paintball as a High School Sport?

[pb_fool]

Hey,

Recently at my school we have tried to get paintball as a sport sponosred by our high school. Though we only have 100 kids at our school we have basketball(gb and bb), football, volleyball, track, speech/debate(which I debate on). So we have gotten people to sign petitions and have gone to our adminstrators and they tell us the same thing.

It just isn't safe. Even though we show them statistics they don't believe them. I actually think they are closed minded.

this really ticks me off!

pb

[Platinum4Life]

That sux man, if paintball ever became a high school sport, then that would really help expand our sport. but like you said, there is close minded people out there that are trying to hold our great sport back. But keep fighting and hopefully one day we will get it through their minds.

[ciaran.mooney]

Imagine the expense to the school?

Not every pupil could participate with markers and goggles cost well into the 100's. They wont be able to ask parents for that about of money so that their child can participate because many families wont be able to afford it.

To have the option to play it at school i.e. converting the gym into a indoor practice area would be better. Using sawdust to get rid of paintballs and cleaning the walls after use. But thats about all your gonna get.

[pb_fool]

Hey,

first our off it would not be that expensive many schools in Montana make kids pay for their jerseys/equipment for basketball/football. So you would have to have your own marker/mask/plug.

No need to practice indoors, we would wait till it warms up and play on a field we could set up on the inside of the old track field.

Plus my friends and I have enough backups/extra masks/markers that we could provide a few players with some props to get started.

Next think of the sponorship the first high school to have paintball would get? You could at least get your paint sponsored!

pb

[ciaran.mooney]

Jerseys and footballs only cost about 40quid max. Decent hard wearing paintball markers (Tippman Model 98) cost atleast 140-180. And goggles cost 30-40. Then you have the cost of hydrotesting, refills, and paint thats bloody expensive


Its just not worthwhile for the school. You could get jerseys, and possibly paint. The best you could do is to set up a club and get a small area for practice way at the back of the school fields. To make sure its as safe as possible.

[dropkick]

Paintball as a competitive school sport is just not realistic. Too expensive, and no matter what statistics we feed the administrations, "too dangerous".

As a club, Paintball could work, because that would mean participants would have to own their own equipment in the first place. The club could take a trip to the local field once a week, get discounted paint prices, and scrimmage other schools. Sounds fun, eh?

[LordChaos]

I agree that it's not likely to ever work as a school sport, but if you can get it over, great!

As for their impression that it's too dangerous. well, you said you showed them the statistics, and they ignored them. That's because YOU showed them the statistics. Try going to your local field, finding out who insures them, contact them, and have them send the information to the admins at the school. At that point, it's not you showing them, it's a company that lives and breaths risk annalisys showing them.

[july_favre]

If you wwanted it to happen bad enough you could make it happen. Find a teacher or someone at your school to be the mentor/coach(I know it sucks but they will be more open minded with them). Approuch your school again and ask them why they think it is unsafe and what experience they have. Call some big names in paintball and ask them to write a letter to your school, or maybe even come down in person but do whatever they can to help. Show them undenaible info about injuries. Ive never seen anyone get seriously injured ever playing, in football I was injured every other week, and those who played were hurt sometime during the season. Paintball is much more safer than football and safer than other sports also.
For expenses, have a fund raiser for basic equipement, model 98s that will last are a good idea. Ask a local store or tippmann to help your team out. Do the same with paint companies. Im sure that they will be glad to help a high school paintball team going. Get lazer balls for practices and doing drills. Have "live" paintball practices maybe once or twice a week, when your doing scrimages. At first you will have to compete in local tourneys since theres no other hish school teams to play. Make your team name obvious that your a school team so others will know and start their own.
I paid over $300 to play football. You can easily have a fund raiser to buy 5 sets of m-98 packages for $150 each or less if tippmann or a store will help you out)Id help you out if you started it). Most of the people who joined would probably have their own gear. Lazerballs would be about $1000 for 2000. Thats less than $2000 to get things started. After you start practicing you need to approuch local stores/fields and large companies for sponsership for entry fees, and paintballs. Im sure many companies would like to help you out since you are introducing and educating paintball to alot of people in a positive way, and you guys would get alot of publicity in the paintball world and other places if you stick with it and/or start paintball as a high school sport at other places too.
There are some suggestions, go make it happen so i can read about it in the paintball magazines.

[weefek]

Dont' forget schools have a different take on the word "dangerous". if it gives you a bruise, it's dangerous. if it makes you tired or gives you a head ache, it's dangerous. if it could get your clothes dirty, or give you a scratch or two, it's dangerous. So, In the school's eyes I guess paintball really is dangerous.

[FinnMcKool]

Yes but if thats considered dangerous than they shouldn't allow football, rugby, field hockey, lacross, hockey, basketball, soccer etc. You can get more seriously injured from any of those sports than paintball! Especially rugby, I've seen people that can't walk after rugby games.

[Wintermute]

Wouldn't the school need insurance to be hosting any sort of paintball competition or practice? That stuff isn't cheap. There's a lot of money involved in starting a paintball field, even a small one. As cool as it would be to have paintball as a high-school sport, I understand the administrators' decision not to go that way.

[pbgod68cal]

yea i think in order to be on the team if they did make it that the players would have to buy own gun and mask and the school provides transportation and some financial aid on entry or paint which ever is more and with paint they only buy u a limited amount at certain times. or just haveing schools to host tourneys would be good

[Eagle-Iz]

The only reason i think schools dont support p8ntball is because of the cost of insurance they would have to get.

