Even Fat Guys Can Play Paintball

By: Aaron a.k.a Captain A

I’ve always been a big guy. “Big boned” my mamma would say or “husky” as my grandma put it. Truth be told, it was always one of the things that kept me away from sports. I couldn’t run as fast or play as long as others and when it came to skins VS shirts? Put me on shirts or I am bye bye.

Paintball came along later in my life. I was in college when I was introduced to the sport, and to be honest, I didn’t even think of it as a workout. I was having a ball, running around pretending to be Rambo, sweat poured from my brow and I was exhausted afterwards, but it was worth every ache as the memories of getting that sweet shot or leading that charge lives with me even to this day.

For the horizontally challenged, playing any sport can be daunting, but with paintball, it really doesn’t have to be. If you follow these simple steps, you can be ballin in no time and can even be taking charge of the field.

1. Find a good group – This is key in paintball. Although “pwning newbs” is fun, one of the most rewarding things for me about paintball is the friendships and camaraderie that I have formed with my group. Try to see if your friends would be interested in playing, or look for a local group through places like PBNation or TechPB to see if there are any friendly groups that play at local fields or on private land. Having a fun group to play with will surely make you want to continue and improve.

2. Go slow – You can take this literally, move slow, but I would use this philosophy in every part of the sport. Take the time to look at gear and find what would work for you. Don’t
rush out and blow loads of money on gear, only to find out later that it isn’t up to par or you would like something different. Pace yourself on the field and if you need to walk instead of run, do it. You might find that by going slow you can see things that the sprinters miss.

3. Invest in quality – Don’t skimp on the important equipment: mask, hpa tank, and clothing. If you have these basics, you can take them to any field and use any gun, rental or loaner, no matter where you go.

4. Work in your strengths – At first, find things you can be good at in the sport of paintball. You might have a powerful voice and can command troops from the back line, or you might be a great shot and pick people off at good distances with your first shot. You might be patient where others are impulsive or have the ability to make quick decisions under pressure on the field. Don’t worry about outperforming those around you in terms of athleticism, find the things you can contribute and do your best at them. Others will take notice of that.

5. Seek to improve – I know for me, I want to improve my physical ability and have done things to change my life to do this. But there are other areas in the paintball world that will aide you just as much. Snap shooting, tactical thinking, knowing your marker, etc…these are all things that will make you a better player whether or not you can run as fast as the track star on the team.

If you follow these steps, I feel that you will be in a mindset to be playing paintball for quite some time and avoid a lot of the frustration and pitfalls that others might feel when starting this sport. I know there are a lot of people that blew a lot of money, and when they didn’t get tons of kills the very next game, were looking to sell their stuff. I’ve also seen the guys and girls that pushed too hard and either hurt themselves or didn’t want to come back because they thought they couldn’t do it.

Now you might be thinking that these steps are sort of general and could apply to anybody and you know what? You’d be right. The point of this article isn’t just for “fat guys”, but for everyone. And that is one of the greatest truths about this sport – that anyone can play paintball. Kids can play paintball, girls can play paintball, old people can play paintball, your spouse, mom, dad, and co-worker can all play paintball and do well. If you find a good group, go slow, invest in quality, go slow, and seek to improve, you will find joy in paintball and will probably be playing for decades to come. I hope to see you on the field sometime soon.