How We Can Make A Difference
Following up on Dana’s post about violence in paintball, I’ve thought of some things that we can all do to give paintball less of a wild, violent game look and more of an organized sport. My family knows I play paintball, and whenever we’re at family gatherings they always ask if I’m still at it. Right now they think paintball in general, when actually it needs to be viewed as speedball and woodsball; they are entirely different games.
What I’m going to try to do is elaborate on speedball, and explain the differences and the setups and the styles. Speedball is organized – time is set, the field is symmetrical, and nearly every aspect has some regulation. I want them to see it as the sport I see it as.
I also want people at school to see it like this. When I tell them I play paintball they say things like, “Oh, that’s cool…Doesn’t that hurt?” Whether it’s guys or girls, they only see the woodsball side of it; that’s all they know of it. And I think that’s the only reason why paintball still remains that way. It’s because the people just don’t know about it.
So I think I’ll make this my goal. When I tell somebody that I play paintball, I want them to say something like, “Cool, woodsball or speedball?” Or, “Do you play on a team?” I have yet to see this though.
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