[Ed' E]

do u know how much football pads cost?
or:
footballs
football jerseys(home, away, practice)
grass for the field
paying people to maintain it
paying for the equipment to maintain it
paying for the water to maintain it (football fields are huge thta's a lot of water)
football helmets
transportation to other schools (i've gone to schools a few hours away that had to cost a lot)
paying the referees
drill pads (or whatever they r called)
paying for a scoreboard
field goals
bleachers
(don't they have insurance for football too?)


that is a buttload of money just for ONE sport
all the football gear per person is over $300
plus all the field, stadium costs with 40-50 peole per team
with Frosh, JV, and Varsity that's a minimum of 120 people
times that by 300 and u get...........
36000 enough to cover plenty of good guns/upgrades/gear for each player for one team of like 25 and the costs of pballs.
and that's just using the cost of equipment per individual for a football team
EXCLUDING the satduim costs and maintanence
u don't ahve to water a pball field

cost is NOT a question

it's all closedmindedness
:pissed:

[UTLadiesMan]

Yeah, but football is America's sport. Paintball is America's 4th extreme sport. People only have time and money for a few sports, and those below the major ones get nothing. It's a fact of life.

[30a2]

I go to a Christian School and a friend and I approached the Athletic Board Leader and asked what he though of paintball as a school sport... He said it was a great Idea!:)
So maybe I'll be on a school team!

[Pig-Demon]

i think that the schools are contradicting themselves. football is unsafe. most sports are unsafe. paintball has to be one of the most safe ones. in anyother sport there are always unpredictable factors. in paintball, a small ball filled with paint just hits you.

schools in arizona have them, so i have heard.

oh yeah. another school contradiction. though i don't mind this one so much. cheerleaders in skimpy clothes:D short skirts, not-covered shoulders. don't these violate school rules?

[FinnMcKool]

A couple universities have teams.

[FrOnTMaN]

im gonn a confront my school board with these ideas. if u guys could help find sites with info on the numbers of accidents versus football, and some other info would be truly appreciated.
he, maybe this start a high school tourney league, sponserd by dye, and other big names. or maybe not.hehe
anyway, info needed! please help!

[Skorpion]

Yeah I am going to confront my administrator tomorrow and talk about it, our new school has had alot of exposure since we opened two years ago I told my admin we needed more sports original and non-original, we currently have no facilities to play at our current building, We are moving into a new one next year with alot of grass area and maybe he will let us build a field their and practice on saturdays. There is already another High School team at Desert Academy in Santa Fe, NM

[LordChaos]

Originally posted by july_favre
Ive never seen anyone get seriously injured ever playing,

I actualy have. I've seen 1 serrious injury on the feild, and that was a broken leg. The guy JUMPED over a baricade and broke his leg when he landed wrong (something that wasn't allowed on the field in the first place. If he hadn't injured himself, he would have been kicked off the field for his actions...)

[Skorpion]

Yeah I heard about one old guy with weak bones and was shot in the back of the head within 15ft, he died 3 days after that, He shouldn't of been playing paintball anyway if he had that RISK level

[jomama22]

if u boil it down, it would cost less to play paintball then it would football
ok here in md a normal fball team has roughly 30 kids on it, a paintball team has roughly 15 at max
cost of fball gear
helmate 80 (20 doller inspection every year not included)
sholderpads 150 (20 doller inspection yearly not included)
jearsy's 40(not the nices ones can go up to 80)
pants 20
pant pads 25
remeber u pay 300 at the beginning of the year

and thats per player
that adds up to 290 at the cheepest
now we considerd ground crew
line paint (50)
lights 50 (for every game played)
grass cutting 50
that 150 more per week

now lets think, a 10 week season...
that is 10200 dollers a year in they buy new eqipment every year
of they buy eqipment lets say evey 3 years(saying they a;lready have pads)
its 5700 for 3 years with the same pads and feild work
now paintball comes to mind...
most peeps that go out for a paintball team would have a paintball gun correct...
well lets say none do as the worse case sanario
lets say they all buy m98 (cuz they ar ceeper and more durabel for more years
they get wholesale for being a school and buy bulk of 15
so they get each one for 100
thats 1500 all together for 15 kids, no masks come to...40 dollers a mask at wholesale .....600 dollers
sop were up to 2100
now a kid will need 1000 paint (way too much for 1 person) a week at whole sale of 20 dollers for 1000
now for all 10 weeks and 15 kids, that comes to... 3000
so were up to 5100, now practice, they get to use seconds and they get those for 5 bucks for 1000 at whole sale, they buy 4000 a week for each kid...... thats 3000 more for all 10 weeks
now were at 8100, now for field crew and bunks and such, come to about 200 a week
so were up to 10100 for 1 year, and that is the total maximum, and there is now way this sanerio would accour because if ur going to get on a high school pb team, most likly u have a gun
so in conclution 1 year of football the school must suppy pads and gets 300 from ya......thats 10200 and now lets take out 300 off each kid cause thats what u pay for fball...
thats 9000, so the school pays about 1200 for ur fball needs, u pay the rest
now for paintball guns last a year, most kids have own guns and masks, but still, we consider the worse case sanario
so a school would pay 10100 if no one pays, and u would probly have to pay 300 if u didnt have a gun and mask, and 150 if u do,
so the school would have to pay between 4500-2250, still a good bit and more then fball but if u bought guns for only the kids that didnt have any (probly like 3) then u would save a ton more then f ball

