Send her Victorious, Happy and Glorious!

A blog by Shelley Farmer, Teams GB & Captain of the Celtic Banshees.

Here's a little synopsis of myself for those of you who don't know me. My dad is Bart Farmer, 'umpteen times European Champion with the UK PREDATORS during the 80's and 90's, so I have had the privilege to travel the paintball scene since I was a child. I started playing tournament paintball in 2001 for Wolf-Pac; I then played my first Millennium in 2002 for Wolf UK; I moved onto London Tigers AM; and then I joined MK STORM, who played Div 1 Millennium up until 2008. Since then I've been away from the scene, but now I'm back and proud to have been selected to represent Great Britain in the Nations Cup. I had met all the ladies in the run up to this huge event, and this Blog covers the journey we had during the European Masters, Bitburg Germany 2012. Enjoy...

Wednesday 23rd May

I travelled via the Euro Star with Rachel Pass, Lydia Conroy, Emma Stewart, James Gregory and Richard Crooks (our Celtic bodyguards) and the Wags!! The Wifes and Girlfriends (husbands and boyfriends) brought along for the adventure. A Large bottle of vodka bought in Folkstone was washed down with Red Bull by Emma, who then needed the loo at least every hour in our 10 hour journey through France, Belgium and past Luxembourg into Germany. On arrival in Bitburg, the team were introduced to Thierry Bazerque (Celtic France) and Barry Fuggle (Mr Celtic). We also bumped into familiar faces such as Wendy Auton (Millennium Series & UK Masters) and Trevor from H-Pac. It wasn't long before we reunited with fellow team mates Leyla Collins and Suzie Littlechild who sorted out our rooms after a mishap with bookings. The result was an amazing view! Staying at Waldhaus Seeblick hotel & restaurant...Stunning!

Quote of day: This came about from the ice cream stop on our journey through Belgium on the hottest day of the year. Lydia's was particularly difficult to eat,  "My Cornetto is dysfunctional!"

Thursday 24th May

So, first sight of the day was the incredible view, and more so seeing Emma on the balcony next to me in just a t-shirt and knickers! Lucky me. As appointed mini bus driver I took Lydia, Emma, Rachel, Suzie and Leyla down to the European Championships site based at an old USA forces base called Sportschule. This was the first Millennium that some of the girls have seen let alone played. Trading area was huge with Registration, and all the major brands including Paintball.de representing Eclipse, and show casing the Geo 2:1. Did I mention.... I shoot one too ;)

Next up Celtic tent, our home for the weekend. With the scorching weather, we had shade and a fridge in the VIP area. Bonus. James Gregory made us very welcome and took care of everything. He handed over our Celtic Banshees named and numbered jerseys. Goodies from Anthrax! Next stop, walk the fields.  It was Moss grass and it looked amazing, and I couldn't wait to play on it. I had a major bout of Butterfly's when we saw the main field set up for CPL and the Nations Cup. Next up the Max's tent to collect our Great Britain jerseys. I was handed my no.10 jersey, goose bumps! From then on the jersey didn't leave my side. We met with the other Celtic Banshees Charlotte Simms and Ellie Paige and of course Lemon the captain of the GB team. A Photo shoot happened out if the blue for Hybrid, as we launched the Celtic Banshees in their first major tournament. I felt Top of the world, feeling very proud of the Ladies and enjoyed every moment of it. Those of you who know me can picture my dimples (on my face!) permanently on show.

In the evening, we arrived in different apartments, don't ask! But it had a Massive balcony. Drinking games soon started with the team and the 'WAGS'. This involved Emma flashing her union jack knickers and a very well attempted human pyramid. I learnt a lot more about my girls than I needed to know that night, but that's for me to know and never to reveal in this blog.

Quote of day: After the epic journey the day before, a pop to the loo by any member of the team soon became... "I'm having a Stewart"

Friday 25th May

We Registered for the Nations cup, the Cup itself was huge. I could of climbed into it but held back the silliness in respect of what it was. We soon donned our players passes, and we were wrist banded up, as though we had already been to a couple of festivals. We spent the day meeting new and old faces enjoying every moment, the passion was building. Friday night was a quiet night compared to the night before, we were sensible and decided to have a huge meal with all the team and the WAGS, in preparation for the big day ahead of us.

