UNMASKEDP A I N T B A L L

Spring 2013

Feature Story

Fighting Gobblers!A Closer Look at Virginia Tech Paintball

Photo SpreadsWeekend Warriors

Dallas Grind!Forward Comrads!

Volume 1, Issue 1

2 PAINTBALL UNMASKED

index

Weekend Warriors Pages 6-15

Dallas Grind! Pages 16-27

Forward Comrads!Pages 28-41

FEATURE:Fighting Gobblers

Pages. 42-49

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welcome to paintball unmasked And now, we present to you the first issue of Paintball Unmasked Mag-azine. It’s been a long journey getting here and we are happy to bring you our tribute to the sport we all love.

This is just our teaser issue, a small taste of what’s to come. In the fu-ture, Paintball Unmasked will be longer and present a more comprehensive view of the sport. In each issue, we hope to dedicate a portion to speedball, woodsball, scenario paintball and collegiate paintball. We also want contri-butions from you, our readers and Paintball Unmasked community.

Our mission, simply put, is to reveal the player behind the mask through a series of photo stories, articles and interviews. With each issue, we will set out to define a small portion of the paintball community and get to know the people who make this sport great. We want to focus on players, teams, field owners and anyone who calls this sport their passion!

Currently, we’re a small team of very dedicated individuals. But, the most important part of the Paintball Unmasked experience is you, the read-er and paintball enthusiast. Become a part of the Paintball Unmasked com-munity by subscribing to our magazine and liking us on Facebook. Want to help out even more? We are always looking for reader submitted stories and suggestions for events, teams and players to cover. You can help us embark on this great journey as we set out to tell the story of paintball, one story at a time. Become a part of the Paintball Unmasked community today as we set sail on this odyssey.

here we go!

welcome to paintball unmaskedAlex Barker Is our Editor-in-Chief, a recent graduate of Virginia Tech, he was the owner of Mountain Valley Paintball in Axton VA, President of the Paintball Club of Virgin-ia Tech and Captain of the Virginia Tech Woodsball Team. Since graduating from Virginia Tech, he has become a certified pro referee for the NPPL and has taken up paintball photography to capture his pas-sion in its most exciting moments. Morgan Barker Is our Executive Editor, is a William and Mary alumnus with a degree in English. Previously Editor-in-Chief of the DoG Street Journal and reporter for Washing-ton Exec, her passion for storytelling and editing is rivaled by few making her the ideal executive editor for Paintball Unmasked Magazine. Alan Scherger Is our web designer and technical support, a gradu-ate of Virginia Tech with a degree in computer sci-ence, he served as an officer for the Paintball Club of Virginia Tech and was a teammate with Alex Barker on the VT Woodsball Team. His expertise allows us to enhance our readers experience and more easily spread the circulation of Paintball Unmasked.

meet the staff

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eekend.arriorsW

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Paintball...

Through the eyes...

of a rec player...

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Dallas Grind!By: Alex Barker

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son. Paintball Unmasked got to see the action of PSP divisional teams REVO, Damage Control, Baltimore Equinox and MD Shockwave at Paintball Adven-ture Park in Taneytown, MD in the final weeks leading up to the Dallas Open. After months of practice, each team was at the top of their game, compet-ing for each point like it was for the World Cup!

Welcome to the Dallas Grind!

This year the PSP kicked off its sea-son on March 15th at Cousins’ Paintball in Dallas, Texas. The four day event was filled with new faces and old legends, upset victories and heart pounding comebacks. Champions were crowned and favorites defeated. But while some teams made it look easy, the road to Dallas was filled with months of prac-ticing and countless hours put in by the players of the PSP to perfect their game by the start of the 2013 PSP sea-

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Forward Comrads!

Stalingrad VIII Scenario GameSkirmish Paintball Park, PA

In the history books the battle for Stalin-grad is a key battle that turned the tide of World War II for the Russians. But in the paintball world, images of one of the country’s largest scenario games come to mind. This year Skirmish Paint-ball, home of the Invasion of Normandy game, hosted their eighth Battle for Stalingrad, which brought in over 1500 players for the eight hour scenario game. Paintball Unmasked photogra-pher, Alex Barker, played the role of an embed-ded journalist capturing all of the action during the World War II themed scenario game.

