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pbReview.com / Predator Paintball Park / Predator Paintball Park / Predator Paintball Park / Predator Paintball Park
Predator Paintball Park
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Reviews: |
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Website: |
Click here to visit the field's website. |
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Email: |
Click here to email the field. |
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Phone: |
N/A |
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Address: |
20590 Bandera Rd.
San Antonio / Helotes, Texas 78023
USA
Map - Directions - Weather |
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Distance: |
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Period of
Field Use: |
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| Date There: |
June 7th, 2008 |
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Paintball
Experience: |
More than 5 years |
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Other Fields
in the Area: |
Paintball Knights - Predator is a better rec-ball field, Knights is better for tourney level.
Lackland AFB - Predator is better, but more expensive. |
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Directions
to the Field: |
Use the website....they do need to post a sign about 500 yds before the turn. I went with friends who had never been there either and they too drove by the entrance and had to turn around. |
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| Review: |
Safety: Very good....I did not see any instances of masks or barrel bags off and they almost always had somebody stationed near the entrance to ensure barrel bags were on before leaving the field. Only minor issue that I saw was the chrono - they briefed 280 fps, but as long as you were under 300FPS, they let it go. The ref at the chrono was consistent and did not play favorites. Kudos for ensuring everyone chrono'd throughout the day.
Fields: variety of fields, but WAY too many players per field. 25 v 25 on a 7 man field??? They had plenty of ref's available to run multiple games/multiple fields...not sure why they didn't....could turn games faster, sell more paint!
Prices: Field fee is about average, rental cost was high for the quality of the gear. Rental gear was in poor shape, one person in our group couldn't get above 233 fps and the velocity adjustment screw wasn't even in the gun. Paint prices are high, but if you have your own equipment, can bring yor own paint. I saved about $15 by not using their paint. Air fills are only to 3000 psi, though they have higher capability and the air line can get quite long.
Staff: Very friendly. Older gentleman running around (assume the owner) asking how things are going, and very engaged in the operation....kudos again...a rare thing today! One of the younger referees was a bit annoying, but overall, the referees were capable.
Skill Level: Large range of players present and the ref's did a good job of dividing up the teams trying to keep it fair. Thankfully, didn't see any newbie bashing going on.
Facilities: Lots of tables, very few with overhead protection. Lots of trees so, some protection from the sun while staging. Could use a second chrono for when doing mass checks....really slowed the day down with lots of standing around waiting. There was a bathroom, but didn't use it...so not sure on cleanliness, etc. Parking is limited.
Games: pretty much just simple elimination. Not a big problem with that...but the fields wouldn't allow much else. As stated earlier, too many players per team for the field size. Big games are fun once in while, but every game is too much
Overall: Bottom line, I had fun....was only over shot once. I will be coming back again. |
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Period of
Field Use: |
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| Last There: |
May 4th, 2008 |
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Paintball
Experience: |
3 months |
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Other Fields
in the Area: |
ive only played here |
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Directions
to the Field: |
dunno |
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| Review: |
Safety:it is extrmly safe here I tipped up my mask to adjust and I had to sit out. Refs were always on patrol. Refs were very nice and helpful price: fair if u got ur own gear but a little expensive if u rent. Fields:very nice and big idont no about the speedball field though I like to play woodsball. Food:very decently priced $1 for drinks. Rental equipment:tippmann pro/carbines n 98 customs facility: its outside but lots of shade and maintence. Players:very nice and great for first timers cuz everytime ive been there there's lots of kids. Proshop:there Is none but the people who own the park own a proshop near bandera and guilbeau hours:sat and sun 10-5. |
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Period of
Field Use: |
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| Date There: |
February 16th, 2008 |
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Paintball
Experience: |
3 years |
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Directions
to the Field: |
Best directions I can give is to get the address off of the website and use mapquest. I had a friend of mine guide me there and he was a little iffy on the location. |
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| Review: |
I played there yesterday and overall I would rate the experience at a 7 or 8 out of 10. There were five of us that went, myself, my buddy and his wife all had our own equipmet and have played paintball for many years. We walked away from the field with a smile on our face and talked about coming back to this field again.
