Our second tournament was another story. We managed to come in dead last out of six teams. Kendall and Tim tried switching positions, but switched back after that failed to make any appreciable difference. For whatever reasons, we just couldn't pull it together. During the post tournament discussion, we realized that we had not played with our usual fast paced, aggressive, highly mobile style. It hurt us, as the field was small and fast paced. Lesson learned. We do not intend to be intimidated by a small field again, and we will make sure we stick to what works. MOVEMENT!!!

The 2001 Mardi Gras Open was our first major tournament. We didn't win the event, so of course we didn't do as well as we would have liked to, but given the circumstances, I am pleased with the outcome. We did not have a full complement of five regular players on our roster yet, so we filled out our original 3-man team with some additional players so we could make the event. Without the benefit of any prior playing time with these guys, we still managed to hold our own against many older and more experienced teams. Out of the sixty-five teams in our division, I believe we came in at fifty-something . We did win the two games we played against factory teams (one of which made the semifinals), although we failed to get our full points due to poor communication (this is where the lack of practice with the "borrowed" guys became most evident, not that it was their fault, it's just that we weren't all on the same page). We lost two games that by all rights we should have won, but once again poor communication was our downfall. Those were fairly bitter defeats, as we left the field feeling as though we had given the games away. As for the other four games we played, although we lost, we made the teams work for their wins, and although we were outplayed, I still felt that we played well. Overall, we learned a lot from the experience, and now we know where to direct our energy during practices. Next year I have no doubt that we will be able to come out of it much higher in the standings.

We competed in the first of a three tournament series at Bayou Dragon paintball, on April 22, 2001. This was our first tournament with our newest player, Marcos Lara. It was a three man event, so the roster for the day consisted of Marcos, Tim, and Alan. We came in 6th, out of 9 teams. The competition was good, and it was anybody's event, right down to the last games of the day. Unfortunately for us, we had two bad games, during which we were joined on the field by Murphy, insuring that anything that could go wrong, would go wrong. Those two games are the only thing that kept us out of contention for one of the top spots, and we are feeling very confident as we look forward to the next event in the series.

Our second tournament in the Bayou Dragon Series was on May 20, 2001. We played well, and the team's communication is improving every game. We ended up missing finals by only two eliminations. We lost our first game, maxed the rest of our games, until our last two of the day. The last two games were against the first and second place teams in our bracket, and unfortunately, we couldn't take either of those two games, either one of which would have secured us a spot in the finals. We hope to keep our momentum rolling, right through the next tournament, on June 3, 2001.

We continued on with the Bayou Dragon Series, on June 3, 2001. It was a round robin format, and we once again missed placing by only a few points. We played several excellent games, in which communication and movement were as good as one could ask. Unfortunately, we still aren't playing as consistently as we should, and we let a couple games get away from us, that we really should not have. We made the mistake of allowing a couple of teams that we beat easily at previous events, take us by surprise. It is something that we should know better than to do, but let it be a lesson to all, never take ANY team for granted.

On July 15, 2001, We reffed the fourth tournament in the Bayou Dragon Series. As we were the only team reffing, we were somewhat shorthanded, but we managed to survive through 56 preliminary games, and 15 finals. We got to claim first place points for our efforts, which means that with one tournament left in the series, we still have a chance to place overall.

The final event in the Bayou Dragon 3-man series was held on August 12, 2001. We entered two three man squads, Fire and Ice in the event. The fields were extremely wet and muddy, with up to 8 inches of standing water in some spots (I guess that's what we get for living in a place that's below sea level). It made it hard for us, as it was extremely difficult to move quickly, as is our style of play. Neither squad did very well, however the Fire Squad did beat the Ice Squad in their game against each other, as well as beating them in overall points for the day.

We made our Amateur Division debut at the 2002 Mardi Gras Open. Once again we found ourselves playing with "borrowed" players, and we did less than spectacularly. We have begun to use the Mardi Gras Open as our indicator of where we are, and what we need to do to get to the point that we want to be. As a result, we are all buckling down for a year of hard work in order to get ready for next years event.