those are my 2 cents

[green_kat]

hell, up here is CANADA you could start a 10 man team ez

you could buy all the equipment for 2000 CANADIAN
really people thats peanuts 200 bux CANADIAN each gets you everything,

guns (10)
air tanx (10)
masks (10)
paint (not really but you get 2000 rounds)
chrono
ref gear
fill station
scale
and more stuff

these prices are from Badlands Paintball (http://www.badlandspaintball.com)
and based on the spyder compact package

if you are serious you can afford the 2 hundred canadian. which is for all you americans out there liek 160 buks

unfortuanately the problem is not cost, but safety

schools are paranoid, think for a second if you go on a field trip they send you home with power of attourney and whatnot.

this is a game where you shoot each other, schools have somewhat of a right to be scared.

[Pig-Demon]

Originally posted by LordChaos


I actualy have. I've seen 1 serrious injury on the feild, and that was a broken leg. The guy JUMPED over a baricade and broke his leg when he landed wrong (something that wasn't allowed on the field in the first place. If he hadn't injured himself, he would have been kicked off the field for his actions...)

sure but your one broken leg versus all of the football, or other school sport, injuries since the begining of paintball is way more for football. foot ball can f*ck you up permanatly.

[P.A.]

Just start a paintball club off the bat and let it grow until you have enuf people to start asking for some things.

if cost is the main issue, just require everyone to have thier own gear, sure new guys can come without gear letem borrow some of yours, get them started and theyll buy stuff of thier own, if they cant then approach the shcool board with what gear you do need, eventually over time you will accumulate a 5 man school team set of gear. to ask for it all up front is kind of asking alot. and make them try out dont just make the school buy a spyder for every one who comes along, let every one come to practice and still be in the club, but only those who are good enuf play in the local tournies, and thusly qualify for having gear bought for them.

once the club has grown ask that it become a school sport, tell them that not much will change, it will just make more people aware of it. and eventually ask for permition to build a feild, tell them all they need to pay for are the nets and posts and u guys can get old spools and stuff pretty easily. And old tires are VERY easy to get, go to a race track, all of the car teams are constantly trying to find places to get rid of thier old tiresbecause it costs them money to get rid of them at the dump.

also, force, or atleast try, to get some of the staff to try paintball out, maybe one of them will get the addiction, and again this would most likely enforce that the sport is safe.

oh and in response to UTLadiesMan's comment thats "its a fact of life" your correct, but just because it is now doesnt mean it cant be changed.

um i think thats all, sorry if some of it didnt make sense the subject put me in ranting mode.

-PA

[wwhooper]

Well, paintball can be dangerous if you have that disability or disease or what ever where your body can't produce the things that create blood clots... vitamin K I think... If they get hit, they bleed internally. And bleed. And bleed. until they get a shot of the vitamin K or whatever.

[Pig-Demon]

Originally posted by wwhooper
Well, paintball can be dangerous if you have that disability or disease or what ever where your body can't produce the things that create blood clots... vitamin K I think... If they get hit, they bleed internally. And bleed. And bleed. until they get a shot of the vitamin K or whatever.

if they know they have a condition, they should talk to a doctor before participating in these sort of activies.

i like PA's plan. maybe i'll try it next year.

[foxracer2269]

I dont think that the HIGH SCHOOL paintball team idea would not work for a couple of reasons.

1st reason- With the whole zero-tolerance thing im pretty sure no school will sponsor a sport that envolves shooting some one

2nd- most people are narrow minded (like me) and wont see paintball as a sport no matter what you tell them

3rd- The school believe it or not will have to pay insurance if they sponsor you in any way (i believe its like 300 a kid or something for extreme sports such as football and lacrosse)

4th- COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL (no need to explain the rest)

[UTLadiesMan]

Originally posted by FrOnTMaN
im gonn a confront my school board with these ideas. if u guys could help find sites with info on the numbers of accidents versus football, and some other info would be truly appreciated.
he, maybe this start a high school tourney league, sponserd by dye, and other big names. or maybe not.hehe
anyway, info needed! please help!

Well, it just so happens that I have been compiling information for a pitch to my university. I'll list some of the sites that you would find most helpful. Also, I will list them as answers to questions that you will undoubtedly receive. Whenever they say "Yeah, but..." *slap* there's the article proving them wrong. Being over prepared and answering all of their questions before they ask is a very powerful, useful, and robust tool. (same with job interviews :P )


"Not that many people play paintball."

http://www.sportlink.com/press/2000/press984148305-5391.html

"Is it safe?"

http://www.f4og.com/safe.html
Tell them that study includes all injuries that required a hospital visit, as reported by a collection of insurance agencies, in 1988.
Then give them this one...
http://www.paint-ball.org/safety_report.htm
and tell them that this was the same study in 1999, and "Notice how the number of injuries is 1/4 less than in '88". That's the real kick in the face.

"Do any other schools do this?"
Well, high school I don't know, but many colleges are listed at http://www.college-paintball.com/ Also, see if you can find a copy of the APG article about school paintball in the March 2002 issue.

Also a couple of good tidbits in this one for any other questions they ask...
http://www.paint-ball.org/paintball_statistics.htm


If they ask anything else, let me know. I probably have the answer here somewhere, but a lot of my sources are just little tidbits that I'll probably just cite as facts should the need arise.
Good luck.