Safety (Solid 10/10) This is the most important factor of the game and it was well enforced at the field. All the refs constantly checked barrell socks and face masks and enforced the rules like any professional field should. Even the little things like filling up air was done to a standard anyone should expect.
Price (7/10) The prices were reasonable. The paint was $60 and in good quality, no harsh flat spots or warped balls. Field fee is $20 and covered air. We did not get any food there so that is not incorperated into the rating. The two rentals we used were $24 but when you got there she gave us a discount which brought the price to $20.
Equipment (6/10) There is room for improvement in this area. First let me state that this the low rating should not worry you. You still get a semi-auto marker and a mask. My reccomendation would be to bring your own anti-fog if you play on a colder day. The mask lenses were a little scratched and the guns had some minor technical problems. To remedy this the staff quickly changed out faulty equipment for functional gear.
Players (Not Rated) This was my first time on the field. I do not know if the players that day were regulars or not. Most of them knew some refs by name and seemed to know some of the staff. They were high school kids and got a little rowdy. Nothing too major and nothing that caused a serious problem. There were two private parties there and they had their own refs. There did not seem to be a strong team or league presence. It was terrible weather that day, so that may have been a factor.
Refs (8/10) The refs were pretty good for being teenagers. I am extremly wary of teenagers being refs. I find that most lack maturity. The field refs surprised me though. They were professional (although they complained alot about the cold, but its texas, not exactly a cold weather state) and safe. We had a problem one match about some people overshooting a player, after we stepped in and they kept at it we told a ref. The problem was taken care of and that was it.
Field (7/10) This is not like DFW Adventure or Paintball Jungle style places. This is a smaller field but is set up pretty well. We played on all of their fields and enjoyed ourselves. There was a small CTF field and a couple of hyperball fields. The games were made short by lack of players and small boundries. I enjoyed it this first time, but I expect diminshed returns on the field if I keep playing there. I hope they change the field setup from time to time.
Overall, this is not the type of field where speed ball and pro ballers should come to get some tourney practice in. This is the type of field where rec ballers or players who just want to burn a day playing some harmless paintball. To maximize your fun I strongle reccomend bringing at least 5 people with you.
If there are any questions about this review please feel free to email me. |
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Period of
Field Use: |
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| Date There: |
January 4th, 2008 |
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Paintball
Experience: |
More than 5 years |
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Other Fields
in the Area: |
Paintball Knights |
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Directions
to the Field: |
Take the 1604 Loop West towards Sea World and Fiesta Texas. Exit Bandera and go North on Bandera about 10 Miles, it will be on your Right. |
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| Review: |
I am new to the San Antonio area and was surprised to find such a contrast between fields. First off, I am not a "Tourney" player and would consider myself to be a pretty good "Rec" player. I have been playing for about 5 years and have taken my son to many fields across America as we have moved several times in the past 5 years.
I guess you need to ask yourself what kind of paintball experience you are looking for before you go to any of the fields here in San Antonio. My son and I can play in both the competitive and rec type environments but if you are going out just to have a little fun and are taking kids out with little or no experience and are looking for a "family type" environment, I would HIGHLY recommend Predator Paintball. While I was there, I noticed there were several birthday party groups. These groups of young kids were having a great time and were being introduced to a great sport. Each party was assigned their own ref. The ref then worked with the kids showing them how to safely use the equipment. I spoke to the owner (forgot his name) and found out that they recently purchased Predator back in October of 2007. Unlike Paintball Knights, I found the owner(s) to be very nice and accommodating. The refs were nice, respectful, and were VERY patient with the younger players which is very important if you plan on taking younger, less experienced players and you want to introduce them the this great game. I will talk safety in a minute, but first the fields. The fields at Predator are a little smaller than Paintball Knights and the field paint is a little more experienced, but again you need to ask yourself what type of paintballing you are looking for. These fields are great for beginners of all ages and appeared to also work well for the more experienced players. As for safety, they crono a little low for me, but again, as a parent and especially if you are introducing younger, newer players to this exciting game I can understand and appreciate this. The new owners of Predator Paintball also understands that while safety is VERY important, less experienced players and children will make mistakes and every once in a while these types of players will forget to put their barrel socks on. To help enforce safety refs are placed at every exit and are NICELY reminding these less experienced players to put on the barrel socks as they leave the playing field. If players forget the barrel sock or remove it in the staging area, they are quickly given a warning and reminded in a friendly and respectful way of the safety rules. That is not the case at Paintball Knights. The owner of Paintball Knights is much more strict and regardless of who you are or how much experience you have you will be kicked out and asked to leave the property and will NOT be refunded your money. I will talk more about Paintball Knights later, but the bottom line, if you are looking for a good first time experience in a relaxed friendly atmosphere, I would HIGHLY recommend Predator Paintball.
