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IN THE BEGINNING In November 2002, Vic Phillips along with his friend Larry McDaniel and daughter Ashley Phillips, formed a ten man team at a field that Vic Phillips owned. My son and I started playing paintball in September of that same year and were playing at Vic's field called Terminal Velocity Paintball. When they formed the ten man team, they asked if my son (Chris Burkhart) and myself (Mike Burkhart) wanted to be on it and of course we accepted. I can't remember all the names of every one we had on that team; however, the main names were Vic Phillips, Larry McDaniel, Ashley Phillips, Mike Burkhart and Chris Burkhart. We never found a ten man league in our area so we never played as a ten man team in any tournaments. We did practice a bunch and really had a great time doing it. 2003 We formed a three man team in January 2003 and were called the Kick'N Krew. The team was composed of Vic Phillips, Larry McDaniel, Ashley Phillips, and Mike Burkhart. We played the CPL (Charlotte Paintball League) three man (for the 2003 season) which was held at CJ's paintball field. This was our first series together and we did play the full season. Our successes during that season were small; however, the learning experience was huge. We practiced for ten man tournaments for three months then played a three man tournament, so to say the least, it was an eye opening experience. In November 2003, the team decided not to play the CPL the next season due to a rule change that permitted couching from outside the net. We did not feel that we could do well in this situation so we started looking for another series to play in the 2004 season. 2004For the 2004 season we found a series that was split between two different fields (Gold Diggers paintball field in Midland, NC and Palmetto paintball in Rock Hill, SC). It was a different format; however, a lot of fun. It was a four man tourney called Kick'N four man. We played under the name Impulsive Disorder (we shot impulses back then). The main members of the team that season were Vic Phillips, Larry Mcdaniel, Ashley Phillips, and Mike Burkhart. Joe McCraw guested with us for a tournament (we also had two other guest players during the season Dustin Foley and Brian but I can not remember his last names). We were not the top team; however, we had a bunch of fun. Our learning continued through this series. We played the full season and continued our growth in the sport. 2005-2006 Towards the end of the 2004 season we heard of a new series that was starting up for the 2005 season that had a lot of travel involved and was touted as a NPPL feeder series. It was a seven man series called the Eastern Extreme Paintball leage (EXP for short). So for the 2005 season we decided to change our team name to TVP Factory (Terminal Velocity Paintball) and play the new series (EXP). Team members this season were Vic Phillips, Larry Mcdaniel, Ashley Phillips, Mike Burkhart, Chris Burkhart, Nathan Walters, Andrew Johnson, Jeff Alley, Ryan Duren and a few others that were more guests than team members but they did help us out. That first season we played in Raleigh, NC, Hampton, VA, Pedricktown, NJ, Atlanta, GA, and Myrtle Beach, SC. The series canceled the Myrtle Beach, SC event but we still went (it was announced too late to cancel the hotel room). By playing all of the events we finished the season pretty well in the standings but over all we did not do real well. Our failing for the 2005 season was no practice. Paint being as expensive as it was, we just could not afford to do much practice. We did play a local tourney at North Carolina Paintball Spot (near Denton, NC) that we used as practice. It was a series that alternated from month to month from three man to five man. Our best finish was second place. We decided to play the 2006 EXP season also. Being that our luck tended to run on the bad side sometimes (markers down, hoppers down, paint that don't break, ect.) we decided to change our team name to Off Constantly. The name really represented our team in that it was funny and it had a double meaning. The team roster was more or less the same as the 2005 season with one exception, we added Alex Hicks. The first tourney was in Raleigh, NC and the second was in Rocky Mount, NC. We were supposed to play other venues but the series was having problems and ended up playing the whole season at the Rocky Mount Paintball Complex. It was a great facility but we missed the travel (the road trip was part of the fun of going to tournaments). We played all events for this season except for the last one. It was obvious to us that this series was not going to last because of how it was run, so we decided it was time to play CFOA. So, we skipped the last event of EXP and played the last event of the 2006 CFOA season (Homecoming in China Grove, NC). 