About 6 Months to Go...Better Start Preparing...

[mjs1217]

Okay, here's the deal. I am currently in 8th grade and am 14 years old. I have been playing paintball for about 5 years, ever since my first game with my older brother and his friends. However, please don't view me like the negitive stereotype of the 12-14 year old paintball player, because I am not. I always play safely, and play at legitimite fields whenever possible.

Anyway, next year is my first year in High School. And, I'm lucky enough to be going to the brand new High School here (opens next year). This is where it gets interesting. The principal and guidence counselers were at my school today to give a presentation to persuade us to go to the new school. The principal mentioned that they will be considering ideas for extracuriccular clubs that are submitted from students, reguardless of grade.

The first thing that popped into my mind is a Paintball Club. Lots of people here play paintball, and this club would encourage them to play safe (which most people currently do not) and, if I'm lucky, persuade them to stop going to outlaw fields and start going to the one legit field that we have here.

The hard part is going to be convincing the school to allow me to do it. That is why I have made this thread. I know that more and more colleges have Paintball clubs/teams, but I was wondering: Does anyone know of any High Schools that have a Paintball Club/Team? Also, please give me some points to use to help me persuade the principal to allow me to make this club. I'm not sure what he knows/thinks about paintball, but for the sake of being prepared, let's assume that he thinks it is fairly dangerous and unsafe.

Also, if any of you are in a school-endorsed paintball club, give me some info on it! Other than the fact that I will be accepting the liability of someone possibly getting hurt, I know almost nothing about being the president of a Paintball Club...or any club for that matter.

So, please help! I really want this club to work. And yes, I know I have a good 5 months to think about this, but I'm hoping to be ready to ask him slightly before the school year begins. This principal is very nice and very personal with his students (I know this because he used to be the principal of my brother's school untill he left for the new school).


Thanks,
-mjs

[personman]

Well bro, I'm a freshman and my school has been around for like 50 years and I figure if there hasnt been a paintball club at my school yet, then there is a good reason for there not to be one. One that immediately pops into my head is the immaturity level of high schoolers. When you say paintball, they all generally think "Hmm a sport where you can crawl around in woods and kill people by shooting them with bullets that sounds fun." So you get these people joining the club that are total nubs, and people who think they are the best players alive and they're cool because they shot a guy who owned an angel, and then you as the only 'educated' person, and maybe a few others too. Its really not worth the trouble. But I wouldnt know, I've never tried it. I just know that the majority of people who go to my high school are completely ignorant of the sport, no matter how much they play. I dunno.
Not a very contributing post but whatever, thats my oppinion.

[Glickman]

heh first a middleschooler, then a freshey, and now for a sophy...

well, unfortunitly, its not very likly that you will get district approval and sponsoeship, but its possible. i know a bunch of guys at a private school who have their classmatesw hand money into a teacher and they rent a bus and whatnot. now, private school vs. publish is very different, but my and a few guys are gonna try it (as soon as my freaking ap tests are over, my advice, do as many ap's as u can so u can sleep thru college ) but i have a 10 page article full of stats and figures..

when you do try, include the data about paintball being safer than bowling. i forgot where, but its inside of like the consumers digest or something.
but goodluck!

[yeahthatsme]

www.collegepaintball.com has an article about getting a highschool club started, i do believe, check there.

[kscullin]

Try a Google search. I tried one for paintball club high school and got a lot of good results, some kinda surprising.

[barberjohn]

it is also very good to be knowledgeable about the sport, as in all the safety rules and such, so that when your principal or assistant principal asks you how this club is going to better the school, you will have a good answer.

[NJPaint]

I started playing serious paintball way to late to start anything at my highschool. However, I have had significant experience dealing with our administration as well as having them support (not endorse however) paintball. Before my freshman year I took a group of soon to be 9th graders to Skirmish USA. Crappy field, but everyone had a great time. The key to doing anything with administrations is how you present ideas. People in educational positions are by nature reasonable people, thats why they are helping kids. Sure, they may be tough to deal with, but they have been dealing with whining and *****ing kids for many many years. Currently I am working with my school to have a senior paintball day, where those that want to go out for a day before we graduate. (I'll explain in a sec).

How I made things work: (Disclaimer: this works for me because I am me and there is no one like me, there are no guarentees that my methods will work for you, or that other methods will not work. This is simply how I did things and my successes and failures)

I set in mind for this excursion that I was going to emulate a lawyer or a lobbist on capitol hill. I have had experience with both (limited law classes and actually lobbying). The first thing I did was I humanized paintball. Had my friend write a fairly eloquent speech about paintball and what it is from my perspective. I may be somewhat gifted with words, but when working with authority, you want to present the best image physically possible. Citing facts, 4 of 98 seniors currently play on amateur or club teams, over 50% of the seniors have gone paintballing at least once (shown by a statistically sound survey), etc. I tried to make paintball not a 'counter-culture extreme sport' but rather a fun, community building activity. My school has long been critisized for its lack of community and I was appealing directly to that.

