There are more than 40 unique club sports at NC State, including basketball, softball, soccer, swimming and even cricket. Not many people know that there is, in fact, a club paintball team. The club paintball team was established in 2006, but joined the National Collegiate Paintball Association (NCPA) in the 2012-13 season. The team is entering its fifth year of in the NCPA under current club president, junior Evan Arbaugh.
The club paintball team is divided into two groups: competitive and recreational, the latter of which was just added this year.
The recreational group is set in wooded areas and locations where they come up with military simulations and play them out. The recreational side of paintball is for participants who have never played paintball or are just out there for fun. The courses for recreational paintball vary. Some are arranged in villages to simulate a “Call of Duty-like” feel, or a wooded area.
“No equipment is necessary to join the rec team,” Arbaugh said. “The facilities where we practice provide all the gear and ammo required.”
The competitive group is much more serious than its recreational counterparts. It is made of seasoned paintball veterans who have their own equipment and have an advanced knowledge of the sport. Like any other club sport, the members hold tryouts for their team and assess the skill of those who wish to join the competitive team.
Once the club’s roster is set, the team travels to tournaments in the region, competing against teams in their conference, such as Liberty, ECU, Clemson and Kennesaw State. The team competes in three conference tournaments during the season, sometimes traveling as far as Ohio.
The competitive group plays a variant of paintball called “speedball.” Speedball is where the playing field contains inflatable bunkers used as obstacles or shields against the competition. Two teams of three, five or seven can compete, but the club team uses the five-person format.
It also competes in a game called “X-Ball,” which is similar to Capture the Flag. Two five-person teams will face off in two 10-minute halves, and the object is to eliminate the opposing team, grab their flag and return the flag to where they started to score one point. These rounds are repeated until the full 20 minutes has elapsed.
At the end of the season in April, the team will travel to Florida to compete in the national event against teams from across the nation. In the competitive teams’ history, they have placed high at nationals. During the 2013-14 season, the team took first place in the Class AA division at nationals, finishing the season in fourth place. After finishing first, the team advanced to Class A, the top tier in competitive paintball, and placed in the top 10 the past two seasons. There is a live webcast of all the games at nationals.
The competition team meets twice a month at Black River Paintball in Angier, North Carolina to sharpen its skills and practice its strategies for the upcoming tournaments. At each tournament, the layout is different, forcing the players to switch up their strategies. The NC State club paintball team creates sets of codes and signals that allows members to communicate with each other without the opposition knowing. NC State usually takes an aggressive tactic entering any paintball match, but after assessing each round, it is not uncommon for players to change strategies in the middle of a game.
Varying from the interested novice looking to add a new hobby to the paintball aficionado looking to join a team that places high annually at national competitions, club paintball has it all. The club season begins in October and ends in April. If you are interested in joining a team, email paintball-club@ncsu.edu.
