I began to play paintball thanks to an old high school friend, Mike Hickman. He was very involved and wanted to get the word out about this new craze. I went, had a blast, and thank him for getting started. I played that first game sweating bullets, not knowing what to expect from a hit. I played all day long, taking a few hits along the way. Since that first experience, I’ve never stopped playing. The following week, I purchased my first marker, a Razorback II. I played renegade paintball the rest of my junior year, and all of my senior year. Thank you Mike, wherever you are.

I graduated the following year, Edgewood high, class of ’92, and went in the Navy. I had a brief pause while in bootcamp. After I was stationed, I looked for area paintball fields to play at. I ended up playing for a while with a squad of real Navy SEALS. I bought another gun, a PMI-3. It was a very loud, but powerful semi-auto in its day. I left the Navy and brought with me, the taste of competition.

I immediately began to play again, selling my PMI-3 for a Phantom Express pump gun, which is probably the best pump action marker in the history of the sport. I began to play more agressively. I had to sell the marker though, because my parents sold the house in a bitter divorce and I had to get my own place.

Around 1995 I heard of a new marker hitting the paintball scene, It was made by a new company called Kingman. I went to National Paintball Supply in Mantua with a few friends and bought a Spyder A. It fired just as well as my PMI-3 did, but it was a lot less noisy. I retired my Razorback II.

I played with my new Spyder until late 2000. After hundreds of dollars in upgrades, I traded it along with some cash for a gun that I had admired for many years, an Automag. I adored the mag since I heard the first ting of the mag fire. It was such a good design , that it is still virtually unchanged today. I swear by the Automag. It is the fastest cycling marker ever created, cycling almost twice as fast as the fastest Angel or Shocker. With a rate of fire greater than 26 rounds per second, it is unmatched.

In early 2000, I decided to try putting a team of five together for tournament play. There never was a strong force pulling the team together. AcesHigh never did much of anything. I played a bit with other teams, but was not happy with what they represented, which was most commonly unsportsmanlike conduct.

In December 2000, I again began to form a team, this time being selective in whom I chose, looking for certain qualities in each individual. I chose Chuck because of his military tactics and stealth ability. He is a good friend and a true asset to the team. Along side of Chuck, I chose Jennifer. She is a rookie, but she’s got a lot of potential. She goes out there and gives all she’s got everyday, another good quality. I then chose my co-worker Jim to join. He is a good guy, and a team player. Jim, like Jen, is new to the sport. He is out there with his son almost every weekend playing long and hard. Finally, I had chosen Dan. He was a bit young compared to the rest of us, but he had good experience, and ambition. We, however, lost Dan to high school baseball. I hope he is doing well.

Now, it is 2001, and we are becoming a reckoning force at our home field of Picasso Lake. We played in the Wayne Dollack scenarios in Skirmish, USA. Now I feel we are getting close. We have agreed on our replacement player for Dan, and also an alternate. Now we are going to unleash on the local tourney scene this year, playing in ZAP IAO in August. I have faith in what I’ve created here, and will play on.