After placing third in a competition and beating out rival East Carolina, the N.C. State club paintball team has high hopes for this season. The club of 16 members has set their sights on victory for an upcoming regional tournament, beginning Saturday, March 1.
Led by co-presidents, sophomore Chase Knox, a first-year college major, and Brian Palmer, a junior in electrical engineer, the club is young with its core shooters being underclassmen. The club will not lose any members after this season is over, giving them high hopes for a national championship squad next year.
The team is sending two five-man teams to the upcoming regional tournament in Canton Ga. March 1 and has high expectations for their top line.
“Our A-line hopes to come in first or at least make the last game or everyone is going to be pretty irritated,” said Knox.
Not only is the outlook high for the A-line but also for its young B-line, which consists of new members who have recently joined the squad and were able to compete in a few tournaments last semester to gain experience. Knox and Palmer have seen a lot of improvement in the second line and hope to see the hard work pay off in this upcoming tournament.
“Out of 20 teams, I hope they place in at least top eight,” Palmer said. The team learned a few things from its performance that they hope to take to the regional tournament in Georgia, according to Palmer.
According to Palmer, the team learned to mix up their game plan, in response to last season’s finals run.
Knox agreed, adding, “We didn’t have any intensity in that last game because we had a two-hour break between games due to our high seeding.”
The Pack competes in short format competitions, which consists of teams composed of five players, with points scored when the flag is captured or all opponents are eliminated. The games are fast paced. Shooters on average fire 12.5 times per second. Most rounds of play average between one or two minutes but are capped at five minutes.
The conference has strong competitors including: No. 21 East Carolina University and No. 1 Liberty University. State has been developing a solid rivalry with East Carolina and has high hopes that more in-state schools will add club teams to compete against.
The NCSU team had a strong 2013 season with its first national tournament experience. The Pack finished fourth out of 50 teams on the national stage. In the local arena, State finished in 10th place or better in the last five tournaments of the 2013 season.
“We were very happy with our performance at nationals last year, it was definitely a breakout for us,” said Knox.
Knox and Palmer want to see the team jump up to the class-A affiliate, either next year or the year after. Moving to Class-A, the team would be able to compete in better tournaments and get more national recognition, including a few televised events.
The Wolfpack has been growing exponentially and are able to take more than one team to the tournaments. They are always looking for new members even if they don’t have any tournament experience. The club goes to Greensboro, N.C. once every other week to work on strategy, precision and have a little fun.