All right boys, enough gossip and hearsay, here's the lowdown
as it now stands. We didn't want to rush the details in case something didn't
come to be, but as there seems to be a lot of interest and I don't want any
misinformation being thrown about I will let you in on what we have so far. The
tournament is at Queen's Birthday of course, over 2 days. The venue is the
Rotorua International Stadium, which has just had a 5 million dollar upgrade.
There are dressing rooms and players lounges, as well as separate seating for
any public that comes along. The format is 7 man, to be played on 2 supairball
fields ( we are finalising this detail over the next couple weeks). There will
be prizes for both divisions as well as give-aways and door prizes. We are
hoping to have some kind of suppliers' tent and a players' party at the end of
the tourney as well. Peter Mumby has contacted some motels that he deals with
and they are willing to give discounts of varying degrees. Look to spend 25 to
40 bucks per person per night. There should be media coverage and some aussie
teams, details are forthcoming on both of these. And finally the entry will be
$500 per team. Yes, Kyn Jackson is involved somewhat, but the bulk of the work
and planning has been done by members of Tag and Release. We want to play at
this tournament and have asked Kyn to run the show on the day. We want this to
be the best tournament that New Zealand has ever seen, but for that to happen we
will need the support of all players and teams. I will be putting together a
proper info pack and registration and it will be ready by Easter. I will also
forward all relevant info to Rob and Neil so that they can put it on their
respective sites, and finally I am doing up a website for T&R and all final
details will be there. Till then guys, save up your money and get the time off.
This is going to be a biggie!!
Tag N' Release and the Rotorua Paintball Club have initiated a new event, The Rotorua Invitational. This new event was planned as a way for experienced and not so experienced teams to get together in a semi-competitive and yet fun environment to learn and get to know one another. Teams will be invited by the hosts (T n' R) and also by previous winners of the event, and will hopefully include a mix of teams based on location and experience. Scores will be kept and chrono-ing will be enforced, as well as all safety guidelines. Each team will be expected to supply marshals for the games they are not playing, and in this fashion people will get a better understanding of what it is to be a marshal and it will ensure fairness and honesty. Tag n' Release hope to hold this event every 2-3 months and there will be a small trophy onto which the winners' names will be engraved. Tag n' Release are looking to help build and strengthen the paintball community, and an event like this seemed a good way to start.
The first Rotorua Invitational took place on Sunday, 3rd December at the Blue Lake Reserve. Teams in attendance included T n' R, Katipo, Havoc, and the Dam Natives. Katipo and the Dam Natives were the first teams to show up and after surveying the empty reserve rightly wondered where the field was! When the portable barriers did arrive they were gracious enough to help with the set up so that play could get under way. The barriers were put up in a symmetrical speedball format. Some comments were made on the small size of the barriers but this is how we learned to play such tight games. The weather was overcast but with a nice breeze so that things did not get too hot. A large mesh screen was put up for the spectators to watch from behind safely and some publicity was given by the local radio station. Play consisted of each team playing each other twice with a nice BBQ lunch in between. As mentioned before this was not a strictly serious day, although all the games were hard fought with some good skills shown from all sides. At the end of play Katipo had the most points and were named the winners of the inaugural Rotorua Invitational.
Big thanks go out to all the teams for taking the time to travel to Rotorua and to the Dam Natives for supplying the meat for the BBQ. Thanks to the Rotorua Paintball Club for the free field and gas. T n' R hopes that in the future we will be able to invite 6 teams to play and would like to see previous attendees come back as well, especially Katipo so that we can get some payback.