"MACCA" 2017 INSIGHT

Our Aussie connect, Nathan "Macca" McDonnell from Queensland, Australia, drops in with an extensive update on all of the paintball he's been a part of so far in 2017 -

2017 has been a fully packed year of paintball with each month having a new challenge for me. In January, I went down to the Gold Coast with fellow DYE sponsored players Nick Bancroft and Jarrahd Cosier to play at the first event for Gold Coast Indoor Paintball (GCIP). It was a good event and we were able to come away with a convincing win over the host team in the final.

February was particularly busy as I had three events scheduled. At the beginning of the month, I headed back down to GCIP to host a clinic. It was mainly for newer players, but was open to whoever wanted to attend. The following weekend I was back out at my home field Tactical Operations Paintball (TAC OPS) for TAC WAR. These days are a lot of fun for me as they aren’t as full on like a tournament - a great way to kick back and have fun with mates. At the end of the month, Round 3 of the QLD NXL Series was held out at TAC OPS. I guested with local team, BC Rift, for the weekend. We battled hard all weekend long and made it to the final against Eastside Raw. At the end of regulation time, we went into a sudden death overtime point. Unfortunately for us, things didn’t go our way and we lost in a close game.

The month of March saw me traveling down to Melbourne for Round 1 of the Vic 5s Series, as well as a G5 Paintball Clinic. G5 Paintball Clinics are a range of clinics that Kai Harris and I came up with at the beginning of the year. We hosted our first clinic on the Saturday and WOW! We couldn’t have asked for a better bunch of guys. Everyone was super keen, hungry, and willing to learn. The feedback we received from everyone was that they had a great day and learned a lot. On Sunday, Round 1 of the Vic 5s kicked off. We got off to a rocky start, but we took the win. Throughout the day, the team kept improving from game to game. By the time finals came around, we were on-point but so was our opposition. We played OUTBREAK, which is a local team. I can’t remember the score, but the game itself was close. Thankfully, we came away with the 1st win of the season!

April had me back out at TAC OPS for another TAC WAR. At the end of the month, I traveled up to Magnum Paintball Fields in Rockhampton to host a G5 Clinic on Saturday and then playing in the Gear Hounds 3v3 Competition on Sunday. On Saturday, I had a great bunch of guys at the clinic and the talent I witnessed was great. The guys up there don’t get a lot of training, so we made the most of our time by running some drills and playing some games. At the end of the day, Nathan, one of the young local guys, challenged Addz to a 1v1. Everyone gathered around to watch this battle as there was a bit of trash talk happening between them before the match. This was one of the highlights of the trip as Nathan had been soaking up info all day. As soon as the game started, Nathan had his lanes dialed in on Addz and got Addz off the break. It was great to see the improvement in his game even though it had only been one day. Sunday was the 3v3 comp and it was one of the most relaxed days of paintball I’ve ever played. Everyone had a ton of fun and the atmosphere was great. I can’t wait for the next one!

May was a big month as I flew over to Singapore with Jarrahd, Nick, Bones, Pyro, and Pete to compete in the GI Singapore Cup. We were playing for KTM X-Bow. It was the first time I had been to Singapore and it was a beautiful city. On Friday, we headed out to Red Dynasty Paintball and got in a couple hours of practice in on the layout before it started raining that afternoon. Games started on Saturday and at the end of the day’s play, we had three wins and zero losses. Sunday is always the business end of competition and we had a couple of games to play before finals. We drew our prelim match against Raskalls, but that still saw us as number one going into the finals. We won our semi  against Raskalls, and then headed to the final against NL Draco Waxers. The final was no easy match with both teams giving it their all as the winner would win free paint and entry into the US World Cup. We took the lead with 20 seconds of game time left and when the dust settled we took the win! After the event ended, we didn’t really get any time for sightseeing as we had to catch flights back to Australia. At the end of the month, we had the final round of QLD NXL at TAC OPS. My team Danger Zone didn’t do as well as we would of liked and we walked away with 3rd.

I would like to thank Devon and DYE Precision for the sponsorship that they have given me as it has not only allowed me to continue playing, but also helped me help those newer players have fun at either training, tac wars, or events. I'll check in again soon!