The Adventures of Rebels from Basildon to Gjøvik

The Millennium in England have been in a lot of different places during the years, the most memorable for me was Crystal Palace Stadium 2003 with 8 different fields to walk. And no, there was no possibility to practice on the fields beforehand and we were the lucky winners of playing 7 of 8 fields that tournament. And to get around it was a walk of a lifetime, but it was still spectacular with the big bleachers and sport-arena feel.

The last few years the events have been held in Basildon in a place called Barleylands Farm. It took some getting used to for the players driving through farms with its distinctive smell and being greated with a red carpet of hay - but i think it has a certain charm to it . Ultimately the fields are the most important for us, and the grass is good there :)

The weather in England also has it's charm sometimes, this time was no different - sun, rain, cold and heat all on the same day. But overall it was good, nothing like 2008 where all the sliding pics looked like it was surfing not paintball we were competing in :)

Rebels had a good preparation before this tournament with a hard grind practice weekend against CPL and SPL teams like Scorpions, Blast,Solid and PBClub - the feeling before the tournament was good :)

A mishap with the rental car made the practice time on Thursday run too close, so they practiced a bit alone instead of playing against someone.

First game up on Friday was Poison Ivy, a team they always struggle against in tournaments - a mental thing no question, even if practice against them is another story. The score ended 4:3 and the first win was secured.

Next up was Rain of Fire, a team they have lost against before, but this time Rebels came prepared - winning a solid 4:0

On Saturday the opponent was Droogs. It was a hard game, both teams fought well and hard. Even the overtime point ran out of time, opening for the next endeavor - 1 vs 1. Alexander Høiseth got voted by the team to step up to the plate, and he did! Høiseth had a year off last year to tend to his family, and we respect that, but we are really happy he is back! The 1 vs 1 was closed out securely making the score : 6:5

So, 3 wins, victor of the group and a lot of big smiles on the Rebels boys. Sunday club!

Sunday club was unfortunately a different story, it started with some new rules of seeding that were hard to understand resulting in the meeting of Five Star lleida. Five Star is a really good team who already this year have 2 podium placings. The game was a 141 bonanza and not much good was accomplished. It was some long and hard fights, but it ended with a loss 3:6.

Dissapointed to yet again make it to Sunday club, but not much further, Rebels decided to play a volleyball game - which they won :) Frank totally saved the day :)

No time to feel sorry for ourselves... off to NPL 3 Gjøvik we go.

New tournament, new possibilities and new challenges. Two of the Rebels originals have gotten new jobs this fall, so they haven't got their bosses used to the paintball life yet and couldn't play this tournament. So what do you do, you get some good old Bandits/Carbon players back on the field. :) Ingar and Torje hadn't played since 2013,  but for some time  both have felt that paintball itch. And now they are fired up once again:) I was really happy to see that and fortunately they remembered their old tricks :) Did I hear anybody say "comeback"?

Rebels started against Degernes, another Eclipse team working their way up in elite. They shot well off the break and made an exiting game, but Rebels still won 4:3.

Next game was the old,but not at all lost - Menace. The years has slowed them down,but all their game,experience and all their training is still visible. You don't wanna pop out twice in the same spot against these. Rebels played well and won 4:2.

Xsportz was the last opponent in the prelims, and a fight we knew was gonna be hard. Both teams took turns on scoring points, but Xsportz took the last winning 4:3.

With two wins and good points it was time for the semi and yet another Eclipse team - Blast. Everyone who knows Blast and their hard training and dedication knows that they will always give a good fight. This time was no different. Rebels got in some really good fights and scored some points, but Blast were stronger this time and Blast won 6:2.

So yet again, second time this year, the bronze final and Degernes Rednecks was up. Last tournament Rebels won 5:1 ,but this time Degernes was stronger. All the points were slow and could go either way, but Degernes won 3:1 and secured the bronze this time.

Høiseth continued the 1 vs 1 streak from Millennium winning 2 of them this weekend against Menace and also winning one 2 vs 1. Go Høiseth!

So Rebels had a lot of strong individual players, but obviously not the same communication and teamwork as they use to so it didn't go all the way this time. Thanx to Degernes Rednecks for a great fight for 3rd and 4th. Always disappointing not to win, but given the player challenges its not that bad to keep the top 4 placing.

Its great to see that the Norwegian top division is so close and strong, it means a lot for Norwegian paintball. Now were all looking forward to NM, Rebels has 2 titles to defend: Norwegian Master from 2014 and 2015.

Its also great to see the top Norwegian teams using the best equipment there is - 3 of 4 top placed teams (Blast, Degernes Rednecks and Rebels) are all using Planet Eclipse, Virtue and Anthrax :)

Rebels want to thank our sponsors for having our backs and believing in us: Planet Eclipse and Virtue Paintball for awesome equipment - it never fails us, Anthrax for rocking cool jerseys and coffe in their booth. Blitzed media,Woodie Photography and SH (Stian Håvak) for making us look good. 

We would also like to thank: Fight Back Design, Energima, RVS, JKS rør and Proteinfabrikken

Love from Kristine Myhre Andersen