ManInBlack
09-14-2009, 02:33 PM
Long story here, so bear with me. Back when I was in college (IUP), 9 or 10 years ago, a friend of mine thought it would be a good idea to start up a paintball club. His grades weren't quite good enough to do it though, so he asked me if I would start it up. Being into paintball (and having just got my first mag :) ) I said sure. The college started us off with a budget of about $150, initial membership hung around 5-7, and not much really ever happened with the group. We tried recruiting in the common areas of the campus, and got a lot on initial interest but very few people who would actually follow through and play. I was having a hard time making something of it as I was getting into the thick of my education, working 25 hours per week, and doing 800 hours of practical experience per semester. Unfortunately I had to give it up and the IUP Paintball club languished for a while. Big regret. Every once in a while I would hear something about the club playing here or there and I was honestly surprised it was still around.
Fast forward to a few days ago. I was on MCB and randomly decided to check out the regional sub-forum for S's and G's. Low and behold there is a game scheduled for this weekend. And it's 10 minutes from my house. And it's hosted by the IUP paintball club!
So I contact the game organizer (and club advisor). He's infamoussmiley on most of the forums. Smiley (and quite a few others, I imagine) has kept the club going for years and turned it into something to be proud of. When I showed up for the game they had a full compliment of rental guns and equipment, a bunch of dedicated members, and a real knack for teaching new players the game.
Most people were using tippmans, Smiley had some ancient brass thing, and the like. I got quite a few comments about the warped Classic RT I brought ("I haven't seen one of those in years" "what is that thing?" "How much does that weigh?"), and yes one person asked if my regular mag was a spyder :rolleyes: Strangely, there was one guy there with a warped classic mag. Neither one of us expected to see another mag there.
Bruiser
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/CrashInBlack/Paintball/th_DSCF1983.jpg (http://s121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/CrashInBlack/Paintball/?action=view¤t=DSCF1983.jpg)
One of the guys asked a buddy of mine if he could borrow a HPA tank to run his Ion (we were the only people there using HPA). As he was screwing the tank in I asked him if he ever had any problems with it not working. He said nope, never.... and then it wouldn't fire. I gave him my classic mag to use and he loved it!
All in all the group was very mature and very fun to play with. I'm going to be sore all week from playing for 6 or so hours with a bunch of 19 year olds, but I'm just so relieved that the club is doing so well, especially since I wasn't able to do much with it myself. Anyhow, there's my story, thanks for listening. :)
Fast forward to a few days ago. I was on MCB and randomly decided to check out the regional sub-forum for S's and G's. Low and behold there is a game scheduled for this weekend. And it's 10 minutes from my house. And it's hosted by the IUP paintball club!
So I contact the game organizer (and club advisor). He's infamoussmiley on most of the forums. Smiley (and quite a few others, I imagine) has kept the club going for years and turned it into something to be proud of. When I showed up for the game they had a full compliment of rental guns and equipment, a bunch of dedicated members, and a real knack for teaching new players the game.
Most people were using tippmans, Smiley had some ancient brass thing, and the like. I got quite a few comments about the warped Classic RT I brought ("I haven't seen one of those in years" "what is that thing?" "How much does that weigh?"), and yes one person asked if my regular mag was a spyder :rolleyes: Strangely, there was one guy there with a warped classic mag. Neither one of us expected to see another mag there.
Bruiser
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/CrashInBlack/Paintball/th_DSCF1983.jpg (http://s121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/CrashInBlack/Paintball/?action=view¤t=DSCF1983.jpg)
One of the guys asked a buddy of mine if he could borrow a HPA tank to run his Ion (we were the only people there using HPA). As he was screwing the tank in I asked him if he ever had any problems with it not working. He said nope, never.... and then it wouldn't fire. I gave him my classic mag to use and he loved it!
All in all the group was very mature and very fun to play with. I'm going to be sore all week from playing for 6 or so hours with a bunch of 19 year olds, but I'm just so relieved that the club is doing so well, especially since I wasn't able to do much with it myself. Anyhow, there's my story, thanks for listening. :)