Establishing Paintball Club at my College

[Mango]

Hi,

I know that lots of people are on paintball teams with thier local colleges, well, I want to try to establish one at my college. No one has, and there are lots of people interested in paintball at my school. So, anyone know of any really good information to help me see if its worth it to try or not? I already brought it up to my schools SGA and they gave me some lame excuse about paintball guns not being too Politically Correct and that they are firearms, so students wouldnt be allowed to bring them with them in the dorms. I tried to tell them they are NOT firearms, but it fell upon deaf ears. If i can get them to allow students to bring them, then perhaps i could make the team happen. Im curious how others have overcome this obsticle? Thanks for any info.

[ChloroFiend]

National Collegiate Paintball Association (http://www.college-paintball.com)

That site has some good tips.

As far as paintball guns in dorm rooms....most RA's look the other way...just dont let security see them. I had mine in my dorm room all last year, and most of the guys on the team here do as well.

-Chloro

[thecavemankevin]

more than likely, they would have to keep them locked up at the schools security station or something along those lines. Search this site, i know i have seen threads dealing with this topic

[MantisMag]

not pc? is busta rhymes pc? didn't he do a concert at rowan? stupid sga. get graycie to bring in her hello kitty marker. hahaha. firearms. :p

[Mantis]

Yeah, in my dorms, officially, you were supposed to register your paintball marker as a firearm with public safety and keep it in the firearm/bow storage room, which only the RA's had keys to. This worked out well for a while, when the President of our paintball club was an RA. But after he graduated, the RA's got real sick of opening the room for us, so they start making up false complaints about us until the dorm management said we weren't allowed to store our stuff there anymore (the club owned equipment was there as well).
Oh yeah, the most dangerous part of the paintball equipment, the air tank? That was fine to have in your room.
The only semi-good thing about the whole thing was seeing the look on the public safety officer's face when I told him the caliber of what I was registering...

[MantisMag]

that's an idea. why don't you keep the air tanks locked up? without them the markers are harmless. you don't really mess with your air tank that much anyway so you don't have to bug the RAs all the time.

[theraidenproject]

http://topgunpaintball.com/History_of_Paintball.html

just show this to them. it shows how paintball guns were proved not to be firearms and which is how they were legalized in NJ. Hope it helps.

[FatMan]

Hi, I'm the faculty advisor of a club at Clemson University. We've been going strong for 3 years now.

My first suggestion - find a faculty member who plays and will sponsor you.

Next - gather data on other college clubs. I know that Purdue, UIUC, MS State, Ga Tech, Clemson, and others have clubs. Find out about their rules, regs, safety issues, dues, etc.

At Clemson markers are NOT allowed in dorms. So, it is up to the students to deal with this. Most have friends off campus that store them. We have also worked on setting up a locker area. Clemson has a shooting club as well - real guns! Those guys have the same issues. I would stear clear of rule breaking on this - but as long as you don't break the rules, that is your problem, not the student govt.

Combat the PC argument with hard data pointing out how popular PB is - how safe it is. Check out some of the mags and look for articles at the image of PB. They shouldn't be able to block you on PC aws long as you have a legitimate activity and enough people who want to sign up.

If you like I could put you in touch with some of the guys who got our club going and they might have some other ideas. Also, you might check out the NCPA - a national college league.

You might argue its not PC to DENY a PB
club on bogus grounds!

Finally, don't give up. If they say no, come back the next semester with more data. Keep asking. Argue that having a club will REDUCE the number of outlaw players because they'll have a cheap, easy alternative. You guy HAVE players now, all you want to do is organize them and STRESS SAFETY and SPORTSMANSHIP.

If you do this right they won't be able to say no.

Good luck, and let me know if I can help,

FatMan

[ChloroFiend]

Fatman speaks wisdom. You need to organize yourself. Student government cannot keep you from registering an official student organization...at least not here. Its different departments. Find either a faculty member that plays, or that you know well and will server as an advisor. Set up a club constituion, etc. Get members involved.

Right now is the best time to get everything setup, so come fall, you can advertise the hell out of your club, get lots of new members, then apply for funding. Us, for example....we received $15000 to build and run a field on campus, complete with air fills and rental equip.

