Paint-filled pellets zipping through the air at 270 feet per
second may be intimidating for some, but for those who live, eat
and breathe paintball, it’s a adrenaline rush comparable to
none.
Hollister – Paint-filled pellets zipping through the air at 270 feet per second may be intimidating for some, but for those who live, eat and breathe paintball, it’s a adrenaline rush comparable to none.
TAG Paintball company, which moved to Hollister several months ago from Watsonville, is in the process of constructing a 30-acre, 11-field paintball course at the corner of San Benito Street and Union Road.
Until construction is complete on its permanent home, which should happen within the next six months, TAG has been using land behind San Benito High School that was the former home of the Scooters Paintball Club, owner Roland Chick said.
TAG is investing nearly $1.6 million into its new field, and promises to build a world-class facility complete with a castle, coffee shop and special field for law enforcement training, Chick said.
“There’s nothing for kids to do in Hollister,” he said. “This will be a place that (kids) can call their own, and there will always be some type of activity.”
Chick purchased the land he plans to build on from Hollister resident Steve Ward, who began Scooters Paintball Club last April. Ward said Scooters was getting too big for him to handle and wanted to transfer the endeavor to someone he could trust. Chick was a good friend, so he offered the land to TAG for a good price on one condition.
“I said, ‘I will sell you this land on the caveat that you take care of my community,'” Ward said. “My only interest in TAG is to make sure Scooters Club and all the kids in the community are taken care of.”
Chick’s way of making good on that promise is to open the new field during the week for people to use for community events and as a place for kids to go after school to stay out of trouble. Until then, the field is open on the weekends from 10am to 3pm. To play, paintballers pay $44, which covers the entry fee, protective gear, unlimited air for the gun and 500 paintballs.
Once armed with a nitrogen-powered paintball gun, paintballers play a variety of games and shoot each other in the process. Referees, called marshals, monitor the games and make sure everyone is playing by the rules, some of which are unique to TAG. TAG is a Christian-based company, and Chick said several things are absolutely not allowed on the field – like violence and bad language. If one of the marshals hears a foul slip of the tongue, the offender has to deposit 25 cents into the “potty mouth jar,” he said.
“We tell them, ‘zip it up in the front, big boy,'” Chick said.
The company welcomes people from all backgrounds to do battle on their property as long as their focus is on paintball.
“We get all kinds of people – we’ve even had a couple devil worshippers up there,” Chick said. “As long as you don’t draw a pentagon on the ground or burn a cat, we don’t care.”
The guns are calibrated to shoot the balls at 270 feet per second, and when they hit you, you know it, Chick said.
“It feels like being snapped with a towel. It’s a sharp shock and it stings for a moment,” he said. “It’s not a pleasant feeling – you feel it and you jolt.”
While some people are concerned that the game facilitates a violent environment, Chick said it does exactly the opposite.
“If you ever want to kill synergy – ask people if they want to do it for real. Real guns, real blood,” he said. “You watch everybody go stone cold. When you put someone in a real situation instead of watching it on TV, when you realize you’re vulnerable, it’s like, maybe I’m not Superman.”
Paintball’s popularity has skyrocketed in recent years and is now considered the third most popular extreme sport behind motocross and BMX biking, said D’Avonny Moran, the manager at the Hollister field.
On a sunny Saturday or Sunday, Hollister’s field will see 70 to 100 people come for some messy fun. Moran estimated 40 percent of the players are local and the rest travel from surrounding areas. She said once the new field opens the company will start advertising locally to tap into the Hollister market.
“Kids like it because they get to run around with a gun. And 30 to 40-year-olds like it because they want to get out with their sons and it keeps them youthful,” she said. “It’s a great activity to keep them together as a family. Any adrenaline junkie would absolutely love it.”
Avid paintball player Jim Lemos, who owns JJ’s Paintball Supplies in Gilroy, often plays at Hollister’s field and said when the new field is built he expects throngs of people to make the trek to Hollister from all over Northern California.
“When there’s a good field people will go there, no matter how far,” he said. “It could be really, really big. We’re taking over.”
Erin Musgrave covers public safety at the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected].
