Good fields in Ft Lauderdale Area ???

[rbreding]

Planning a trip to Ft Lauderdale, FL starting on Saturday for 9 days and wanted to take the gear with me to get away from the fam for a little. What good/decent fields are there in that area ? Any web addresses for those fields ?

Thanks all.

[SlipknotX556]

Hmm well I dont think their is one in Fort. But their is one with in like an hour of their. Like orlando, or something.

[kutter]

Actually there are several fields in south florida, four that I can think of off the top of my head. I will go from the closet to the farthest from Lauderdale.

1. Boomers in Dania Beach. This is a big complex with go-carts, a roller coaster, video games and other stuff, but tucked in the back is a super airball field. I have never played there, but it looks good if you like speedball.

2. Ruff & Tuff in Opa Locka. This field is stuck in the middle of town and a little difficult to locate if you do not know where you are going. They have 2 good speedball fields, and one pretty good wooded field, although its not too big. Several tournament teams practice there, including the Royal Rat Rangers, Maurice Gibbs team. The field is owned by Pete Boffill (I think that is how his name is spelled) who I think plays for one of the pro teams. This field plays fairly high intense recball, certainly the most high intense in south florida. It is sometimes difficult to play as a walk on however since the tournament teams monopolize the fields for practice, it is for that reason that I seldom play there even though it is very convenient and a nice facility. As a caviat, they are not terribly strict about there safety issues which also worries me some.

3. Strikeforce in southwest Miami-Dade county. Contrary to some rumors flying around this field is open and doing fine. It is out in the boonies some but is worth the drive. They are very friendly and have good prices. Whenever I play there I am always amazed at how nice the staff is. There safety issues are top notch while somehow not seeming obsessive. The only thing I can say that is not good about the field is the ground. Its sand with lots of small limestone rocks, its very hard on pants so bring your knee pads. But that does not stop me from playing there even if it is a fairly long way.

4. Mikes Paintball in West Palm Beach. This is probably my favorite field in south florida. Pretty good fields, some of which are what I like to call a Maxi-Speedball field Very friendly people with excellent safety observations. There are 2 things that I especially like about this field. One is that normally the back hyperball field is played on mostly by experienced players. The refs seem to steer the first timers away from the more experienced players in the back as to not ruin the experience, for both parties I firmly believe. The other is the nice soft sand that makes up the fields. While it can be hard on equipment, its easy on the body I never dove into a bunker before Mikes.

There are some other ones a little further north I believe in Jupiter but that is quite a ways from Broward County.

Hope it helps. If you would like any more info you can just e-mail me.

Here are the links to Strikeforce and Mike's. I do not know if Ruff & Tuff has a webpage but if you call Commander Mo's they will be able to give you the field info.

[J]

I play at Mikes's, pretty good all around, in fact I was there the past two weeks. While it was kind of getting slummy, it's getting better. That's really the only place I know, everything else is too far.