Exciting News from Angel Paintball Sports on HB, 2010 and beyond!
Exclusive Interview // Bart Walkerdine
We spoke with Bart Walkerdine- man, myth and legend of the NPPL, Angel Paintball Sports and tournament paintball worldwide. With the NPPL Huntington Beach Surf City Open right around the corner, we were excited to hear about Angel’s return to the VIP with their famed “Heaven” themed party atmosphere.
Bart has played an integral part in modern paintball tournament structure- from hyper ball to Pure Promotions, ESPN and beyond, Walkerdine has helped to mold paintball history: “In '96 and '97 we ran the Hyperball tournaments in Birmingham which were really incredibly events to be associated with - these really were the first main paintball tournaments to be held designed for spectators with bleachers, professional commentators, TV crews - the works. My role here was to help out wherever needed - problem solving”.
Currently, Bart works for Angel Paintball Sports as President and Chief Operating Officer, “we're still working hard - we've got a ton of great new products set to launch at HB this year and we're in great shape to move forward. The last few years have been spent totally re-structuring the company from the top right down to the very bottom. We're totally efficient here now - we have the smallest possible overhead and great systems in place.”
Wondering what might be in store for APS in 2010, we asked Bart as to what we could look forward to…
// Angel's Heaven VIP is returning to the NPPL (we couldn't be happier by
the way), what can fans and players expect this April in Huntington Beach?
Bart: We have not got a massive budget but we have a lot of new products we want
to debut and the timing and location is perfect for us. We have a great
history with the NPPL and Huntington Beach and we're really excited to be
going back. The Heaven area can't be anywhere near as wild as we might like
- officials in California are pretty strict I'm afraid!! What we can offer
for sure is a great area to watch the Center Court, some free beer and soft
drinks and maybe some food if we can tie up a deal with a local restaurant -
we're talking to Wahoos right now so maybe some great fish tacos!!! Monster
Energy drinks have teamed up with us already so there is going to be plenty
of Monster too. Matt is going to be doing the commentary from inside the
area so we're planning to get plenty of Pros up there for interviews and
game commentary.
We'll be showcasing a new line up of Angel products and our new Pro X pants
and jerseys and a super exciting, revolutionary top end new goggle we're
looking to bring to market shortly after the event. Matt, Jay (our head of
US sales) and I will be there to help with any questions. To get into the
VIP you need to contact any one of the Angel staff to get your name on the
list or purchase a marker between now and the event and send us the proof.
The other way for you to get in is for you to be a really hot chick - hot
chicks get in all day every day for free so if you see any at the event or
in the bars in the area send them our way please !!
//How has the worldwide economic recession affected Angel?
We're pretty lucky really - we've spent the last 4 years totally
re-structuring the company to be as efficient as possible so we've really
driven our overheads down hard. This has enabled us to move along with a
much smaller turnover than in previous years so we are in pretty good shape.
We're happy with the way things are going for us right now and we are
looking forward to launching our new products and going forward.
//What are your thoughts on the new PSP regional supporting structure in
the U.S.? Benefits? Drawbacks?
I don't know all the details here but if it's a structure which allows for
players and teams to get ranking points from playing affiliated events then
I'm all in favour of it - it's the best way to develop the sport down to a
grass roots level and something we worked on with the NPPL and Pure
Promotions.
//What can diehard fans expect to see this year from Angel?
Some truly great new products - including a superb range for the
scenario/recreational markets which we're really excited about.
//How would you describe Angel's outlook on moving forward in 2010 and
beyond?
We're really positive - we all really enjoy working together - we have great
relationships with our customers and all of our suppliers - we are
financially pretty solid - we have a great design team - we have great new
products just about ready to launch - we're running the VIP in HB at Spring
Break which gets us out into the sunshine so we're happy and we're really
looking forward to the future.
Drew H.
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