[UTLadiesMan]

Oh, and be sure to pitch it as a team building activity, not an action sport. There is a reason so many companies have a paintball day. It's a good way to team build and have fun at the same time. The old days of "team building camp" are growing obsolete because of the flux of non-maintsteam sports that companies can easily partake in.

[pbgod68cal]

im gonna talk to the athletic director at my school tomarrow if i get the chance cuz i get to leave early(yipee) but he plays paintball some times with us he knows what its like. so it might actuly work

[pb_fool]

Hey,

Wow I started alot of people down the road to making a pball club/team at schools!

Go on ya all!

May the Lord Guide You

PB

[FinnMcKool]

A nice school gun would be a Trracer S/A you can get them in pakages with all the neccesites for $100 american so x15 is only 1500 plus they'd probably get that on on field start up with a chrono and fill up station for well under 2000$ american so if all the studens payed about 50$ (which is reasonable) it would be faily cheapand the gear would be paid for after about 2 years. As for paint just add some more money on to that fee and get a certain amont and you can buy more after that. And if the child has his own gear the fee would be a bit less.

So I think a $100/year student fee would be reasonable if you got all the gear and alot of paint. I'd pay that.

[Blazestorm]

I was tripped 5-6 times and I bit my tongue VERY hard every time... this was in basketball... I couldn't talk blood was gushing out my tongue and I had to go home every time

This sucked... in Paintball I was HAPPY I got a bruise... I thought it was soo cool...

so what we could turn down the velocity and use less hard paint... get pmi or rps to design sturdy but paint that breaks on the person

And why do we need tippmanns? why couldnt we get kingman to give us discounts on a bunch of spyder compacts... buy some small tanks (like 4-9) oz and get viewloader to give us some hoppers... We could get PMI to sponser schools

Have them make piranhas and tanks masks and paint... fill stations etc. have people that play paintball be the mechanics and sit on the sidelines... get pmi to make barrel "socks" because they are safer than barrel plugs... get some cheap chest protectors etc.! make kids bring 2-3 layers!

It wouldn't be much more expensive than all the crap at my school... I mean we have a metals class... woods class... anything you name it... why not Extreme sports? such as airsoft or paintball... airsoft is cheaper but I think too realistic...

I did a whole essay on why paintball is the best

and I got an F... heh... but the reason why? I didn't have an introduction... I added one... and the teacher said it was so convincing she's gonna try paintball!

Anyway... I got kids telling me after class that paintball sounded cool and they wanted to try it out with me...

So next time you get an open ended essay... write it about paintball

Trust me... I got half the school wanting to play paintball now!... so anyway... keep trying and don't give up... I think this should happen after school on like the baseball field have the school save up and buy some pvc pipe and make a portable feild and have it go from right after school till like 4:00pm

anyway... write essays talk to the principal... I mean jesus if my school can afford metals and woods shops.... every class imaginable.... 30,000 dollars in band equipment... we should be able to get paint and equipment ... ask the principal how many people are using the expensive band/orchestra equipment... tell him/her that if they buy cheap inexpensive paintball equipment that more than half the school would use it

[2k1AngelShooter]

First of all you'r missing one entirely violent sport, one which I played for 6 years, 2 JV, 4 Varisity, and thats high-school Wrestling. Any wrestlers, it aint that wwf crap on TV, this is real. Lot of injuries, and crap in that sport. You ever notice that people take pride in their injuries from hs sports? I do, hell I like the fact that I have a blown out knee, one that is probably going to need suregury (and maybe they can help my spelling), yet I still play paintball, and with the exception to some soreness the next day, no injuries.

The guy who was shoot in the back of the head, damn near point blank, don't blame him, no-one should be shooting for the BACK of someones UNPROTECTED region of their head. I'll be damned if many people could walk away from that hit unneffected.

Second point, lots of universites are devolping teams, mostly in the east and south, I'm working on mine CSUS, or Sac State to those of you that don't know, odds are, it will happen eventually. In high School, I really doubt it though, tottaly different mind-set between college and HS, don't forget, HS' are public and colleges are not. Get a club at your school, encourage other schools to. Form an intermural league, keep track on your own, after a while maybe the schools will see how RESPONSIBLE you are being and think differently about paintball. Get your local field and store to be helpful and maybe come demonstrate the saftey messures on markers to parents interested. Get your local fields to give an special rate to people with in the club. Biggest role, form a club and get the word out that people buying 10 BE markers from Wal-Mart shooting random people/stuff WILL NOT BE TOLLERATED, and is looked down upon greatly by the sport. You might want to mention that companies often offer rewards in pb related vandalism (Palmer Pursit does). Try that, then work your way up, and who knows maybe you'll be pushing mainstream pb on TV in a few years.

[Killah222]

i live in hawaii and our school pearl city high school has a paintball club. some of us where thinking of asking the athetic department to make it a school sport. but its not really a spectator sport. and they would probably think its to violent.

[Blazestorm]

I'm talking to PMI trying to find out if they could sponser my school and or give us wholesale or less prices on things

I also found a decent paintball gun for only 30 bucks
http://www.paintballgear.net/010-5300-2.html

Point Zero 83... but who needs to spend 90 per gun ... I'd rather have 2 more players than a more expensive gun

[pb_fool]

Hey,

The club thing and all is really cool but there is a one big problem. Only 2 of the guys are underclassmen. The rest of us are Seniors and the school year is close to over.

grr

[FinnMcKool]

The Model 83 is not a good gun I;ve used it.

