It Pays To Be a Sport

The first time playing paintball is something you never forget - the location, the people involved and often how the games were won or lost. You also remember how people acted and whether they were good sports or overly aggressive jerks. Odds are, if you're still playing, they were the former.

I've taken dozens and dozens (if not hundreds) of people paintballing for their first time in intimate, small-group settings, where I provided the equipment, explained the rules, oversaw the games and did all in my power to make sure they had a lot of fun. Of the many people who have gone a few have really taken to the sport, but all of them have a positive opinion of the game.

On other days, I've been to walk-on fields and professional fields where first-timers were left on their own, never really understood the game and were picked on by the more experienced players. Rather than encourage the new players or congratulate them on getting a kill, I've seen the experienced players walk off the field and swearing and complaining that something wasn't right or else the newbie never would have got the kill. I don't know if those new players ever played again, but if it had been my first time, I definitely wouldn't have been back.

The way to make sure that paintball continues to grow and progress as a sport is to encourage the life blood of the sport - the new players who will come, enjoy the sport and come back for more. Even if they don't adopt the sport, they will have had a positive experience and let other potential players know that. The best way to kill the sport is to destroy the first impression of new players. Most professional fields do a pretty good job of this but the real difference maker is the regulars at the field who actually play in the games.

The only way paintball will grow is if we encourage the next generation of paintballers to take up the sport. Giving them an ideal first impression is the first step in making it happen.