The sport of paintball was developed back in the 1980’s. Paintball is a low-contact sport in which players eliminate opponents by hitting them with dye-filled balls shot from a nitrogen powered gun. There are several different ways to structure a game, some of which are capture the flag, elimination and ammunition limits. Paintball fields vary from indoor to outdoor venues.

The paintball club is a school-funded organization. They gather once a week for a meeting and practice. The club competes in four tournaments throughout the Midwest through the NCPA (National Collegiate Paintball Association). On April 13-15, the club will travel to Kissimmee, Florida for nationals. The paintball club itself has its own officials like president, vice president and treasurer. They practice in Williams Fieldhouse after hours from 10 to midnight once a week and setup their own inflatable bunkers to play with. In tournaments they play best 2 out of 3.

“Points have a time limit of five minutes and points do not usually take that long,” Paintball club organization officer and sophomore animal science major Dylan McClain said. Their markers are limited to 300 FPS (feet per second) and 10.5 BPS (balls per second) and these are both NCPA and pro-regulated rules.

Platteville has had a very successful program for many years. The paintball club competes to win and gives it their all at every tournament.

The team lets their abilities, teamwork and record speak for how well they can compete against other teams. Last year they came away from all four of their tournaments with a win and at nationals they came home with a national championship in class AA.

Last year they came away from all four of their tournaments with a win and at nationals they came home with a national championship in class AA.

With paintball being a team sport, the individual player statistics that are recorded are a little different than your average baseball or basketball stats.

“When looking at stats for a paintball player, usually you’ll need to look at pro players. Here at Platteville we really work on teamwork, paintball is such a team-oriented sport because if one guy gets shot out the entire team must adjust so it doesn’t leave a gap or a lane not being shot. As a team we try and be very cohesive. We talk to each on and off the field and this helps everyone know what people are thinking when they are out on the field in a high-intensity situation,” McClain said.

Anybody who is interested in becoming a player on the team can get in touch with one of the officers or president John Larkin to get more information. The club does not require any experience and will accommodate to any kind of player.