Paintball – First Day Impressions
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Ah the first day you go out to play paintball, whether it’s just you heading out to the local field to give it a try or with a group of friends out to have some fun for someone birthday. Going out to the local field to play paintball isn’t like many other sports, it has quite a unique feel to it as you hear other people playing against each other trying on purpose to shoot them with paintballs, how often can you say you were able to shoot someone and not get in trouble?
Paintball is very thrilling and adrenaline driven during play, fast actions, lots of targets, the rush of shooting out other players and wanting to do better each time.
What To Expect
No one can tell you everything to expect when you arrive and see all the other players waiting to get out there and shoot each other, it’s like trying to explain most things, how you can cover a lot but you never get everything covered, you really just have to experience it yourself in person to understand how much fun it really can be.
So you find your local field, pick a day they are open and decide you want to try it, first step out of the way, when you arrive and it doesn’t seem to matter how early you get there, you will see other people waiting to sign in and get out to the field, first thing to do is get the waiver form and fill it out and return it when you pay the field free and anything else you need, paint, rental gear, all day air.
So now you have your gear and paintballs and are just about ready to go out and play, now if this is your first time it would be a good idea to ask how to operate the paintball markers and have them give you a run down on the safety rules at the field.
Once you are all signed in than the referee will probably start picking people and groups of people along with friends that want to stay on the same team, getting a good amount of people for the field and heading out onto it to begin.
The last time I went we had about 60 people playing in all, and we were split into more manageable groups as the day went on to keep the teams balanced.
If you find yourself early at the field or arriving after some games have started it’s really all the same, you still get to play all you want and if you have questions the staff and even other players are usually quite friendly, so feel free to ask as many questions to make yourself more familiar and comfortable at the field.
Does It Hurt?
So how about getting hit? Have you seen some marks from paintball hits on other people? They look pretty bad, and if you were in some other situation and got hit it would hurt a whole lot more than when you are playing, the truth is, they do hurt, and you will notice getting hit, but the good part is you can thank your own adrenaline for dulling the pain significantly while you play, to simulate how much it will hurt you can compare it to holding a rubber band nice and tight and flicking it against your skin, it stings and hurts.
It’s really not that bad once you get hit the first time and realize, wow…..this wasn’t as bad as it looks.
Good Attitude And Staying Positive
Having a good attitude towards the game and people you play with can really go a long ways in paintball, especially when you plan on returning to the same field to play, you don’t want to be the person other players avoid when you go out, playing alone isn’t nearly as fun as having either some friends to play with or meeting some good people on the field and chatting with them after each game out how each round went.
I know a couple times I got hit square in the mask by another player that was much faster than I was when peeking around a corner and he got me well before I was able to even shoot at him, after I called out and walked off I wasn’t angry or mad that he got me first, I was more interested in what he was doing and tried to watch him the rest of the match so maybe I can win the next time and not make the same mistakes, once I saw him after the game I walked over with the large paintball splatter on my mask and told him that was a nice shot and introduced myself and continued to have a good time, and remember, in the end it’s a game everyone there is just trying to have some fun.
Listening And Following Rules
Very important to follow the rules when you play paintball, it’s a very fun and fast paced sport that has paintball flying around anywhere from 280 FPS to 300 FPS, you can and eventually with get hit everywhere, lol, only a matter of time.
But with proper safety you will always be back on the field with no problems and no permanent injuries.
Masks are your number one protection from paintballs, as the body can repair itself after hits in about a week, but if you get hit in the ear or eyes because you didn’t follow the rules and keep your mask on while on the field, well that isn’t really something you fully recover from.
So follow the rules, most important ones are keep your barrel plug on when you are outside the paintball field, and keep your mask on anytime you enter the field, some fields only allow you to remove your mask when the referee’s say so, and it is very important to listen and not remove your mask no matter how warm it is inside it.
Follow the simple rules and you along with everyone else will have a much better time on and off the field.