[Pig-Demon]

Originally posted by foxracer2269
4th- COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL (no need to explain the rest)

or it would give the kids who do things like that something else to do. it could even give them something to enjoy.

[slickguy55]

I think the problem is about paintball as a sport is people think its violent. and with all those school shootings think of the protests! And plus in the Colorado shooting i watched the news and a girl on tv crying saying "My boyfriend heard the shot from the window and he thought it was a joke with paintball guns, and they shot him"

Im asking my school, and only people with their own equipment would play, and then you'd have like 3 model 98's for the people who dont have equipment.

[FinnMcKool]

A m98 custom would be the best gun for a school, cheap, realiable and upgradible

[BlinkBaller]

Hey, That would be awsome! I am in 8th grade right now An i am just getting into paintball. When i get into High School I want to make a team. Not one the is sponsored by the school but one that I just get some kids together , that already have guns and we try and find other people form different schools and play against them, or just against ourselves. My bro is a senior right now and his friends have paintball guns so i think that ill meet some people with guns and we could all get together, as far as the School sponsoring it i dont think so just try and take it apon ureslf, but make sure the people who are playin know that ur not responsible for their or anyone elses injuries.

[Harry Painter]

Why Not:

Where would you play? Practice?
For this one you could build an outlaw field or get your local field to let you practice.

If people have their own gear, do they get the 98 too? If the school gives a 98 to the other people without their own gear, would that be to "give" or would it be the schools and then they use it for a year. I think that if they did that that everybody should only use stock 98's or only be able to spend a certain amount of money on their gear. I know the player makes the marker but we all know having an angel gives you a big edge. And they would also need to have a paint limit. Like 200 or 400 paintballs a game to keep down the costs and once again not give anybody a big edge. Same paint brand too, once again not to give anybody an edge.


My Idea

Just have teams from each school. They don't nesecarily have to be sponsored by the school. You just make friends with the other high schools and then for each school they make a 5 man team and play in a league. I think I'll start that in my town.

I think that any smart company would sponsor the first high school team. Or the second, or any team for that matter.

[Ed' E]

Originally posted by Harry Painter
Why Not:

If people have their own gear, do they get the 98 too? If the school gives a 98 to the other people without their own gear, would that be to "give" or would it be the schools and then they use it for a year. I think that if they did that that everybody should only use stock 98's or only be able to spend a certain amount of money on their gear. I know the player makes the marker but we all know having an angel gives you a big edge. And they would also need to have a paint limit. Like 200 or 400 paintballs a game to keep down the costs and once again not give anybody a big edge. Same paint brand too, once again not to give anybody an edge.


.

i disagree
schools with more money buy better Practice balls, more comfortable/lighter football pads, better fields, etc.

players buy their own soccer cleats (cleats for other sports)
in soccer is wherei think your cleats give u the most advantage
u can get some with better treads for more grip
or like the predators that have rubber on top where u kick the ball so that u can put a lot better sppin on the ball
there's more but i don't want to get into all that i don't have
much time

anyways........
the advantage one would get by having $120 soccer cleats over $25 WAl-Marts
is about the same as having $1000 Angel over a C98

also about the balls..........
if the school has the money thay can get the nice balls if they want for the same reasons i have stated above

[Harry Painter]

*Changes Opinion*


You make a good point. Because of the shoe comparison, the people can have whatever gun they want in my opinion.

[Ed' E]

awwww shucks:shy:
thanx tho

i do gotta give props for that
it is very honorable to admit u r wrong

there r guys that even when they have been proven wrong they stick to what they said so as not to appear weak

so i thank u for that and wish there were more people like u
it takes a real man to admit he's wrong (or to cry but that's a different matter:) )

[UTLadiesMan]

Oh, oh, I got another good example. In band, someone could buy their own concert tuba that would be a lot better than the schools, but a lot more expensive. He gets an edge on the competition because he sounds better, and they don't dock him any points to 'make it fair'. Same with all instruments, really. They don't loan trumpets out because they are relatively cheap in the long run, but a Bach Stradivarius 43 with a reverse lead pipe is going to sound a lot better than the Yamaha student trumpet. It would be silly to put a limit on how good of an instrument someone can buy. For one thing, they are trying to make the best band possible. Also, a cheap tuba cost as much as 5 professional student trumpets or clarinets.

[2k1AngelShooter]

OMG I hear you on the instruments thing. I have 17 guitars, taylors, martins, strats gibsons... I could play mary had a little lamb (the original not SRV) and sound way better on my original 74 strat than someone with a crappy priceclub accoustic. Does it make it fair or right? no

[UTLadiesMan]

Fair no, but you are trying to be the best in the field. So fairness isn't important. If I have the means to have an advantage over my neighbor, why not take it? If I don't someone else will use that advantage over me. That's the American way.

[anchorite]

PAINTBALL IS A HIGHSCHOOL SPORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
check out www.college-paintball.com

we have a highschool division, which is also competing in Chicago at the same nationals tournament as players in college.
it is really big already.
there is info on highschool paint discoutns... ways to get the admin to endorse you, etc.

