Martin and Paintball


February 1996
Congrats! I can't believe you are actually curious about me and paintball.

In any case, I had no idea what paintball was until my sophomore year in college when my friend just invited me to go paintballing at an indoor place near Berkeley. I said, sure, why not, since many of my friends were going.

I really didn't know what paintball was about, and I suppose as a newbie, I worried about being hit, and things like that.

But as things turned out, as the night progressed, I started enjoying myself! I started thinking about strategies, better ways to shoot people, etc.

However, though I enjoyed myself playing paintball, I found the sport rather expensive, and I had difficulty gathering friends to play with me. So I played sparingly indoor for many years.

It wasn't until only recently that I started getting more into paintball.

About a year ago, I played in a large newbie game with friends (outdoor for the first time. Organized by my friend Stephen). Once again I thoroughly enjoyed myself (playing with friends made it even more fun). This time however, I decided to do things differently. One of my problems was finding a group of friends, ready to go do battle on a moments notice.

So with a few friends such as Nick, and Emin, we started a very small paintball mailing list. I knew there were many other people all throughout the Bay Area interested in Paintball as well, so I decided to advertise a bit, first to my friends and acquaintances.

Two key people I met were Steve an avid and enthusiastic paintball player, who took over the task of maintaining the paintball lists, and Richard, President of the Recreational Paintball Organization, the Gators .

Together, we increased the size of paintball mailing list (the low traffic events list as well as the high traffic discussion list (Mail paintball-discussion-request@uclink.berkeley.edu to join!)), and planned multiple events with fellow Bay Area Paintball Players.

With the growth of Bay Area Paintball, I decided to create this home page as well, as an information repository and resource for Bay Area players. With great leadership, we plan to make the Bay Area a great and fun place to play paintball, and to encourage this sport that we love. Of course, we always need enthusiastic helpful people out there! Mail Richard , Ken , or Steve .

All the paintball events so far have been really fun, and I've met great friends and acquaintances there. As for the money problem, I started working in Silicon Valley two years ago so I had more money to spend. 8-) I finally gave in and bought myself a Spyder Deluxe (with built-in expansion chamber), 200 Loader, 9 oz tank, two guppies, JT Spectra, camo clothes,etc. from Ricky who I play with every so often. I really like this gun at this moment, and I refuse to spend money on a more expensive gun until I find myself getting better. Because right now, I consider myself a beginner, and I want to improve.

So lets play ball and have some fun! Happy Paintballing everyone!

July 1996 Update
My Spyder is now almost tricked out:
Recently, I have been playing quite often and am looking forward to my first Rookie tournament in Vallejo. Wish me luck!
January 1998 Update
All good things must come to an end. I have not played paintball for over a year now, my Spyder sits in my room, not seeing any action. I wanted to try saving more money, and other things started taking up my time. I still update the Bay Area Paintball Page, and I still like the sport, but I decided to stay away from it for a while.

But one day, who knows... You'll see me out there again with my Spyder, Viewloader 2000, JT Spectra, camo, teaming together with a few old buddies poised to take the flag against an evenly matched team.

May your paintball days be long, prosperous, and splat-filled (on your opponent, of course).

Martin's Favorite Paintball Variations




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