"Mommy, Can I Play Paintball?"

Having been a captain of a team for sometime now I’ve run into a lot of opposition from some of the most unlikely places (namely parents). Potential new players who are underage will come to me with hopes of finding a spot on our team, but when they go and ask mommy and daddy the answer is no. Why is this? It’s something I never had worry about really, and most the members of my team never had to deal with. The fact of the matter is that some of you might have the same problem, so to get your parents to say yes you should understand first why they will say no. Educate yourself on the sport and all of its safety rules and requirements as well as the proper terminology and safety statistics. These are the several ways that you can prepare and present a valuable argument for playing the game. Plus I will give you a few extra ideas in which to present to them. First get to know the rules and safety requirements of the game, such as wearing your approved face mask inside the playing area at all times, keeping your velocity below 300 fps (the average is actually 280), maintaining at least a ten foot distance between you and your opponent when you shoot. These are just some of the safety standards but you should know these and all the others. Just get online and search the web for paintball safety rules. You should also learn the proper terminology. This is critical, because it isn’t necessarily what you say that will convince them, but more or less how you say it. This is the only time you will ever find me instructing anyone to be politically correct, but this is one area where it will hurt your cause if you don’t. First off don’t call you paintball gun a “gun” it’s a marker, secondly you are not shooting, killing, smoking, or slaughtering your opponent, you are marking, or eliminating him. These are the things that will make the difference. It’s vital that your parents see that you are not going to become some psycho crazed killer hell bent on slaughter a whole bunch of people because you learned that in paintball. They have to see that you are becoming a well behaved, civilized person that they can take out in public. So do yourself a favor and learn the terminology. Third you need to educate yourself on the safety statistics. You can get online and search the web by typing in “Paintball Safety Statistics” and you should get all the info you need. But just to let you know a little of what you’re going to find, I already did it for you. According to every statistic I looked at Paintball was the safest sport even beating-out fishing, golf and bowling. It is even safer than doing house work. Now for some extras, let your parents know that it is a safe and fun way for you to get in exercise. They love that. If you can show your parents that it is a way for you to get active and learn the values of teamwork and leadership, they are usually more apt to let you play. Show them that you’re learning to be a better human being and a better citizen by playing. This is the best and most honest way of going about it. But remember as long as you are underage the final decision rests with your parents. If they say no, the answer is no, don’t go behind their backs and play, because you’re only hurting your cause. But do your best to show them that you are willing to live with the decision that they have made and at the very least they are going to admire your honesty.