-Chloro

[Bob Mundon]

paintball a firearm, think about it. a firearm uses, lets see, fire to drive a projectile at super high speeds, does a paintball use fire, nooooo. do paintballs go at 2500 fps, noooo. do paintballs travel through people and kill them, nooooo.

[ChloroFiend]

Originally posted by Bob Mundon
paintball a firearm, think about it. a firearm uses, lets see, fire to drive a projectile at super high speeds, does a paintball use fire, nooooo. do paintballs go at 2500 fps, noooo. do paintballs travel through people and kill them, nooooo.

Its not that paintball guns are considered firearms, but rather that they are considered air guns. In most schools, air guns are classified as weapons. Weapons are generally banned...even some cooking knifes are classified as a weapon.

-Chloro

[raehl]

OK, first, get your hands on the March Crossfire magazine or the Feb. APG or Jan Paintball Sports International. All have multi-page articles on college paintball teams and the league. Just being able to point out that paintball is a competitive sport at other well-known schools like Purdue, University of Illinois, West Point, etc, will go a long way. I don't know what the particular process for getting a club going at your school is (or even what school you attend), and they vary drastically, *BUT*... just keep in mind that you don't HAVE to be an official club. It's helpful for getting rooms on campus to have meetings and getting access to funding for student organizations, but at the end of the day, a paintball club is a group of people who associate to play paintball. You don't need university approval to do that.

On the marker storage issue... first, paintball markers are *NOT NOT NOT* firearms. Firearms use explosive charges, paintball markers do not. Paintball markers are air guns. Universities have varying policies on paintball markers, and rightly so - you don't want people running around campus or the dorms using them appropriately. First you need to find out what the policy at your school is, then you need to find out how to work within that policy. It will be coverred in your University's code. Even if markers are technically "banned" from campus, a lot of places have a "don't ask, don't tell" type enforcement. Talk to your RA. Usually if you don't keep your marker anywhere people can see it you're fine. Just make sure that if for some reason your room gets searched and they do find a marker they're not going to expel you or something.

There are other solutions. Many schools have facilities to check in equipment like paintball markers that are used by marksmanship/rifle clubs and could be used by you. Your university police department may be willing to hold onto them for you. You cna keep them at apartments of club members living off campus. If oyu have a local field or store, you can ask if you can keep your equipment there. Establishing relationships with local paintball buisinesses is key to the success of any club, and will really pay off in the benifits you receive - better service, lower pricing, etc.

And lastly, if oyur student organization formation and funding process is student controlled, you're really in a good position: Get the people in the student government out to some paintball outings, and/or get your friends who are friendly to paintball elected to the government. Most people don't take student government very seriously, so if oyu can get a core of people who like paintball to vote in people who like paintball, you can significantly impact your ability to get funding.

Also don't be afraid to work "backwards" - start the club unofficially and get some members, then come back to the student government and say "Hey, we already have 50 members, we should be a club." The reality of the situation is that there is most likely a procedure for forming a club written down somewhere, and if you follow that procedure, they'll pretty much have to let you have the club anyway.

If I can be of any help to you, feel free to drop me an email. Your best bet is to hit the forums over at www.college-paintball.com though, as you can get a much wider array of help there.

Thanks,
Chris

[raehl]

www.collegelist.college-paintball.com

That's pretty much all the college clubs we know about. Maybe you can find one in your area to help you out on a more local level.

Thanks,
Chris

[Mango]

WOW!! Thank you for the great responses!!! I had no idea that the president of the NCPA was on this forum. LOL!!!!!!! Sheesh, what better a way to get an answer. Monday I will meet with the president of my schools SGA and discuss the procedure with them, and yes, everything that effects school clubs at my college (Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ) is student controlled, and Im already organizing my second paintball trip, sponsored by my Rec Centers "Outdoor Adventure Club." So Im gonna offer the SGA president a free ride to see what its about, although were going to play woods ball :( so they wont get to see what REAL tourny ball is like. But it will have to suffice.

[raehl]

Woodsball is probably better. You want them to have fun, and if they havn't played before, they're not likely to have fun getting their *** handed to them on a speedball field, heh.

As for NCPA Pres on this forum... I'm here every now and again, I do own an E-Mag. Most of the time if someone mentions college or high school paintball I hear about it in pretty short order though, we have lots of eyes and ears around. ;) I'm always on the NCPA forum at www.college-paintball.com.

- Chris