeks a year vacation time (there are at least 5 events that I need at least 4-5 days off for so thats already over the needed time and thats doing nothing else but nxl all year). As you can see, Its a choice of one or the other, the college career, or continue the climb toward the dream. I tried to do both and was always told at one point or other i couldnt get all the time off. When I was given ultimatums and a choice to show up for work or I was fired...I'd quit every time and chase the dream. It took 12 years, but it paid off. I know other guys who made it in this year that work seasonally alot in the off season and then budget in the summer, and even a buddy who lives out of a camper van to save money on rent and expenses! For me, aside from selling gear and doing clinics which often make a decent bit for a weekend, I write articles for paintball magazines, blogs, and try to pick up odd jobs like landscaping and drywalling during my free week days. Aside from that, the best way to make ends meet is to be very budget responsible and a minimalist. Dont spend on things you dont need!
2nd question, travel. Even for one of the upper half semi pro team, Take my last high rank teams New York Outlaws (now XTREME) for example, it takes alot of travel and time away from home time. We played every single weekend, both days accept for maybe Christmas or easter, and often then too if most of the team wanted too. Depending on your region, your travel can vary. I used to live in Buffalo which was a dead end for National paintball at the time. For me travel was at least 5 hours every weekend to Albany to play with them. On layout weekends, it was more like 7-12 hours to New Jersey or Maryland to play 187 or Revo because there was no other solid competition in our area. Id have to leave friday and wouldnt return till mid monday. So this also depends on the teams commitment to improving and winning. Some teams will play their own lines every weekend to stay local....they also dont make it out of prelims. To get better you have to play better teams and lose to learn, so the top tier teams will travel to scrimmage. For pro this is even more. Teams like Heat and Impact with bigger budgets fly across the country for a weekend scrimmage. If your on a serious semi-pro or pro team, your looking at playing 95% of weekends and with practice/events, traveling about 50k miles a year and 5-10 or so weeks worth of driving/flying time.
Question 3: As you can see from the above, there is very minimal balance with normal life. It is very hard to hold down a job long unless you work for friends, temp work, odd jobs or have a very cool flexile boss who likes paintball. It is tough to date because you will be gone most every weekend and then 5+ weeks of the summer. And its tough to do holidays, family visits, parties because so much time is already spent. GRANTED this is from the perspective of a semi pro doing the pro climb or a young rookie. I have many veteran pro friends who have a good balance because they earned it over the past 10 years. They arent playing catch up like me so if they want they will take a few weekends off after events until the layout weekends. Depends where your at in life
__________________
Tampa Bay DAMAGE
DLX/VIRTUE/FS/BUNKERKING/ANTHRAX
Positivity, belief in yourself, and commiting to your Dream will take you anywhere you imagine. Manifest your Destiny
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08-04-2017, 11:19 AM
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#8
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Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: WI
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Hey Joe,
Let me look around. I have an old hard drive I can check. If I find it I will pm a download link.
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08-05-2017, 10:10 AM
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#9
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Pennysylvania
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Quote:
Originally Posted by derder Joe
haha, man I would love to and in time I'll be giving jerseys to everyone who helped me along the way. Sadly we only get one of each this first season and we have to keep all of them as home/away jerseys depending on the events. i am currently only able to release one of my blue ones as they are the same style, and I'm raffling it to help with my medical bills
Also, is that documentary still online somewhere?
Hey Sean, good questions!
Outside of paintball I do not have a profession. As a young upcoming rookie pro player, many of us who have made it in this year have had to live the struggle of odd jobs, random work, and moving around to pursue tryouts and better opportunities, which unfortunately pidgeon holes us out of locking ourselves down to one area or one career to climb up. I have a college degree but the well paying jobs i was offered dont give you every weekend off (both days needed for pro and semi pro teams practices) and generally 2 weeks a year vacation time (there are at least 5 events that I need at least 4-5 days off for so thats already over the needed time and thats doing nothing else but nxl all year). As you can see, Its a choice of one or the other, the college career, or continue the climb toward the dream. I tried to do both and was always told at one point or other i couldnt get all the time off. When I was given ultimatums and a choice to show up for work or I was fired...I'd quit every time and chase the dream. It took 12 years, but it paid off. I know other guys who made it in this year that work seasonally alot in the off season and then budget in the summer, and even a buddy who lives out of a camper van to save money on rent and expenses! For me, aside from selling gear and doing clinics which often make a decent bit for a weekend, I write articles for paintball magazines, blogs, and try to pick up odd jobs like landscaping and drywalling during my free week days. Aside from that, the best way to make ends meet is to be very budget responsible and a minimalist. Dont spend on things you dont need!
