It was an overcast and gloomy morning in the mountain woods.  Viewing silently from my elevated position, I could see the enemy moving along the bottom of the ridgeline.  Working slowly from behind trees and ground cover, they were attempting to flank members of my squad who were engaged with other combatants to my left and further downslope.  My team’s attention was focused on the short bursts of rounds being thrown at them from hidden positions to their front, so they were unaware of the enemy’s movements as they closed in.  Patiently I waited, hearing nothing but my own breathing as the opposition closed the distance and entered a perfect line of sight for my weapon.  I slowly centered my aim on the targets, exhaled to calm my nerves, and squeezed the trigger.  The staccato “thump – thump-thump” of the barrel announced my position, but it was too late for the rogue assailants below me.  Bright globs of orange paint lit up their torsos as their heads twisted in surprise towards me.

“I’m out!” shouted one, raising his weapon overhead, indicating his exit from the game.

“Me, too!” cried out the second.  He too, raised his weapon in disgust.

I giggled under my breath, waiting silently for the next victim to arrive.

In the mid-2000’s, the popularity of paintball was at an all-time high.  Pro-leagues, sponsorships, and big money were flowing into the sport.  High priced guns (known as “markers”) and facemasks were flying off of store shelves.  It was a heady time.  Then, the financial meltdown of 2007-2008 hit the country, and it took down more than Wall Street.  All sorts of sports and leisure activities took a huge hit, and paintball was no exception.  Sales of equipment and accessories dried up.  Leagues disbanded.  Sponsors disappeared, and players either tucked their guns and goggles in the attic or put them up for sale on Ebay or Craigslist.  Paintball was quickly headed towards “fad” status, but even in its darkest days, there were those who participated in the sport who still believed.

People like Gary Stouffer.

Easy going and instantly likeable, 60-year old Gary runs 1 Shot Paintball, a mobile service based out of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania that brings the game of paintball to a whole new audience.  Gone are the days of putting up lots of up-front money for equipment and accessories.  Outfits like ‘1 Shot’ supply it all.  Stouffer and his crew bring the guns, the facemasks, the air, and the ammo – which you can rent for the day (it costs about $30 to rent a gun, facemask, air, and start with 500 rounds of paint).   All you need to supply is a wooded lot – preferably a half-acre or more – and the people.  Gary takes care of the rest, including the safety spiel, equipment maintenance between rounds, and the game refereeing.  Sure, there are veteran players who will bring their own equipment (and that’s fine), but businesses like ‘1 Shot’ give new players a chance to experience the sport without a lot of hassle or investment.

“1 Shot” specializes in “Woodsball”, which is a slower version of the game that utilizes the natural cover and terrain of the land.  Teams are poised against each other and can employ tactical maneuvers to try to overpower their opponents or players can hide in the bush and become “snipers”, waiting for the enemy to come to them.  Games are timed, or, in some cases, one side eliminates the other.

For the second round, it was our turn to be at the lower end of the designated game area.  The terrain was moderately wooded, with various trees, thorn bushes and upended stumps to provide cover.  A small creek bed meandered through the lower portion of the course.  As our team fanned out, the younger ones of the group were eager to dash forward and get into some quick action , while those of us with some game experience (and age) were picking out trees to take up stationary positions – well behind the “front lines”.  For this game, we hadn’t yet added armband markers to designate one team from the other.

“How do we tell who to shoot at?” said one rookie marksman.

“If they are facing you –  – shoot ‘em,” replied a veteran player.

Good advice.

Stouffer co-founded ‘1 Shot Paintball’ in 2004 as a way for kids from his church and the surrounding area to have something to do that was safe, fun, and supervised.  The business grew and in a little over a year, ‘1 Shot’ was doing multiple youth summer camps where they taught game basics, safety, and strategy.  They started fielding teams for league play events.  Gary then put together an 8-man squad that competed at the professional level in 2008, placing in the top 20% nationally.  As he was in his 50’s, he picked up the nickname “Pappy”, since most of the competitive players were less than half his age.

Almost a decade later, “Pappy” is still doing his summer camps.

“It teaches kids teamwork and communication skills that have been lost through all of today’s technology,” says Stouffer.  “It also teaches responsibility, because they are using a paintball gun that shoots a projectile.  It’s one of the safest extreme sports there is if the rules are followed.”

The make-up of this event is quite the mix of people from a wide variety of backgrounds.  There are ex-military, blue-collar workers, IT professionals, teenagers, housewives, and quite a few first-timers – all taking part in the action on a mountain parcel located on a private 300-acre farm in southern Pennsylvania.    ‘1 Shot” will go almost anywhere in the Four-State region to run a game, as long as the host can provide the ground to play on.  Between games, Gary can be found chatting with players, providing tips, checking a weapon, or sharing war stories from his professional days.  Always quick with a smile or a laugh, he ensures that everyone has a good time.

“I’m not sure how many years I have left at this, but it keeps me young at heart,” says Gary.  “When it’s time to move on to the next life, I can only hope there’s paintball in Heaven.”

So far on this morning I had gotten through two sessions unscathed.  That was about to change.  The 3^rd session was a round of “capture the flag”.  A flag is attached to a tree in the middle of the game field and the teams gather at opposite ends of the designated game area.  The object is very simple – someone from your team has to grab the flag and get it out of the woods – while making it out alive.  If you pick up the flag and get hit by a paintball, you have to drop it where you stand and another player can attempt to retrieve it.  We had 46 players in the woods – 23 to a team, and everyone was converging on a single spot in the center of the field.  Within seconds of the starting whistle , the air was filled with projectiles.  Literally dozens of paintballs could be seen and heard whizzing by me.  Paint was splattering off of trees, rocks, bushes – you name it.  It was quite an adrenaline rush.  The game didn’t last three minutes, and I was out in 30 seconds, sporting several welts and paint blotches all over my body.  I raised my weapon in relief, quite happy to be out of the carnage – for now.

Still – I’ll happily be back for more in the next round.

For more details or information on “1 Shot Paintball”, game hosting, and their summer camp schedule, visit their website at www.1shotpaintball.net