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Period of
Field Use: |
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| Date There: |
September 22nd, 2007 |
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Paintball
Experience: |
4 years |
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Other Fields
in the Area: |
The Realm in San Marcos, Paintball Knights, Krossfire, Kamakazee (N.E. Austin) |
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Directions
to the Field: |
Somewhere out there. |
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| Review: |
I was not impressed with Predator Paintball. Expensive rates, expensive merchandice, picky staff/refs. I would rather go up to San Marcos to play.
I think for someone to have their own gear and have to spend $80 to play is crazy. $60 at most.
The staff there catored to the team members more than to the newbies (it was a Saturday, not team Sunday).
Not impressed. |
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Period of
Field Use: |
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| Last There: |
March 8th, 2007 |
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Paintball
Experience: |
2 years |
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Other Fields
in the Area: |
KNIGHTS- lots of tourny players, good for gettin better, matches up to pred
KROSSFIRE- not really as good, i like thei 4500 air fills and such, but its WAY to far from my house |
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Directions
to the Field: |
uuhh 30 mins from my house? |
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| Review: |
SAFETY- pretty good, good amount of refs
FIELDS- PLUS PLUS PLUS, great variety, HOWEVER only a LIL airball
PRICES- a LIL higher than other fields, but w/e and it only sucks if u hav a rental gat
RULES-veryy nicee
PROSHOP-not so much, only a lil stuff but w/e
REFS-SICKKK REFS, ther all pretty sweeeeeet
FOOD- NICE NICEEE lots of food, good prices |
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Period of
Field Use: |
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| Last There: |
October 26th, 2007 |
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Paintball
Experience: |
1 year |
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Other Fields
in the Area: |
None, I only go to this field. |
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Directions
to the Field: |
Near Helotes (im not good with directions) |
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| Review: |
This Field is awesome.
Refs and Staff: The refs and staff at predator are excellent. There are about 10-20 refs (hard to count since some are refing parties and others are doing air fills). At most public games, there are 5-10 refs which makes cheating hard. If your hit, they'll tell the other player to stop firing and let you out so you don't get overshot. The refs are really strict on saftey. 2 warnings and then your out. There is also a 20ft surrender rule which prevents point blank shots. In most private games, a single referee will ref them. The staff are very freindly and helpful.
Facility: The facility includes a wooden main building, a port-a-porty, a shaded party pavilion, a staging area, and a chrono area. The main building is where you go to get your admission. It is at the front of the park near the parking lot, and is wooden. At the front, there is an office where you sign in and ask for paint. Along the side facing the CTF field, there is a HPA and CO2 air fill station, a place to get rental eqiupmenat, a snack bar, and some water and paper towls. The snack bar has corn dogs, hot dogs, pizza, chips, hot pockets (i think), soda and gatorade, and gum. The prices are pretty cheap and the food is good. The water and towls are free. The port-a-poties are OK. There somewhat clean, but I still recommend that you go to the bathroom at ur home. They are located up the hill/road to the left (from coming in). The party pavilion is a shaded area right next to the CTF field. It has a roof for shade and tables (and maybe concrete floor but Im not sure). The public staging area is shaded by a few trees with a few trash cans. There is also water and paper towls here. There are picnic tables to prepare at. Next is the chrono area. It is the entrence to the Triangles and Hyperball (and car wash/Battle Creek). There is always at least ONE ref there. There is a chrono and you just shoot at a wall (obviolsy shot at thousands of times already). Its hours are from 10 AM-5 PM on Sat. and Sun.