2nd question, travel. Even for one of the upper half semi pro team, Take my last high rank teams New York Outlaws (now XTREME) for example, it takes alot of travel and time away from home time. We played every single weekend, both days accept for maybe Christmas or easter, and often then too if most of the team wanted too. Depending on your region, your travel can vary. I used to live in Buffalo which was a dead end for National paintball at the time. For me travel was at least 5 hours every weekend to Albany to play with them. On layout weekends, it was more like 7-12 hours to New Jersey or Maryland to play 187 or Revo because there was no other solid competition in our area. Id have to leave friday and wouldnt return till mid monday. So this also depends on the teams commitment to improving and winning. Some teams will play their own lines every weekend to stay local....they also dont make it out of prelims. To get better you have to play better teams and lose to learn, so the top tier teams will travel to scrimmage. For pro this is even more. Teams like Heat and Impact with bigger budgets fly across the country for a weekend scrimmage. If your on a serious semi-pro or pro team, your looking at playing 95% of weekends and with practice/events, traveling about 50k miles a year and 5-10 or so weeks worth of driving/flying time.
Question 3: As you can see from the above, there is very minimal balance with normal life. It is very hard to hold down a job long unless you work for friends, temp work, odd jobs or have a very cool flexile boss who likes paintball. It is tough to date because you will be gone most every weekend and then 5+ weeks of the summer. And its tough to do holidays, family visits, parties because so much time is already spent. GRANTED this is from the perspective of a semi pro doing the pro climb or a young rookie. I have many veteran pro friends who have a good balance because they earned it over the past 10 years. They arent playing catch up like me so if they want they will take a few weekends off after events until the layout weekends. Depends where your at in life
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Thanks for the honesty.
I always wondered what life was like as a pro player.
I am just getting back into pball after ~10 years away. I am in no way going to pursue Pro playing but would like to consider doing some local/regional tournaments when I get my bearings back on competitive play.
Last edited by ghilliesuit : 08-07-2017 at 06:19 PM.
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08-05-2017, 10:33 PM
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#10
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Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: north carolina
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Will I see you in Alabama next weekend?
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08-07-2017, 06:19 PM
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#11
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Pennysylvania
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Rethinking my questions into a more simple less invasive question.
Is playing pro paintball a net gain or loss financially? Speaking only of the playing aspect. Not including clinics, endorsements, autographs, or whatever else might be secondary.
Either way, do you see this changing for better or worse?
Some of my favorite athletes barely made more than me after factoring in inflation at this point and yet they are legends because they did things without Tom Brady, Floyd Mayweather, A-rod money. They did it cause they loved it. Think Chuck Bednarik
Those are my last questions then I'll leave you alone. I promise.
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08-09-2017, 11:38 AM
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#12
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DirtNap.com
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: field 6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by paintballer3
Hey Joe,
Let me look around. I have an old hard drive I can check. If I find it I will pm a download link.
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Thanks man, id appreciate that!
Quote:
Originally Posted by ghilliesuit
Thanks for the honesty.
I always wondered what life was like as a pro player.
I am just getting back into pball after ~10 years away. I am in no way going to pursue Pro playing but would like to consider doing some local/regional tournaments when I get my bearings back on competitive play.
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Absolutely and no problem! Honesty and transparency are my policy. Ya I believe it takes a certain someone to want to pursue the Pro part of the game because you can get most of the same perks and not commit quite as much time or stress in semi pro or more in d2. Not that i dont want kids to go for the dream, but to be honest, as a new player going for it (its different for the guys who have been pro for a decade or two and helped create the style of the pro game you see), there is not really balance and you are doing it for the love of the game, not a career.
