The 2023 season comes to an end
15 December 2023 - By Kelly Gordon
The South African Xball League finished off its debut season this December amidst doubts that this player run league could keep the sport alive. If you haven't been following this year's events, here's what you've missed.
Mark Gerber, of Paintball Place Krugersdorp, began levelling out a piece of land and installed individual fill stations.
Blades & Triggers sent in a brand new bunker set complete with the signature orange baby bricks. They didn't stop there. The referee team was kitted out with custom GI Sportz jerseys and JT Proflex goggles.
Teams from all over Gauteng signed up for both the Amateur and Open divisions. Matthew Van Blerk, of For The Players Media, arranged a live stream to catch all the action as it happened, while Lynette Goody, of LeGoody Photography captured some truly memorable shots throughout.
Some new interest for the league came through via Speedball South Africa's TikTok, resulting in the amateur 3 man division almost doubling in size. We also had the pleasure of hosting an international player, Slava Georgiev, of Germany's Green Monkey Kings, who joined Kings 2 for Event 4.
As discussions online became actions in real life, Troy Nagel, of Dye Paintball SA, created an epic incentive for the outstanding players in each division. MVP nominees were chosen at each event throughout the year and competed in a 1v1 challenge at the Season Championship. The Dye prize package was well worth the hard work of the winners, Dirk Senekal for Amateur division and Byron Raff for Open division. Since this competition was one of the highlights of the Season Championship, The SAXL is considering creating a 1v1 division for the 2024 season.
Congratulations to teams Kingsmen, Legacy and Degenerates for making history as the SAXL's first ever season winners in their respective divisions.
Following the Season Championship, we received an overwhelmingly positive response from the teams and plenty of ideas to bring with us into 2024.
We can't say thank you enough for the incredible support from Blades & Triggers, GI Sportz, Paintball Place Krugersdorp, Dye Paintball SA, For The Players Media, Legoody Photography and each and every participant this year. The future of South African paintball is starting to look bright because of you.
