Paintball is a great sport to love. With love always comes joy and frustration. I have dedicated a lot of time and energy over the years to doing what I love and because I have many blessings of good people and opportunities, I have been able to give back to the sport that brings me happiness. But I have not done a good enough job. I created a place that I hoped would bring people together and renew the spirit of the game that I used to know. We gathered and we made positive steps but as a whole we continue to disrespect the game. Like I said before, the park is not about the turf, the bunkers, and the nets, it is about the people. When I first started playing, cheaters were well known and publicly scrutinized. Shooting hot was done with malicious intent. Today kids think cheating is part of the game. Shooting hot is a result of laziness, and disrespect to the well being of other people. There was a time that players and teams earned respect in paintball because they worked harder and had more desire to be the best. Now the majority seems to have a rather skewed perception of what paintball is all about. Paintball is sport, and sport is designed to test the individual on a set of guidelines that will produce the greatest challenger. With so many things wrong in the game today, it is my fault as a pioneer that we have come to this. It is my fault that I have stood by and watched the game deteriorate. Everything that we know about todays game, all the things that make the game frustrating, are a result of how the game is played on the field. I couldn’t count how many people have stories of losing games and events due to poor reffing and teams cheating. Refs are inexperienced and taught poorly. This drives teams away from events in anger of a bad experience rather than feed their motivation to continue knowing that they lost because of their own faults or won because of their preparation. Promoters lose the growing business to allow them to expand and make the events what we all desire them to be. Then the sport loses because it is unable to reach its potential. Everyone must take responsibility to revive the true spirit of the sport and play it the way it is meant to be played. At the end of the day competitors should want to know that they win or lose fairly. This is the measure of self that defines individuals and allows people to grow in our sport and in life.
With this I hope that we can come together again in a new place with a new attitude. I will reerect the field that we use to bring us joy and challenge ourselves. Gecko Paintball on the Miramar Marine Base will make Raza Park its own and we will once again be able to play in a professional atmosphere. Poor attitudes are not welcome. Fun times await. Contact Gecko for more info. See everyone at Miramar. Holler at your boy.
Todd Martinez
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