Quote:
Originally Posted by custommatt
Will I see you in Alabama next weekend?
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You absoutely will Matt! Ill be coming out for the roadtrip, and to help the team, observe and enjoy a sweet weekend. I'll be trying hard, but it would be tough to say id be playing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ghilliesuit
Rethinking my questions into a more simple less invasive question.
Is playing pro paintball a net gain or loss financially? Speaking only of the playing aspect. Not including clinics, endorsements, autographs, or whatever else might be secondary.
Either way, do you see this changing for better or worse?
Some of my favorite athletes barely made more than me after factoring in inflation at this point and yet they are legends because they did things without Tom Brady, Floyd Mayweather, A-rod money. They did it cause they loved it. Think Chuck Bednarik
Those are my last questions then I'll leave you alone. I promise.
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Straight up, Playing pro paintball on its own is a financial neutral for every single team accept for about 4. Most every team is not at a financial loss because at the very least, everything is covered by sponsorship budget. The event, hotels, etc. A few of the newer teams may actually be paying for some of these things like says splitting hotel rooms out of pocket so they may be at a small loss. Russian legion, Heat, and Impact are at financial gains for playing. And dynasty is kind of a business due to their products, combined company, and training resources, but even most of those guys i believe aren't given scheduled paychecks. The rest of the teams pro players only make money: when you win, when you sell your sponsorship gear and markers, or when we host clinics or are hired to play in leagues that permit our rank in other countries. Autographs are free. Thats it, most of us work mon-friday, sell gear online, or pick up any odd jobs we can if we aren't from the silver spoon category.
What I will say is, it appears to be changing for the better. Its slow going, but it is. Leagues are starting to finally make rules universal (example until recently canada was still at 15 bps). Outside sponsors like under armour, nike, budwieser are finally showing up for events or talking with teams again, and event attendance has been record high the past 2.5 seasons. I think the wall isnt helping, but the nxl and an excellent webcast has done alot that has made this sport look more professional and begin to operate a little better. As the economy improves and more outside industry sponsors get on board, i think we could finally see the game back on TV or giving its players at least a living wage paycheck (30k would be nice, we dont need MLB money) in the next 5-10 years.
Personally, and from knowing several of my friends who made it this year, I know we do it for the love of the game. Being fortunate enough to grow up around a few pro players who were in the golden era (03-06) when guns were given out to every team like gumballs to sell and divisional teams had free rides, they would tell me that the market and economy has changed by 08-09. So even 9 years ago, I knew I was still commited to this climb with the knowledge that I would not be getting rewarded with payment for my efforts and dedication of my life to the sport. Regardless I went for it and the reward was in the journey, character building and achieving the dream. If i had to chose Id do it all again. When you dream of a certain goal you want to accomplish, the only way to feel fulfillment rather then regret or "what may have been" thoughts for the rest of your life is to complete what you started. There is no other choice aside from not doing it and being content with that. So yes, we do it for the love of the game, competition at the highest level, and pushing ourselves at what we enjoy!
__________________
Tampa Bay DAMAGE
DLX/VIRTUE/FS/BUNKERKING/ANTHRAX
Positivity, belief in yourself, and commiting to your Dream will take you anywhere you imagine. Manifest your Destiny
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08-09-2017, 07:56 PM
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#13
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Pennysylvania
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Again, thanks for your time to answer my questions.
I'll leave you alone now haha.
I really like your positivity and realistic outlook on the sport. You may have something in common with Bednarik as far as your approach. He was quoted, "Pros like myself played football not for money or glory, but for the simplest reason: the love of the game".
I have a home project to complete by the end of this month and then September I make my return. Just finished purchasing my gear this week. Still need some proper paintball clothing - but I guess jeans and a hoodie are gonna have to make due (just like the late 90s when I started playing with friends lol). I think my wife would kill me if one more piece of used paintball equipment shows up haha.
Best of luck in the future. I'll have to try and catch one of your events if you come up to the Philadelphia, PA area.
Sean
Last edited by ghilliesuit : 08-09-2017 at 08:00 PM.
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