[UTLadiesMan]

Yeah, so there are a few high schools that have teams. Divide that by some 20,000 high schools and you get a very very small number. It's not really a high school sport until a sizeable number of high schools actually participate in it. I mean, if two high schools make a boggle club, and they compete against each other, that hardly makes boggle a high school sport.

Also, the nationals for both high school and college paintball are in Chicago every year, with the majority of the main tournaments in the North East. We are trying to make a competitive team here at UT, and are having a hard time because there are no college competitions within 500 miles of here. If universities don't want to send kids 1100 miles to a tournament, why would a high school?

[anchorite]

UTladies man....

I am the Director of the Southwest division of the National Collegiate Paintball Association ... (pretty much the entire west)

colleges that compete in the southwest:
Arizona, USAirForce academy, Oregon, Oregon state, Ucla, Utah, and there are a few others.
UT dallas also has a new up-and-comming team. go to www.college-paintball.com, and check out the south division. actually, I believe they are hosting a tournament sometime this semester.

to tell you the truth, I didnt even know UT had a paintballteam. I lived in Austin through my senior year, worked at Texas Paintball, played at pettys, 3pg, (but not C.A.)... I never heard that UT had a team.

the SWIC is trying to hold a conference tournament this semester in SC village, or Las Vegas. if you guys are willing to travel, you are definatley invited.

[UTLadiesMan]

Hey, we are in the formation stage right now. In fact I just filled out some more paper work. We probably won't mind traveling, it's just that on the college-paintball website it shows most of the main tournys being up North. Traveling anywhere down here is easy, but it's like 1100 miles to Chicago, and that seems to be their venue of choice. Keep me updated on everything though, because we would like to compete, but it's going slow. Also, we probably won't get remibursements for travel for at least another year, if then, and if we do they like us to keep it within driving distance.

[TEAM_SMURF GREG]

we tryed to get it at our school but they said that we where wasteing our time but we have a teacher thats sposerd by rave at my school so he said he'd head it up but they still said no i'm really poed :pissed: and can any one tell me how to get a pic under my name?

[UTLadiesMan]

Go to User Control Panel at the top right of your screen. Then Edit Options. It's at the bottom.

[STO]

HS I'm going to has a paintball club. May help us all out with demand. ISU has a paintball field on campus. Sorry if that stuff has been said before. I'm tired and stupid.

[cookiexxx]

You guys/gals are missing the whole point. MONEY MONEY MONEY
They want to MAKE money in order to pay for the sport. Think about it, what do they sell tickets to and concessions at. Heavy spectator sports, like say maybe football and basketball games. Sound familiar? If they do not think that there would be enough spectators to make money off of, they will not do it. And since they do not want to just come out and so that they are cheap, sorry-aced SOBs, they use the standard answer. 79 guesses what that answer is, and the first 78 don't count. Could it be, well-maybe-possibly some thing like "Nope, it's just too dangerous for you kids". Gee, where have we heard that before?

[anchorite]

you children who think that highschool paintball is going to be an organized, fully funded sport in the near future is dead wrong.
there are too many people against the use of "guns," especially in school related events. (thats why people need to start calling them what they are: Markers).

there have been too many ******* highschool kids who shoot up their school with paintball guns, or shoot up neighborhoods, giving paintball a bad image. this is why it wont be fully funded any time soon.

there are a few universities who are fully funded.
this, however, is not usually directly through the admnistration... it is through other school related organizations (my case: ASUA).
they give money for travel, etc.

what you need to do is start an inter-school league... you invite teams from other highschools to play against you. when your school sees this, and that it is safe, the least they can do is recognize you as a club.
this is a start. you then can participate in school events (fairs, etc). then you build support, etc, etc.

if you want help organizing a tournament between schools, work through the NCPA. (www.college-paintball.com)
they have alot of support for high school ball.

you need to realize that paintball wont be like highschool football or basketball.
but you can start builiding support by responsibility.

[MoToMaStR]

dude, i think your missing the point, if 2 schools get PB as a nomal sport, with say 20 players out of the 800+ that attend the school, it'd be just the same as any other sport. like soccer, baseball, hockey. let me say this. hockey equiptment costs ALOT more than an average PB set up and gear. but forgot costs for now. so what if the kids that want to play dont ahve guns etc. if they want to play, they can get a job and buy a gun and start learning with everyone else. you gotta start somewhere, and 90% of the time, that means starting small. so if 1 school gets 30 kids playing, and their rival town says, "hey, we got some plaintball players too..." and they set up their "paintball club" so then youv got 2 teams in a county, of a state that are competiting. well dont you think that could spread like wild fire? i sure do, then 4 schools, than 8 or 16. it could work. but its all about getting the administration to see what its about. and the only way to do that is find a cool dude (like the guidence counseler that smoked dope with your dad in the 70's) you can get to play the game, suit him up, cup, pads, etc.... and send him out to play with a few of your buds, chrono his gun to 290 and everyonelses to like 220. so when he gets hit it dosnt hurt. get that on video tape and send it to the board of education or somehting to ahve it reviewed. it wouldnt cost the schools jack but their time. im not sure about liabillity, but it shouldn't be a problem sine you shouldnt be playing on school property (where civilians arent wearing protection) to begin with.
i started a PB thing at my school. i built a speedball feild behind my house, out in the sticks. i cleared a 200x100 area and made it playable so theres good amounts of cover and the woods stuff iss copped out and stuff. so far theres me, my dad, dads friend al, my brother, 2 of my teachers and 6 buds from school. thats 12. now my school isnt an ordianry school (lakehurst naval air warfare base/station) CTI's enrichment center its called. anyway i tried it out and it worked. now if we could work a deal with the fedral dudes about maybe donating us a 1/2 acre out of their 3,719.... im sure that paintball would get alot more publicity and security. plus the navy dudes might start playing us and that'd kick arse would it not? probably dosnt seem feisable to you, but neather did getting kids from school to buy guns and get teachers and stuff to play 2 times a week.

