Paintball team places 8th at Florida tournament
Ryan McGlennen
Issue date: 4/30/09 Section: Sports
| |
| |
|
But before explaining how UW-Stout did, you must first know how to play the game. Paintball tournaments are played with a point system. Teams receive points for flagpoles and flag hangs. In an interview with Shawn Nagle, he explained, “There is a flag in the center of the field; the first team to grab the flag cleanly, i.e. without paint on them, gets 30 points. There is only one flagpole per game.” There is also a flag hang, which is the overall objective of the game. A flag hang is when a player returns the flag to the opponent’s side of the field. It is worth 40 points. When a flag hang occurs, the game is over.
When the game concludes, teams receive four points for every “live” player remaining. For every dead player on the other team, your team receives two points. Teams start with five players and there is a maximum of a 100-point limit. When the game starts, players begin from a “dead box.” When they get shot, they have to return to that “dead box” and wait until the game has concluded.
UW-Stout has participated in the National Collegiate Paintball Association for three years. When they initially entered the tournament they were ranked in eighth place in the nation. The team’s initial strategic plan is to have two players on both sides and one player in the middle. UW-Stout finished 7-2 in the preludes which was good enough to get them a bye for the first round.
UW-Stout put up a valiant effort, finishing in eighth place out of 53 teams that competed in the event. The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater team finished first, Texas A&M took second and fourth place went to the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. UW-Stout ended up playing three of the top four finishers after preliminary elimination.
About the club: It originated in the ‘97/’98 academic year. Team members started participating in the NCPA competitions three years ago, but this was the first season that they played all of the tournaments in the Midwest. Shawn Nagle said, “We have our members pay for a membership fee that lets them come to our outdoor practices with entry, air and their first 500 paintballs paid for by the club. We also play reball, paintless paintballs, in the MPR during the fall and winter. We also help our tournament players afford to play by paying for some of the entry for NCPA events. Our club currently has 45 members.”
Some of you may have seen them practicing in the Multi-Purpose Recreation room. When they do practice in the MPR, they use all of their normal paintball gear.
They have their own compressed air on campus with scuba tanks for filling their CO2 tanks. They have paintball guns for people to use if they don’t have their own equipment. When practicing in the MPR they use balls called Reball. They are rubber balls the size of a paint ball without paint. They call them Reball because it is a reusable ball. Tournaments are played at 300 feet per second, but when practicing indoors with Reballs, they turn the speed down to 230 FPS.
The velocity change is similar to that of the speed of a paintball.
They are currently ranked 10th in the nation. To find out more information about the club or how to join, e-mail Shawn Nagle at nagles@uwstout.edu.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Calgary Movers
posted 5/05/09 @ 2:06 PM CST
That is really cool, I didn't even know that there were college paintball competitions. Good job on the part of both UW schools finishing in the top 10. (Continued…)
Marathon
posted 9/30/09 @ 10:39 AM CST
I always wanted to learn about paintball; the game as i know it is widely popular at some places here. I was never that enthusiastic to learn it. Somehow i landed here and read the article to learn about it. (Continued…)
Post a Comment