Why do we do it?

People always wonder why we play paintball, why we play such a "violent" and "useless" sport. They wouldn't be able to comprehend even if we told them. The rush of adrenaline that occurs when that horn blows is like nothing I've ever experienced. The times you spend at tournaments with your teamates are some of the greatest times you'll ever have in your life. Those reasons are enough to keep coming back to the field and laying it all out there. But that's not the reason why us paintball players are so driven to continue in this sport. Respect is what every paintball player really wants to earn. There's no deep pool of money for you to swim in if you make it to the top, hot girls, or world wide fame. You're grinding it out on that field to make every other paintball player know who you are, make them second guess challenging you. You want people to tell stories of the time they played against you or saw you play. That's why we do it.

Here are some quotes from a former pro player, Matty Marshall, that i found truly defined why we play this great sport.

"It happens on a random Monday, coming back from an event, or late on a sunday night, right before you get on the plane and you're about to be frisked for the third time. You're driving, you're flying, you're sitting in a airport seat with boys from the team. You're drinking stale coffee trying to stay awake, you're explaining the fat welt on the side of your neck to a confused stranger or a best friend. You're coming back to the other life; the one without paintball, where no one understands why you do it. You're tired. You're working off little sleep, the question creeps up and you try to ignore it. Why do I do this? Why the travel? Why the losses, and the missed work, the missed school, hours of practice and the complaining girlfriend? Because the lure of living a paintball life is just too potent, and the products of the road, the travel, are memories forever, and trips and strange lands with stranger people. At tournaments, it feels like, for once, you actually get to live as loud as you want. It's worth the sacrifices, it's worth all the bull****. Because if you work hard enough a Sunday will roll around and you'll be in the huddle, screaming, with your hand in, one among seven playing for the World Title. And suddenly, all those cliches you ever heard make sense, and you are defined. You say it to yourself and it means everything. I am a paintball player; and this moment, right here, is my life."

"Its a sick and perverse thing, we know but its what were good at...shooting people for a living. Playing paintball... thats right paintball, and the whole world thinks this is lame,or crazy or a waste of time.You don't understand what we do and how hard it is...even the wives, girlfriends, family, friends, they don't understand the battle, our battle...For glory, for money, for the people you believe in... but mostly for respect....And for this fight that nobody gives a s*** about, we travel hundreds of thousands of miles, to hundreds of towns, shot thousands of times, slept on floors....because we're good at this, because its hard and humbling. Because some days you really can be a hero to your friends. And if my boys ever meet your boys in a gunfight one day.. We will f*** you up"