Pro Paintball Weekend Rumor Report

The last few weeks have been hectic in the paintball world. Teams are adjusting themselves for NPPL and PSP Chicago Open events. According to Pro Paintball Insiders, several teams are changing divisions and in other cases they are folding. Read on for the memorial weekend rumor report.

PSP: Semi Pro

Rumors are circulating that the PSP may be doing away with the semi-pro division. If this were to take place, we anticipate that a few semi pro teams would be invited into the pro paintball division.

• Rumors indicate that FIERCE Semi-pro is taking Chicago and quite possibly the remainder of the season off due to members refocusing their attention on their families.

• Raiden has also been in the rumor mill recently and sources suggest the team is dealing with personality clashes and player departures.

• The Palm Beach Vipers are currently restructuring (reported here) and focusing on their divisional teams. The semi-pro team has been disbanded.

• SK Moscow played PSP Phoenix and according to Gary Baum of Paintball Photography are planning on returning at PSP World Cup.

• X-Factor’s semi pro squad has been rumored to be repositioning themselves in division 1 though no official confirmation has been received.
• Scottsdale Elevation competed in PSP Phoenix and we

• RNT-Allstarz recently combined forces for the Chicago Open and potentially the remainder of the season with Indianapolis Mutiny.

• Entourage has several players with PRO experience including Mark Lack, James “Kekoa” Ferguson, Dalton Vanderbyl and Ronnie Filippone. Ryan Martin played with RNT in Phoenix because Entourage had too many pro players. We can expect to see Ryan Martin play with Entourage in PSP when the team goes PRO.

• San Diego Aftermath has been spotted in the APPA registration database as registered for PRO at the Chicago Open. At the Phoenix Open, SDA’s pro players were Steven Pitts & Alex Goldman and staffing was Patrick Hughes. Patrick has been playing with Oakland BLAST but is rumored to be returning to SDA when the team goes pro.

Potentially, we could see RNT-Allstarz/Mutiny, Aftermath and Entourage moving into the PSP Pro Paintball Division. The only problem with three teams moving up is that it would create an odd number of total teams and create a need for by-games.

NPPL: Division 1

Arsenal Predators and Hollywood HK are pulling out after the Huntington Beach event, leaving only 3 teams to fight for the series title.

• Arsenal Predators will be switching over to the PSP format. The team had a solid run in 2009, leading the division 2 series and winning both Huntington Beach and DC Challenge events. They are a solid group of guys and we are eager to watch the team transition into the race-ball format. Division 1 PSP is going to get real interesting!

• Hollywood HK was rumored to have been banned from the NPPL. While we are not exactly sure what transpired, we do know that the PBFashion/HK booth was shut down at HB due to alcohol. on the other hand will be running their Crash at the Coast clinic and considering their options.

The lack of division 1 teams could be attributed to the prizes based on teams attending in the division (and with three the prizes are very slim). With that being said, the league now has only 3 division 1 teams and sources suggest they are incorporating them into the pro schedule, creating a Pro/Am series of games.

To contact the reporter on this story: Justin in Los Angeles at justin@propaintball.com.