The tournament was
played on the two new sup'air fields that Zumbro Valley Paintball has
recently purchased to add to their tournament facilities. Some
additional dorito bunkers were provided by Splattag, Inc., a sponsor of
the Polar Bear and a large supporter of the local paintball scene.
Zumbro Valley Paintball also enlarged the playing fields by almost
doubling the size of the netted areas. The sidelines were cleaned up and
new netting was installed to better accommodate the spectators that
watch the games.
Field #1 was used for
the semis and the finals. This field consisted of three solid back
bunkers to launch your assault or mount a pretty good defense from. The
fifty on the field consisted of dorito bunkers on both tapes and a
popcan in the middle to provide lots of treewalking opportunities.
Field #2 had a
clustered style, with many bunkers close to each other near or on the
fifty. On one of the tapes there was a snake-style crawling bunker that
tested the abilities of some of our area's best local front guys. If
back players didn't keep their heads up and looking, then they could
easily lose a player in the cluster of bunkers and angles.
The two fields had
nice layouts that provided some intense games and a lot of good moves.
The extra space was also an added bonus over last years somewhat small
fields. The players seemed to enjoy playing them and they provided a
challenging atmosphere to learn in.
Minnesota Companies
It was good to see that this tournament was supported by so many
Minnesota-based companies. Teams in attendance were sponsored by
paintball fields like Zumbro Valley Paintball, Splat Tag, Inc., PGI, and
MN Pro Paintball.
Just Paintball was there with products on display and last minute items
for sale. MNpig.com was there in many capacities. Showing off their new
"I want to be shot by MNpig" and "MNpig shoots the best" t-shirts. MNpig
reporters and photographers were on site to cover the tournament and the
growth of Minnesota paintball.
Jason Fry, from MNpaintballpix.com was also there snapping away with his
camera. MNpaintballpix.com brought their other photographers dirty Pat
and Jo-D to raise the quantity of players getting their moves covered.
The team of photographers took almost 4,000 photos at the tournament. Be
sure to check their website for some cool pix of you, your team, or your
friends.
The Paint
PMI/R.P.Scherer, the official Polar Bear paint sponsor provided
excellent quality paint for the players to shoot. Aaron, a PMI
sales rep also made the drive from Chicago to insure that the quality
would be top notch. Aaron also brought along two PMI star tents to use
as for player staging and registration.
The players had their choice between two different types of R.P.Scherer
paint. The two tone Premium paint shot great as always and was sold for
$55 a case. The high quality, fragile shelled Evil paint was also
available for player that with high performance guns. The Evil was in a
bright pink or orange fill that could easily be seen as it broke on
players. The Evil was sol for only $65 a case.
Both paints shot incredibly straight and broke on target, but not in
your gun. It was perfect quality and a player couldn't ask for to much
more. PMI products were also available for sale and the Evil headbands
were very popular. Some players are even switching over to the really
nice Evil jerseys that offer lots of ventilation and pockets.
One-on-one tournament
The newest addition to this format was the one-on-one tournament. 32
players signed up to test their individual skill and try for the prize
of a free Polar Bear entry and four cases of tournament paint. The
mini-tournament started out with an orientation to go over some of the
rules.
After, numbers were drawn to see who would play who in the preliminary
round. The excitement was high as players got to see who they would be
matched against for the first round. The first round got to see matches
between teammates which happened in many cases and even one match where
a set of brothers from the team God squad played against each other.
The one-on-one also provided the battle of the indoors. In the drawing
of numbers for the preliminary round Kirk, the field manager from FSL
indoor drew Todd, the head ref from Splat You're Out. The match
nicknamed "The Battle of the Indoors" was the eighth match to start and
the crowd was quietly placing bets on the outcome of these two good
players. The match went almost to the time limit as Todd finally placed
a ball on Kirk, thus winning the battle of the indoors for himself and
Splat You're Out.