With the Germans winning Stalingrad VII, the Russians were ready to win back the crown in Stalingrad VIII. But, with experienced Scenar-io teams, leading both the Germans and Rus-sians, a day of stalemates ensued. The Russians launched massive attacks all day, taking German forts momentarily before quick and powerful German counter attacks retook the forts. The Germans sent some of their most elite troops into the battlefield’s most remote boundaries in an attempt to flank the Russians impenetrable line, only to be pushed back by small contin-gents of Russian scouts in the

BY: Alex Barker

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main Russian contingent hunkered down in the city, ready to repel the German invaders. At 5:01 PM, a small group of German Special Forces charged towards the south entrance of the city. The Russian defenders managed to eliminate the German force, but not before they launched over a dozen smoke grenades in front of the cit-ies southern gate. In seconds, a wall of smoke formed so thick that nothing was visible. Then a force of several hundred German soldiers emerged from the shadows, rushing to-wards the south entrance. All the Russians could see was smoke and all they could hear were the battle cries of the Germans. The thick smoke al-lowed the Germans to quickly take the south-ern buildings of the city. But as they entered the center of Stalingrad, the Russian defenders unleashed a barrage of paintballs, stopping the German advance in its tracks. The Germans sent their armor into the heart of this mayhem in an attempt to break the stalemate. But the Russian anti-tank personnel easily knocked out the Ger-man armor. The Germans launched a second wave on the eastern side of the city to put pres-sure on the Russian line. After several chaotic minutes, with heavy German loses, they man-aged to capture the eastern part of the city, only to have the Russians retake much of the south-ern portion of the city with a quick counter at-tack. With just minutes left in the final assault the city was split down the middle with the Ger-mans controlling the eastern half and the Rus-sians controlling the western half. As the final minutes of the battle came to a close, neither side managed to take control of the city ending in another stalemate. As the horn to end Stalin-grad VIII sounded the victor was unclear, with such an even matched battle either side could take home the crown. See who won Stalingrad VIII at the end of our exclusive photo spread. Who do you think will win? The Motherland or the Fatherland?

Forward Comrads!

Stalingrad VIII Scenario GameSkirmish Paintball Park, PA

battlefields boondocks. With neither team gain-ing an advantage throughout the day, the final battle for the city of Stalingrad was to determine the victor. As the final hour of battle grew near, the action seemed to die down. With just one hour until the final assault on Stalingrad both teams were preparing for the massive assault that was about to take place on the city. Then the clock hit 5:00 PM, with just 30 minutes left in the sce-nario, the final assault was about to begin. Only the distant pop pop sounds from Russian and German scout skirmishes could be heard as the

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Final ScoreGermany: 74

Russia: 66

42 FEATURE

Imagine dodging paintballs in below freezing weather while the material for tomorrow’s mid-term is floating through your mind. It sounds pretty crazy, but that’s life for the players on the Virginia Tech paintball team and they love it. In spite of the constant juggling act required to be both a college athlete and student, the VT paintball team manages to perform both in the classroom and on the field; in the 2011-2012 season the team finished 16th at Nationals. This year is shaping up to be no different and high hopes surround the team as they head to the 2013 NCPA National Tournament.

In spite of the demanding schedule these college students face, the VT paintball team practices several times a month, rain or shine. Zach Summer, VT Paintball Cap-tain, says “Every week, I tell the team that school comes before paintball, yet every practice, I see these guys on the field ready to play. We know how to get our home-work and other studies out of the way be-fore Sunday, grind day, comes.”

VT paintballers are all about time management, “The key to balancing school and paintball is planning. I try to plan a few weeks ahead so the rest of my guys can see

Fighting Gobblers

A Closer Look At Virginia Tech PaintballBy Morgan Barker

Feature Story

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if they have any big projects or tests that they need to study for that would cause us to change the date to a more convenient practice date. Planning ahead has avoided numerous headaches ever since I became Captain of the team,” Summer said.

A typical practice for the VT Paintball team is about five hours long and Summer has the team run “a variety of different drills including polls, snap shooting, Snake/Dorito wars and then playing some full points with the guys from Liberty University and Lynch-burg College.” Typically the team practices every other week, “unless there is an event coming up, in which we practice about three weeks straight from 12 to 5 pm,” Summer said.

