Huntington Beach, Los Angeles
The main purpose of our trip to Huntington Beach was to attend the first event in the 2004 US NPPL paintball tournament series. Peter has been playing competitive paintball for about five years now. His team, Saints, are the best in New Zealand and also do very well against the Australian teams. So it was time to move on to a higher level of competition by playing in the States.I have attended most of the paintball tournaments in New Zealand that Peter has played at – not as a player but as either a spectator, photographer or support crew. I think all our events are pretty well run, and we are moving towards all our tournaments being held in proper sporting stadiums (most recently in Waikato Stadium, Hamilton). But the Huntington Beach event blew it all away.
Usually we get around 20 teams at our tournaments (of which I know most of the regular players). Huntington Beach had 160 teams. With an average of say eight people per team (seven players plus a reserve or support crew), that’s at least 1280 people there, not including spectators. And an average age of 16 (I’m not kidding), with 99.95% male. That’s a lot of testosterone. I quite enjoyed being the only chick on the team :)
There were five airball fields set up directly on the beach (with artificial grass playing surfaces). There was a grandstand to watch some of the games from, and other games could be watched from the pier.
Anyway I know most people reading this don’t care too much for paintball so I won’t go on too much. Suffice to say that it was far bigger than I could have imagined, and the standard of play was also a lot higher, faster and more competitive.
We arrived in LA on the Wednesday morning and were able to check out the fields while they were still being set up. Thursday consisted of hanging round the fields, deciding how to play them, and of course shopping for new paintball gear.
The competition was spread out over Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with the finals being held on the Sunday. Saints had three games on Friday morning and five on Saturday afternoon.
Unfortunately the team were very much out of their element, finding the style of play quite different to what they’re used to back home. We only managed to win one game on Friday, and two on Saturday. But they still did pretty well on all the games and all came away having learnt some new things. As well as having now put a foot in the door for attending future events. We met players from loads of other teams, and having the NZ flag on our shirt sleeves was quite a conversation opener.
Sunday we didn’t have any games to play since we didn’t make the finals, so we just watched the ball and the boys shopped. I’ve never seen men do so much shopping in all my life. They were like kids in a candy store. Mind you I can’t really blame them because at our tournaments at home we’d be lucky to get one vendor. Here there were dozens, selling things for much cheaper than we’d normally pay.
Monday was my birthday and I unfortunately spent it with a hangover :( But I still managed to have some fun and went to Disneyland with some of the boys on the team. Not a good idea to go there during Spring Break as the queues were really long. But we still had fun even if we only went on half a dozen rides.
I still think America is a pretty weird place. Southern California is different from the rest of the States though and I think I like it a little better. It is very false and fake, but it also has a bit more of a Pacific feel to it and I don’t feel too far away from home (I even found Maori bone carvings for sale at one of the beach stores – except they were made out of metal instead of bone).
The people stress out about the little things too much (like swearing and drinking). All the bars close at 2am which is really f’d up when all you want to do is go out and party. Driving, at least in Huntington Beach, was easier than I thought it would be. The other drivers are all very courteous and no one’s in a hurry. Which is the opposite of what I thought LA would be like. I think it might just be an HB thing. HB is full of surfers and girls in bikinis. But the sea is polluted and the sky was constantly grey and it wasn’t what I’d call warm. Oh and of course every girl you see has had implants. The boys I was with loved it of course. I have to wonder whether the silicone provides some kind of insulation because they didn’t seem to mind showing off in the cold, while I’m busy shivering inside my jeans, sweatshirt and jacket. All my slimming and tanning over the summer in NZ was a bit of a wasted effort because my bikini never even saw the light of day.
Food. Americans love their fast food and their family restaurants. I can’t comment on McDonalds et al because I never went to any, but Taco Bell at least had a salad on their menu. But Ann, you don’t have to worry about my diet any more, because there is no way you can diet in America. The portions they serve you are so huge. On our first day there we went to a diner and I ordered a Junior Cheeseburger. Lucky I did because the “Junior” cheeseburger was the size of a regular cheeseburger back home. Another restaurant we went to served soup and salad and potatoes and veges with your main, no matter what you ordered. By the time you get through the soup and salad, you’re not hungry for your main any more!
But of course as soon as you start getting used to one place, it’s time to leave again. And so on Tuesday afternoon we left LA and flew to London, where I am at the moment (but I’ll save that for another story). And so thus ends the paintball trip and now begins Peter and my trip round Europe. A trip which we’ve been talking about for 14 years and have both done separately but never together, and a trip which we’ve been planning and saving for, for at least 18 months. It’s hard to believe we’re finally here …
posted by Megz @ 4:59 pm
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