Fields: Predator has a total of 6 fields, one Hyperball, Triangles, Battle Creek Woods, Car Wash, Air ball, and CTF Woods. Hyperball is a speedball field. It has blue, hollow plastic bunkers. It has a large structure in the middle (equivalnt of the "X" in the center of a X ball field). It has one snake and multiple bunkers and is a great field. Triangles is just like Hyperball, but there are no snakes and all the bunkers are in the shape of triangles (angles i guess). Its a pretty good field, but the since it does not have any snakes, moving to the other side of the filed is much harder. Sometimes, there will be a Predator Massacre game. Both Hyperball and Traingles are used. One team starts on Hyperball and another on Traingles and then they must eliminate the other team. A simliar game is Predator Soccar in which the only difference is that you have infinete lives (Regeneration) and a giant ball must get to the opposite side by being shot, kicked, etc. Another field the the Car Wash field. It is a mini hyperball field for games of 5v5 or less on the edge of Battle Creek. There are two snakes and a car wash thing in the center. It is an awesome field for small matches.
Battle Creek is a woods field. Its a medium sized wooded field. Most of the times, you'll play a Battle Creek/ Car Wash combo in which you play on Battle Creek and the side next to car wash gets it. There is not alot of thick bushes and trees are scattered or in clumps. At each "base" is a small stone wall to protect the defenders from attackers, and a bell. There are a variety of wooden bunkers and wooden walls and hollow giant-can like containers to use as cover. The next woods field is CTF Woods. Altoogh the name says CTF (Capture the Flag), it can also be used as Vampires (one team can only be killed by head shots and any that they get out go to thier team), Attack the Fort, and more. It is like Battle Creek, but there is more bushes and trees to hide behind. Also, there are heavily wooded areas where paintballs can't break thorugh. One side is a base made out of tires being used as bunkers, and the other is a one story, open (no doors or roof) fort surrounded by blue can-like conatiners. There are two ways to the opposite side, a road with only a few bunkers for cover where a lot of action happens, and a heavily wooded hill side. Both generaly have alot of action, however on the hill side, much of it is longballing the other guys unti lone side gives and/or the other team charges.
Airball is OK. It is a small field above the CTF field. It is just bacically for 5v5. The last time I played on that field (Jan. 2008), the bunkers were not filled up alot/kept leaking air. This meant that the bunkers would be slightly, or in some cases heavily deflated. HOWEVER, they may have fixed it. Mostly the tourney players go up there. I don't recomemnd it for woodsballers/rec ballers/ or newbs.
Prices: Predator is more pricy than other fields. It is a $20 entry fee IF you have your OWN gear and paint. Paint is $20 for 500 balls and up to $60 a case of 2000 balls. Rental equipment+500 paintballs is just $40, which is pretty good since most rental users will not shoot over 500 paintballs. They have Tippman Pro Carbines and Custom 98s as rental guns. The masks fog up alot. They have masks, barrel socks/condomns, camo (last time I checked), and other stuff for rent. You can also buy 9 volt batteries and barrel socks, and possibly more although I am not sure.
