Paintball 2000 | Paintball-News Das Paintball Magazin

Die Jungs von den TonTons konnten Eric Dearman von den Philly Americans zu einem sehr lesenswerten Interview gewinnen:Meet Eric Dearman from Philadelphia AmericanHi Eric (& Ryan), well like usual in our interviews, please introduce yourself, who are you ? In Which team do you play ? Where are you on the field ? Since how long do you play Paintball ? Is there a life apart from the paintball ?…I am Eric „#1 STUNNA“ Dearman, I am 21 and live in Atlanta Ga.I play for the Philadelphia Americans. I usually play front to insert and up the middle. I played for the first time when I was about 10-11, but I really started playing comettitvly at age 13(1996). I do have a little bit of a live other than paintball. I am in school full time. I enjoy going out and partying with friends(some of the TonTons can back my up on this). I am on the road alot, but I do not mind. Pintball is the greatest sport in the world and has taken me places I never thought I would go and allowed me to meet many interesting people and I would not have it any other way.For the second year, Philly is the NXL Champion, What was the hardest title to take, 2003 or 2004 ? From which are you the proudest ?I think that the 2003 meant more to me in many ways than did the 2004 title. We went from a tenth ranked team to the best and I can't even explain how much I felt we deserved to win. I felt like no one wanted us to win in 2003, this pushed us even harder throughout the season. It was my first full year as a Pro player so that made it that much sweeter, also we were the under dogs playing against Bobby. I also feel that Bobby is a better team, we also had quite a rivalry with them throughout 2003 season. Also our first game against Bobby in 2003 it came down to a sudden death point, our games against Strange were not nearly as close. There is nothing quite like your first Championship.During the season, The NXL Rules regarding guns and ROF changed (ROF limited to 15 bps, Full auto after 3 shots), do you think it changed the game ? Which system do you prefer and why ? I guess this changes had an effect on some specific NXL teams, am I right ?I think it changed the game in many ways. The teams that relied on guns that ramped and shot almost 30 balls a second were affected the most. It slowed the game up a little, being that players that before could not make a corner bunker now could. Also it took some of the skills that we have worked very hard to achieve, such as running and sooting. This was a skill before now everyone can do it fairly easily. Having a way to regulate peoples ROF and ramping velocity has definitely changed the game for the better though.Both of you played with us during the San Diego NPPL Tourney, but before that have you ever played another format than X-Ball ?I have played in almost every format except scenario games. I have won 3mans, 5mans, 7mans, but I have yet to win in a ten man event.I come to this stupid question, do you prefer X-Ball or 7 Man ? Why ?X-Ball definitly. It makes playes better faster. It also has harsher penilties for cheating, which I really like. I hated leaving a game/tourny feeling cheated or robbed by a bad reffing call or just people cheating. With X-Ball I feel that cheating, in our leage, has been minimized.What are your opinions about the San Diego event in general (organisation, fields, schedules…) ? What about the games we played, I mean the way things happened ? … well now, you like french don't you ;o)Overall the event was well run, set up, and organized. The turf was not as bad as I had anticipated. I did not like having to wait 2-3 hours between games. BUT, in my almost 10 years of playing I have never, ever seen such terrible reffing. Our team would have made the cut except for the repeated horrible/wrong calls that were made by the NPPL refs. The NPPL refs are by far the worst in the world period. As for the French, you know I have mad love for you guys.In your eyes, what is/are the biggest difference between X-Ball and other formats ?I think that one of the major differences is that X-Ball is a more physical game and players have to be more athletic than in other formats. I believe that in X-ball the better team, for the most part, come out on top. I always hated losing games because someone made a lucky move or a ref made a terrible call. I think X-ball has made it harder for a team with lesser skills to beat a better team. This is how all sports are, you may score one point against a better team but by the end of the game the better team will have won.And what about Philadelphia American and Miami Effect training ? Are you playing every weeks ? Do you train together ? Do you work on special X-Ball drills ?We play every other weekend as a team during the season. I play about every other weekend in the off season. I workout on my own about every other day. We do have a few special drills, but I can not reveal them or Spesh will kill me.Some Trauma and Philly guys played with you Eric against the Russian Legion in London for the Campaign Cup Exhibition game, do you have something to say on the RL team ? If it plays NXL next Year, will the Russian be one of the favorites ?I would say that is was a good game. I feel that if we would have been playing on a field that they had never played before we would have done better. I feel that if we had been playing with a purely Philly team it would have made a difference (The Trama squad did not earn a point).Well a last question for you Eric, we noticed you are doing a funny trick each time you make a nice move or kill the game in a beatiful action, what's that ?It is called popping your collar or brushing your shoulder off. I started doing it just to be funny. It is more like of saying „ha ha I shot you“ after bunkering someone. Sometimes I do it to be funny and sometimes I do it just to be an ass, it just depends on mood I am in.