Airsoft Community Interviews: Association of Competitive Airsoft (ACA)

Ohhhhh buddy! Grim here, folks.  We have a great interview for you today! If you've been playing airsoft for any amount of time, or watching airsoft related videos on Youtube, you are no doubt familiar with the Rainbow Ops airsoft team They're the guys with the Army of Two style black and white face masks and airsoft-awesome (airsome?) Youtube channel. What you may not know is that David Karstens (Squ1d, of Rainbow Ops), one of the founding members of the team, is also the suuuuper genius behind the Association of Competitive Airsoft, or ACA. The ACA is unique in the airsoft community in that it has successful brought competitive, objective based game play to the sport of airsoft.

I've been following Rainbow and the ACA for as long as I've been playing airsoft, so naturally I thought getting some more info to you, my lovely little plastic slingers, about the ACA and what it's all about would help get the word out about it even more. With that, I reached out to David and asked if he could give us some more insight into the ACA, it's basic structure, and what it has planned for the future:

SOA: How did the ACA come about?

David: I started playing airsoft in early 2009 and shortly after, I started the RAINBOW airsoft team. After months of playing standard pick up games at local airsoft fields, we wanted to take airsoft to the next level. So naturally, we tried a couple of MilSim events and larger scale games. This turned out not to be our thing. Too many people on the field and slow games proved to never really push our team to work together or challenge us. In early 2011, I started thinking of a smaller team vs. team airsoft league. I had recently met Jon over at Insight Interactive and he was completely supportive and helped us get our first event under way. So, in August of 2011 the ACA had it’s first event and it was awesome.

SOA: For those new to the sport of airsoft, can you give them an overview of the ACA and what it’s all about?

David: Sure. The ACA (Association of Competitive Airsoft) is not your average airsoft game. It is essentially the next level of team vs. team airsoft. Teams that participate in the ACA are held to highers standards and are true ambasadors of the sport. We focus on 5 versus 5 objective based matches. Each game is unlimited respawns with unique objectives to be completed. There are time limits to each game and teams must think on their feet to gain the advantage. We have introduced a class system that regulates the amount of equipment players are able to bring onto the field. This encourages team tactics and really increases the quality of game play. All of this information and more can be found on our website. 

SOA: Have there been any misconceptions about the ACA since it began?

David: Haha, yes... and rightly so because other airsoft leagues have tried to do something similar and have failed. Where they have failed, we excel. There are primarily two main misconceptions about the ACA. The first one being that we are turning airsoft into “Speedsoft” or “Paintsoft”. This just isn’t true. All of our games are 100% objective based. There is no “deathmatch” or “team elimination” style of play which is indicative of Speedball. With the unlimited respawns, teams are forced to work together to not only eliminate the opfor but also secure and maintain objectives. The limited loadouts and strict middle capacity magazine rule also eliminates the idea of “hosing” or “spraying” during these games. We just had our 2012 Demo Day and 100% of the fire fights were played with trigger control and tactics. The second big misconception is that competitive airsoft will always fail because of the honor system. Again, not true at all. The honor system is just another one of the aspects of the game that make it enjoyable and unique to our sport. Players of any sport always have a choice; play fairly, or cheat. Just because it seems easier to cheat in airsoft doesn’t mean that we should never attempt a more competitive atmosphere. With an increased number of referee’s on the field and an extreme zero tolerance rule about cheating, we know the ACA will trump this issue with flying colors.

SOA: How would you advise new teams to prepare for competing in the ACA?

David: Like I said before, this is not your average airsoft game. More than likely, your team has no idea what they’re getting into, haha. These games truly push a team to perform at a higher level than anything else out there. You and your team will have to use micro tactics (individual tactics from right hand/left hand shooting, checking corners, etc.) to macro tactics (team work, moving together, rear security, etc.). You will need to hustle. These games tend to be faster paced and more intense than your average game strictly because with only 5 team members on the field, each member must be holding up their own to contribute to the win. Also, know the objectives and game rules inside and out. Even if your team seems to be getting hit a lot and having to run back to respawn, if you complete the objectives you will take the game. Gear plays an important factor as well, make sure you have everything squared away and battle tested before the actual season starts.

SOA: Is the ACA tiered so that new teams are competing against teams of similar skill level, or are all teams competing regardless of skill level or length of experience?

David: We are still structuring this for the new 2012 season. We will have more information in the upcoming weeks. Just keep checking back to our website for more info!

SOA: Are ACA events strictly for teams of 5, or are there different competitions for different team sizes?

David: Yes. As of right now, ACA games are for teams of 5. You may have more players on your team, but only 5 can play on the field. There are talks of creating new styles of game play during the off-season to accomodate larger team play, but this is just talk as of right now.

SOA: I’ve noticed that the ACA events are spreading across the U.S. What else do you see on the horizon for the ACA?

David: Yes! We we’re very excited to work with SS Airsoft over in Georgia. After they signed up for the 2012 season, we had a large number of field across the United States ask to participate as well. The 2012 ACA season will actually make the ACA the very first and only nationwide airsoft league. Very cool stuff! We look forward to doing more things with fields across the United States and providing that higher level of airsoft our teams deserve. Thanks for giving us this opportunity and good luck with your blog! Hope to see you out at the ACA 2012 Nationals!

Thanks, David for taking the time to speak with me. The airsoft community and our readers greatly appreciate it. I for one am extremely excited to participate in some ACA events in the near future. I've already seen some of the Youtube videos featuring some awesome new mechanics which are going to elevate the sport of airsoft even further!