Paintball, Sport or Hobby?

[swat150]

Couple of days ago my friend emailed me saying that paintball is indeed a hobby since they sell it in the hobby shop. After hearing this I told him that his way of logic was rather poor meaning, and if indeed i was to use his logic i could easily classify paintball as a sport since they sell it in spporting goods in wallmart lol. So he went to dictionary.com this is what he found

Hobby: An activity or interest pursued outside one's regular occupation and engaged in primarily for pleasure

Sport: Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively

Now my reason of saying Paintball is a sport is this: Paintball can indeed be a occupation. While a hobby says its pursued out side of one.

So give me your 2 cents.

[shartley]

It is a sport.

It is also a hobby.

It is also an occupation.

It all depends on who you are talking to, and their involvement in the “activity”. ;)

[-=Squid=-]

According to the definitions of the said choices, its all of the above. It just depends on you want to play. You prefer rec? I would say its a hobby (playing that is) You play speedball? Its more of a sport. Its all how YOU want to interpret it. You make it what you want it to be.

[ezrunner]

All three, I have to agree.

You can play it just for fun,
you can play it on the run,

you can play when its cold,
you can play if you're old,

money from it can be made,
working at home or in the shade,

businesses rest upon its grace,
all for getting shot in the face.



---

sorry, went a little cat in the hat.

Some people play it as a hobby,

some play it as a sport (tourney ball),

some play it as a job (pro ball).

Even if the pro players are just compensated for their paintball endeavors, then it is a job. Those that make a living in the sport (lasoya, bob long, etc) are using it for their full job.

-rob

[Tobe2be]

Well for some its a way of life. most people revolve their schedule around paintball and others the other way around.

[Jeffy-CanCon]

Does anyone actually make a living out of getting paid to play?

I stopped paying attention to the NPPL a few years ago, but at that point the money was nowhere near enough to live on. Has it really grown that much?

In any case, the fact that paintball can be an occupation does not detract from it being a sport. Think of all the "pro sports" out there: NBA, NHL, MLB, NFL, etc. Likewise, hobbies and sports are not mutually exclusive categories. A sport played for leisure is a hobby.

[Gunga]

Here's one way to look at it.

Playing paintball is a sport. Hmmm...by definition, dodgeball is a sport too. I miss dodgeball!:D

Okay...back on track. Paintball is a sport. However, a common paintball related 'mental condition', often refered to as 'gun whoring' is a hobby. :p ;)

[WARPED1]

PB at this point is a game. Until there's a universal set of rules, a paid core of professional refs with no ties to any team or organization, and more sportsmanlike "pros", we will never be a sport. And we are not an extreme sport, nor should we aim to be one. Extreme sports are cool, but the general public views them as a waste of time.

[gibby]

Originally posted by WARPED1
...Extreme sports are cool, but the general public views them as a waste of time.
Interesting...I wouldn't call it a waste of time. The general public does enjoy watching extreme sports. The only thing is, most of the spectators sees such sports as things they could never get into cause "they're too old" or "those are only for professionals" etc. Paintball can become mainstream in time. But people need to realize that paintball can be a sport or a hobby no matter how old you are. For me, a sport is something you do if you want to be physically challanged which can be competative too. A hobby can be a sport too...but like Gunga said, collecting guns can be an addicting hobby. Almost like collecting stamps but better! :D

[Jeffy-CanCon]

Originally posted by WARPED1
PB at this point is a game. Until there's a universal set of rules, a paid core of professional refs with no ties to any team or organization, and more sportsmanlike "pros", we will never be a sport. And we are not an extreme sport, nor should we aim to be one. Extreme sports are cool, but the general public views them as a waste of time.

I don't have much respect for pro paintball, but your arguments against considering it a sport are facetious. Baseball doesn't have a single universal set of rules (think NL vs AL, and DH's). Neither does hockey (NHL vs Olympic vs peewee) or football (NFL, XFL, CFL, College). Aren't they sports? In each case, there are paid referees, but they all have ties to an organisation (the league). The presence of rules variations among leagues doesn't disqualify something as a sport. Neither is professional refereeing a requirement. What about Little League, or HS sports and volunteer referees?

Paintball would benefit from more generally accepted rules, and from less biased refereeing at higher levels. Possibly from less direct sponsor involvement, as well. But by the definition swat150 pulled off dictionary.com, paintball is indeed a sport. Even the way I play it. ;)

[Eagle]

I've had this conversation with my coworkers many times. Invariably it's a matter of whether you play or not. No one who plays thinks it's a hobby or game. For those who do play it's always a sport.

[MayAMonkeyBeYourPinata]

Originally posted by Jeffy-CanCon
Does anyone actually make a living out of getting paid to play?

I stopped paying attention to the NPPL a few years ago, but at that point the money was nowhere near enough to live on. Has it really grown that much?

In any case, the fact that paintball can be an occupation does not detract from it being a sport. Think of all the "pro sports" out there: NBA, NHL, MLB, NFL, etc. Likewise, hobbies and sports are not mutually exclusive categories. A sport played for leisure is a hobby.

Qoute very very few tourney ballers could make a decent living just playing. But they get jobs inside the company so thats how it is a job.

its a hobby when you play rec and a sport when you are playing tournies, although unbiased reffing, and a universal set of rules.

They really should have a tourny reffing certification clinic.
It wouldn't help alot, but it good create better reffing