the only way to pull something like that off is if you have good organizing skills. like me :biglaugh:

i know im gunna end up starting a war on this thread with this post but take it into consideration

[P.A.]

i actually agree with cookiexxx, schools need to make money, and there isnt a huge paintball following (at least here). the best you can really do is start a club and do tournies as your hihg school name and let it grow(like i sed), maybe if it gets big enuf the you can start talking official school sport, but it will take alot of time, alot.

-PA

[Ed' E]

um about the making money thing
since so many people have said that


welll............
at my school we have soccer
Varsity, Junior Varsity and Frosh

NOBODY EVER GOES TO WATCH THE GAMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(except the parents:rolleyes: )

the school makes no money on ticket sales because............
they don't sell tickets

they don't sell tickets for any sports except Varsity football and i think Varsity basketball
i'm not sure about basketball tho probably not

yeah so anyways ..........

the school doesn't NEED to make money on a sport for them to uh.......
advocate it
(sorry i can't think of any words but big ones (i just got back from my SAT prep-class:crazy: )

[UTLadiesMan]

They don't need to make money. They would prefer not to lose too much money though. They only get a small amount from property taxes, and some from the state government. Or if you live in Texas, and go to a good school, the state government takes away their money. (Robin Hood thingy) Anyway, they don't want to spend a lot of money on any sport. Soccer costs much less to set up, for equipment, for balls, etc. Same with any sport. I think it's been mentioned that like football equipment costs a bunch. Well, so does paintball equipment, which is probably still more. However, once you buy everyone football equipment, every time you play, all you spend is how ever much it costs to launder the uniforms. Everytime you play paintball it takes paint, and air. That gets really expensive when you are paying for 10 people. We all know that.

[Wintermute]

Costs would be heavily dependant on what sort of guns you used. Air and paint would be practically free if everyone was using, say, Talons. Then again, the same would be rediculous if someone convinced the school to spring for Angels. It all depends on how informed the administration is.

[anchorite]

Big words aint that important (I didnt take an SAT prep class and I got a 1230.... hahaha:D )

and building a field in the woods behind your house, unless your parents own the property (and in some cases, even if they do) it is ILLEGAL!!!!!!!!!!
that isnt a way to support your team... unless you are a hick.

hicks like stuff like that.

check out www.high-school-paintball.com it is a division of the NCPA.... (national collegiate paintball association)

[Ed' E]

Originally posted by anchorite
Big words aint that important (I didnt take an SAT prep class and I got a 1230.... hahaha:D )



..........I got a 1350......:D

I'm just taking the class to see if i can get over 1400 or even 1500

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[PMI_Guy]

all the team would need would be matching jerseys (preferrably in school colors). also, what if they had college paintball teams? that would be sw337! (sorry if some body has already said all these things, im too lazy to read them :P )

[Ed' E]

oh yea i forgot........

the players could buy their own guns

and balls

the school could get some kind of deal for 2nd's balls
they retail for like $30 per case
i bet schools could get a deal for like 20 or even 15

only practice like once or twice a week
not shooting very many balls
they could be given a set amt per practice and if they run out then that's it
they can use their own

[FPS 300]

Hey all - I'm currently working on getting paintball as a club into my high school. Yeah like Ed' E said, players should buy their own guns. In my school, most clubs just get people together and organize trips or activities that have to do with the club. And for all trying to get high school paintball working - go to http://www.durtydan.com/ddpis/1pbisnt.html , you may find it useful.

[Goose]

anyone here have any ideas on how to present it to the administration

[Shadow Moses]

Perhaps go to the School Board head center(mine is DSBN, District School board of Niagara). And go to the sports section if there is one.I think that is we push hard and even get adults involved PB can really be a sport, Stats show ur most likely to get injured at a round of golf rather then a day @ PB. If we can bring them enough evidence then u never know, if it's the violence factor tell to screw off, football will f*** u up for life, and if he still doesn't comply, shove ur marker in his croth, pull the trigger and show him that that is the most pain u can feel on the field!:laugh:

[Exilict]

Ok, take this from a son of a teacher, and a Ex paintball club member..

I gruated about 3 years ago now and starting my 8th grade year (first year in our highschool) I began the battle that you are talking about. Then, the battle wasnt NEARLY as hard as it is today...

For starters, we had clubs, and I was in the computer club.. So were a good number of my paintballing friends, and we decided to just start our own club, this was first off not school policy, however we did it anyway and the teachers wernt too bad about it. I had some friends that were teachers and pulls a few strings, or had my mom do it for me and all of a sudden in room 218 the paintball club was born. We couldnt bring in guns, and we couldn't play. But we could tak about paintball, whats new and hot, whats going on with the paintball world, designes, and our own designs, wich in 8th grade didnt mean crap.

We ment, played on the weekends, all self funded. Our club leader, who was a 26 year old teacher who liked to date students also played and was able to hook us up with some stuff a bit cheaper, however we still had to pay for it all ourselves.