2007In December of 2006 Vic Phillips and I talked of what we wanted to do for the next season. We decided then and there that paintball was too much fun to quit but we had to practice a lot more if we were going to play CFOA. Our first order of business was to find a field we could use for practice. After looking around, we decided to go talk with a field owner that had a field in Salisbury, NC called Predator Paintball. The only problem was it was a woodsball field, but it did have a small area that had some Extreme Rage air ball bunkers. Vic and I stopped by the field in January of 2007 and met the owner Mike Holshouser. I feel like we hit it off with Mr. Holshouser right away. We explained our need to him and he was all for it. In my opinion the Woodsballers were a little leery of us at first. Being that at most fields the Speedballers and Woodsballers don't get along real well we had to overcome that stigma. Over time I think the Woodsballers have come to respect us and our form of paintball as we came to respect their style of paintball At our first practice we sat down and talked to all our new members and explained our philosophy on the game. First and foremost we would always have fun. Second we would never cheat to win and we would always be good sports. We teach all the younger members that paintball is meant to be fun and good sportsmanship is the rule. We will always wish our opponents good luck and after the game tell them good game. By being good sports we represent our sponsors better if spectators are rooting for us because they like us for our philosophy. Winning tournaments would be nice but not at the expense of lowering ourselves to being people that no one likes because your team cheats or is just conceited. As a team we started practice at Predator in mid January 2007. We had practice every other Sunday till the season started. We ran drills for close to six hours every practice. We tried to keep the paint usage down to conserve money but we worked our tails off non the less. Our sponsors for the 2007 season was Predator Paintball - Salisbury and Holshouser Cycle Shop. They have helped us with every thing we could ever need. Without Mike Holhouser's help we would not have been able to play. The team roster for the 2007 season is Vic Phillips, Jeff Alley, Ashley Phillips, Mike Burkhart, Chris Burkhart, and Alex Hicks. We picked up Nathan Walters after mid season and Joe McCraw, April McCraw, Nathan McCraw and Zach Tumbleson joined us here at the end of the 2007 season and will round out our team. We have a few others that want to join up with us and will be named at a later date. We have lost a few team members through out the season due to job, school, or money problems but we have never lost anyone to not getting along with each other. We are truly like a family. Of course we have our little arguments and disagreements but we work it out without hurt feelings or bad blood. Our 2007 season went really well. Our goal was to finish in the top thirty and we actually finished twenty-eighth (out of 117 teams). We still did not make it past the prelims; however, we did get close and we improved each tourney. We learned a great deal this season and will put what we learned to good use next season. The team is now stabilized and we are getting down to business this off season and plan to have higher goals for the 2008 season.. We have found that drills will only do so much to help us get better so we have started having practice at a field we can have scrimmages at. We still go to Predator and help out by reffing, working on markers, doing field work, ect and Mr.Holhouser still supports us but we need to scrimmage teams that are better than us so we can get better. 2008For the 2008 season we will play CFOA Five man rookie division. If we have enough players, so as not to pose to much of a burden on any one person, we also would like to play the Paintball Central three man and the Evil Doers three man if possible. For this season Off Constantly will be sponsored by Holhouser Cycle Shop, Predator Paintball, Smart Parts, and Pro Caps Direct. We would like to thank each one because, without them, playing this great game would not be possible at the level of play the CFOA provides. Off Constantly will be a team that finishes at the top one day but we will not sacrifice our morals to do this. We will not fight amongst ourselves because that is not what we are about. We are there to have fun and improve our skills, not try to make a point or statement as so many teams do. The 2008 CFOA season was a long one for Off Constantly. We had some highs and some lows. We accomplished our goals we set at the start of the season. We even accomplished our secondary goals we set after making the first ones. Plus we built a very strong team for next season. As with most teams we also had our share of lows. We lost the monarch of our team (Vic Phillips) to retirement and we could not field the second team like we wanted. Some may wonder why we even tried to field a second team. Well, sadly, that was my idea. Over the years I was tired of never having enough players before an event. My thought was this; if we roster enough people for two teams we would always have enough for at least one team in every event. The one thing this team has been known for is playing every event (no matter how bad we had played all season). Problem was; personalities. We let the guys that had a slightly