WCPL Team Profile - Lockout
Before bringing you Matthew Piotrowski's words about his team (and fine words they are), I'd like to share a little bit of paintball history, because Lockout has a part in it.
Here's the NPSRS's monthly team rankings from Paintcheck magazine's
July 1992 issue. No typo - nineteen ninety-two. 30 years and a few months ago. The National Paintball Statistics and Ranking Society preceded the WPF and was an organization helmed by me (Steve Davidson) that used a sophisticated algorithm and event data to rank the performance of paintball teams. It ran in virtually every publication of that era, the only regular feature to do so. And there's
Lockout, sitting at 10th place among the permanently ranked teams. Talk about staying power!
Matthew Piotrowski: "LOCKOUT is a historic 10-man paintball franchise that began in 1990 in Rochester, NY.
After 8 years of playing their way through the amateur and semi-pro divisions, LOCKOUT earned its first professional bid in 1999 with the top league in the world, the NPPL (National Professional Paintball League).
LOCKOUT went on to shock the paintball world by winning its first two professional tournaments during their inaugural pro season in 2000, in which they dominated the league with their unique, fast paced playing style. LOCKOUT would continue to compete and win tournaments up until 2003, when the team was disbanded and ceased operations.
In 2013 the franchise was reborn by some of the former original pro players of LOCKOUT. Once again LOCKOUT had to cut its teeth in the amateur paintball scene to grow in standing within the 10-man scene. LOCKOUT remains active on the national paintball scene, playing many tournaments and leagues around the country."
Lockout is sponsored and supported by -
GRC Paintball
Akava
Formsy
Draco Leopard
Lockout, as you can see in the image above, played a fair number of events back in the day. Their modern era is no exception, with the team now concentrating on 10 Player Competition in the WCPL and the ICPL.
When asked about the highlights of the team's career - "With a long history to pull from it would be difficult to pick the most appropriate selections for this, but in the interests of acknowledging our heritage as well as respect for our current roster, two highlights come to mind.
- Back in 99/00 when Lockout secured its first pro bid in the NPPL after grinding in the Amateur division for many years, we entered our first year of professional paintball – winning back to back events (LA & Dallas) to start the season –
- More recently, a large step forward for this organization, Lockout USA finished the inaugural WCPL season last year, finishing 3rd overall in the league for the year."
The team maintains squads in both the US and Canada. Their home field for both is GRC Paintball in Angelica, NY – who's owner is Rob Cole, who, as well as the owner of the Lockout organization is a former pro Lockout player/captain.
Like most everything associated with Lockout, a mere listing is insufficient. When it comes to their roster, Matthew had this to say:
"We have a 60+ player roster spanning 5 states and 2 countries.
Lockout USA is structured with two roster levels within the group – the National Roster and the Family Roster. National players compete at the national level across the country while Family players represent the team locally in NY and act as the feeder team of new or young talent to the National squad.
In addition, the “Family” roster also includes several OG Lockout players who played with the team during it’s pro NPPL days as well as some key guest players.
Lockout Canada is structured a bit differently where all members of that squad play both locally and nationally
The national squad members for Lockout USA:
Matty Piotrowski (Captain)
Curk McMichael (Head Coach)
Jake Grassmick
Jesse Koch
Michael Lehman
Cubby VanName
Sarene VanName
Kajon Moore
Parker Phillips
Levi Strope
Tim Blarr
Derrek Phelps
Brent Pizzo
Seth Hooppell
Brian Samick
Alex Brennan
Adam Brennan
Nathan O'Dell
Taylor Parmeter
Erik Pedersen
Adrian Bylewski
Jon Williams
The national squad members for Lockout Canada
Jay Hyland (Captain)
Brock Benevento
Kostas Viastikopoulos
Lucas Brooks-Parker
Roni Mercer
Frankie Tamburini
Matt Maloney
Cody Vela
Cole Heaney
Caleb McConnell
Campbell Moffatt
Ian Moffatt
Daniel Weber
Eric Elver
Shoutouts: "Of course shoutout to all our sponsors and supporters this year – we cannot do this without your help and we are grateful for everything you provide us to compete at this level.
Shout out to Rob Cole, our owner – we do it all for you - appreciate your love and support throughout the years!
The biggest of shoutouts to our amazing Lockout Staff, who have made us the envy of many a tournament. Those who have seen us, we travel with an entourage of staff members (wives, girlfriends, relatives, young up & comers) to national events, which allow our players to focus on nothing but playing the game. In a sport that is traditionally as scatter brained as humanly possible, this group keeps us operating like a well-oiled machine. Paint, pods, cleanup between points, schedule minding, score keeping, hydration, public relations, team dinners, accommodations, etc etc etc. We want for NOTHING because of our incredible support staff – all our love to you for making the players jobs on and off the field that much easier – the true unsung heroes of Lockout. Some people we want to thank include (not limited to):
Kate “Mama Bear” Wilson
Mackenzie Blarr
Ron “Pops” Strope
Mallory Strope
Shawn “Spazz” Murry
Collen O’Dell
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The WCPL will be featuring all of the teams that attend its events with a series of posts following each of its events. Come back soon for more!
The WCPL is committed to competitive, classic paintball tournaments.