Paintball

The first time I tried paintball was back in college when I went with a bunch of my friends, both guys and girls. If I remember correctly, it was the first time for many of us. Today I was invited to go play with a friend and his friends to fill up the group. I guess it's more organized going with a private group than waiting for random people to join each game.

The place was called SC village and was a whole lot bigger than the place I went last time. there were many different fields, named after actual wars like Iraq, Korea, Vietnam. Everything was on a larger scale than the first time. Bigger fields, hard-core players, etc. They had a wide variety of settings, from a plain field/bushes to airplanes, buildings, etc. I saw many players in camouflage and their own paintball gear. I didn't know it was so popular!! I read online somewhere that it's popular worldwide and they have competitions all the time. I saw it on ESPN one time and it was scary.

In the morning before starting, the referees went over each rule. right before starting, they played the national anthem...wow.

I think the group today was a lot more advanced than the first group I went with back in college. They discussed strategy and knew exactly what to do. It was much harder this time and I don't think I hit anyone. boooooo...

I kept having problems with my gun and kept shooting blanks. I could barely see out of my mask and had no idea where shots were coming from. I just shot the general direction making sure that it wasn't my teammate. Other than that, I was hiding and running behind someone the whole time. I got hit about 4 times. Not too bad...They sting, but got used to it right away. It's irritating to be hit and not be able to get even! Grrrr!!!