RECON Contest: “Why woodsball is special to me”
by Steven M. Williams AKA Animal Mother on Nov 23, 2008
As I sit down to write this, I feel the excitement growing inside me. The flood of memories and thoughts about past and future paintball battles, makes the hair the back of my neck stand up. I realize that there are a lot of extreme sports out there these days, but I find it hard to imagine that any of them can get my blood pumping as fast as a 68 caliber paintball does, whizzing by my mask. Now I’m not just talking about any kind of paintball, I’m talking woods paintball. For me, woods paintball has taken on a special meaning. It relieves tension, strengthens muscles, and builds bonds. By now you are probably saying “This guy is crazy”...but let’s take a second look at that statement. What is crazy? Is it crazy to look for Honor, Respect, Courage, Fair Play, and Good Sportsmanship? Do any of these words sound strange to you? If you’re as committed to woods paintball as I am, then you probably hear these same words each time you get together for a good game among friends.
It doesn’t seem to matter where you go, whether it’s a buddies backyard, or another country, woodsballers are a unique breed of sportsman. I’m not knocking other types of paintball, but woodsballers seem to be carved from a different mountain. For us, pump guns, blowbacks, semi autos, and CO2 are staples. We embrace the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” philosophy. We wear old school woodland camo uniforms, and tend to be a bit on the gear intensive side. Anyone who knows me can tell you that the gadgets are one of my greatest joys. I love all the bells and whistles on my paintball gun.
Yes folks, that’s right, I’m one of those guys with the five pounds of extra junk hanging off his gun. Sure those grips, rails, scopes, and stocks don’t make it shoot any straighter, faster, or more consistently, but they do give me a grin from ear to ear, when I unveil my monster marker in the staging area. Gearing up takes on a Zen like mood. Each buckle is fastened, every strap tightened, the red dot sight is powered up, adrenaline starts to pump, and the brain is switched into high gear.
I love the crackle of my radio right before a game starts, the chatter in my headset from teammates brings on yet another level of enjoyment. It’s go time, the referees whistle is our call to arms. With a shrill blast from his Fox 40, we are off and running. A hail of paint awaits us, but that’s fine, if we get eliminated, it’s just a short walk to the safety zone, and another game will commence in a mere thirty minutes. Some of the old timers like myself hang back just a bit. We know from experience that the newer players will be crawling all over the bunkers; like the ants that ravaged my poor peanut butter and jelly sandwich, that fell out of my huge gear bag next to my car. I normally wouldn’t be so careless with food, but a new player needed an O ring right before the start of this game, and as any good ambassador to our sport, I knew this was the perfect opportunity to lend a hand to a fellow paintballer in need. Man, I could really use that protein right now.
As the hard chargers get taken out, the old guys spring into action. The hunt is on, and the seasoned players on the opposing team are just as keen. Here is where we start to separate the men from the boys. Squad tactics are key, and a good captain can see the enemy’s weaknesses and capitalize on them. There’s still plenty of shooting, shouting, and surrenders going on, but it’s all business. Leap frogs and fields of fire. Bunker slides and flag pulls are the catch phrases of the day. The clock runs down, the “pock pock” sound of twenty something paintball guns becomes more intense, and before you know it, the Ref says “Game Over”. I didn’t get the flag, but that’s OK by me. A little boy and his dad grabbed it, I covered their escape while they ran back to our base, to hang it up for the win. Sure I would have liked some of the glory, but hey, it’s paintball, woods paintball, my favorite sport, and another game will be starting in a few minutes. Just enough time to find that other PB&J sandwich, chug some water, and refill my pods.