Hide and Seek is No Child's Game - Learn All About UGA's Championship Paintball Team

photos and story by Lesley Onstott

"BYOP" stands out in bold print near the bottom of the neon flyer, demanding a double-take. Although it's not the traditional four-letter acronym found on most college invitations, it still inspires an equal, if not heightened, sense of excitement and anticipation of the weekend to come in the members of the University of Georgia paintball team. This SEC Championship team has become accustomed to the phrase "bring your own paint," having traveled across the nation competing in paintball tournaments for the past eight years. The players' dedication to darting around high-speed capsules bursting with multi-colored paint is rapidly earning them a list of achievements that will soon rival their fellow UGA athletes.

In 2006, after being ranked 20th in the nation the previous year, the currently all male UGA paintball team won the SEC Championship, an honor most Georgia students consider a serious bragging right. Their impressive trophy now proudly stands alongside many other renowned awards such as the Heisman and Sudler trophies in the Ramsey Student Center.

Competing in the Southeastern division of the National Collegiate Paintball Association with familiar opponents such as Arkansas, Florida and Auburn, the team averages at least four regional tournaments and a culminating final national tournament each year. Preparing for the competitions, the team practices for three hours each Sunday at paintball fields adjacent to surrounding grazing pastures in Winder, Ga. The dedication of the 10 players is not only one of time, but also a financial commitment.

After pricing each piece of necessary equipment-$800 for the paintgun, $200 for the mask and $180 for the shirt-Anthony Baez, an alumnus management major from Watkinsville, Ga., and team captain of four years, estimates the total cost at about $2,000 just in preparation. Each player then goes through an additional $50 of paintballs per week. When justifying his retirement to a coaching position, Baez shakes his head and says, "[I] was just tired of having an empty wallet."

This is understandable, as 11 years of the sport can definitely add up. Baez has numerous exciting memories of the long paintball weekends since the fateful birthday party of a grade school friend who first introduced him to the sport. These, however, were also accompanied by a fair share of quarter-sized bruises.

"You get used to getting hit after awhile," Baez says. "It feels like, well, like getting punched like this." He curls up his hand and demonstrates an index finger knuckle punch. The feeling is hard to explain; but, as his fellow teammates substantiate, it definitely leaves a mark.

This considerable commitment, the guys say, has its perks.

"It's an adrenaline rush, very chaotic, which makes it fun," says Aaron Millicans, a third-year pre-business major from Alpharetta, Ga. Standing in colorfully splattered Georgia gear, he talks about why he cannot turn away from the game. He has only been playing on the UGA team for one year, but has been passionate about paintball for nearly five.

Andrew Barfoot, a third-year management information systems major from Watkinsville, Ga., has a similar outlook. While loading up gumball-sized maroon paintballs, he explains why he is so attracted to the sport. To him, the game never gets boring. He once heard it described as "chess with guns." "Fitting," Barfoot says, since what he finds most interesting about it is its strategic format.

Warpig.com, the world and regional paintball information guide website, describes the sport as "a combination of the childhood games 'tag' and 'hide and seek,' but much more challenging and sophisticated." Traditionally, two teams compete against each other attempting to hit their opponents with paintballs to eliminate them from the game. Each team simultaneously tries to capture the opposing team's flag while protecting its own. Games end when either every member of a team has been tagged or the time expires. Games last between 20 to 45 minutes depending on the site. During tournaments, games can be set up in slightly different ways. Baez explains the tournament is organized in brackets, as any other sporting tournament would be.

The players, most with unique, brightly printed bandanas tied around their heads, dodge the high-speed paint capsules by running and sliding from bunker to bunker-a diverse array of inflatable shapes. Bunkers range in size and shape from a 5-foot high black-tipped cone to a 10-foot high black and red X, reminiscent of the X-Games symbol. The coach or teammate responsible for calling the game announces the start of the game after a 10-second warning at which time the players on either side strike their own intimidating pose. Then, from outside the thick, black netting the coach calls their next move to the players, nicknamed everything from "dorito" to "roll-and-dive," trying to keep each in play. The paintballs usually eliminate each player with a substantiating bright splatter before the time runs out.

According to warpig.com, paintguns, which come in an array of styles from pump-action to full-auto, can shoot paintballs up to 50 yards at a maximum speed of 300 feet per second. The semi-automatics, which the UGA team uses, shoot paintballs (after the gun is initially cocked) by simply pulling the trigger. The team uses a double-finger shooting technique rapidly alternating between tapping the index and middle finger on the trigger allowing them to release a faster rainbow-tinted streamline of paintballs.

Although none of the current members have their futures set on professional paintball, there is one UGA student who has. Gant MacLellan played for team Xtreme from Atlanta and currently plays with Philly Americans.

"Being good and getting noticed is how you go pro," says Barfoot. There are several different levels of paintball play. To make it to the top of spectrum, a player usually hopes to get noticed while competing with a team sponsored by one of companies that produces paintguns.

"There really is big money in going pro," Baez says. "I heard that in a recent NPPL (National Professional Paintball League) trade a player received $100,000 just for switching teams."

When asked, Baez says he is certain that his own future will neither be based on lucrative trading deals nor be habitually viewed through a thick forest-green face protector. He does, however, know one thing about the years to come. Attribute it to the characteristics that helped him develop his passion for the sport or to those that emerged after a decade of playing, but Baez's confidence assures him that his current plans for the future are to succeed.

Like most of his teammates, Baez does not have high hopes of going pro. He has garnered enough qualities and memories from the game over the last decade. What is important for him and the team at the moment is to simply enjoy paintball. Besides, they always have some good stories to share with friends from their exceptionally exciting weekends.