After their recent third-place finish in the National College Paintball Association (NCPA) tournament in Maryland, the University of Massachusetts Paintball Club is continuing to project itself - along with the game of paintball - as legitimate.
With 15 members on the current roster, the group is as strong as ever, placing in the top four at two NCPA events this year. However, this has not always been the case.
For many years, the Paintball Club was a Registered Student Organization (RSO), but the group said it suffered from a bad transition in leadership during the 2006-07 academic year, which led to the group's unraveling.
The Paintball Club lost its RSO status and all funding it once had, entering the 2008 fall semester with a $300 debt to the school. Since then, the team was forced to regroup.
"Our past president had too much going on at the time," said Paintball Club Vice President Eric Chi. "And the transition to the most recent president basically forced us to start again."
Starting from nothing was not easy for the club, members said. With no school support, the group had to operate as financially independent.
"We basically got no funding this year," Chi said. "Everything from hotels to the fees to the paintballs came out of pocket."
The performance in Maryland was a huge step for the players as they attempt to establish the program as one of the best in the region.
Facing off against teams like Boston University, Rutgers, and the University of Maryland, the UMass team advanced to the final round of the NEIC tournament. The team eventually placed third behind Navy and Northeastern.
The third-place finish was important in confirming the team's status compared to other teams nationwide. Members said it is particularly encouraging to the team that, as a group not financially supported by the University, it was able to face, and defeat, many teams that had much larger budgets.
"Many of the schools are in the same situation as us but there are a select few that get lots of money," Chi said. "Some schools pay for everything. I've heard that some schools get up to $30,000 from their schools."
Chi says the club is close to becoming affiliated with UMass again. The club also hopes to expand upon its current focus on tournaments and include recreational play. But as of now, the team is determined to establish itself by performing well in tournaments against other college teams.
"Hopefully in the coming years we'll be able to prove to the school that we can not only perform well at tournaments but also that we're worth the money," Chi said.
As part of its efforts to expand, the team is seeking out any students interested in joining.
For now though, they said their focus is on showing the world that their team - and the sport of paintball - is as worthy of recognition as any other sports squad.
"Paintball is one of the fastest growing extreme sports in the nation and the more attention it gets, the more it will be recognized as a legitimate sport," Chi said. "We practice just like other teams, we work just like other teams. But most importantly, paintball isn't just about running around in the woods anymore."
Nick O'Malley can be reached at nomalley@student.umass.edu.
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