Intro – By John Amodea
The National Xball League World Cup is a fixture on the pro / am paintball circuit and the biggest paintball competition in the world year after year . Founded in 1990 by Jerry Braun and held at his field , Survival New York , in Newburg , Braun merged the event into the NPPL ’ s schedule in 1993 , and then moved the event to Kissimmee in 1994 . “ We had to . We were out of space in New York and I had a connection at Paintball World in Kissimmee ,” Jerry recently told me while being interviewed for the documentary film , “ If Only You Knew : The Story of Jerry Braun .”
That first Florida World Cup was held at Paintball World in the heart of Kissimmee and literally 100 yards from nearly 1000 hotel and motel rooms . Neither the field nor many of the motels are still there 28 years later . In fact , the Fun Spot amusement park and its parking lot are now situated on what was Paintball World ’ s property .
The World Cup ’ s history is rich . The PMI Piranhas won the first World Cup ever in 1990 . In the first ten years of the NPPL World Cup ( 1993-2002 ) Aftershock won the event six times … more than all other teams combined . The All Americans , Image , Ironmen and Dynasty won the other four . When the NPPL split from the PSP owners ’ group late in 2003 , they lost the World Cup to the PSP , where Jerry Braun was a partner . Dynasty would win seven of the PSP ’ s first ten events , including back to back World Cups . Over the years several teams have won multiple World Cups , including the Russian Legion , Ironmen , Edmonton Impact , Houston Heat and of course , San Diego Dynasty .
PHOTOS THIS SPREAD BY JOHN MCGLOUGHLIN www . paintball . media
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