These Kids Can Ball
These Kids Can Ball is a 2023 American paintball documentary produced by Paintball.Media, documenting youth competition at the 2022 Paintball World Cup in Kissimmee, Florida. The film follows young tournament players through their preparations, travel, interviews and matches at the National Xball League (NXL) event.[1][2]
The documentary was developed by a production team led by John Amodea and was made available for free viewing in March 2023.[2][3]
Content
[edit]These Kids Can Ball documents the youth division introduced at the 2022 NXL World Cup, held from 10 to 13 November 2022 in Kissimmee, Florida.[1][4]
The production follows participating teams before, during and after the tournament, combining competitive footage with material documenting the experiences of young players.
Its coverage includes:
- Pre-tournament practice and preparation.
- Travel to the Paintball World Cup.
- Interviews with youth players.
- Behind-the-scenes tournament activities.
- Matches played during the youth competition.[1]
The film focuses on the development of young competitive paintball players and their experiences participating in a major international tournament.
Paintball.Media's film catalogue identifies 24 youth teams as having participated in the event, while its March 2023 magazine describes the documentary as following 22 teams.[1][2]
Production
[edit]The documentary was organised by John Amodea, editor of Paintball.Media.
On 13 September 2022, Amodea launched a crowdfunding campaign to support the production. The campaign initially anticipated filming 16 youth teams and producing a documentary of approximately two hours.[3]
The production plan included filming tournament matches, conducting player interviews and documenting preparations before the event.
The fundraising campaign sought contributions towards travel expenses for videographers and photographers, accommodation, editing, colour grading, sound engineering, music and narration.
The producers intended to make the completed film available to the public without charge.[3]
The completed project was subsequently promoted as an original Paintball.Media production.[1]
Release and distribution
[edit]These Kids Can Ball was publicly available by March 2023, when Paintball.Media Magazine promoted the completed production in its March edition.
The magazine advertised the documentary as a free release and directed readers to the PaintballFilms.com website.[2]
The film was subsequently distributed through the Paintball.Media film archive and made available on YouTube and Vimeo.[1]
Its exact premiere date has not been independently established.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- Paintball.Media, "These Kids Can Ball", official film description, tournament coverage and online distribution.
- Paintball.Media Magazine, "These Kids Can Ball!", March 2023, p. 12. Contemporary promotion of the completed documentary.
- John Amodea, "Help Fund 2-Hour Documentary: These Kids Can Ball", GoFundMe, 13 September 2022. Original production and funding announcement.
- National Xball League, "2022 NXL U.S. Event Schedule Released!", 7 December 2021. Official World Cup dates and location.