Paris Training Weekend - Paris B4 and London ECI

Background

B4 and ECI had competed against one another during the 2007 Millennium Series, both making it to the finals in the Toulouse and Paris events. There was respect between each team for their style of play and good attitude to one another.

Come the start of 2008, Willy from B4 and Dave from ECI began discussions about a training weekend in France and settled on the first weekend in March to hold the practice.

Venue

With a date set, both teams met at the Camp paintball site outside Paris for two days of SPL style matches on a turfed Millennium field. High pressure air and staging was available close to the field and helped the practice run smoothly.

Practice

The teams played SPL style matches for two days with timed turnarounds between points. B4 played the snake side of the field very strong throughout the weekend, beating ECI to the snake and progressing to the second knuckle in the majority of points.

Each team tried a variety of plays, pushing both tapes and the centre of the field across the weekend. Head to head battles in the snake, muggers running the highway, pushes through the M and fast moves through the doritos ensued. Come the end of the weekend, each team had progressed and become more experienced in the SPL style format.

Atmosphere

The weekend had a very positive atmosphere, with each team congratulating the other on points won and helping in the pits. A celebratory beer was had before ECI left for Calais.

London ECI would like to wish Paris B4 the very best for the upcoming Malaga event and the entire 2008 season.

This weekend would not have been possible without the excellent support that the following companies provide to ECI:

DYE Precision - C8 performance gear, i3 pro goggles, throttle air and DM8 markers are an awesome combination.
DXS Paintballs - Rec-Sport for practice and DXS Silver and Gold for events. Perfect.
Slothball- Karma products, backup parts and DYE dealer of choice. Great customer service and a wide range of products stocked.
Manic Paintball - ECI shoot skids of paint and Manic make that happen. Great service and quality.
Dartford 7s - Home of ECI for 2007 and 2008. Going abroad means nothing without someone to develop the team and D7s is that place.
PGi - Print and online media of choice. Great articles and photography add up to a slick package delivered every month.

London ECI - 2008 Season

London ECI

2007 saw East Coast Irritant (ECI) make their international series debut, competing in Division 1 of the Millennium Series. 2007 was a tough year but ECI managed to pick up three podium placings from five events (equalled by the Electrons but surpassed by nobody). This strong performance qualified ECI to compete in Division 1 of the 2008 Millennium Series.

Division 1 has been locked for 2008 to 32 teams, competing over a five event series. Each team represents a city or location of its own choice and East Coast Irritant is now know as London ECI.

Planning for the 2008 season began one week after the final Millennium event of 2007. The team from '07 plus a number of interested players met in London while Dave Simpson, London ECI Team Owner, outlined his plans for the '08 season. The team was beginning to take shape...

Off Season

London ECI used the off season to focus on getting all players into shape for the 2008 season. The team met on a weekly basis to run circuits, hill sprints and work on their core strength. Regardless of weather conditions, the team completed their schedule and a bond between players began to form.

To recouperate from the 2007 season, Dave Simpson took three months out to travel to North-East China and enrolled at a Martial Arts Academy. This proved to be an awesome experience and gave Dave a number of training insights for the 2008 season.

Conscious of the demands for an X-Ball based format, ECI arranged a tuition day from two of the leading professional players in the UK, Mark 'Dunny' Dunville and Stefan ' The Machine' Joyce. Dunny and Stef assisted the team through a day of drills at the excellent Dartford 7s training venue. The day also allowed Dunny and Stef to pass on a number of mental insights gained through playing at the top end of the sport.

2008 Season

Training for the 2008 season commenced in January with four training days held at the Dartford 7s training site. The team has initially focussed on building core technical skills and is now moving onto practice against a number of other teams.

2008 will see ECI scrimmage strong UK sides such as Notorious, MK Storm and the London Tigers. The team is also keen to return to Europe for several practice weekends and are currently working to set one up in early March.

