Paintball - bringing out the combat fighter in me.
I will say that paintball is obviously not for everyone.
The wife of John's friend organized the paintball for her husband's birthday.
Our group was small so I could not imagine if we had more people. After suiting up I was primed to take action. It is fascinating how an activity like this brings out the fighter in you. Each round was 5 minutes long and after the first one my adrenaline was high. It did cross my mind how thankful I was not to be in the military considering how scary it was to be hit by a paintball.
As one of three girls and outnumbered by the boys it seemed like we had to prove our strength and capabilities to them. After one round of boys versus girls we were triumphant and I know they were startled to the point of seeking retribution. This is when tension began to escalate and I witnessed more aggression from the guys.
The rules of paintball are that if you run out of ammo you raise your arms to exit the 'battle grounds' and no one is to shoot at you. If you are 5 yards from the opponent they are supposed to surrender and retreat. No shooting at the face or 10 yards from the opponent. The team who has the last man standing is victorious.
I found myself crawling and tumbling to areas protected by cushioned barriers. I did get shot at while I clearly surrendered, shot in the face and even while I was walking out of the room and I noticed my hostility was on the rise. I realized that in the moments of combat our ability to remember the rules were hard to control.
In the end we all apologized for the mishaps and compared our battle wounds. I had a nice welt on my neck, which luckily did not bruise. On the other hand I did get a beautiful purple tattoo on the back of my arm for a couple days. John had two big marks on his chest even after wearing the chest protector!
The wife of John's friend organized the paintball for her husband's birthday.
Our group was small so I could not imagine if we had more people. After suiting up I was primed to take action. It is fascinating how an activity like this brings out the fighter in you. Each round was 5 minutes long and after the first one my adrenaline was high. It did cross my mind how thankful I was not to be in the military considering how scary it was to be hit by a paintball.
As one of three girls and outnumbered by the boys it seemed like we had to prove our strength and capabilities to them. After one round of boys versus girls we were triumphant and I know they were startled to the point of seeking retribution. This is when tension began to escalate and I witnessed more aggression from the guys.
The rules of paintball are that if you run out of ammo you raise your arms to exit the 'battle grounds' and no one is to shoot at you. If you are 5 yards from the opponent they are supposed to surrender and retreat. No shooting at the face or 10 yards from the opponent. The team who has the last man standing is victorious.
I found myself crawling and tumbling to areas protected by cushioned barriers. I did get shot at while I clearly surrendered, shot in the face and even while I was walking out of the room and I noticed my hostility was on the rise. I realized that in the moments of combat our ability to remember the rules were hard to control.
In the end we all apologized for the mishaps and compared our battle wounds. I had a nice welt on my neck, which luckily did not bruise. On the other hand I did get a beautiful purple tattoo on the back of my arm for a couple days. John had two big marks on his chest even after wearing the chest protector!
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