Making Paintball the Sport of Choice for New Players and Old

Recreational paintball players are paintball's backbone. Photo by Jason The challenging streets of Challenge Park in Joliet, Illinois. Crowds pack the trade show areas at major paintball events. Photo by Skirmish.com

Friday, late. Bob's multitasking, phone in his ear. Ed's home, studying. Diane checks her computer calendar, and finishes a sales report. What will they do this weekend? Skydive, ride horses, play basketball or soccer, work out at the gym, go bowling? Or play paintball? We want their choices to be paintball.

Young, old, in- or out-of-shape, people choose paintball because our sport itself offers so many choices. Ask a group of newbies why they're playing paintball, and they'll put together a long list, including the equipment (markers and masks), getting to shoot at other people, finding a new outdoor experience, having a great escape day. More experienced players will list reasons such as getting to play in tournaments with prizes to win, the chance to go pro, scenario gaming, being on a goal-oriented team, finding a sport they can play well.

Introducing people to paintball is an investment. The tiny handful of players, back in the early 1980s, knew this game was very special. They talked paintball. The more they talked, the more the buzz grew. TV coverage of this crazy new National Survival Game helped spread the word. APG in 1987 hit the newsstands nationwide, with news, stories, and advertisements-and before paintball turned 10 years old, the U.S. had a million players. Businesses and players invested time and money into paintball, partly for love of the game, and partly for what they would gain.

The more we invest in our sport, the more our sport will grow. The 10 million U.S. players could double if every one of us brought just one new player into paintball. More players mean more people who understand paintball, bring their friends to play, and won't have a knee-jerk reaction to a paintball vandalism news story. Profitable paintball businesses can hire more people, and improve the playing fields or pro shops. Remember the price of paint used to be more than 25 cents for each paintball? With large-scale production, paintball prices dropped steadily to today's prices.

You, personally, are important to paintball. You can make a difference. Invite people to play. Suggest paintball to your club, office, birthday party, neighbors, and friends. Along the way, treat the newbies with respect. Help them make paintball their first choice.

Tournaments are for structured competition paintball. IAO. Photo by Dave Norman

Heading out for a day's recreation. Photo by Skirmish.com