to be the best player I could possibly be
continued to be my overwhelming passion
and that still burns deep inside of me today
because for me, paintball was not just a game
about running around shooting people in the
woods—for me this was a competitive sport
which required the same amount of drive and
dedication I’d employed when I was boxing.
For me I’d found my calling… not only was
I improving as a player, I was also growing
as a person. I was developing the ability to
communicate with lots of different people I’d
never met before and as time passed and the
better I became, not only as a player but as a
person, I started to use my new-found skills to
hold conversations with different players as
passionate about woodsball as me. As time
passed people and players were starting to
ask for me advice about how to play, where
to go and so the story and my Journey started
to happen.
Luckily for me, I seemed to have a unique
gift when it came to playing paintball and my
ability to share my hard-earned knowledge
with other players and people. Whenever I
would play a group event or a walk on day,
people where asking me what to do where
to go etc. and as time passed my personality
and confidence began to grow all the time
keeping myself in check and being as humble
but assertive as possible. And when required
to lead the side of which I was playing on
back in those days. Paintball became my
new obsession. All my time, money and newfound
energy was completely devoted to my
chosen sport and as time passed the more I
played, the more I wanted to complete and
play against the best teams and players I
could play against.
I very briefly played with one of the top UK
paintball teams of the day which was called
Bad Company and this was a good learning
curve for me at the time, but for me I had
this burning drive and ambition to start my
own team and one by one I managed to find
a group of players with the same drive and
motivation as me and from there the UK
Predators where born.
We started to play against all of the best
teams we could and play as many events as
we could afford as paintball was incredibly
expensive back in those days. And as hard as
we tried we used to get shot to pieces over
and over again. We would play and come in
last place—but then our results started to
improve as we all learned how to play and
complement each other’s styles of play.
There were no super stars in our team but
there was a group of players that where all
team players and played as a team. We all had
one unique goal not to be the best individual
players but to be the best team players we
could be. This mental attitude is the same
today for me and the UK Predators as it was
back then… nobody is bigger than the team
and the team always comes first. We all win
together and we all lose together.
United we fight and United we fall that’s our
team motto.
We haven’t always been winners. We have
had to come through lots of hard times and
adversity, but we all have each other’s backs
we have a unique brotherhood where our
spirit can’t be broken. This is what made the
UK Predators the team it is today. Never give
up, play for each other, always remember
never to leave anything to chance and give
yourself the best chances of winning.
We always walk to fields together, we develop
our own unique code words, we train to play
and we play to win.
Should you ever have the opportunity to play
against the best team you can you should
take it. Yes you are going to get beat but it’s
the best way to learn. Never be afraid to ask
068 paintball.media magazine