The Tourney

        Tombstone Paintball in Corona, California was the site of the third MPN Tournament titled "The Springbreak Showdown", hosted by The Monthly Paintball Newsletter on April 16th.  This was the 2nd of a 4 tournament series for the year 2000.  We didn't have alot of time to advertise for this one, but still ended up getting a total of 18 teams spread over three divisions: kids, rookies, and novice.  Our prize pool was very generous, with products donated by I&I Sports, Nitrokick, Check-It Products, National Paintball Supply (California, South Carolina), Kick'n Paintball, Tombstone Paintball, and all the trophies, guns, and JT Team Sponsorship packages from The MPN and Team Broken Arrow.  We didn't have enought money for Tournament Shirts this time around, but promise to have them for the next tournament coming up on July 16th.  Members from Broken Arrow, (former) Tsunami players, Pete from Team Smoke, as well as many family and friends, came out to ref and help out at the event.  We would especially like to thank Mr. Harrison (our head cook) and Mr. Arroyo for spending part of their weekend to help out the team.

The New Format

        This tournament, we decided to try something new.  Instead of allocating prizes to any one division, we allowed teams who placed, to choose their prizes.  The format was the 1st place Novice, then 1st place Rookie, then 1st place Kids, and so forth.  This format proved to be pretty good, being that it gave each team who placed, a chance at 1st place prizes if the upper teams choose not to take them.  We may continue to use this format, depending on how the reaction of the players go, but this trial run, seemed to be pretty positive.

Another change to the format, any team who places 1st in the Rookie division, must move to the Novice division for the next tournament, indefinitely.  This gives other Rookie teams a chance at the prizes, rather than having the same teams win the prizes tournament, after tournament.  We will leave the other divisions the same, becauase kids can only play the kids division for so long (until either they exceed the age requirements, or they become a ranked tournament player).  The novice will remain the same, because we do not offer an amateur division, yet.

The Fields and Conditions

        The tournament was played on 4 different fields this time around.  The fields were Fox Holes (which has an old car on it, and setup like a retro speedball field), Hyperball field, the new Speedball (right next to Hyperball), and Civil War (the log field in the back).  Teams rotated throughout the day, playing a total of 6 games on the various fields.  Weather was a little gloomy and foggy in the morning, but brightened up real quick with the sun.  The ground on all of the fields was a little hard, from all the past rain.  Now that summer is here, the playing conditions are becoming most excellent again.

Who was there

        The entire parking lots were filled by 8 am with tournament players and walk-on players alike.  The MPN had all the luxuries to accommodate the players, which included an air trailer (which was able to fill HPS to 4500 PSI) courtesy of Les Varillos , high quality paintballs from Kick'n Paintballs (courtesy of Tony Street), hamburgers and hot dogs from our master chef Mr. Harrison, as well as a professional and courteous staff to help out with the players needs.  We also had photographers James Scarcella (from Tombstone) , and Brent Johnson from The Monthly Paintball Newsletter taking pictures of the entire tournament.  We unfortunately, didn't have a raffle this time, but you can count on one for the next tournament.

Kid's Bracket

        The Kid's bracket was bigger than usual this tournament with six teams.  We used a bracket system this time since the turnout was pretty good.  The teams included Crib Kids, Spyder's Web Kids, Outlaws, Pressure Point, Static Image (formerly Child's Play), and Random Acts of Violence (this was their first tournament).  This division went fairly well except for some confusion about team names (2 teams with the same name, and were playing the wrong games).  It caused a slight delay, but things went pretty good.  After all of the smoke had cleared, here are the final results from the kids division:

First off with the Tombstone award.  Leon, the owner of Tombstone,  usually gives a special award of 5 Annual Passes to Tombstone Paintball.  Since the last place team wasn't present, we starting going up the line until we arrive to Pressure Point, who were awarded the passes

The Trophies and prizes started at:
 
 
 

1st Place - Spyder's Web Kids - took the guns	3rd Place - Random Acts of Violence
2nd Place - Crib Kids (who actually won 1st, but took a hot gun penalty) - took the Bob Long Regulators and VL Bows	Picture N/A 4th Place - Pressure Point

Rookie Bracket

The Rookie Bracket was the largest with eight teams.  These teams included : Full Breach, Spyder's Web 1 & 2, Wolfpack, Assasins, Ambush Red and Silver, and Red Alert.  The Rookie division was also run on a bracket system this time.  At the end of the preliminaries, Ambush, Full Breach, , and Spyder's Web progressed to finals.  At the end of finals, here were the results:

I'm looking into the final results in this division...changes to be up shortly...
 

1st Place - Ambush Red	3rd Place - (Checking into)
2nd Place - Full Breach	4th Place - (Checking into)

Novice Bracket

The Novice Bracket had only three teams.  These teams included : Heavy Hitters, Swingers, and Zero Tolerance.  Competition within this bracket was pretty mellow this time, with teams knowing that they were guaranteed a place.  There were alot of good and experience tournament teams in this division.  This division pretty much did a double round robin, with each of the teams playing each other twice.   At the end of it all, here were the final results:
 
 

1st Place - Heavy Hitters

2nd Place - Zero Tolerance

3rd Place - Swingers

The Raffle

Didn't have a raffle this time around.  You can be sure that we will have one next time.

Comments from the Prez

        I want to congratulate each and every team on a day of great play, and on being a part of the MPN's third tournament.  There was alot of skilled teams who played hard, and made it exciting for people to watch.  We are already half way finished wiht our tournament series, but we plan on getting bigger and better everytime around.  We will continue to strive to do our best by providing a great playing atmosphere, competition, and prizes.
        This tournament went pretty smooth and had people having a good time.  We had plenty of sun light this time around (whew!), and finished in time for everyone to go home and have a late lunch.
        We want to keep the tournament as fun and fair as possible, and have even made some changes and improvements from the last tournament (check the Updated Rules and Regulations).  We would like to hear from you!  Whether you want to tell us a story of your day at the Spingbreak Showdown, Comments, or Feedback, please let us know what you thought so that we can make the next one even better!   See you all in July!
 

For more pictures from the Y2K Showdown Tournament, goto the Photo Gallery
 

Sean Takeda
President, The MPN