Here is a paintball team unlike any I have yet come across in all of my travels. The Team itself has received more mention in various media publications…has more honors and has a rather extensive membership than any other team I have spoken with on the internet.

The team was formed in the spring of 2002 by some friends from high school and current Team Captain Josh Foote. The idea was that they desired to be the very best team in the area, and played outlaw games against other local teams.

Over the last 8 years, the team has been in over 90 publications, general ed at some of the largest paintball events across the country and has served as the flagship sponsored scenario team for numerous companies within the industry. All in all, the saying about working hard and achieving your goals hits home with this group. They are very proud of everything they have achieved, as they have worked hard for it, and appreciate the support they get from their sponsors in return.

You guys have an impressive website with everything from blogs to articles on forming a team…who maintains and who are the main contributors to these aspects of team operations?

The current website has been a project in the works for the better part of a year now. We have always had one of the better looking sites within the industry, and the current website is simply the best. It may sound cocky, but we are on the forefront of utilizing Search Engine Optimization within the paintball industry, and it hasn’t been cheap to do so. Whereas most sites are just thrown together with a roster, some pictures and a quick about us, our site has been designed to maximize search engines such as Google and Yahoo. The benefit to cost ratio for us is justified with the increase of traffic we receive, and in addition to what we can offer our sponsors via our website. The income that we will generate via sponsorships and our web store (which is currently being developed) will cover the price tag that it cost us.

The site itself is maintained by our webmaster J. Scott Flagg and myself. Scott has done a lot of the original coding work and houses the website on his server. I do a lot of the day-to-day site operations and help code the website as needed. I am also the principal writer for the team blog and articles housed on the site.

I have come across a few sizable teams in my travels…I counted some 40 members of Delta, how easy is it to sustain a group that size when it comes to sponsorships etc?

If anyone says it’s easy to manage a team of comparable size, is either: A) lying DSCN3057to themselves, B) doesn’t know what they are doing, or C) new to being a Team Captain. With any group, you have different personalities, all of which will not always get along with each others quirks. With a team this size, you need to make it known from day 1 that while we all may not agree with one another, we are still a family. With the usual team shelf-life being 1-2 seasons at max, being around each other for 8+ years now allows us to be blunt if needed.

On the topic of sponsorships, the team has always held that we will only accept a sponsorship from a company that we whole-heartily support. That is why we stand behind our sponsors products, because we believe in what we are using. We don’t BS anyone, nor do we sugar coat anything. If something is wrong, or just sucks, we’ll say it. Some may dislike us for it, but that’s what we’re known for, being brutally honest at times. Now while I can not delve into our specific contracts with our current/previous sponsors, I can say that we prefer marketing agreements over the standard sponsorship. Being that we are a Corporation (PA based S-Corp), we can reach real marketing agreements with companies on a corporation to corporation level.

You guys have a long list of events for 2009…what were some of the favorites and some highlights of the year.

There are so many memories from all our events. Each event has had its own up’s and downs, “sayings” of the weekend and funny stories. Personally, my favorite event for the 2009 season was the Living Legends II game at CPX Sorts in Joliet, IL. Viper puts on a great event, and in combination with the CPX field, it makes for a fun playing environment. While our side may have lost the game, we owned the hill during the final battle.

During the off season, we installed a functioning bar in one of our bunkhouses and have not looked back since then. More then 90% of my favorite memories have come from us sitting around the bar after an event, and just BSing with each other. Another belief that we have always held has been that playing paintball only constitutes 10% of what a team is, the other 90% of the time, your just hanging out. EMR is my home away from home, and I look forward to going there as much as possible. You are always guaranteed a good time there.

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