London ECI - Roster

London ECI has a roster of eleven for 2008. Dave Simpson has retired from playing and will now be a full-time coach for the team.

Alec Bowen
Dave Simpson (Coach)
Jack Hoodless
Jack McEvoy
Joe Lowndes
Kyle Mucha
Mark Dale
Mark Winwood
Richard Christopher
Stuart Dumper
Stuart McAdam

2008 Sponsors and Support

London ECI have retained an excellent sponsorship portfolio for 2008.

DYE Precision have supported the team once again and 2008 will see ECI wearing grey/black C8 kit and i3 Pro goggles, shooting the DM8 marker, and being powered by the DYE Throttle air system.

DXS Paintballs and Manic Paintball Supplies are supplying the team with the very best quality paint - Rec-Sport for practice and DXS Gold or Silver for the Millennium events.

Jamie at Slothball.com continues to work alongside ECI with Karma products and the awesome Monkey Spunk lube.

Paintball Games International is ECI's paintball magazine of choice - in-depth event reviews, tournament news and kit reviews jam packed in a stylish and glossy magazine.

Dartford 7s is the training ground of choice for ECI - underpinning the success of the team in 2007, ECI look forward to another season of hard training in 2008.

On with the training...

Paris - Final Millennium of 2007

Paris was an awesome event and I am really proud of all of my guys on ECI for their hard work in taking 2nd place in Paris I said to all the guys before the event that they were Veterans and they proved me right, coming back from early losses in the prelims and quarter finals to handle business and play with heart.

The Division 1 winners, Knauf, are a very solid team who we also faced in Belgium for 1st and 2nd. Much respect to these guys.

ECI have been very fortunate to be supported by DYE for C7 gear and DM7 markers, Draxxus for their awesome lines of paint, Slothball for Karma products, PGi for the best magazine bar none and Lucky for super-fast electronics. All of these products have played an integral part in getting ECI to three podium finishes in the 2007 Millennium Series (I don't think any other team has produced more than three podiums in this division).

We have also been supported by teams such as MK Storm (hats off to you guys + girl, great training partners), Notorious Kids, Stealers Am and London Nexus this year. Individuals such as Jack McEvoy, Bunny, Spike, Jamie Brandon, Stef, Ash, Ellcie, Tommy, Jeff, Ray Ko, Neil, the Hoggs, Ian Hudson and many others have helped the team stay focussed. It really means a lot to have people rooting and pitting for us at the events.

Having progressed through the divisions of the NSPL in '05 and '06, 2007 has seen ECI focus solely on training at the Dartford 7s training grounds. Dave Stewart runs the best training site in the UK and this is the backbone for Millennium teams - I think every UK podium in 2007 has come from a team training out of a D7s site!

ECI stands ten strong at every event with Kyle Mucha, Mark Winwood, Ryder Sibley, Stu Mcadam, Mark Gerrard, James Beadle, Mark Dale, Nick Goryn, Ian Miller and Dave Simpson on the roster.

Nexus repping ECI

That's right, both Stefan Joyce and Ash Chaplen from the DYE European Factory team, London Nexus, were seen repping ECI at a recent practice weekend in Manchester, England.

Ash was sporting a limited edition ECI Headband, 25 of which have been made - going to ECI players, sponsors, supporters and one very lucky auction winner! Ash is one of the new recruits to Nexus for the 2007 season, playing and practicing across Europe for the guys in gold. Ash is also the European master tech for DYE products, supporting the guys on ECI throughout the '07 season.

Stef took the field with a limited edition ECI Gun Graffiti Band, again only 25 of these will ever be made and have been given to ECI players, sponsors and supporters. Stef is another one of Nexus's new recruits, having previously played for East Coast Irritant in the 2006 season, Stef is fulfilling his potential in the Pro Leagues. Affectionately known as 'the Machine', Stef keeps in touch with ECI offering coaching and support to the team.

