thedus
12-22-2003, 10:43 AM
I just got out of a conversation with a co-worker... It's pretty slow at work right now - being just before the holidays, and all. She was really afraid to let her 16 year old son play paintball. Her son is legally blind in one eye, and she was afraid he'd loose his other while playing paintball. She had heard all of these horror stories about paintball, and the fact that the kid across the street from her lost an eye playing outlaw ball in somebody's back yard didn't help (evidently he was shot while not wearing a mask).
The conversation must have lasted about 45 minutes and I basically just filled her in on how safe the sport can be if it's played safely, especially when played on legitimate PB fields. I referred her to two of the fields I've played on in the area, and let her no that the refs that work there are very good, and very safety conscious. I also referred her to a local pro shop that I like. She started asking about equipment, because her husband wanted to go out and buy some for their son. So I explained, at length, the tolerances of goggle systems, how the work, how well they protect the eyes, temples, and ears, and which masks are considered to be the best choices. I also told her that the mask should really be the first thing they look for anyway, regardless of their son's vision. She was worried about him getting shot with his mask off, so I told her about when and where people are allowed to take off their masks, and how the refs at the fields I've played on really enforce these rules... we barely touched on buying a marker - which I was rather surprised about, since that is usually one of the first things that comes up.
Anyway, long story short: after discussing safety, masks, safety, velocity, refs, safety, paint and legitimate PB fields she was taking down numbers and hours for fields, names of masks, the number for the pro shop, and she smiled and actually said: "I'm really getting excited about this."
It felt really good to have such a positive influence on someone who had such reservations abut the sport. :D
The conversation must have lasted about 45 minutes and I basically just filled her in on how safe the sport can be if it's played safely, especially when played on legitimate PB fields. I referred her to two of the fields I've played on in the area, and let her no that the refs that work there are very good, and very safety conscious. I also referred her to a local pro shop that I like. She started asking about equipment, because her husband wanted to go out and buy some for their son. So I explained, at length, the tolerances of goggle systems, how the work, how well they protect the eyes, temples, and ears, and which masks are considered to be the best choices. I also told her that the mask should really be the first thing they look for anyway, regardless of their son's vision. She was worried about him getting shot with his mask off, so I told her about when and where people are allowed to take off their masks, and how the refs at the fields I've played on really enforce these rules... we barely touched on buying a marker - which I was rather surprised about, since that is usually one of the first things that comes up.
Anyway, long story short: after discussing safety, masks, safety, velocity, refs, safety, paint and legitimate PB fields she was taking down numbers and hours for fields, names of masks, the number for the pro shop, and she smiled and actually said: "I'm really getting excited about this."
It felt really good to have such a positive influence on someone who had such reservations abut the sport. :D