Inthemiddle Magazine issue #8

2014

P U G E T - S U R - A R G E N S Me d iterranean Cup

A Millennium event is as much the same as it was ten years ago. Alterations to the game have took place and the tournament has improved in more than several ways but nothing ever really changes. Every venue resembles the one before, every field is alike and the people we see there tend to have the same faces. Something which could be interpreted wrongly, as a negative. It is, however, something incredibly positive. The way we are able to play our sport in a multi cultured competitive environment, is what keeps people coming. No matter how many seasons, victories or losses. We keep coming back because we’re never tired of it. It’s what keeps us going.

This is the Mediterranean Cup of the Millennium, the already forgotten tournament of the 2014 cycle. Here’s to a hundred, to a thousand, to a million more!

Cover by JEROEN Elings

OLE Krรถger

THE RECORDERS

We are forever indebted to those liste in our moment of greatness. Make i

PHOTOMONKEY

Ole Krรถger

PAINTBALL PHOTOGRAPHY Arnaud Serafin

MARTIN ONDERKYS FOTOGRAFIE Martin Onderkys

MK PHOTOGRAPHY

Michal Kverka

NOGSHOT

Christoph Noga

S OF OUR DEEDS

ed below. For they have eternalized us it so that they’ll never want to stop.

JEEROEN - EVENT MEDIA Jeroen Elings

GRIP - PAINTBALL MAGAZINE André Garrido

JORDY DE JONGE FOTOGRAFIE Jordy de Jonge

RSHMEDIA Handy Tims Siegie Kelly Nina Anna

One

I pity the person that wonders through life without purpose. No goal in sight, no direction or striving pace. Their drive towards nowhere in particular or anywhere but forward is beyond my imagination. To be content with yourself and you’re achievements is great but should never be the cause of you standing still. For many, paintball is what gives them purpose. Whether that means having fun every weekend, getting that adrenaline shot or simply to become the best differs from player to player. It should and is never to inflict pain onto one another. We see each other across the field through goggles, not because we fear what the other will do to us but because we respect the game and it’s possibilities. There will always be uncharted territory and new ways for us to shoot each other.

That’s why we keep coming back, that’s why we’re never tired of it. It’s what keeps us going.

ARNAUD Serafin

MARTIN Onderkys

MARTIN Onderkys

OLE Krรถger

MICHAL Kverka

HANDY Tims

OLE Krรถger

ARNAUD Serafin

JEROEN Elings

Two

To be a part of something so intense, so individual yet so collective is addictive. We share a common interest for something indescribable, a sensation only felt when on the field with a marker in your hands and the veins in your eyes nearly bursting out of them. We are inside the circle of people who know that feeling. No wonder why we refer to the player next to us on the field, on our team and the entirety of paintball as our family. Of course, there’ll always be people within that circle you’d rather not meet, look at or talk to. But we all have that crazy uncle, annoying nephew or babbling grandfather. We have accepted the terms & conditions and let it into our lives. It is bound to us and no one or nothing, at any time or place, can ever separate us from it.

OLE Krรถger

JEROEN Elings

OLE Krรถger

JORDI de Jonge

JORDI de Jonge

CHRISTOPH Noga

ANDRE Garrido

JEROEN Elings

JORDI de Jonge

HANDY Tims

SIEGIE Kelly

Three

We tightly squeeze the pendant hanging from the chain around our neck, kiss the ground we’re about to set foot on, tap the side of our markers three times or pray to god for whatever our mind needs to settle into a state of pure focus. Belief is a strange and enormously powerful thing. Without it one will surely never end up on any podium. You believe in the goals you set, you believe in yourself, your team and its ability to beat others. You believe and visualise that which you desire most. All it takes then is perfect execution and maybe a little luck. That or the alinement of the stars and a blessing of the pope should do it.

Belief in yourself. Never give up. Keep coming back.

JORDI de Jonge

NINA Anna

ARNAUD Serafin

HANDY Tims

HANDY Tims

ARNAUD Serafin

JEROEN Elings

ANDRE Garrido

ANDRE Garrido

MICHAL Kverka