"Our goal with the ATWL is to give players the most professional woodsball league in Canada." said Bruce 'Charon' Johnston, Tippinators Captain and ATWL Commissioner. "The Tippinators have taken over the league with the sole goal of moving the ATWL forward and improving the player's experience."
An expanded field of six teams were ready to bring their woodsball skills to the field in an attempt to capture the 2011 ATWL championship title. "We are excited to have expanded to a six team league." commented Johnston. "This will be an intense season of woodsball."
The 2010 Champions Team Anthraxx will come out of the gate strong to defend their title and attempt to be the first team since the Tippinators in 2007 and 2008 to win back to back titles.
Nova Scotia Mercenaries, the 2010 runners up, will settle for nothing less than regaining the championship they held in 2009.
Mersey Road Predators, are strong contenders for the 2011 title. After a respectable third place finish in 2010, during their rookie year, the Predators have strengthened their roster and built a team ready for a run at the championship.
Coming from the Canadian Xtreme Paintball League, Halifax City United, has ventured for the first time from Canada’s professional xball league to the woods of the ATWL. We all eagerly wait to see if xball skills will transfer into the woods.
An unknown commodity, the Moncton Spartans from New Brunswick joining the league has made the ATWL a truly regional league. The Spartan players have speedball and woodsball experience, no one in the league knows how they will stack up against the rest of the league.
From a group of friends running around the woods on Sunday, to playing in the CX4 xball league and now the ATWL, TACSat Paintball has expanded their roster and sharpened their skills but will it be enough to overcome the best in the Maritimes.
For the first time ever the ATWL’s site, Facebook and Twitter were updated live from the field. Significant field developments were updated while the games were in progress plus official games scores were added before the next two teams took the field.
"ATWL event one was some of the best woodsball I have seen played in a long time." stated Chris Landry, ATWL Head Referee and Tippinators player, "If players are this good now I can’t wait for the rest of the season."
After a long day of battles and intense paintball action, the teams with previous competitive woodsball experience fared better than teams new to the league.
"You could see the experienced teams moving more confidently around the field." Johnston commented on the play during event 1. "There is a steep learning curve in competitive woodsball. I am sure by the playoffs and championship all teams will be running at full speed."
