| 68Caliber.com Interviews
After getting his start at R.P. Scherer, where he developed many successful projects including the Marballizer paintball technology, he moved up to Accucaps in Windsor, Canada. There, his many development projects included Zap Ultimate and the Proball Platinum performance line. Mike’s tremendous influence at AccuCaps was clearly evident during their growth period through the `90’s. Mike then took his place at the production helm of then Diablo Paintball.
During Skyball 2001, Mr. Ratko approached us with an idea he had in mind for a new format for paintball, called X-Ball. Since its launch at the 2002 International Amateur Open, the X-Ball format has quickly become the most popular format for paintball. Mike is the Commissioner for X-Ball and the NXL League.
We recently sent a list of questions to Mr. Ratko regarding X-Ball and his role in paintball. Here’s what he had to say:
PaintballChannel: What first got you into the sport of paintball?
Mike Ratko: My job at R.P. Scherer. The first year we 200,000 paintballs in any colour you liked - as long as it was red! We thought it was a fad.
PBC: What is X Ball™?
MR: X Ball™ is paintball (typically 5-player center flag) on steroids and supercharged with a little nitrous oxide and whole lot of fun.
PBC: What made you want to begin such a project as X Ball?
MR: Richmond Italia got me and a few other people involved in the X Ball™ project. The team had lots of experience playing paintball and shared Richmond's vision about a new game that was exciting for spectators. Over the last few years, we discussed the ideas whenever the idea of bringing paintball to a level was brought up. Finally Richmond pulled us into a room and said, "Let's make this happen". A few hours later, we had laid out the concept of X Ball™ and a few days later, the rules were put in print.
PBC: Do you feel that given enough time, X Ball will replace the "backyard" feel paintball has now, or will it add to it?
MR: There are two aspects to paintball. One is the "backyard" game that I think you refer to or as I like to think of it as the "GAME". The other is the, "SPORT". X Ball™ is one type of game of paintball that appeals primarily to the adrenaline junkie who, with a few of his friends, like to compete at a very high level. X Ball™ is one more tool that will increase the appeal of paintball not only to the players, but to spectators as well.
PBC: X Ball™ is a much longer game than most players are used toparticipating in. Because of this, the days of tournaments with 300 teamsattending could not happen with X Ball™. Do you feel that this will detractfrom the sport, making it more of a spectator sport rather than a hands-onone?
MR: When we had finished designing the game of X Ball™, we immediately began to fit the game into standard "tournament" schedules and realized that there were a few limitations but many more opportunities with this format.
First of all, X Ball™ was designed to make paintball a spectator sport. If we want paintball to be on television, it has to be something that people (including those who don't know anything about paintball) want to watch.
The X Ball™ format allows a league to schedule games like a real sport: ON TIME. A typical game of X Ball™ has 15 to 20 points scored in about 75 minutes of play. Regular paintball might see 8 to 10 games played in the same time. What is more exciting for a spectator?
The future of X Ball™ and paintball will be up to the market to decide. By the way, it is possible to run 300 teams in an X Ball™ tournament - it will just take time.
PBC: Can you tell us a little about the leagues; How they are formed, how they are different from, say, an NPPL League?
MR: The National X Ball League™ (NXL™) was formed to provide a model and vehicle for a truly professional sports league. Using traditional sports models such as hockey, football, baseball, and basketball, a 112-game schedule was designed to be played over the course of the season. It was decided to use the infrastructure of existing tournaments to host the NXL™ games and the PSP was chosen because at the time, it was the only proven entity that could support the League.
Traditional paintball leagues operate on the premise of tournaments and based on a team's results in a tournament, points are awarded to the team. The NXL™ awards points on the basis of game results.
PBC: Will the PSP or the NPPL Leagues be seen as "Farm Teams" for X-Ball teams in the future?
MR: If the NXL™ teams represent the pinnacle of paintball competitors, high quality players have to come from somewhere. The PSP and Super-7 teams as well as European teams would be logical choices for “farm teams”. As of date, no formal farm system has been devised.
PBC: A lot of players think X Ball™ will fail because a regular player can't go to his local field and play X-ball. What's your response to this?
MR: X Ball™ was designed as an overlay to be used at ANY field. It will take time for field-owners to put together fields for the X Ball™ format. I have already had discussions with field-owners across North America who are getting their fields ready for spring and the introduction of X Ball™. If a local field does not offer X Ball™, help them or go to a field that does offer X Ball™.
PBC: Do you encourage fields to have their own X Ball™ style games?
MR: There is no set design for bunker layouts in X Ball™. Any field design can be used as long as it has provisions for penalty boxes and pit areas. The layout of the field can be found at www.xballpaintball.com in the Rules section.
We would like the game of X Ball™ to remain as true to the concept as possible to ensure consistency around the world - especially if we want to make it to the Olympics. There are a few variables that will not affect the game and those are the period lengths and time out times.
PBC: Do you plan on taking X Ball™ to a professional level, with a team in each city, with their own distinct players and uniforms? If so, when do you think the sport will be big enough to support such a huge undertaking?
MR: This is the premise of the NXL™. It is happening now.
PBC: How do you anticipate teams being able to afford to play in X Ball™?
MR: The franchise fee is not for teams but for the owners. The NXL™ was designed like other professional sports. Our goal is not to have 300 teams or even 100 teams. The League will grow as required by the market and within the resources of the League.
PBC: Do you think X Ball™ would be able to pick up sponsors such as Gatorade or Coca-Cola?
MR: Definitely. Sponsors do not want to sell only to the participants but to the spectators that out number the participants by a few orders of magnitude.
PBC: Where do you think paintball will be in another 5 years?
MR: Paintball will continue to grow in popularity over the next five years. We all hope that these five years will see the inclusion of outside sponsors, throngs of non-playing, ticket-paying spectators, and televised games.
PBC: Where do you think the NXL will be in another 5 years?
MR: Leading the pack.
PBC: Do you feel that X Ball™ will eventually replace the other leagues?
MR: I don't know if it will but it could. Anything is possible.
PBC: Is there a timeline for X Ball™ being shown on television?
MR: ASAP. The operative word being “POSSIBLE”. Everyone wants to be the hero to bring paintball to television where the industry does not have to pay for the production or air time. If paintball is exciting to watch, the industry should not have to pay to put it on television. How many times have you seen something on the television and said, "If that is on TV, why can't paintball?" I know that there are several groups working on this and everyone claims to have the best connections. It really doesn't matter because as long there are people working on the concept it will only be a matter of time before we (the industry) get on television. If X Ball™ does not put us on television (though we hope so) it will certainly put all of us closer to the Brass Ring we call television.
We'd like to thank Mike for submitting his answers for this interview.
If you'd like more information on X-Ball or the NXL, visit www.xballpaintball.com. For more information on ProCaps or DraXXus, visit www.draxxus.com. © Copyright 1999 - 2006, 68Caliber.Com |
