Everyone has different draws to the sport of Paintball. Some people get dragged in by seeing NPPL games on ESPN2. Others find their first glimpse into the game from youth activities in scouts or church groups. Many more get drawn in the same way I did: a friend shows them a cool paintball marker and tells some stories of their weekend adventures.

My voyage from paintball novice to team member started when I first moved back to Salt Lake City after living in North Carolina for a few years. Whenever I would try to contact an old friend on the weekend, I always seemed to go directly to his voicemail. Jared “Bad Karma Six” Bronson was spending his Saturdays at the fields playing paintball all over Northern Utah. I’d catch up with him on Sundays and he would tell me about the games he was playing. Soon enough the Bad Karma Paintball Team was formed, and the games were more and more competitive.

After inspecting Jared’s gear and then hearing about an upcoming event at the Special Ops Retribution field, I decided to take the plunge and obtain a marker. I walked into the brick and mortar Special Ops Paintball store and back out $700 lighter in the wallet and my car bulging with paintball gear. I picked up a complete kit of gear with which to play. I drove up to the Retribution field to watch the game which was going on already. I saw the fierce firefights, the special characters roaming the field, and Bad Karma charging into the fray. I didn’t play that day; I just watched the goings on at the field. Little did I know that this was a spark that would soon turn into an inferno of paintball obsession.

After logging in to Bad Karma’s website, I decided to play in a game a couple of weeks later. Triad Challenge, held that year in Skull Valley, was going on. I drove alone out to the middle of the desert and managed to finally find the field. It was a couple of hours in to the event, so I only got to play in one leg of the game. But what a rush! I played horribly at that event, I knew it even then. I got shot out 6 times with maybe one kill to my credit. But I knew I was hooked.

I started hanging out with the team at events. I never really considered myself a prospect for recruitment; I just liked the guys at the events. I played often that summer, going to every event I could with the team. Sundays were now the days that I would hang out with Jared while he taught me the intricacies of the Tippmann A-5. We’d clean our markers and talk about the games. I started getting more and better gear. Upgrading from a simple pod pack to a vest. Getting a tank that would last longer than the 72/3000 PMI that I started with. My play began to evolve as well. My kill ratio went up as I learned to be a better player. I began to feel like I was of some value on the field rather than some supernumerary player who was just hanging out with friends on the weekend.

Today I can’t recall the day that I was presented with my Bad Karma team patch and told I was an official member of the team. I do remember a great feeling of pride, however. Over one short summer I went from someone who only played some indoor rec ball many years ago to a member of a highly competitive and quickly rising team. I still am amazed sometimes at the thought of being part of something much bigger than myself. The team is one of the more important aspects of my life these days. The time I spend on and off the field with my friends is time that I value a great deal.

I enjoy the relationships that I have made in and out of the team. I get to spend time with a bunch of people who are as addicted to this sport as I am. I’ve met people from all over the country, and indeed the world, who live to play. People from Canada, Australia, Europe have traveled to play. I’ve been lucky enough to do a little bit of travel as well. And as we look into the season to come, a number of trips are out there waiting to be made–all in the name of the game.

If you are reading this and wondering if the time is right to join a team, please let me advise you that indeed it is. You will find your play level increasing as you become more competitive. You will have more fun as you learn to play with others as an organized unit. You may meet a big guy on the field urging you to charge a bunker as he covers you. That might just be me.

Marv “The Reverend” White
Bad Karma Paintball Team
www.teambadkarma.com