PaintballX3 Magazine May, 2013 | Page 116

TOURNAMENT TOURNAMENT unchanged from 2012 to 2013, MAPL ownership did make some off-season changes intended to benefit the league and better the competition experience for its players. New promotions staff was brought in for 2013 and beyond, led by a longtime paintball event promotions veteran, while many things right with the league remained either unchanged or bettered for the new season. Though event attendance at the first MAPL event of 2013 was somewhat dampened due to the event’s close proximity to the Paintball Sports Promotions Mid-Atlantic Open, held just weeks later at the same facility, the first event of the 2013 MAPL season was a successful one for both the league and its players. The host facility for the entire Mid-Atlantic Paintball League season, OXCC Paintball of Chesapeak City, Maryland, was standing tall and ready for the MAPL Maryland Cup when the time came for paintballs to fly. Grass at the park was lush and well groomed, providing players with a practically ideal playing surface for sliding, diving, crawling and pummeling one-another with paintballs. For Saturday’s threeman competition, one field would be used for the event, while two fields were utilized for Sunday’s five-man event. Both three and five-man events featured the PSP RaceTo format and the entire event was played on the PSP Dallas event layout on crisp, new SupAir bunkers emblazoned with the logo of the league’s major sponsor, Valken. Valken paintballs were available for sale at the event from a climate controlled truck, a handy thing as The Mid-Atlantic Paintball League, the evolution of the GPL, promoted the inaugural event of their 2013 season on two crisp, sunny April days with three and five-man teams vying for a generous pile of prizes and a healthy dose of Mid-Atlantic bragging rights. While much of the DNA of the Mid-Atlantic Paintball League remained 116 paintbal