By Mok_Star, Sniper Productions TPL Advocate

Yes, ranking terms have gotten a bit confusing over the years but here is what it is at this point.  Depending on which series or event you attend, it does change from promoter to promoter but here are the basics.

Tournament Paintball Player Ranking Terminology

Youth:
17 and under.....( and usually are almost never questioned about their class )

Beginner:
never played in a tournament at all, or has only played in one other beginner event in the past two years....

Rookie (D4):
has not played in any division above rookie and has not played in the rookie division for more than two years.

Novice (d3):
has not played in any events above novice in the last two years. or played in a national event at d2 or higher.

Novice (d2):
national, has not played in d1 or above in the last two years.

Semi-pro/amature (d1):
national, has not played pro in the last two years....

Pro:
can only play in this division by invite/drafted/buy in.....this is the highest and what we all strive to get to.....


in a state regional/local....the highest you can achieve is D3, but some promoters, classify d3 as rookie, some as novice....

*** Disclaimer:***
it all really depends on who the event promoter is.

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some local event promoters, have a division called " OPEN", this is where national teams can play in a local event, it is generally excepted that it is D2 and up, though some promoters, will allow rookie teams to play in an open division without it adjusting their ranking status, while others say if you played in an open division you are now novice.....

it gets all confusing because the different promoters have different definitions of the classes....which is why there has been talk ( 15 years now ) of a statewide player database to keep track of the local players/teams classes.....but it has failed due to promoters either not wanting to participate or the ones that do, fail to continue promoting after one season....

it will require participation from both promoters and players to make this work, and thusly clear up all the confusion.

it use to be (circa 1990-1998) pro and amature only, this was until the GTS which started a new division called Novice ( which was beginner ).

Pro, Am, and Novice was the standard until the second year of PACS series, where it introduce the Rookie division. which was what is beginner division now. By 2004 the Rookie division was so pack with teams that at bunkerfest one there was over 75 rookie teams entered and only 10 or so Novice teams.

Rookie has become what Novice was back in the early 2000's, and has caused a new division to be created called beginner. novice is all but dead in Texas. in the last 2 years all but 2 series have completely cancelled the novice division due to lack of teams. and the two series that have continued only did so by combining novice with semi pro and pro, in the "open" divisions.

today, teams are either afraid of moving up in class due to the lack of events to attend, or disband and trade players and form a new team ( thusly, creating a new rookie team). this is another reason for a database system...

Read more about paintball player ranking terms ...