Quote of the day: "Get to the chopper" by Ellie. Said in an Arnie fashion it became hilarious. We decided to use Chopper as a code word for the 'M', obviously we have an Emma on the squad. Whenever M was shouted, she promptly shouted "what!". So "Get to the chopper" stuck.

Saturday 26th May

Nerves were brewing. We learnt the National Anthem verbatim in the mini bus on route to the site. We needed to waste time to un-phase us, knowing we had to wait for the afternoon until we could play. I watched the Ugly Ducklings win games, who promptly came to the VIP area of the Celtic tent afterwards. They offered their support and came with us to the Pits to assist with our first 3 games for the Celtic Banshees. We Won our first game against Blue Diamonds, but lost our second to a well drilled Russian team. My Geo 2.1 and Celtic paint doing their business!!

I sat the last game to save my energy for the Nations Cup which was starting in a hour. Won a point in our last game to... But lost. Things looked promising though the Celtic paint was awesome. Lydia stepped up, playing some great paintball, switching the game of play when needed and Charlotte making G's off the break. I was happy.

So with a quick change of jerseys, out of the Banshees into the Great Britain, and we dragged our kit down to CPL field where we met Clint Moore from Dye who provided our paint and wisdom and Markie C from The Firm who had picked the 8 rostered GB squad. Which was:

Lemon #01

Ellie Paige #03

Lydia Conroy #04

Leyla Collins #06

Rachel Pass #07

Emma Stewart #09

Shelley Farmer (me!) #10

Charlotte Simms #11

First up was the ceremony. All National teams presented to the crowds. What a most amazing and proud feeling. The support was immense, in turn all Nations stepped forward and sung their Anthems. Our turn came and we stepped forward holding hands, singing GOD SAVE THE QUEEN at the top of our voices! It is hard to articulate the feeling I had but imagine yourself in our shoes, standing there in front of a packed stand wearing a GB jersey in a line with the best players in the UK, a step in front of the most talented female players in the world, squeezing your team mates hand and sharing a moment that only comes at the end of the very best dream you've ever had.

France won the first two points as GB fell foul to penalties for playing on. Knowing that it was a race to 4 points in 8 minutes, with over 5 minutes left on the clock we had time to turn it around. On the next point we came out aggressive, I made the snake and Rachel made the M (chopper), we got the kills and won the point. We were fired up and we won the next point with Lydia pressing the buzzer and making the score level. The crowd erupted behind me while I was in the snake, wow! On the next couple of points we swapped ends again, and this end didn't work for us and we lost 2 more points and the game. 

Final score GBR 2 - 4 Poland

Next game was France, who are last years' winners and a strong team combined with confidence, but we were quietly confident knowing it was all to play for. Unfortunately, the game was a replica of the first, but with a fight nonetheless. We didn't make the finals. 

Final Score France 4 - 2 GBR

Luck was against us, as we unfortunately drew the end facing the settling sun in both games, so it's was worth a mention that the points we won was the end facing away from the sun....

We didn't qualify for the Finals and as a result didn't show up for the match against Austria, which in hindsight was a shame. Better luck next year we hope, when we'll have a well gelled GB team after playing a season as the Celtic Banshees in both Millennium Series Div 3 (with the hope to move up to Div 2) and occasional domestic events.

Quote of the day: "Send her Victorious, 'Bunkered' and glorious, God Save the Queen". Suzie is a genius!

Sunday 27th May

With the team feeling jaded by disappointment yet hopeful on the prospect of what we can become, the Sunday morning moved by quickly. We played 2 Div 3 games with the Celtic Banshees, but lost out to two experienced local German teams. However the one for ones had disappeared and the ladies were getting used to the format and hype of a Millennium event. All that left us with was to relax in the VIP area of the Celtic tent and watch the finals, seeing Dynasty win the event.

The Celtic Banshees were interviewed by Hybrid Photo and we had a few Media shots. Our heads were lifted after this and followed by a structured team meeting, all the ladies are positive that we'll be a force to be reckoned with in the coming years.

Follow us on the circuit this year, come say hi and show your support on Facebook and Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/CelticBanshees

Thank you's are in abundance for me this weekend, but I must show my gratitude to Celtic Paintball, and Planet Eclipse. Ladies, You rock my world!!!

Shelley xxx