This was my first time EVER paintballing and I LOVED IT! I cannot wait until my kids are older and we can go play paintball as a family, I am pretty sure it will be awesome. When people say that paintballs hurt.....they aren't kidding. Getting shot by the teeny tiny paint pellets hurts like a mother! It is true that you are sporting protective gear, but it certainly isn't totally protective. Despite the pain you experience when you get hit, I swear it is so much fun running, diving and hiding. I went and played paintball with the youth group from our church in the woods in the rain. Truthfully, I felt pretty hard core despite a total lack of experience shooting a gun of any sort. I also gained a deeper appreciation for our servicemen and women who have served active duty as I was scared to death shooting a paintball gun and a lot more scared about getting shot by one, I can't imagine if it was a real gun.
First blood for me was right in the side of the face and certainly brought tears to my eyes.
Our lovely youth group.
Showing our wounds. As a youth group we only had 1 round of ammunition that we had to use for all the rounds of the game unless we wanted to buy more with our own monies, which we didn't, so we spent as much free time scavenging spilled paint pellets in the woods as possible.
Discussing our adventure round 1.
Ouch!
No one has ever said that paintball is for wimps. I was covered in big bruises and they hurt but they were totally worth it.
When you play paintball you have different rounds and different missions. For our third mission we had to attack a fort and raise the flag to the top without being shot by the people guarding the fort. Well, I am proud to say that I used my sneaky Ninja like skills to get in there and raise the flag winning points for my team and landing my name on the leader board. I was super excited about this as a first timer up against a much more experienced team.
In the end our team lost miserably as different members sat out certain rounds and our numbers dwindled. I will say that this certainly was a memorable experience and I am really glad that I went and played and had some good laughs with the youth, who are pretty darn awesome. If you have never played paintball before I say to give it a go. I could see paintball as being something that work groups do because you work together and develop strategies and put them into action, so I see it as a great team building activity. Personally I see it as a fun family activity in about 8 years :)
