GRIP: You are known for your fierce aggressive style. What do you think when the buzzer goes after the ten seconds and you start running? Ryan Moorhead: I’m a pretty calm player. I don’t get really excited before points, so when the game starts everything kind of slows down for me; I just look for whatever openings there are and I take advantage of them. I don’t try to overthink things, if I have a small window, I will try to take advantage of it. GRIP: Your nickname is Grumpy Cat. What is the story behind this nickname? RM: (Laughs) I don’t know if that’s so much my nickname, but I always thought that Grumpy Cat was kind of amusing and when I created a private label gun for Planet Eclipse, I didn’t want to do the same standard guns that everyone else did. I wanted something I thought was funny and everyone seemed to enjoy it! (Laughs) GRIP: This year you transferred from Impact to Houston Heat. From the outside, this seems an odd choice, due to the results. Why did you change your team? RM: I think any time you change, there is more than one reason for changing. The first thing I would like to say is that I love Impact; it’s a great organization. I’ve been really lucky in my career, I´ve always played for great organisations, whether it was Philly Americans or Edmonton Impact and now with Houston Heat. It was time for a change and I’m playing with a lot
26
interview
We interviewed the third best player in Europe of 2013. He was limping from one leg and as always was wearing his patriotic symbols, following the most controversial change of his life. Meet Ryan Moorhead. Text: André Garrido
Ryan
Moorh of the Philly guys again, so that’s nice and there’s a chance to be able to build something good again. GRIP: You have played for six teams in Europe. What is so appealing for you to come to the old continent? RM: It’s paintball… I love paintball, I love any form of paintball. I like to play as much as I can. A lot of people my age