Overall, Predator is a very good park. While it does not have a lot of fields and is pricy, it does have a great staff, and the fields are good in quality (save airball last time I played it). I do recommend this field highly. 9/10
| Last edited on Thursday, April 17th, 2008 at 4:15 pm PST |
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| The accuracy of this review is disputed. Please see discussion on the comments page. |
Period of
Field Use: |
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| Date There: |
November 23rd, 2005 |
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Paintball
Experience: |
More than 5 years |
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Other Fields
in the Area: |
Knights
The Realm |
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| Review: |
ok here it goes i have been to predator 3 times,2 times i actually played,one time i went it started raining and storming so i never paid to go play,i have played paintball for over 6 years,and this is the worst field i have been to,but the point is,that every time i have been the owner,the crazy biotch(the older middle-aged women at the sign-up counter) up in the front is always a biotch she always yells at you like you some kind of animal,i felt like punching her in the face,no joke, she is really mean to everybody,the field are pretty cool,except they play games like 75 vs. 75,its rediculous,hmm have they every thought about splitting up the people on different fields,the only cool part about predator is the man that works the consession stand,but deffinately i have found The Realm in San Marcus is the best field ever,im being serious,go find out where it is and go there,well worth the drive trust me!| Last edited on Sunday, July 23rd, 2006 at 5:53 pm PST |
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| The accuracy of this review is disputed. Please see discussion on the comments page. |
Period of
Field Use: |
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| Last There: |
June 22nd, 2006 |
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Paintball
Experience: |
3 years |
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Other Fields
in the Area: |
none |
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| Review: |
Fields: In my opinion some of the best i have ever played on. Airball is awesome when they have it inflated and the hyperball and carwash fields are no slouch.
Safety: Plenty of refs, easily distinguishable from the players as they are wearing bright yellow shirts that say ref on them.They make sure players keep barrel socks on masks on etc.
Pricing: Entry is a little steep at now 20 dollars but it does cover all day air and the snacks are extremely decently priced as well.
Staff: Ladies at the front are usually pretty nice, sometimes one of the ladies is a tad bit mean, depends what day you go i suppose.
Refs: They make sure safety is most important thing there, sometimes with the team selection they dont always make it fair (ex. tournament players heavily stacked on one team, rec ballers on the other)
Overall a great field to play at and i will continue to go there. |
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| The accuracy of this review is disputed. Please see discussion on the comments page. |
Period of
Field Use: |
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| Date There: |
June 24th, 2006 |
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Paintball
Experience: |
3 months |
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Other Fields
in the Area: |
Krossfire: Great proshop/employees, better (older, friendier) refs; fields: more variety, but about the same quality. |
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Directions
to the Field: |
1604 to Bandera (TX 16) North, it's on your right, be sure to look for the yellow signs, I missed it the first time, but there's a turnaround not too far up. |
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| Review: |
First field I've played at in over 5 years, and it was a great day of paintball!
First thing, the owner was very nice. She greeted me immediately, asked me about my pb background, talked about school, pb safety, and pretty much acted as though I were a usual. Field fees are more expensive than other fields in San Antonio (based on the prices their respective websites quote), but it truly isn't that bad. They gave me the usual safety orientation, and then I was set to play.
There was rarely a line for air fills, and never one at the snack bar. The food was priced fairly. They had the standard concession stand selection: hot dogs, hot pockets, chips, ice cream, etc.
Fields were all very well-designed and built. I didn't get a chance to play the airball fields, but I enjoyed every other field. They were well-designed, and the games which combined two fields (carwash/battle creek and tires/woods) were pretty cool.
Refs were...refs. They did their job exactly as they should have, enforcing the barrel sock and goggle rules at all times, which made me feel much safer. Players were pretty good about making other people put their barrel socks back on before leaving the field too.
I liked that they had maybe 5-6 refs per game, it helped to prevent wiping and any other sort of cheating. Some other fields I have played at in the past ran 1 ref per game, which allows people the opportunity to wipe, which isn't cool at all.
The teams were usually split up pretty fairly, with an equal number of "tourney" players and walk-ons on both sides. There were some incidents which involved cursing by these "tourney" players, but the refs took care of them pretty quickly.
Make sure you keep your mask on, a friend of mine tipped his up a little to adjust it, and was made to sit out for 30 minutes....
The players' areas were nice, they had the covered area with picnic tables, and some other tables and benches around the fields and parking area with plenty of shade. I liked that we could park right next to these areas, it gave me easier access to my gear, which I feel safer locking in the car. Better safe than sorry I guess.
I got there about 10 am Saturday, and didn't leave until after the last game. Needless to say, I had a great time, and will definitely return at least twice a month, until I have to go back to school.| Last edited on Thursday, August 10th, 2006 at 4:39 pm PST |
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