Why Paintball?

That's the question that's been bothering me since I started playing. "Why paintball?" Why not baseball, football, soccer, hockey and other team sports? What made over one million people in North America decide to call themselves paintballers? What is it about paintball that makes it so popular?

I accredit seven things that makes paintball unique over every other sport. All these attributes revolve around the most unique of all sporting equipment -- the paintmarker. Paintball is the only team sport where you can LEGALLY remove an opponent from the game during play. You can try this in other sports, but you will be severely penalized for your troubles. In paintball it is expected, in fact it's encouraged, for you to remove your opponent from the game.

The paintmarker allows you to single-handedly change the entire flow, and perhaps even the outcome, of any game you participate in. There is an inherent element of danger. Not physical danger (medical statistics prove that) but psychological danger. At any time, you can be removed from play by your opponent. This very real threat hangs over your head during every second of the game. Fortunately it is not completely mentally incapacitating, causing players to cower in the woods, shivering helplessly. Players know that as long as you are wearing your goggles, you can't be seriously injured.

The paintmarker, of course, provides this "element of danger". There is equality in paintball. There are no "old timer's leagues". Men and women compete on an equal footing; their experience, not their gender, dictates their performance in the game. The colour of your skin doesn't matter, neither does who you voted for, nor does the God you pray to. Everyone has an equal opportunity to be just as good, or better, than everyone else at this game.

Any advantage you think you have over your opponent (because of your relative or perceived positions in society) is quickly nullified once you get shot by a paintmarker. The complete lack of physical contact. I always found the rules against physical contact a bit superfluous. They only serve to prevent those players who get caught up in the moment and think hand-to hand combat is in order (there's one in every crowd).

The main thing to remember is that, unlike other sports, there is NO SPECIFIC NEED for physical contact. You don't have to push, check, or tackle your opponent to get them out of the way. You simply shoot them, and you shoot them at a relatively safe distance. (I say RELATIVELY safe, because they're probably shooting back at you.) Even so-called "non-contact" sports, such as basketball and baseball, have their fair share of serious injuries and deaths. The lack of physical contact is the greatest contribution to the fact that there are very few injuries resultant from playing paintball.

Once again, the paintmarker negates the need for physical contact. You do not need to be an athlete. It helps to be in relatively good physical shape, but you can work around it. (Like any physical activity, a physician should be consulted, BEFORE engaging in that physical activity.) I have bad knees and they have curtailed where I can perform my duties in the military, but they do not have a great influence on my effectiveness as a player.

In fact, you don't have to move at all. One or two strategically placed players can hold off three to five times their numbers. You don't have to be able to skate, jump or run. You do not have to possess great physical strength. The paintmarker makes up for any physical "disadvantage" society may identify.

You don't have to be experienced to have fun. Experience matters, up to a point. However, many an experienced player has been tagged out by a first-timer. Again, it's the paintmarker that provides this phenomenon. Gadgets. This is an after-market driven industry. I've spoken to a friend who is as much into mountain biking as I am into paintball. We quickly noticed the odd similarities between the two sports.

Both mountain bikers and paintballers have an almost bewildering array of gadgets and technological trinkets available to the biker/player. (It is interesting to note that mountain biking has just as much "weird science" and "technomagical devices" aimed at individual performance improvement as paintball does.) Besides, who in their right minds doesn't like gadgets? With that in mind, what do most of the gadgets attach to? The paintmarker.

"Why paintball?" Because, it is the most unique sport in the world, and it's for ANYONE in the world.

Play hard! Play fast! Play safe!