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The Winter Paintball Brawl at Paintball Encounters on the outskirts of Thunder Bay saw four teams of five unleashing hails of paint-filled projectiles at each other from behind wooden cover placements in a close-quarters match known as “speedball.” Although the sport of paintball tends to call to mind survivalists in camo gear, Rose Drewek, who with her husband Dan owns and operates Paintball Encounters, is quick to explain that this is simply not the case. “It‘s a good stress reliever,” Drewek said. “We have executives, we have doctors, we have lawyers – we have a real nice cross-section.” Between them, the Dreweks have more than 30 years of experience with paintball. Paintball Encounters has been in business since 1993. Among the teams competing Sunday was Dementia, a group which has had its paint-splattered skull logo registered as a trademark. “I‘ve always been intrigued by (paintball), but then a buddy of mine bought some guns and I tried them out and I thought ’this is awesome – I just want to do this all the time,‘” said Dementia team captain Tony Gallo. Dementia came in third in the tournament, but that did little to dampen the team‘s enthusiasm. “I just love the game,” said Pendragon team member and temporary Dementia team add-on Jeff McAllister. Although the competitors downplay any similarities between paintball and actual firearms – none of the Dementia members have ever owned a gun, and many have never even fired one – the paint “ammunition” can still pack quite a wallop. A good paintball gun (or marker) can fire quickly enough to empty a 180-ball reservoir in about 12 seconds, and a direct hit on lightly-covered skin can easily raise a welt. The Dreweks designed a lightweight padded vest to help paintballers avoid getting stung by hits, but not everyone has adopted the safety measure. “We don‘t wear that vest . . . that‘s for wusses,” said Gallo. More information about Paintball Encounters can be found online at www.PaintballEncounters.com. Top of Page |
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September 2, 2010, 8:22 am |