The final match was even between two best friends, Munster from 8-ball
factory and Aaron Tholey originally from Texas Storm, but guest starring
with his friends on the 8-ball factory team. The two friends met in the
middle of the field to shake hands, hug, and wish each other good luck
before they would start the last round.
Congratulations to Aaron Tholey a.k.a. Pinky from Texas Storm for
winning the one-on-one tournament.
Novice B
The novice B class had a semi-finals as well as a finals division. the
following teams made it to the semis; Wolf pack, Bring it, Natural
Disaster, Wizards II and IV, God squad I and II, and Mirror Image. All
the teams played well in the semi's with strong showings from Wolf pak,
Godsquad I, Wizards II and Natural Disaster.
The final for the Novice B class was intense and action packed. Wolf
pack came out the victors by posting three maxes to take first place.
Natural Disaster took second and is one team to watch out for as they
beat many teams in higher divisions in the preliminary round. God squad
followed in third place, which will put them in good standings for the
series after their first place win from the first tournament. The
Wizards II finished up the finals in fourth place. Watch out for this
team as well, they are getting better and better with every tournament.
They also have a pair of good front players that are coming along quite
nicely.
Novice A
The Novice A finals was a nail biter to the end. Bad Mojo II and Anger
Management both went into the last game with two wins a piece. The
winner of the last game would decide who would take the first place and
the losers taking second.
With some stellar play by Anger Management captain Kenny. Anger
Management came away with the win and first place for the Novice A
classification. Anger Management put on some good play throughout the
whole finals. Including winning a one on one with Win, Inc.
Bad Mojo II placed in second place with two wins and one loss.
Following by Twisted Flipside in third and Win, Inc. following up the
rear in fourth.
The advanced finals saw the difference between first, second and third
separated by just a few points. 8 ball Factory took first place with two
perfect maxes and one perfect loss resulting in a score of 200. Second
place went to Wizards III trailing by only 2 points. RAF took the third
spot after a hot gun took away a few important points.
The Lost Boys came in fourth, which is a good placing for the team. They
have a few new faces and ages on the team. Geno, the team captain had
high hopes of securing some of the young, aggressive players for use in
future Polar Bears. This will certainly change things up a bit.
The End to One Great Weekend
As the players congregated around the Zumbro Valley Paintball and
Wizards signs people were excited to get the awards ceremony started.
The teams were called up one by one to receive their medals and prizes.
The Novice B teams walked away with large boxes full of useful paintball
gear to be used to win future Polar Bears. All the teams that made the
finals received personal medals.
The Novice A teams were called up and recognized for their achievements.
They could not walk away with their prizes due to the fact that they won
huge piles of R.P. paint and gift certificates.
The Advanced division was the last to be called up. They won enormous
trophies for first through forth. The first place trophy could be almost
four feet tall. 8-ball factory stepped up to thank their sponsors and
claim a huge check for $750.
It was nice to see the teams happy that they won and thanking their
sponsors for their much appreciated help. As the tournament was done
players started picking up their staging areas and packing up their
gear. The sun was still up and the day was not over as players left the
fields. One of the last cars to leave was the Anger Management crew,
with big smiles stretching from ear to ear, large first place medals
around their necks, and the car riding low from all the prize paint
stuffed into the trunk.
The Next Big One
The Polar Bear Tournament Circuit would like to invite all players in
every classification to the next Polar Bear. On the weekend of June 28th
and 29th they will have the next three-man tournament. It
will be hosted by Splat Tag, Inc. and held at the PGI tournament faculty
in Baldwin, WI. The three format costs $200 per team to enter and offers
three different classifications.
The Polar Bear Tournament Circuit also has a five-man series that will
start on Saturday, June 14th and will be held at Zumbro
Valley Paintball in Lake City, MN. Interested teams are urged to sign
because entry may become limited due to the one-day tournament format.
The Official web site for the Polar Bear Tournament Circuit
www.polarbearcircuit.com
