It is a common misconception XSV was formed to compete against Dynasty.

It was not.

XSV was formed to keep the good times rolling.

In 2002 I co-captained the Ironmen, playing the finals of every event, winning Chicago, and Amsterdam en route to a 2002 overall co-championship. We played, reffed and traveled all over the world, making amazing friends and experiencing outrageous adventures along the way. It was, by all metrics, an amazing year.

For 2003 10-man was disbanded, and most of the existing pro teams’ sponsors opted them into the NXL. It was not the same. Hopeful of a TV deal for the league, players were locked into the 5 NXL events, regular season games were played over the year, with a single elimination tournament at World Cup. We were prevented from playing both the NPPL 7 man series, and the European Millennium Series.

By the end of the season I had had enough of both the restrictive rules and the sponsors who enforced them. I wanted to play more paintball, and have more adventures. So I left the Ironmen, to build a team that could get me back to what I loved about Paintball.

My off season was spent forming XSV, and it proved to be extremely challenging. It was full of sleepless nights and stressful days, anxiety and self doubt abound. Uncounted calls and meetings were spent explaining my vision for the team to both players and sponsors, and then to promising sponsorship to players, and players to sponsors. Getting both sides to commit happened in small painstaking steps.

Then we needed a jersey that would personify us.

When designing this jersey I wanted to highlight our home state of California, represented by the California State flag’s bear. The gold fade proudly identifies our origins in Northern California, where gold was discovered, spurring a thriving region. The nautical stars illustrated the team’s future rested upon the success or failures we would find traveling and playing events. The pirate ship was a visual protest, I intended to call the team Mutiny, after our revolt and reorganization. The treasure troll was meant to be a playful symbol, a reminder to not always take things seriously.

The times therein were amazing and challenging, glorious and terrible, with unimaginable and unexpected stress, and I wouldn’t change a thing.

I humbly offer you this 2004 XSV throw-back jersey, a production limited to 100 jerseys. Let it serve to remind of an iconic bygone era, and a sincere hope the sport transcends life for you like it does for me.

As an added bonus, Once the 100 are sold, decided randomly, one throwback jersey will include an original 2004 XSV jersey of mine, and one will include a 2004 original XSV JT Pro-flex signed by some of the members of the team.

-Micah McGlocklin