While NC State has a variety of sports and activities to brag about, the paintball team should be at the top of that list, being one of the few club sports to win a national championship.
The team, which developed at State in 2006, participates in the National Collegiate Paintball Association (NCPA) in the Mid-South Collegiate Conference which consists of collegiate teams from West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Maryland.
The team is focused on returning to nationals this upcoming April to defend its Class AA National Title.
The team is led by junior Chase Knox who has been on the team for the past three years and serves as president of the club.
“We’re all pretty excited to go to nationals,” Knox said. “Winning last year was great, and we’re excited to get back down to Florida and try to hold on to that.”
As president, Knox is in charge of scheduling, budgets, sponsorships and figuring out which tournaments the team will go to.
The team attends five tournaments per year, ending the year with nationals. This year, it will be held on April 17-19 in Lakeland, Florida.
In the few weeks leading up to nationals, the team will work hard on improving its skills and working together.
“Our biggest challenge as a team is ourselves,” treasurer Evan Arbaugh said.
Arbaugh is a freshman and is in his first year with the team. He plans to compete for the rest of his college career and move up to higher positions within the club as the seniors graduate.
“Working together on and off the field and dealing with organization is what we really need to work on,” Arbaugh said. “Hopefully by the time nationals comes around we will be ready to go.”
In paintball, a tournament consists of roughly 20 teams. All members of the team play at the same time, and tournaments are conducted on a bracket basis. The object of the game is to eliminate the opposing team’s players by shooting them with a gelatin paintball.
Differing from most club teams, the paintball team accepts everyone interested and welcomes all skills and levels of experience. It has a “tryout,” but it is really an evaluation of one’s skills, as it turn away no one. It holds practice once a week, every other week, in Garner, North Carolina. It takes around an hour to get ready with all the gear members must wear for practice.
“We practice with one another at first, and then we start making teams with the other players there at that time” vice president Andy Churchsaid. “Usually East Carolina University is there the same time we are so we’ll practice with them.”
Church is a senior and has been playing paintball since he was a kid. He hopes to continue playing paintball after he graduates within a professional league.
The team is like a family, and many members are excited to take the 10 hour drive to Florida by bus. They also plan to stop in Daytona for a quick break before moving on to Lakeland.
“I’ve become close with all these guys,” Arbaugh said. “They’re so great, and it’ll be fun to go away with them for a few days and get out of North Carolina for a little bit.”
The NC State paintball team has just a few more weeks and a couple more practices until its final tournament of the 2014-2015 season. In these last few weeks, the team will continue to formulate a game plan that will help them achieve second, consecutive national title.
