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The Ugly Ducklings Announce Sponsorship
Ugly Ducklings
The Ugly Ducklings are pleased to announce sponsorship for the 2003 and 2004 seasons by Varta Rayovac, the worlds premier manufacturer of consumer batteries.
We are extremely proud to once again lead the way in paintball, by securing sponsorship from a multinational coorporation.
We have long used Varta batteries for our Impulses and Halos, as no other batteries give us the same durability and consistancy, and look forward to continue using our favourite battery product.
Look for more exiting news from us in the near future, as we are by no means done being innovative and groundbreaking!
On the 12th and 13th July the 4th leg of the Nordic Series was held in Flen, near Stockholm in Sweden.
9 Pro teams were in place for the event, including an all star team comprised of Oliver Lang (Dynasty), Matt Marshall (LA Ironmen), Max Lundquist (NY Extreme), Pete Utchig (NY Extreme) with Gusten of Joy Division filling the fifth spot on the team.
The Other teams were: Joy Division, Ignition, Joy Kids, Overdose, Brutal Deluxe 1, Brutal Deluxe 2 and True Colors.
The fields were fast and aggressive and very much to our liking, and we decided to use the event as kind of an X-ball practice, playing fast and free flowing paintball, with our back players playing more loose than usually and moving up early in the games.
We stomped our way through the prelims, only dropping a game to Brutal Deluxe after already securing qualification (concentration lapse).
The finals teams were us, the all star team, Overdose and Brutal Deluxe.
We started off good, by quickly getting revenge over Brutal Deluxe for our loss in the prelims.
Second game were against Overdose, who beat us in a close and controversial game, after which we played Joy Stars in a game that came down to a one on one, which unfortunately we lost.
End result:
1. Overdose
2. All Stars
3. Ugly Ducklings
4. Brutal Deluxe
We are now firmly in the lead of the Nordic Series, with 2 wins and a 3rd place, and very much on track to, once again this year, confirm our status as the best team in Scandinavia.
DAMMIT!
That word kind of sums up our trip to Toulouse – but we had better elaborate a bit.
We are currently without a practice field, and that is having a huge affect on us.
Since taking second in Amsterdam, not a single one of our players has been able to play paintball, because we have been entirely unable to find a place to practice.
Going to Europes strongest event ever, without having played in a month, would prove a bad idea.
The first day we were hot and cold – we won our first 3 games in style, but against weak teams, so that really didn’t give us a clue about where we stood.
The our fourth game was against Tonton Acyd, who we beat twice in Amsterdam with only losing one body.
In Toulouse it was slightly more balanced, and with half the game gone, we were 5 against 3, when two of our back players made uncharacteristically bad descisions, and where eliminated thus leaving the entire tapeline open to Acyd, and 10 seconds later, the game was lost.
We then played Miami Effect, played them well..... but unfortunately on a field judged by a novice team, who were unable to catch two extremely questionable runs that cost us the game, while the 100+ crowd were booing the judges and Miami.
This left us 3 for 5 on the first day, and we needed to shape up for day two.
That evening we played Portugal in X-ball, and that hours “practice” did us good, as we took out our earlier frustrations on Portugal – the same team that had played to a 9-8 score on France the night before - we won the match 11-2.
Next day we started off at a sprint, beating Vision and Hotguns easy, and then went in to play the Tonton Flingeurs on the Angel field.
We not only beat them, we beat them convincingly, and all sighed with relief inwardly, as we felt our game was back where it belonged.
The scoreboard told us we needed one win in the last to games to make it in.
The first one was against the PGI Sharks, who we beat 100-0 in Amsterdam.
Then all of a sudden the team went cold again (combined with excellent play from the Sharks), players making dumb decisions, playing untight, doing ill timed moves, etc. – and as the game clock ran out the scoreboard said 21-21.
We were devastated and frustrated that our lack of practice put players so far below their natural level, that we were throwing games away we should have won.
In our last prelims game then faced off against Avalanche, who had already missed the cut at that point, on a field we had not played before.
Things went horribly wrong, with us losing 3 guys off the break, having another player try to make his secondary quickly, getting tagged on the pack – eliminated and a 1-4-1 call being assessed, and 10 seconds into the game we were 2 on 7.
We never recovered, lost the game and missed the finals cut.
The event is not testament to our level – actually it’s so far below our true level that it is ridiculous.
BUT – you cannot expect to make the finals at major events, when you don’t get to practice !
We are presently dedicating every waking second to securing a training ground, and in the meantime travelling all over Scandinavia to practice (we already have two weekends set up the next 3 weeks).
We are also talking to numerous European Pro teams about visiting them for practice weekends.
This team is the most persistent and stubborn in paintball, and we will NOT accept getting results below our level, because of the state of paintball in our country.
Expect big things from us in the near future, because once our guys get to play as much as our opposition, our talent will shine trough and put us up where we belong.
T C B !
The Ugly Ducklings
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