I wasn't loud or persistant. I was precise. I did not want to play a game answering the question of, "Is it a violent and unproductive game?" To tell you the truth, I found faculty sponsers for my ideas. A lacross coach (ex-lawyer and current law teacher) and our athletic trainer both saw footage of several NPPL games, showing what current paintball is like. They became advocates for me and helped me show the administration that I wasn't trying to corrupt our school, but really I was trying to share something that I enjoy doing imensly with the rest of my classmates. I know, paintball isn't for everyone, but tournament player, or once in a while rec players all have fun.

If you want other help, specifics or otherwise, shoot me a PM, I'm around and can try to help.

Sorry if this sounds abbreviated I only had a few minutes before I had to run out.

[68magOwner]

me and a temmate are starting a paintball club at my school, several other suroounding high schools already have em, so it shouldnt be to hard, but we still have to fill out ALOT of paperwork, the hardest part is making it non descriminitory (sp) because we have to allow people who cant afford to play be in teh club which means charging the ones who can extra

[Head knight of Ni]

Ha good luck you might get one going where your at but my high school is umm incouragable to the extreme left wing of things. But they did have the Orlando Paintball event pamphlet in the school paper. Remember the administrators are probably ignorant to the sport.

By the way I'm a sophmore. I hate school spirit.

[nospmas311]

AP's

I will be a frosh in college next year. I agree with Glickman...work your butt of now so you can save in college. AP Euro, Stat, Chemistry, Biology, and Latin are all under my belt. I will do well on my AP tests meaning I will not have to do much my first year (although I will find a way to keep busy).

Good luck with the paintball club. I wanted one at my school but decided I had enough to do already!

Originally posted by Glickman
heh first a middleschooler, then a freshey, and now for a sophy...

well, unfortunitly, its not very likly that you will get district approval and sponsoeship, but its possible. i know a bunch of guys at a private school who have their classmatesw hand money into a teacher and they rent a bus and whatnot. now, private school vs. publish is very different, but my and a few guys are gonna try it (as soon as my freaking ap tests are over, my advice, do as many ap's as u can so u can sleep thru college ) but i have a 10 page article full of stats and figures..

when you do try, include the data about paintball being safer than bowling. i forgot where, but its inside of like the consumers digest or something.
but goodluck!

[Enemy]

hey this sounds like a great idea you know get a group of your friends together and go paintballing oh yeah.. big issue is i work at a field and there are alot of people that think to do this kind of thing as a predance thing... anyhow you really have to look out lots of high schooler have a massive attitude and will not listen to reason like dont take your mask off and quite wiping you loser.. however they did listen once my mag came out and i started bunkering everyone one of their group one by one. Anyhow make it a club associated with a field but remember your looking at a headache my best advice to you is ditch the club and go voulanteer at that field and join the house team. just my opinion with dealing with even the nicest kids from high school.

Enemy

[steveo356]

lol our version of a paintball club here in my school (since our war-hawk antics make it to violent for school) We tape hundreds of fliers in every stariwell and over every urinal and drinkin fountain . then we all where our gear to school ( not the mask mind u) then meet in the atruim after school. noramly 15 20 people show up depending on how many people show up we decide wether were gonna go to a real field or jus find a nice patch a woods n have at it ( not very organized but o well) i hae a hand held chrono so we at least have an attempt of being safe.

well i got a station wagon so i can normaly run up n get a few cases a paint n sum air from the local field so thats not a prob. the prob is about 3/4ths of the kids from th atrium actualy show up bu thtat dun bother me

wow come tom think of that its kind of a rebellion aginst nuthin but we have fun so o well long as no 1 carries there hpa tank in the bag or that markers for that matter we dont get bomb scares

[viperx1_1000]

Best idea i ever had,
First i taliked to the principle and vice principal. I went over the facts that it's the safest sport there is, for the goggles, safety, barrel plugs etc. Then i got about tweenty people to agree with me, which is a lot living where i do. Then they looked at our records and everyone in our school is hard working, respectful and understanding (farmers). So, yeah, we get time to have meetings on startagies, plan our pllaying time and sometimes the school pays for a truck to take us to the field.
Hope that helps, Idon't know if it'll go well with larger schools though