DYE Europe sponsor London Nexus and East Coast Irritant with their C7 line of performance gear, the awesome DM7 paintball marker, i3 pro goggle system and related goods. This support has seen both teams take the podium in their respective divisions in the 2007 Millennium Series.

Photos used with the kind permission of Chris Howker - howkercj@gmail.com

ECI in McDonalds

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ECI Looking for players for 2008 Season September 13^th 2007

East Coast Irritant are looking for players for the 2008 season.

Anyone who is interested, please email me at david.simpson01@btopenworld.com and provide:

• Name
• Age
• Location
• Experience
• Fitness
• Occupation
• Contact phone number

I will be holding a meeting on October 21st to detail my plans for ECI in 2008 and will let you know if I would like you to attend.

Dave Simpson
Captain
ECI

Millennium Cup, Belgium September 10^th 2007

East Coast Irritant (ECI) has just returned from the Millennium Cup, Belgium. Three days of intense competition saw many hard-fought battles in all divisions. Once the dust had settled, ECI stood triumphant on the CPL field taking the second place in Division 1.

ECI have been very fortunate to have the support of the team at Dye Precision, shooting the DM7 marker while wearing the C7 line of soft gear and using the excellent i3 Pro goggle system. Jeff, Tommy, Ellcie and Ash your support is always appreciated.

Spike, Adrian, Scott and Mark from Draxxus take care of the team with their quality lines of paint. Training with Scorch, Midnight and Blaze, ECI use DXS Gold for Millennium events. Consistent and reliable, the only paint ECI would take onto the field.

Jamie Brandon of Slothball looks after the team with parts and odd items of kit, including those from his excellent Karma line of products. The leading paintball publication, Paintball Games International, completes ECI�s formidable support package with print and online media (checkout www.weltmag.com).

The Millennium Cup was an event of overwhelming support from teams such as the Notorious Kids, Electrons, Underdogs, Stealers AM and London Nexus. Particular mention must go to MK Storm (fellow competitors in Division 1) and Stefan Joyce. From pitting in the finals, lending hoppers and gear at the last minute to cheering us on - a BIG thank you goes out to all of you from ECI.

ECI are a team forged in the fire of the Dartford 7 training grounds run by Dave and Kathy Stewart. This land, soaked in the blood, sweat and tears of those teams who grind out practices all season long has become the backbone of the UK paintball scene, producing podium finishes in three divisions of the MS.

Formed by the vision of Dave Simpson, ECI is home to Kyle Mucha, Mark Winwood, Ryder Sibley, James Beadle, Ian Miller, Mark Gerrard, Mark Dale, Stu McAdam and Nick Goryn.

ECI will be at the final Millennium Series event in Paris during October 2007.

Training in the M****r Fu**ing Rain! August 15^th 2007

Thats right, while most other teams are tucked up in front of Eastenders, three guys from ECI made it out into the heavy downpours to do circuit training. Four circuits later, Jamie Beadle, Ryder Sibley and Dave Simpson were soaking wet but had done their training!

Wednesday, 8th August 07 - ECI Team Fitness training August 8^th 2007

Four of ECI meet up at a park to work on their fitness. Training consisted of brief warm-up and stretch, then four circuits of:

• 5 x Hill Sprints
• 30 x Squats
• 15 x Press Ups
• 30 secs High Knees
• 30 x Star Jumps
• 15 x Sit Ups
• 15 x High Jumps
• 10 x Back Extensions

Minimal rest time between each circuit and exercise.

Mark G and Dave have been running these circuits since February (a total of 16 times) on top of their other fitness work. On the 8th of August, Twizz and Ryder joined in also!

Hopefully another two or three of the team will also make it to mid-week training over the coming month.

East Coast Irritant on McDonalds TV? July 18^th 2007

Apparently so! ECI's recent training with Xistence in the Netherlands was filmed by Librium TV and is showing at McDonalds restaurants between the 16th and 22nd July.

Video coming soon!