My 9th grade year, we wanted to do the same thing you did, a few rival schools started paintball clubs, and the waters were getting vicious. I live in PA, and I can tell you that it is NO easy matter trying to get something aproved by the school. Here is an example... Say a teacher wants to read a book to her classroom, she now must present the book in her planner 1 week prior to the reading, the book must be included w/the planer so it can be given to a committie to read. Then the committie will read, test, and vote if this book is ok to have in the classroom. Once the book is OKed it will no longer enter committie, it is "legal Reading" for the classroom.

This is a 1 week process, that costs thousands of dollars to approve a book!! a BOOK!!

So, paintball... It can not be a school related sport UNLESS it is sponsored by the school, and is ran by the school. IE you cant have any teams called your schools name, if your school dosnt have anything to do with it. Problem with the school paying for it.. For starters they need money.. And for the school to spend money they have to have it approved by the state because that is where the school gets their money. For a school to buy something it must be first put up to bid and all of the companies would bid and they would take the lowest, wich is probably going to be brass eagle because they are by far the largest company out there.

Even if you can get your school to say yes, the state is going to say no. Even if you can get the state to say yes, and you wont be able to do it because they dont care about you. The have no feelings or remorce for you, you are too young to vote and their term will be up by the time you are. You will end up with the equipment THEY pick for you.

So, what does the school have to pay for? If its a school event they have to pay for the field, they have to pay for your insurance, they have to pay for a bus ride to, and from the away games. They have to pay a coach, and they have to pay an assistant coach. They will have to provide some money (that must be granted to them) to the team....

Face it guys, its not going to happen..... You are better off starting a high school players only league, and force them to stay with in their own school... But it will never be school sponsored...

-Chris
My 2 Cents is worth at least 25$

[Blazestorm]

Well Said Exilict =)

[bLaCkIcE22]

uum...i think its possible for paintball to be a high school sport. I know its gonna cost alot but do any of u guys play ice hockey? i do and to get new equipment, it costs easily over $500+. And do u guy know how much it cost to get ice time? more then $150+. Then u gotta get jereseys and socks etc which is another 200+. So i guess its possible to have a paintball team if the school is usin that much money for other sports, and oh ya, i'm not in a private school.

[Newbie4eva]

we have a paintball club at our school, we have our tech teacher being the sponsor and we go out to play maybe 2 times a month on sundays, and we skirmish other school clubs. But the school does not pay for anything, we ourselves do and i think thats the way its going to stay until people wise up about the sport and it becomes more accepted everywhere, untill then i would try to start a club.

[Exilict]

Money has NOTHING to do with it. I had sponsors for the team, lucky they still sponsored me even though it WASNT a school team. The STATE will not let a school have that etam for no reason.

You need:
A league, like here we have WPIAL
Someone to be in charge
people to make rules
people to reff
people to make sure the refs do it right
People to take care of the field
People on site that are medically trained

The kids dont just walk out to the basketball hoops and start shooting, there is ALOT involved. all that need to go to paintball too, and the sate WILL NOT ALLOW IT

[Crash Danger]

I go to a catholic school so apparently Jesus doesn't like paintballing or something... :rolleyes:

Maybe if we start calling them paintball markers Jesus will apporve of the sport! :blah:

[scoobydoo420]

i agree about the league being necessary before schools would even think about it.. think if a given larger city had a paintball arena that decided it wanted high school league, set it up, had a designated field(s) for practice/tourney's you'd have a much better chance.. it just seems like your trying to build it up the wrong way.. start a league, the teams are already there...

[Shadow Moses]

Paintball is an expensive sport, you have to be fairly fit and in a good mental state. I'm not trying to center these people out or be mean or a bigot, but most fields will not let the mentally challenged on, due to the present danger, that in the staging are or deadpool he/she may forget a rule and start firing off due to his/her illness. If you can get enought people that will be able, that are fit, and are responisble enough to handle that people could get seriously hurt because of them, they may think it's funny to start shootin' off in the staging are or proshop. All of these factors hafta come together. You may be able to get a good league going if u can get enough people to play and run it.

[scoobydoo420]

first, who brought up mentally handicapped people? lol that was kinda out of left field.
and the other day at the local indoor arena there was a group of people who came in and one of the kids' brothers was a little mentally challenged, and he played along with them. He wasnt so much given extra attention as extra patience, and it worked out fine.

[Shadow Moses]

As I said, I wasn't trying to be rude, mean, or a bigot, I noticed that last Saturday I played on a field, and on the rules it said, the player must be mentally fit and mentally stable, If the player is mentally challenged the player may not be enabled to play according to level of mental trouble. All I said, I'm trying to say that mentally challenged people should not be able to or anything of that sort, i'm saying that according to the level of challenge the person endures the player could pose a danger to the other Paintball Players
I'm not trying to raise **** about political correctness or any of that, that was just my take of what was printed on the waiver!

[Newbie4eva]

i go to a catholic high school too,

anyways money does have alot to do with it, unless the school sponsors the team or another sponsor, the team will have to pay for everything, and that could cost alot with all the gear, field and paint costs, and tourny entries. It also requires alot of man power and commitment from everybody.

[Villhime98c]

instead of worrying about making it a school sport now, we should try to start clubs. Then when the clubs are established, and you have proven paintball, then you could try to make it a full blown high school sport.