Thread: William's Paintball Munchkin Army!

William's Paintball Munchkin Army!

Friends,

I just wanted to share a personal story that happened today that has me smiling.

Because I am a person that eats when under stress and because I am glued to these machines over 65 hours per week, I am out of shape. I had been playing paint ball some last year, but not in the last six months.

Today, I resolved to get away for a few hours and play some paint ball. It is great exercises. Nothing gets you moving faster than people shooting at you!

I took a buddy of mine with me. He had never played before but towards the end of the day we were doing well. In fact, on his last round we both took out the last player on the other team together. I got the last opposition team member in the arm while my pal hit him from the other side of the field in the 'buttocks".

I decided to play one last round before we left and my pal told me I should end on a high note and that if I pushed my luck I was going to get shot up pretty bad.

So off I go into the paint ball field for one last game.

There were some little kids playing today, there always are but some of these were the youngest and smallest I had ever seen play on their own.

People of all ages play paintball and some of the smaller kids are actually very good. They are hard to hit because they can fit easily behind small obstacles and bunkers.

These small kids were in a group of about 20 of us that gathered inside the nets of the obstacle field for the last game of the day. Many of their parents were watching from the sidelines. Some parents had been with them at the course during the day, but most had just arrived to pick up their children.

The referee that setup this game was not a regular referee, he was the guy that works behind the counter selling paint and snacks and he had come out to arrange this last game since the day was winding down.

Usually, the referee will assign teams and tell you to stay on the entrance side of the field or walk to the other side. They mix up experience and non experienced players and young and old to balance the teams.

This referee just told everyone to separate into two teams on our own.

I immediately saw what was happening.

All of the older players separated to one team leaving about 8 small kids on their own in a group. I naturally gravitated to the older group as well. The kiddies team was two player short and so two of us were going to have to cross over.

I chimed in and said I would switch and a younger guy that appeared to be about 18 said he would join me just so he could face off with his sister who was on the older team.

I chimed in to say I would join the kiddie team because of the way they were reacting to the situation. I could not see their faces because we all have masks on to protect our heads, but I could see some of them start to get nervous.

On one hand, it looked like nobody wanted to play with them which will make anyone sad. On the other hand, these little guys were about to have to take on a group of people in their 20-40's which is not a fun proposition. Getting shot with a paintball hurts and leaves whelps on your skin.

When I started to walk over to their group, I must admit my first thought was that I was going to go and get slaughtered with the kiddie team, but then I thought "think positive".

So I took charge of the situation and got my munchkin teammates to gather round as the other team walked to get in position at the far end of the field.

I said "We are going to win this game. You guys are small, but that is good because you make smaller targets. What we need is a plan."

The little kids were very receptive to my impromptu coaching. It's not like I'm some kind of expert, I'm a novice player myself, but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night.

I said "Here's the deal, that other team is going to try and intimidate you because they are big and you are small. I want all of you to dig in on these back field obstacles to play defense. We are going to make the other team come to us. They will be over confident and when they are exposed, you take em out!"

So we get in position and the game starts and the paint rounds are flying past us as I race to get behind one of the cylindrical obstacles on the back right. I glance behind me and I have three munchkins sticking to me like glue! That was OK because they all kept asking me what I wanted them to do.

The 18 year old that joined me advanced on the other team and was hit and was out of the game early on leaving me as the lone older player with the swarm of armed kids.

Just like I thought, the other team advanced, overconfident, exposed themselves and those little kids lit em up!

I could hear some of the parents coaching and coaxing their kids about 25 feet behind me behind the safety nets. I glanced back for a minute and saw a very interesting picture. This David and Goliath match had drawn quite a crowd of people watching with interest.

As we took the other team apart one at a time, I had to advance down field with my backup of three kids. Finally, we had them down to one player remaining and I had to yell three times for our team to start moving up and the youngsters finally started coming out of their deep defense positions to help corner our adversary.

We took him out and were declared the winners and the crowd started cheering.

We had only lost one team member, the 18 year old, and all the little kids were safe and sound and victorious.

Let me tell you, that other team did not throw the game, they went down with a heck of a fight. Granted, they had to go home tonight and ponder the fact they got wiped out by a man in his 30's and a gang of ten year olds.

The reason we won was because we had a plan and the other team underestimated our team.

Lesson in life. Have a plan. Never underestimate your enemy. Overconfidence can breed failure, beware little people when they organize.

W

Good story. Having spent a good deal of time around 5-15 yr olds lately, I'm hear to confirm all the above.

Does Size matter?

Very good story W. it made my heart smile.

Dixie

Congrats, great strategy and lessons learned for the kids (and us of course).

I enjoyed that.

Great
The little guy wins again
Awsome

Not just for us... the little guys learned that with a plan even they had a chance

Great Story W, I wrote a paper once on Gullivers Travels - by Jonathan Swift, titled "Does Size Matter?"

Same concept.

Great story. Thanks for sharing