different idea of playing philosophy be on one team (Off Constantly Too) and the rest of us played on the other team (Off Constantly). At first it seemed, other than normal growing pains, the two team system was going to work. In reality, this was not the case. Regrettably (in my opinion) the experiment did not work and the cost was too high. To build a good team you have to try new things (both on and off the field) but this experiment was a failure for us. The Off Constantly team worked hard all season. As a team we figured out that drills are fine but you have to play other teams (that are better than you) to get better. In the off season we practiced at Predator Paintball in Salisbury, NC doing all kinds of drills. Once the season started; we practiced every Sunday before each CFOA event at Carolina Paintball Park in China Grove, NC. We found that a few D2 and D3 teams practiced there and knew that practicing against them would only make us better. We took some pretty bad beatings. But with every bruise, ache and pain we got; we learned something. The team took every beating with our heads up and a smile on our faces because we knew it was making us better. We started the season off ruff. In short; we were as messed up as a soup sandwich. We couldn't do anything right. We could not figure out what our problem was. It seemed like every thing we tried, the other team was waiting for us. After this event it was time to go back to the drawing board at practice. At practice, before our second event, we were informed that our team monarch (Vic Phillips) would not continue the season with us. He had decided to retire. At first, I was not sure if I would continue on without the man that started me on the road in this great sport. After a team meeting, I decided that I would continue on. I could not walk away from the young guys that I had played with for so long. I knew I would miss Vic and the pain that I would have not playing with him would never go away but at this point I could not walk away from my guys. We will continue the philosophy on how the game is played that Vic taught us all (we owe that to him) and try to make him proud of us as we continue to grow and learn as a team. After every event I could see us getting better. We were playing as a team. We trusted each other and relied on that trust. BUT, we were still missing something. I could not put my finger on it but it was very obvious there was something missing. We played with heart, drive and the will to win but, again, we were missing something. What ever this "missing" thing was, it was starting to get to me. We showed great progress in each event but the sixth tournament was the one where it all came together. Due to money problems with some of the guys, fielding enough players for this event was getting a little tuff. While I was pondering what to do about this problem, I was contacted by a D3 player that has practiced with us at CPP and he asked if he could play with us. I told him to come on. This sixth event was the best that we have ever had. We finished the prelims in seventh place overall and went on to semifinals. We finished the tournament in fifth place overall. This accomplished our first goal that we set at the start of the season; making it to the semi finals at least once.. One thing about this tournament; we found that one thing we have been missing: confidence. After the sixth event I reset our goals for the season to make the semifinals at least once more this season (two events left). Our seventh event was just as good as the sixth. We finished the prelims in fifth and finished the tournament in seventh overall. This completed our second goal of the season. So, I reset the goals once again. This time I said we need to make the finals this last event. The last tournament was a little anticlimactic. Whether I set the goal to high for this event or the guys were just trying to hard I'm not sure but we just could not make anything happen. We played hard but could not pull anything out. We finished the season in 11th place for the season. We have built a solid team for the 2009 season and look forward to continuing our progress. As it looks right now we will need to add two more people to the roster for the 2009 season but we will not make the same mistake we did this season. We must take on new members that will fit in with our style of play. Over all this was a banner year for Off Constantly. We placed better than we ever have and we earned some respect from other teams. We will continue to grow as a team and will be a force to reckon with. Off Constantly would like to thank our 2008 sponsors; Predator Paintball, Holshouser Cycle Shop, ProCaps, Smart Parts, Agg Pictures and the CFOA. Without these great people we would not be able to play this great sport. Our goals for the 2009 season are to win tournaments and be in the running for the top five at the end of the season. We also plan on playing the World Cup in 2009. We have already picked up a main sponsor for the 2009 season that will pay for the tournaments and paint. So, at this point, next season is really shaping to up to be the best we have