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Friendly Fire
Published August 24, 2008
The staccato snarl of automatic weapons shattered the morning calm last weekend in Monroe, turning heads and slowing traffic near Madison Avenue and Church Street.
But instead of deadly gunfire, the exchanges were barrages of paintballs whizzing back and forth during a tournament at Monroe Paintball Works.
Within the confines of the tall-netted playing field or inside the old gin warehouse along railroad tracks, pairs of five-person teams battled it out in play that sent some home victors, others losers and some nursing welts where paintballs had struck between protective gear.
The type of play being emphasized was a form called “speedball” where the action is fast and furious with only a brief window of time to size up an opposing team and execute strategy and tactics or be overwhelmed by contenders.
Watching can be bewildering with the scurrying players, rapid-fire of the paintball guns, the drum of dozens of simultaneous balls splattering against inflatable obstacles, people or the protective netting. Accompanied by the rapid elimination of “casualties” on both sides, it all creates a scene of near chaos —like war on a very small battlefield. The good news is that no one goes home in a body bag.
“It’s brute force vs. brute force,” said Chris Jones, Operat- ions Manger for the MPW, host of the tournament, regarding the style of play. “Those balls travel at 300 feet per second and there are 13.3 balls fired per second, per gun.”
But lest one get the idea it’s all mindless mayhem, Miguel Abi-hassan who is department head of Fayette County Public Safety and a member of an Atlanta team called Elite, contends it’s far more cerebral than meets the eye.
“Paintball is like playing chess at a very fast pace,” he says.
Abi-hassan maintains that paintball requires strategy and tactics derived from studying the opposing teams. Those plans must be implemented in seconds after the start of play, while under duress from the opposing team and under the pressure of a two to three minute time window. Add to that, according to a player from a team called Ice Cold Lemonade, the need to calm oneself under fire so as to keep a clear head and a steady aim.
Behind all that aiming and firing on Saturday there was a lot of organization on the part of Monroe Paintball Works, owned by Michelle McMahan and run by Chris Jones, a civil engineer for Brewer & Dudley, LLC of Monroe. Both indoor and outdoor arenas were prepared for the tournament of 28 five-man teams from Monroe; Atlanta; Sne- llville; Jackson; Mac- on; Fort Bragg in Columbus; Auburn, Alabama; Jackson- ville, Florida and elsewhere. Six referees were present for every ten players.
According to Jones, the paintball community is as surprising as the game. It’s not a gaggle of weekend Rambos and over-stimulated teens. Leadership, teambuilding and individual effort are championed by an amazing cross-section of people, ages 14 and up.
“You’ll find anyone from the supermarket bag clerk, to business owners, engineers, doctors, accountants, even lawyers,” Jones maintains. “In fact, the district attorney’s office took on some of Monroe’s police recently.”
That kind of diversity is reflected in Abi-hassan’s team, where he is of Mexican/Leb- anese parents. Thai-American Tong South, is a mechanic. US Army Sergeant Nath-an Watts and Special- ist Sam Krug have recently returned from service in Iraq and John Bush is a World Cup paintball player who has just graduated from UGA with a degree in marketing.
“What makes this extreme sport unique is that a 14-year-old with gaming experience and an adult with military training can be on an equal footing,” claims Abi-hassan. “It’s skill and not luck that carries the day.”
At the end of the day Saturday, Abi-hassan’s team was blown away before the semi-finals and a Monroe team whose name is unprintable won the tournament overall. But, according to both Abi-hassan and Jones, it’s the adrenaline, exercise, teamwork and competition that mean more to paintball enthusiasts than accolades ever could.
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