In terms of strategy Summer says the focus is on working as a team, “This year, we haven’t really lost anyone from last years Nationals line and we have been grinding pretty hard to work together as a team, rather than having a superman player.” This teamwork strategy seems to be working well thus far, “After taking 2nd at our first event of the season at Liberty University, the guys realized we are a team to beat go-ing into Nationals,” Summer said.

With nationals just a week away, Sum-mer has a vision of how he would like the season to end; “In a perfect world, Virginia Tech will bring home a first place trophy on our twelve hour drive from Nationals...We have worked hard all season and all that’s left to do is prove it on the weekend of April

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19th at the NCPA Nationals event in Lake-land, FL...We plan to set the pace as soon as we hit the field and let the rest of the teams know who is the team to beat.”

Regardless of how nationals ends, the team is sure to have a great time and partake in a few team traditions. Summer said, “during last year’s trip to nationals, we downloaded the Nicki Minaj album that came out and listened to it for the entire 12 hour trip to Florida and back. We like to listen to some obnoxious music on our way to and from nationals. Pranks are also a big

tradition for us. We love messing with each other!” Summer said.

Summer is just a Sophmore at Virgin-ia Tech, and with just two players graduat-ing from their roster this season the Hok-ies are poised to be a powerhouse team for seasons to come. Be sure to follow the Virginia Tech Hokies in Lakeland, FL as they hit the national stage ready to make their mark and chop up the competition. We, at Paintball Unmasked, wish them the very best at the head down to the 2013 NCPA National Tournament!

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MEET THE HOKIES

2012-2013 Virginia Tech NCPA Team Roster

Zach SummerAge: 19Hometown: Strafford VA

Year: Sophamore Major: Business

Position: Back/SnakeExperience: 12 years

#07Fred TrelzAge: 20Hometown: St. Louis MO

Year: Sophamore Major: Engineering

Position: Back PlayerExperience: 7 years

#53Tyler ZacirkaAge: 20Hometown: Doylestown

Year: Junior Major: Engineering

Position: DoritoExperience: 7 years

#1

Kierian KingAge: 20Hometown: Pittsburgh PA

Year: Sophamore Major: Engineering

Position: SnakeExperience: 6 years

#93Nick EstesAge: 20Hometown: Matthews NC

Year: Sophamore Major: Engineering

Position: Front PlayerExperience: 8 years

#15Grant SandlinAge: 20Hometown: Vienna VA

Year: Junior Major: Engineering

Position: SnakePlayerExperience: 6 years

#89

Hunter McGheeAge: 18Hometown: Charlottesville VA

Year: FreshmanMajor: Engineering

Position: HomeExperience: 3 years

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MEET THE HOKIES

2012-2013 Virginia Tech NCPA Team Roster

Robert HigginbothamAge: 22Hometown: Orange VA

Year: Senior Major: Political Science

Position: Dorito Experience: 6 years

#98Frank BongrazioAge: 23Hometown: Tabernacle NJ

Year: SeniorMajor: Communications

Position: DoritoExperience: 10 years

#34Frank ZerofskyAge: 19Hometown: Townson MD

Year: SophamoreMajor: Engineering

Position: mini insertExperience: 6 years

#24

Stuart SalmonAge: 25Hometown: Lynchburg VA

Year: JuniorMajor: Engineering

Position: DoritoExperience: 6 years

#25Aaron BartlettAge: 20Hometown: Mechanicsville VA

Year: Sophamore Major: Economics

Position: AnyExperience: 7 years

#17Ryan HopkinsAge: 18Hometown: Martinsville VA

Year: FreshmanMajor: Sus. Biomaterials

Position: Coner SnakeExperience: 4 years

#6

Danny Dutton

#13

Comming up in our summer issue...!

The PAPs FamilyPaintball Unmasked takes an in-depth look at how Paintball Adventure Park, a small paintball field located in Taneytown MD has grown into one of the greatest field complexes on the east coast. Home to over a dozen competitive paintball teams and hosting open play days of 50 or more people year round, PAPs has become a second home to competitive and rec players alike

INVASION OF NORMANDYGet full coverage of the worlds largest paintball game. Invasion of Normandy hosted by Skirmish Paintball bring in nearly 5000 players every year! Prepare for epic photospreads of this 24 hour scenario game and see what the commanders see, as we bring you behind the scence coverage in this mammoth feature story.

what else would you like to see?Paintball Unmasked wants to hear from you, do you have an idea for our sum-mer issue? Then message us on our Facebook Page and tell us about it!

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