YORKTON - It was something of a milestone in terms of paintball when the 3v3 World Championship took place at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida Aug. 1.
The event brought the top four season ranked NXL Pro teams including the Edmonton Impact, one of only two Canadian teams in the top tier of Major League Paintball to go to Florida for the championship. (The second Canadian team at the top level are the Royal City Sea Dog out of Kitchener, Ont., which joined the top division just this year.)
And the Impact would make it to the final, which would be the first live broadcast of the sport on ESPN, ultimately bringing the title north.
Impact team member Zach Yachimec said the win was gratifying, although perhaps unexpected by those outside the team.
“I think we always expect to win, or we believe we can . . . But, we were a bit of an underdog from recent past results,” he told Yorkton This Week. “But mentally we knew how to do it, so I wouldn’t say it was a surprise.”
Certainly the Impact are a veteran squad with a healthy resume of success in the National Xball League (NXL) which according to the MLP webpage “is the premier tournament paintball circuit across North America and Europe. Our world class events feature the top competitors from every corner of the globe, including the exclusive NXL Professional Division that showcases the biggest names in the sport.”
Impact has been in the top division for years, with Yachimec himself for years, after coming to the sport at a very young age.
“The first time I ever played was in Maui. We convinced my Dad to go play. I was 11 (his brother 10). It was when we fell in love with it,” he said.
It started as more of a casual family thing to do, but then evolved.
“It started out as a hobby, something to do on weekends,” said Yachimec. “. . . We did it casually. We played every weekend just for fun.”
That said as a youth Yachimec admitted there were times paintball was not where he wanted to be.
“In the beginning when I was a kid there were days I didn’t want to go, but dad just dragged us,” he said.
Then Yachimec came to appreciate the family element.
While noting no other sport gave him the same adrenaline rush, that paintball was a sport he and his brother, his dad, and at times even mom played together made it unique.
“It’s incredible. It’s what makes it really special,” said Yachimec.
Then they became aware of competitive tournaments.
They entered one in Vernon, B.C. and although in the rookie division won it.
And the die was cast as they say.
Now part of the Impact, Yachimec and his teammates – normally the squad has 10 members – is part of Major League Paintball (MLPB), a professional sports organization that serves as the governing body for competitive paintball.
The organization was established in 2015 and is currently headquartered in the United States. MLPB is responsible for setting and enforcing rules and regulations for competitive paintball, as well as organizing and promoting professional paintball events across the globe.
Competing in the top division Yachimec said Impact competes in five tournaments a year, all stateside including Tampa Bay in March, Atlantic City in May, the Midwest Open in Cincinnati in June and next up Lone Star Open in Garland, Texas in September, before the season ending World Cup Championship in Kissimmee, Fl. in November. Most events attract a couple of hundred teams, the finals will see more than 600.
The events run over four days, but the time commitment is greater. Yachimec said the team will fly in a weekend ahead in order to practice on the lay-out for an event – which he added is different for each tournament.
Typically they play 5v5, although the recent event was 3v3 with less players typically shortening games, said Yachimec which was a key consideration to better fit an ESPN time slot.
In the format games were 10 minutes long, featuring a running clock between points until the final 30 seconds, at which point the clock will stop in-between points. If the game ended in a tie, it goes straight to a sudden-death 1v1 overtime lasting 30 seconds.
All matches will be played on a compact field measuring 120 feet by 100 feet.
Yachimec said he can see the format catching on in part because of the steady and quick action which is ideal for spectators.
