Norwegians on adventures in Greece

This summer Team Fight Back Design packed our bags once again to go south. More specifically to Thessaloniki in Greece for Anthrax Tropical Bootcamp and Med Cup. This event is a weeklong experience of sun, beach, friends and paintball.

This year it was a mixed crowd of Germans, Norwegians, Netherlands, Bulgarians, American, Malaysian Turkish and Greek players.

From Tuesday to Friday, we lived in bungalows at the beach. We could choose between the different activities and there was something for everyone. Don’t let the term Boot Camp scare you. Most of the classes this year was theoretical or low physical intensity so we would be well rested and prepared for the tournament.

The classes were a variety of fitness, nutrition and stretching, combined with some relaxing yoga and workshops for improving your everyday physical condition. There were something for everyone, not just paintball players. Inspiring professional trainers taught every class.

There were also some cool competitions and smaller adventures thrown into the mix. As well as some bigger organized trips. We spent the first day beach hopping in beautiful locations with some classes taught at the beach. Before we headed home, everybody faced off to see who would win the swimming race. The winner got the Master Dolphin Badge. We just fell short and ended up with 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th place.

Day 2 we had a great canoe trip along the beach. Luckily it was a “no previous experience needed” trip since a lot of us were rookies in the sea. After a while, it was time for the Master Paddler competition. Again, we just fell short; 2nd place!

In the evening, we played a soft version of American football. Our team already had some injuries so we tried to take it easy. However, when people get excited they forget about injuries so of course one of our player picked up a hamstring injury! Another injury on the team was a major blow; luckily, it still was a few days before the tournament. At least we were on the winning team this time. We got the 1^st place Master of Sports Badge!

Day 3 we went for a ocean trip around the Bay of Agion Oros in a beautiful big sailboat. We visited several islands and had a nautical quiz for the Master of the Sea Badge. Here the Greeks were unbeatable.

Day 4 we packed up our things and started to prepare for the tournament. We had a small late evening practice on the layout. It was a cool field with lots of opportunities. Luckily it had some big bunkers up in the centre, that meant even our injured player could be useful in the right game-plan.

This is one of the thing i love about paintball. There are so many ways to play this game. You need to be technical and fast to play at your full potential, but if something like an injury or handicap bothers you, there are ways to get around this in paintball. On this field, it meant being sneaky up the middle and trying to anticipate your opponent’s game plan. We decided that we couldn’t really play with a traditional back centre due to our injuries, because we would have trouble filling out to the sides with the injured hamstring. This would be a fun and different way of playing. Challenge accepted J

The games started on Saturday in blistering heat. Luckily, we had some freak warm weather at home before we left so we came better prepared for the heat this year. We got off to a rocky start with a 3-2 loss to the German team Braindead. Some key communications errors and some players being a little rusty gave them the win.

After that game, however we got into gear. As we learnt more about the field, we managed to fine-tune our game-plan and racked up two wins: 4-0 vs Anthrax Allstars and 3-1 vs Kingsize Berlin. Not too shabby J

Sunday was actually pleasantly overcast and good paintball conditions. Our early “attack up the middle” plan continued to work and we won 4-0 vs Thessaloniki Saints 2 and 2-1 vs Poison Templars. By the end of the day, the other teams inevitably started noticing what we were doing and things got a lot harder.

With four wins and one loss, we qualified for the quarters against Biohaze Berlin. From here on out it was all tough games. We edged out a 3-2 lead and held them off for the win.

In the semi’s we faced off with Bad Boys Oss. They had the speed and technical ability, but we had the more experienced side. In the crucial point we were on our heels a bit, but managed to set up a couple of sneaky traps in the middle and managed to catch a couple of their younger players trying to bunker us. The last point ended in a tense one-on-one that Stian played out to a draw and we went to the finals after a 2-1 win.

The finals was a rematch against Poison Templars. They knew about our up the middle move so we couldn’t use that and instead it was a bit slower game. This didn’t suit us as well plus they were a good technical team.

We took one point each and the last point went into overtime.

They got the first kill and we didn’t push into the snake when we should have. By not doing that, they could advance down the doritos and pick us of one by one.

Therefore, in the end we came close but it was not to be. Still not to shabby by a thrown together mix team with some rusty and injured players! This tournament is all about fun, so we were not down for too long. However, when you get to the finals, no matter what, you really want to win!

It was cool to see that even though some of our players are starting to seem worse for wear after many years of paintball but our older model Geos and Egos still keep on performing. A testament to the Planet Eclipse quality!

A big thanx to everyone for making this amazing camp and event happen:

Everyone in the Anthrax family – ofc including factory and field, Valentinos, Regina and the rest of the trainers. Thanx to all the refs, teams and players.

Thank you for the honour of the Master Team Player badge, I’m humbled and grateful.

A special thanx to Kosta and Nil for always making us feel at home. Our Fight Back Design team: Svein Helge Dyrskog, Edvin Østhus, Jan Arntsen, Stian Hagen, Tor Anders Gunnerød and myself J And the best pod bitch: Naimi Arntsen.

And a great thanx to Planet Eclipse, Virtue and Anthrax for making the best equipment there is and supporting us in all our adventures.