Have You Ever Tried Paintball? 0
If you’re looking to try something new, fun, and exciting you might want to consider paintball. Paintball is a very fast growing sport and there are very serious and even pro competitions now. You don’t have to be a pro to have fun in paintball though and it can be a great new pastime.
Interestingly enough, the paintball gun actually began as a tool to mark trees and livestock in the early 70’s. Sometime in about 1981 a group of friends used these industrial “tools” to play the first game of recreational paintball. The craze quickly caught on and as early as 1982 the first outdoor paintball field opened. In 1984, the first indoor fields started popping up.
As the sport grew, so did the commercial industry, which in turn caused the sport to grow even faster. In the beginning nobody wore protective gear, but as the guns improved, the necessity for protective equipment became ever more important. Before you knew it, businesses were popping up all over the place providing equipment like, paintball masks, chest plates, improved paintballs, and clothes.
Paintball is still growing at a record rate; the commercial paintball industry now sponsors tournaments everywhere. There is even a pro league called the national paintball professional league. This is no longer “just a game” prize money can be hundreds of thousands of dollars and there is even team sponsorship.
You don’t have to get serious like this at all to have fun. All you need is a decent gun, a paintball mask to protect your face from high velocity paint-balls and maybe some gloves to get started, you can even rent everything you need, often times right at the field. Paintball is not for everyone, it can be very demanding physically, depending on the type of game you play, and I would not recommend competitive paintball to anyone who isn’t pretty quick on their feet and likes extreme action.
All in all if you like extreme sports you will love paintball. If you want a more relaxed game, gets some friends together and go to an open field or amongst some trees and make your own game, you will have fun I promise.