Paintball Magazine Paintball Media Magazine April 2016 | Page 96

…CALL SIGN BANE. He is sponsored by GI Sportz, but exclusively uses Tippmann products. Usually we would interview said players (and someday we will), but for now we’re just going to take a look at him as a player and his history. He is my husband, so I can basically recite this from my heart. Lucky him! Bane started playing when he was in middle school, very young. He started off with a gun many new players do, the Tippmann 98 Custom. He still owns this gun and lends it out to new players and players that need a gun for a game. He fell in love with the company and their products the first time he shot that gun, and the rest was history. Bane started off in Iowa, where there is not much to do paintball-wise. So he improvised, and made his own field in the woods behind his house for him, his family, and his friends to play on whenever they wanted. He spent countless hours and days working on that field and changing it up. Friends of friends would bring people to the field to play and have a good time at his homemade tournaments he put on. He is actually the reason I am where I am today. He bought me my first camera to take pictures of the field, the players, and the events he put on with his team “21st Recon”. Even before Bane knew anyone in the paintball industry, he was selling and fixing products for them. Especially Tippmann. Starting from when he was in middle school, he would talk people into buying Tippmann markers to come play with him. He was also the designated guy to take your marker to if you were having problems with it, and he would take it apart, find the problem and fix it and love every minute of it. About 2 years ago, we moved to Texas where there was better opportunities job wise, as well as paintball. Even now, Bane is always telling people 096 paintball.media magazine