As I am looking around the sea of smiling faces
and taking pictures and gathering stories,
something just felt off. Then I saw it. Things
aren’t the same. People were social distancing,
which is a good thing obviously but still, it
completely changed the vibe of the day. Now
on the field, play was pretty much the same
but in the staging area… completely different
story. Players were not sharing food or hugging.
Gear was spread out on picnic tables instead
of sharing with teammates. The smack talk
was still there but it was limited. People were
just too far apart. It felt forced and unnatural.
The staging area just seemed quiet. The more
I looked, the more these differences became
apparent. Now please don’t get me wrong,
everyone was having a fantastic time. Being
free from the lock downs and able to run in
the woods. To be the animals mother nature
originally intended us to be. It was amazing.
If you are a true paintball player though,
you know that half the appeal of paintball is
the comradery that happens in the staging
area. It is why the game is considered more
like tag despite the markers in our hands.
Our opponents are some of our best friends
regardless of the colour of the tape on our
arm. When the horns sound, or the whistle
blows and those masks come up… everyone
on the field is family. I don’t care if it is 10
players or 1000 players playing. Family. Period.
So, to see the effects that social distancing was
having on my family, was a little depressing. I
mentioned this to someone I had met that day
and he turned to me, looked me in the eye and
said “Dude, you think to much. Tell you what,
put down that camera, come out and play. I’ll
shoot you in the face and everything will feel
exactly the way it used to.” And we laughed. It
was right at that moment that I realized that
paintball is safe. It is not going anywhere. Sure
a few months being locked away in our homes
with the threat of this pandemic had gotten to
all of us but paintballers are paintballers. We do
not exactly scare easy. We are social distancing
to get through this and keep being allowed to
play but that has not changed who we are. Stay
safe out there as this will all be over soon.
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paintball.media magazine