Looking to make a name for themselves on the national circuit, the newfound MSU Paintball Club has been resurrected after nine years of inactivity.
“We have nationals at Lakeland, Florida,” Chinese sophomore Zachary Cooper said. “It’s a very fast-paced game, very aggressive, and it looks dangerous.”
Coming together in the fall, a group of friends hoped to expand the sport of paintball at MSU.
With the intent of heading to local paintball fields for some fun on the weekend, the club has now entered a number of tournaments held by the National Collegiate Paintball Association and are currently gearing up for the national championships from April 17 to 19.
Supply chain management freshman Joe Lynch explains that the club is multi-dimensional, encouraging anyone to give the sport a try.
“We had a club day where we took 20 people out and they got to rent guns for a really discounted price and just experience the sport,” Lynch said. “Obviously, we want to wing nationals and make a name for ourselves, but the other part is to grow the sport and bring the university to the front field of paintball.”
Seen as a chaotic sport that can be played with friends in the back woods, collegiate paintball is actually driven by strict formation and strategy.
Players use terms such as “Dorito” and “snake” to describe the design of the air bunkers on opposing sides.
“It’s five on five and the idea is to have two attackers on each corner and one person in the middle,” Cooper said. “There is a center flag and you have to grab the flag and touch the other people’s start box.”
Fully backed by the professional team Detroit Action, MSU Paintball Club is allowed to use both their indoor and outdoor practice fields, and they only have to pay for cases of paint.
Even though the group is newly formed, that doesn’t correlate to inexperience on the team.
Kinesiology junior Danielle Rosebrook has been playing paintball since she was 10 years old, and has even played for the Detroit Action’s second line.
But practice can only go so far.
The team has been able to play a number of collegiate teams and has even played a professional team.
When practicing in Fort Wayne, Indiana, club ran into a new team merging onto the professional circuit.
“We actually beat one of the lines, which was a really big deal,” Lynch said. “And going into that you have the mentality you can beat anybody.”
