The SaddleBrooke Adventure Club enjoys an afternoon of paintball.
Twenty three members of the SaddleBrooke Adventure Club took an afternoon trip to the local Tucson area paintball field known as Disruptive Paintball. This is the club’s third annual outing to the field and has proven to be one of the club’s most popular Adventures. Disruptive Paintball is an expansive area with six different fields of play, most approximately equal to half a football field in size. The five fields that the Adventurers played on are known as the Spool Field, Wall Field, Drum Field, Helicopter Field and Cowboy Town. They are named for their numerous structures within the boundaries of the field.
The Adventurers divided into two teams for the three hours of competition-The Pink Panthers led by Panther Lead Bob Shea and the Yellow Canaries led by Canary One Steve White. The teams were named for the color of their arm bands which were the only means of determining friend or foe. All participants wore heavy protective clothing and full helmets with goggles while on the various fields of play. When it comes to playing this type of game, it is important that all of the participants wear their paintball armor to ensure that they are kept safe and protected at all times. This will help them to have more fun in the process and to give them the best chance of winning the game. The paintball guns, known as markers, can propel the little paintballs at over 200 mph and can cause some discomfort if players are not well protected. You can learn more about paintball guns on the propaintball website. Paintball is a hugely popular activity and party idea all over the world. Furthermore, it is thought that paintball for a stag do is a great idea.
Each game lasted approximately 15 minutes followed by a rest period used to reload and air up the markers, cleanup paint from helmets, hydrate and restrategize. The Panthers jumped to an early lead eliminating all of the Canaries in the first two rounds of play. The Canaries then regrouped and came out strong for the third round of play on the Wall Field. They captured the flag on both rounds of play and tied the score 2 to 2. The next game was played on the Helicopter Field (named for two Army surplus helicopters that are part of the field). The teams both had two players remaining at the end of the time period; therefore, a draw was declared. The players then moved to the largest of the fields named Cowboy Town. The object of this round of play was to find a hidden flag and then move it to the opposition’s home base. By this time all players were fairly skilled with the paintball Markers and the paint was flying in all directions. Each Marker can fire 11 rounds per second and holds approximately 150 paintballs; therefore, 23 players can pump out a lot of paint in a very short period of time. The Panthers were again declared winners as they had all of the Canaries pinned down under their home tower unable to move.
The afternoon ended with a final game on the Spool Field and again the Panthers eliminated all of the Canaries in the required time of play.
For more information on SaddleBrooke Adventure Club Activities please email Len Kershaw at [email protected]. v