Paintball Media Magazine December 2023 | Page 145

World Cup X-Ball was run in a race-to-two format , and through the prelims , a clear class of stand out teams formed up . Dominating their brackets , it was most of the teams mentioned above .
In the quarterfinals , Pirates Kids knocked off WHIL ’ s in under 3:30 . Dangerous Toys and DMG slugged it out , each taking a point before Dangerous Toys ran a 0:38 run down play for the win . MLKids and Sodakats scrapped , tying the first point and then MLKids came out on top with two long-point wins . And Infamous landed a one-two punch on The Hermans for a Semi-final berth .
In the semi-finals , Dangerous Toys gave it all they had , but fell to MLKids , and Infamous stuck hard and fast again , sending the Pirates reeling into the finals .
A spent Dangerous Toys squad would fall quickly to the Pirates in the finals round , and Infamous once again made easy work of MLKids to take home the gold for the second year running .
Taylor gave the MVP for the finals round to 13 year-old Patrick Bunonyapat for making him run a play that he typically wouldn ’ t ask him to do .
“ I had him shoot D-side off break and bump up to the center wedge , and he bunkered their center wedge ,” Taylor said . “ He typically gets a lot of kills right off the break , but I had him make a quick move that was a little out of his comfort zone , and he got it done .”
He then utilized his son , Keith Taylor , and Lucas Tamura , a player who may be developing a reputation as a powerhouse mercenary after having bolstered the line of the Savage Patch Kids at last year ’ s event , and then flew in hot as a last-minute fill-in for two of the Infamous snake players who were injured shortly before this year ’ s .
“ Lucas was able to jump into the center snake , and Keith was right behind him bumping him up ,” Taylor said . “ But Patrick definitely set the tone on that one . He understood the job I gave him and he got it done .”
For the event , Taylor gave the MVP to Kobe Sigrah .
“ Kobe was consistent and reliable ,” Taylor said . “ One game , we were down bodies , starting with four after a penalty , and they dropped one of our players off break , so it was basically a 3-on-5 point . He moved down the Doritos and just dropped bodies . I didn ’ t lose him off break once . He was always last alive , and he was consistently applying pressure and getting kills through the whole event .”
Taylor described Sigrah as a Pro in the making .
“ He has the brain for it , he ’ s athletic , and he is consistent . That is what it takes to be a Pro ,” he said .
So , what is the magical ingredient that sets these Infamous Kidz apart ?
“ The biggest difference for us has been the coaching in general ,” said Taylor . “ Not everyone has the advantage of learning from someone with years of experience , and that sets the tone from the start .”
The focus for him , and what Taylor says gave his crew an advantage , was building something from the ground up . He admitted that he has an advantage with owning and operating a field , which gave him the opportunity to see kids on the field and start working with them straight away . But he got creative with it , and
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