ever had. 2009Our 2009 roster was; Chris Burkhart, Chris Crowell, Dustin Foley, Andrew Furr, Alex Hicks, Kevin Holshouser, Larry McDaniel, Nathan Walters and myself (Mike Burkhart). We also had a few guest players through out the season: Chris Johnson, Matt Munger, and Jesse Pittman. The 2009 CFOA season was a first for Off Constantly. This was the first season in the history of our team that we did not play a full schedule. In short, we were a victim of the economy during the 2009 season. Due to players not having a job they did not have the money to play. As the team Captain it would have been easy to just move on and look for players that could afford to play. That wasn't what this team was founded on. I decided that was not the path I was going to take. We have been together to long and worked to hard together to just replace people because they have run into hard times. As a team we held a vote and it was decided to not travel to any events that were considered over night venues. We played the China Grove event and the three Rock Hill events. I hated that we had to do this but it is what was best for the team. We may not be as good as most teams out there but we are a family. The economy also put a wet blanket on practice. We had to do a lot of Re-ball and drill only practices. We don’t learn as much that way but it was all we could afford. The lack of practice showed. The only event that even showed a glimmer of what we had in 2008 was the last event of the season (August 2009 Home Coming @ PBC Sports Park in Rock Hill, SC). Due to our standings in the league the four teams we drew in our schedule were the top four teams in the league. We gave them everything we had. We had three of the four teams down in five games (3 on 1, 4 on 2 and so on) but could not finish them off. During the off season we will work on finishing games. We would like to thank our 2009 sponsor, Predator Paintball and Holshouser Cycle Shop. Mike Holshouser has been very generous to Off Constantly. Without him we would, in all likelihood, not be able to play. Thanks for all you do Mike. Over all, 2009 was not a great season for us but it was a learning experience none the less. 2010 will be a better season for us. We plan on playing the full D-4 schedule for the CFOA in 2010. Off Constantly will also have a team playing the full D-5 schedule for the GFOA. Larry McDaniel will be building a D5 team out of Georgia to play the GFOA in our name. Some of those folks will guest with the D4 team in the CFOA during the 2010 season. We really expect to have a great season in 2010. 2009 Season Pictures Here
2010 Another season in the history books. This season seemed to be longer than any other season in the past even though it was a record season for Off Constantly. We had our best season to date after we finished one event in second (our first podium), made semi finals three times and finished the season in second place (our highest season finish).
We had a great group of guys out of Georgia that got together and tried their hand, for OC, in the GFOA. Everything was looking good for these guys but the bad economy got them after one event. As we all know, family comes first, so money for paintball dried up so they could pay their bills. The one event they did play they finished 10th out of 17 teams. Really made a good showing.
The guys have worked really hard this season. We helped train some of the folks from our home field (Predator Paintball - Salisbury) for the CFOA Threeman season plus get them ready for fiveman. We reffed the CFOA threeman events at Predator, reffed CFOA X-Ball and still others of us reffed PSP events. Not to mention reffing recq ball at Preator Paintball - Salisbury. After all this we still had time to get ourselves ready for our events. Great season but very long and busy.
As mentioned above; we trained some of the players at Predator Paintball Field - Salisbury. In threeman, these guys placed 3rd and 5th (two different teams) for the fall season finals. These young folks really have worked hard and are going to be some great players. I'm very proud of them. Their dedication to the game and trying to learn all that they can about the game will prove them to be a very strong team next year. We debuted them in the last tourney of the season (Home Coming at PBC Rock Hill, SC) and they really made a good showing. They had to play four of their eight games against D4 teams and they really held their own. They made a great showing and I look forward to the 2011 season and watching how they will grow.
As mentioned we had a banner year this year. The entire team is looking forward to next season and we look forward to helping our new teammates grow in paintball like we did. 2011 is looking to be the season we have been waiting on for so long.
Off Constantly would like to thank all our fans for their support this season and as always we owe this season to our sponsor Predator Paintball - Salisbury and it's owner Mike Holshouser. Without Big Mike's support we would not be able to play this great game. His support through out the season is what has kept us going. Thanks Big Mike, this season was for you! |