Paintball

-Hannah Comstock

Gun in hand, junior Mason Gossett runs to hide behind the air ball. His opponents, equally well equipped, fail to keep Mason in sight. Being as stealthy as possible, Mason scans the field, sees an opportunity and pulls the trigger. In a matter of seconds, he has shot his opponent in the chest, neck and leg—but it's not what you think.

In a “friendly” match of paintball, Mason is given the ability to shoot whomever, whenever he chooses. After playing for four years, Mason became somewhat of a seasoned pro.

“I went to [paintball] birthday parties when I was in seventh grade,” Mason said. “I started playing after that.”

With the sound of a horn, the game begins. Similar to Capture the Flag, the objective of paintball is to get the flag and hang it on the other team’s base. Throughout the 20 to 30 minutes of a game, players are “marked’ by paintballs, showing their elimination from that round. In tournament paintball, both sides are exactly mirrored and it's usually air ball.      

The game itself involves a lot of practice before going on the playing field.

“There were five tournaments a year that we played in,” Mason said. “Basically every Sunday we would practice together—a little more than a month went into practice before each tournament. We would practice in Houston and Dallas, but mostly San Antonio. My teammates were from Austin, San Antonio, Corpus, Phoenix, and Houston. We all kind of met from being at tournaments together.”

Some say paintball is similar to a game of chess, as it involves a lot of strategizing as well as pre-game planning.

“You plan everything out before you play the actual game, like where you’re going to shoot and where you’re going to go,” Mason said. “The rest is kind of instinct.”

With five different divisions in paintball, the range of competition varies—with D3 being a player with the “least experience,” D2 being a “novice player,” and D1 being an “amateur player.” These divisions prepare players for Semi-Pro and Pro which are, by far, the most competitive of all.

“Pro is very difficult,” Mason said. “I mostly played D2 but had a chance to be semi-pro. [I didn’t go semi-pro] because baseball came around in school and I got really involved in that. I just stopped paintball and never really picked it back up.”

            Since the sport has been around for 26 years, sponsorships are becoming more common. Some even agreed to support Mason’s team.  

“At a time we were sponsored by National Paintball Supply, Empire, Maximum

Sports and L7," Mason said. “If you do well in tournaments, you’ll get hooked up pretty phat, but you have to wear the clothing they give you. I also had a personal sponsorship and they would give me boxes of clothes.”

Florida, California, New Mexico and North Carolina are just some of the places tournaments are held. Because his sponsors pick up the hotel, car, paint and tournament fees, Mason only has to pay his airfare.

“Orlando was the best [tournament],” Mason said. “World Cup 2007. We didn't win, but we had a lot of fun. We never won any major tournaments, but we won three or four locals. There are some really good teams.”

As of now, paintball may seem like a friendly, all smiles sport. Although it is true that paintball is less dangerous than bowling, it has its “dark side,” if you will.

“Once I accidentally shot someone in the head a couple of times and made them unconscious,” Mason said. “I’ve also made some people cry. But the one guy I really made cry came up to bunker me so I shot him in the neck a lot. He wanted to fight me but everyone was holding him back.”  

For four years, Mason was committed to paintball—as well as making people pass out, traveling countless miles and practicing endless hours. Although he doesn’t play competitively anymore it “left a big paint splatter in his heart.”