Montaperto 1 Nick Montaperto Prof.

Arnold Eng 1101 W/F 17 November, 2013 Paintball: On and Off the Field Paintball is a relatively new sport that is starting to gain significant attention in the sports world. Developed in the 1970s, paintball has grown from agricultural use to worldwide tournaments both collegiately and professionally. I chose to research paintballers because I started playing paintball 5 years ago and am currently on the UNC Charlotte club team. I believe people have a misconception between our interactions on and off the field: on the field paintballers are competitive and sometimes ruthless, however, off the field there is a brotherhood between players of all skill levels. I have been on football, track, tennis, soccer, and basketball teams and generally teams, and especially rivals, hate each other. However, the competitiveness and hatred between traditional teams is nothing compared to the shear hatred of the other paintball team. This is because unlike conventional sports teams, an enemy paintballer can make you hurt, a lot. I recently went to a scenario game in Hickory, North Carolina. Here I finally got a chance to take a metaphorical step back from myself to observe paintball players from a researchers perspective. The game (800 vs. 800) started at 8am so many players camped out the night before. I arrived at 7:30 and saw many strangers, even from the other team, sharing campfires and coffee, laughing, smiling, and complaining about how cold it was. The entire parking lot felt like one unified campsite with strangers conversing and admiring each others equipment and outerwear. I heard several questions like, Which gun is that? Is that the MacDev Drone or Clone? and the envious, Can I hold it?

Montaperto 2 However as the day progressed and the game started things seemed to change; the once friendly players became hostile towards the other team while in the game. Slang like lit-up (overfiring), wiping (cheating), and firing hot were thrown around all day long. Even I became increasingly hostile towards the other team as the game progressed (at one point charging an enemy bunker by myself). A strong unity began to form between players in each team. Strangers would ration out the not-so-cheap paintballs to give each other a fighting chance in keeping the bunker or town. Compliments to each others accuracy and kahunas were abundant throughout the day and laughter was shared when an enemy showed pain. One could say common animosity towards the other team bonded us all throughout the day. During a lunch break I observed something strange, such hatred on the field, total and utter hatred, was almost completely vanished around the campfires and at the picnic tables. People would swap stories of their spectacular shots or daring moves from the past hours. I even saw two men that were furious at each other minutes prior laughing and joking with each other waiting in line for their meal. I know I hit you, you damned Russian said one man. Followed by, Hell no you blind old man, you missed by a mile, what can you expect from a Tippman (type of marker). This exchange went back and forth a few more seconds followed by good natured insults and laughing between the two of them and this was not a rare occurrence. This is the brotherhood of paintball; it is very competitive on the field, but very friendly off the field. It is like being part of a brotherhood in a way, or a sisterhood. This paintball fever sets you a part in a good way. (Sapp 8) It is not just regulated to big games like the one I was at either, smaller games are the most intense because there are less people. You know exactly who overshot you in a small game *cough* Dad *cough*.

Montaperto 3 Earlier in the year I was lucky enough to interview Taylen Williams, member of the club Paintball team here at UNCC (who coincidentally was on the enemy team at the big game in Hickory I previously mentioned). In his interview Taylen stated, On the field it can get hostile at times. But as soon as you walk off the field it is a brotherhood pretty much. Once you walk off the field everybody is friends no matter what happened on [the field] and you can always walk up and ask anyone about the sport, equipment, or anything like that. Ninety nine percent of the time people are willing to lend a hand to you. I believe people do not fully understand this concept; it is very different than every sport I have ever participated in (I found out later that Taylen was one of the group of four enemies that wiped my recon squad out, words were said). Paintballers share such a unique bond because there are so few of us compared to other sports and it is more of an acquired taste. A football player may bond with his team, but when he sees another football player from a different town he wouldnt think anything of it. If a paintball player sees another paintball player there will be a conversation 9 out of 10 times. On the way to Hickory I stopped to get breakfast at McDonalds just outside of Charlotte. When I walked into the restaurant I noticed two men waiting in line with full camo clothing who were talking about the big game in Hickory. I immediately walked up to them and discovered they were put on the opposite team as I was and it was their first time going to the event. I spent the next 20 minutes with John and Avery filling them in on information, telling them about the field, and asking about their equipment. Even though paintballers are unified for a common love of the sport, there are several sub-communities of paintballers: The backyard warriors, the casual field player, the woodsballer, and the speedballer. These different groups all have their differences: different guns, different clothes, different tactics, and different lingo. These factors lead to a smaller almost imaginary

Montaperto 4 divide between paintballers, a pseudo-rivalry is formed. I started out as a casual field player, my Dad and I would go to our local field and fight it out with other players throughout the day. We would rent guns and be generally happy with them; however we soon encountered the woodsball and speedball players. Speedball players (fast, agile, fearless) and woodsball players (tactical, hidden, prepared) would chew through the new players. So after a year of being the underdog, I finally evolved into the speedball player, I got the right marker and the right gear. However, it is hard to switch between the different communities. For example, I cannot just go play in a friends yard as I would decimate them with my advanced gear. It is also very hard (in my experience) for a speedball player to play in the woods with woodsball players. Us speedball players usually play on small fields where fast-paced games last a few minutes, so we wear bright flashy clothing. Woodsball players however are used to the games that drag out for hours, they like to be hidden and stay in one spot. So it ends up being the guy in the checkered white and black uniform being shot from all sorts of different places. Lastly, woodsball players have a slightly less, but still difficult, time adjusting to speedball. They are usually too weighed down with gear to be agile and their guns just cannot keep up with the amount of paint a speedball marker can throw out. Another sub-community is known as HK Army. HK or Hostile Kids, used to be a group of guys that would play with each other in Southern Cali. Eventually they became a professional paintball team and gained a notable following. Soon after this they released their own brand of paintball clothing and named the company HK Army. This Army considers itself to be founded on the principles of having fun and looking cool or agg (cooler than cool). This following gained some notable controversy as guys would wear all HK gear and be unsportsman-like and jerks. However in recent years their image has turned around and their paintball clothing

Montaperto 5 company has set the standard for paintball gear. I like to consider myself in the army because I follow their original mission statement: have fun and look awesome. Lastly, paintball players cherish the sports history, paintball is an extremely new sport (originating just 40 years ago) that has exploded in the past years. Paintball has evolved from friends playing in the woods without safety equipment, to big games with thousands of players and national tournaments. The largest tournaments are speedball tournaments, the NCPA (National Collegiate Paintball Association) APL (American Paintball League) Millennium Series (international) the PSP (Paintball Sports Promotion). The UNCC club team unfortunately isnt part of the NCPA yet. Our club team is a small, newer one and we are trying to promote our team. The UNCC team has competed in several smaller tournaments and have done very well, however we have not done anything this year so far. In conclusion, the sport of paintball is set up to progress in the coming years. A rapidly growing international player base as well as a tight bond between players will advance paintball as a global sport. Advancements in guns, paint, and gear will also help with this expansion into the lives of others. I am excited for the sport that is paintball and I cannot wait to represent my school on the field. But I will always cherish the strained, but never broken, brotherhood that is shared by paintballers.

Montaperto 6 Works Cited Sapp, Rick. "Chapter 1." Paintball Digest: The Complete Guide to Games, Gear & Tactics. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 8. Print. Williams, Taylen G. "Paintballl." Interview. n.d.: n. pag. Print.