We who love the sport of paintball owe a great deal of gratitude to the cows and the trees of this world, without whom we would not today be playing one of the greatest sports in the world. Therefore, the next time you should happen to see one of them, stop and give them a hug and tell them thanks.

The first paintballs were created by the Nelson Paint Company in the 1950s for the use of marking trees from a distance. Farmers and ranchers started using the paint also to mark their cattle. Eventually some friends got together and thought it would be fun to shoot the paintballs at each other. Boys will be boys, you know. Thus, from those humble beginnings the game we know today as Paintball arose.

Perhaps you wonder where little Timmy goes every weekend or where Liz is when you want to go to the park and feed the ducks. They’re out playing paintball, of course! Where else would they be? According to the Sporting Goods Manufacturer’s Association’s (SGMA) analysis of sports participation for the year 2005, Paintball continues to rise in popularity among the sporting public. Paintball is the 3^rd most popular extreme sport in the U.S.A. and has a total of 10,357,000 participants. The numbers of people playing has grown every year since 1998, except in 2004 when, for the first time, the sport experienced a drop in the number of people playing. It rebounded in 2005, however, with a 7.9% gain - an increase of nearly one million players.

According to American Sports Data, Inc., which did a wide ranging study of sports injuries in the U.S., you are more likely to get injured while walking than you are while playing paintball. Injuries per 1000 participants in paintball were 0.2 compared to 7.6 for basketball, 5.8 for baseball, 1.9 for walking and 1.0 for golf. Of course, as with all of the other sports listed here, you need to be wearing the proper safety equipment to protect yourself from possible injury.

Okay, now that you have hugged a few trees and cows to thank them for the sport of paintball, you’re ready to get out there and play. The problem is you don’t know what you need to play or where to get it. Well, Pilgrim, this is your lucky day because I have the answers to your burning questions. The place to go for paintball gear is Canfield’s Sporting Goods. We have a wide selection of paintball markers, paintballs, safety equipment, clothing, and everything else you need to play the great game of paintball.

Canfield’s has a wide range of paintball markers to meet your every need. We carry markers that are perfect for Speed Ball, Woods Ball, or Rec Ball, where you just want to go out and shoot a few rounds. We carry Tippmann, B.T., Smart Parts, Spyder, and Proto, just to name a few. We have a marker to fit everybody’s price range, so come on down and we’ll help you find your perfect marker. One marker in particular that would be great for both beginner and seasoned players would be the Tippmann 98 Custom. It’s such a dependable marker that many paintball fields use it as their rental markers. Not only that, but it’s fully upgradeable and easy to clean and maintain. In fact, Tippmann has just released the next generation of the 98 series called the Platinum Series. It will have the legendary standard of excellence that people have come to expect from Tippmann, plus it will be enhanced with several new features that will continue to expand its legendary status among paintball players around the world.

You can’t play the game if you don’t have the balls for it and we can help you there also. We carry everything from Rec Grade paint where you’re just plinking around up to Tournament Grade Paint where you want to make sure every shot counts. If you want, you can buy as few as 500 paintballs if you don’t plan on doing a lot of shooting. Or, we carry cases of 2000 if you are planning a small scale war with your buddies. Buying by the case is gets you the most bang for your buck.

The key to having a fun time playing paintball is having the proper safety equipment. At minimum you must have a mask which will protect your eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. We carry masks by V-Force, Proto, Empire, and J.T. and we plan on bringing in even more. The masks come in different colors so you can make your own personal statement. For those of you who want to be stealthy out in the woods we have green, black, or camo masks. If you don’t care who sees you because you’re the best, we have yellow or white masks. We carry masks that will give you a field of view of anywhere between 190 to 260 degrees so you can see your enemy sneaking up on you from the sides. We also carry spare lenses for the masks, should you need any. Most paintball masks come with a clear lens but it’s not a bad idea to buy a yellow lens if you’re out in the woods. A yellow lens brightens things up for you and makes it easier for you to see your opponent. Alternatively, a smoke lens is nice if you’re out in the open field and the sun is out and about trying to blind you.

Another safety item that’s nice to have is a pair of paintball gloves. When I first started playing I didn’t wear any. After I got hit in the hands I started wearing them ("Ouch!"). The gloves help take some of the sting away and believe me, you won’t regret spending the money. We also carry chest protectors, knee pads, elbow pads, and the all-important neck protector to keep you from getting a huge paintball hickey.

Your paintball gun can be powered either by C02 (carbon dioxide), or Nitrogen/HPA tanks. The C02 tanks that we sell are 9, 12, and 20 oz. tanks. With a 20-ounce tank it’s possible to get up to 1,200 shots. The advantage to C02 tanks is that they are more affordable and, here at Canfield’s, we only charge fourteen cents per ounce to fill them up. The disadvantage to C02 is that in cold weather or with sustained firing, the CO2 tends to not want to evaporate into a gas. It wants to stay liquid, which will cause the marker to freeze up and not fire for 5 to 15 seconds or more.

The advantage of nitrogen/HPA tanks is that nitrogen remains a gas even in the cold, so it is a much more reliable source of power. Nitrogen will perform consistently with nearly no velocity fluctuations. The disadvantage with nitrogen/HPA is the cost of the carbon fiber tanks. They’re lighter than the steel/aluminum CO2 tanks, but are more expensive. You can get steel HPA tanks for less money but they are quite a bit heavier.

Remember, we fill the nitrogen/HPA tanks and the C02 tanks here at Canfield’s, so bring them on in before your big game.

The hopper is what feeds paintballs into your paintball gun (marker). The hopper usually holds around 200 balls. It is attached to the gun via an elbow. The least expensive hoppers are the gravity ones in which the balls simply fall from the hopper into the marker. You can buy battery operated hoppers that help feed the balls into the gun at a faster rate. Some of these hoppers can feed up to 30 balls per second or more into your marker. The faster hoppers are great for speed ball markers or if you just want to pummel your opponent to a pulp in woods ball.

Okay, now you’ve got your marker ready to go and you have your safety equipment on, but you’re standing in the middle of your living room looking rather silly and wondering, "Umm, where do I go to play?" There are two answers to that question. One is that you might know someone who has a lot of land that you can play on and go there. The second answer is a paintball field. A good paintball field will have people there that will take the time to answer all of your questions, give you some pointers, stress the safety aspect of the game, and tell you how to play it. They will also have refs, who will monitor the game play. The refs will make sure that the rules are being followed and that the safety procedures are being met. One field that I can recommend in the Omaha Metro area that I have played at is Mad Cow Paintball. The owners are friendly, knowledgeable, stress safety, and will take the time to answer all of your questions, as well as to make sure that your day of playing paintball is an enjoyable one. You can read all about the field at their website, which is MadcowPaintball.com.

You are now armed with the information you need to go out and play the great game of paintball. Spread the news among your friends, neighbors, and yes, even your enemies (revenge time). Then come on out to Canfield’s Sporting Goods to get outfitted for your great adventure. We’ll help get you outfitted with everything you will need to play. Go forth then, onto thy fields of glory, and have fun. May the Force be with you.