Editing Traumahead Sportz (section)

== History ==

=== Establishment ===

Traumahead Sportz was established in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1996 by Jeff Gallatin, who had previously worked filming skateboarding competitions and live music.[1]

The company's retrospective filmography identifies ''Hematoma'' and the Knoxville Indoor tournament among its earliest productions in 1996.[3]

It subsequently expanded into professional paintball tournament coverage, producing recordings of major American competitions.

=== Early VHS productions ===

By 1997, Traumahead Sportz was producing commercially distributed VHS recordings of NPPL events.

Its coverage of the 1997 Pittsburgh NPPL tournament included professional ten-player matches, interviews, equipment demonstrations and behind-the-scenes material.[4]

The production featured:

* Tournament footage from professional ten-player competition.
* A tour of the [[Smart Parts]] factory.
* [[Bob Long]] demonstrating the Delta Defiant paintball marker.
* Interviews with professional players and industry representatives.
* Coverage of the tournament's closing ceremonies.

The video was distributed in both NTSC and PAL formats, allowing it to be sold in North America and international markets.[4]

The company's early productions also included footage from the 1997 [[Paintball World Cup]], tournaments at Badlandz and the ZAP Amateur competition.[3]

=== WARPIG and PigTV ===

Traumahead Sportz was an early contributor to [[WARPIG]]'s online video service, [[PigTV]].

In 1997, PigTV distributed excerpts from Traumahead's Pittsburgh tournament recording, including match footage, equipment demonstrations and interviews.

The material was made available using RealPlayer, one of the principal internet video formats of the period.[4]

WARPIG's coverage of the 1997 Paintball World Cup also included an interview with Jeff Gallatin discussing Traumahead's tournament video productions.[5]

The collaboration provided an early means of distributing Traumahead footage online while the company continued selling complete recordings on VHS.

=== Expansion during the 2000s ===

Traumahead Sportz continued documenting major tournaments throughout the early 2000s.

Its filmography records coverage of NPPL and PSP events in cities including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, Atlantic City, Philadelphia and San Diego.[3]

The company also filmed international competitions, including the 2003 Toulouse seven-player tournament in France and the 2003 Aruba Open.

Its footage documented the transition from traditional ten-player tournament competition to seven-player and X-Ball formats.

The company's catalogue also includes ''Strange Bus Tour'' (2005) and ''Hellweek-XSV'' (2007).[3]