Shooting people with paintballs is supposed to be fun, right? Well it is… until you get lazered by three different people.

I was in 5th grade and I was having a blast at my week-long youth camp in Lake Geneva Wisconsin. My friends and I had done awesome and fun things all week-long; the thing that never left our minds was the upcoming paintball fight. This was being highly anticipated because most of us had never played before. It was talked about a lot in the days leading up to when we actually got to play. My friends that had played before told me the feelings they had while they were playing the time before. When I asked “Hey guys what did playing paintball feel like?” One of the two that had played before told me ‘It just feels so good to shoot paintballs at other people” and my other friend said ‘you feel like you’re actually in a battle”. They also mentioned something about it hurting once you actually got hit but I paid little attention to that, I was too excited about what they had told me.

The day finally came when we were able to play. All of us lined up at the entrance of the arena where we got our gear, protection, and of course our weapons filled to the top with paintballs. Out of curiosity I grabbed one out of the gun to see what it felt like and as a surprise to me they were harder than I thought. I didn’t have too much time to think about being nervous or the pain the paintball might cause because the official has come out of the arena to tell us the rules. The rules were simple, we first split into teams and went to our base on opposite sides of the arena; if you were shot you had to exit with your hands up, if you were the last one on your team and totally outnumbered you could surrender, the last team standing was declared the winner.

Just like that the horn sounded and the game started. The course was pretty big, it was filled with obstacles, trees and shrubs and hideouts. I ran like my life depended on it to a spot that sat a little higher than the rest of the course. It was covered with three huge tires so I was protected pretty well. The game started pretty slow but then it completely switched gears; people were running around, moving, and shooting like crazy. My spot became the ideal spot, I could see three people from the other team that had just moved into my sights. Without hesitation I opened fire. I almost felt like I was a Navy Seal moving in on an enemy. I watched as their once black clothes they were wearing turned into dozens of colorful spots. Three people down in the matter of seconds, that was half of their team! I was feeling pretty good until I realized that I was the only one left on my team. It turned into a 1 v.s 3. I was outnumbered and had no idea where the last three were on the other team. I totally forgot about the part where you were supposed to surrender if you were outnumbered because I was in some sort of survival mode. I had my finger glued to the trigger scoping out the course but I saw nothing. I kept telling myself that I had already took out three whats three more? But then, the silence broke as gunshots filled the air. I hadn’t realized my once ideal spot had turned me into a sitting duck. Before I had time to react I was hit in the back by what felt like a million bees stinging me all at once, but, in reality it was 10 or so paintballs. I fell to the ground a rolled around like my back was on fire because the pain was so excruciating. Finally, after a minute or so of me laying on the ground the pain went away; I stood up and walked out of the course where I was met with high fives from everyone who played.

Although my team lost and I got some pretty good welts on my back, the adrenaline rush I had while I was playing along with me feeling like a Navy Seal during the battle still made me love the game. As I was about to take off my stuff the upperclassmen that watched the game before were just about to enter the ring to play. But out of nowhere two of them turned around and said “Hey kid we are short a player and you played pretty good last game. Wanna be on our team?” I was overjoyed but of course didn't show it. I responded with a cool “Yeah why not.” What they didn’t know is I was just assigned my next mission for as a Navy Seal and I was ready for battle.