Tippinators Take Field in Second Tournament

The TPPINATORS competed in their second speedball tournament on September 3, 2005. They had initially entered the tournament because it was billed as a 'Rookie Tournament'. Three days before the tournament the qualifications changed due to a lack of entrants, the Atlantic Canadian Championships were being held the same day and a great number of players attended that tournament.

So the word 'Rookie' was dropped and the tournament opened up. The competition was fierce and the caliber of play was much higher then in the previous tournament entered. Juno, Hired Gun and Charon armed with their trusty A-5's with milsim mods, semi auto triggers and remote lines headed into battle against 11 other speedball teams. The other teams were hard core speedballers and all of the teams had real skill. Never the less they took to the field.

 As mentioned in previously the team's mandate is to have fun, play hard, play fair and be true sportsmen no matter what. The Tippinators shook hands with every team before each game to wish them luck and shook hands after every game to thank the opponents for a good match. Judging by the expressions of some of the teams this double hand shake thing was a foreign concept in normal speedball tournament play.
The level of play in this tournament was stepped up two or three notches but the team held their own and managed two wins for the day and at no time did they embarrass themselves or the organizers. It was a fun day.

After each match the team captain had to sign for the team's points. This was to prevent scoring disagreements at the end of the day. After a game against one of the best teams Charon noticed that their captain did not sign for the points. If the points are not signed for they are awarded to the other team. In the spirit of sportsmanship Charon tracked down the other team's captain in the staging area and mentioned his oversight. He quickly made it back to the scoring table and signed off just before the next match started. Those extra points helped put them in the finals.

As the day wore on some of the other teams were getting a little tense in the staging area so Juno had a plan to loosen everyone up. He had 10 or 20 5x7 photographed copies of our team printed and we were going from team to team offering autographed pictures and chatting. That bit of light hearted fun seemed to make everyone smile and laugh. The team got to meet and talk to every team and made some new friends because of it. Carter Johnson the co-owner of Overkill Sportz (a local field that produces some of the best speedballers in the region) heard what the team was doing and asked for a signed photo. He gave a long hard laugh and said he would be hounoured to frame and hang the photo next to the counter at his field. By the end of the day the Tippinators had at one time or another members from most other teams visiting their area, laughing and having a good time.

All in all the day was a great success.