What is paintball to you? Is it the thrill of competition? Why do you play time and time again? Everyone always asks why we play paintball?
To me, paintball is my escape. No matter how bad my work week was, no matter what stresses I am dealing with at home, no matter what worries I may have when I step on to the paintball field I think of nothing from the past that has gotten me down. To walk on the field is my therapy, my way to forget everything for a few hours. Paintball is my passion in this world. I love the feeling I get when I am shooting my marker at whomever is across that field from me. It does not matter if I win or lose, only that I play with honor and respect my enemy on that field. For when I walk off the field that player is no longer an enemy, they are now a friend bound by paint and the love of the game.
When we step out on the field we are no longer the burger flippers, office workers, and managers. We, the true paintball players, can think of nothing but the game. When we get out paychecks we can think of only one thing. PAINTBALL! 
When you start to play this game you will become paintball. You get to the field and see people you have played with or against and just smile. You know that soon, very soon you will be on the field shooting your marker. For the precious seconds you play the game you know you are somebody, you are a paintball player. You take your all and put it into this game. You spend thousands of dollars a year just to get that feeling. Paintball is a brotherhood, it is a life that those that do not play will never understand. This is my lifestyle, my passion, my place of peace.
I take this with me to help me cope with work, knowing that when the weekend nears I will either play paintball or referee a game for new players instilling in them the way the game should be played. To teach new players is almost as fulfilling as playing with my team.
I have torn my ACL, PCL and Medial Meniscus playing this game. Even on crutches I was at the field, just to get that feeling of normal back in my life while I could not walk for those few long months. To be at one with the world I live in I have to be on that field. I have to hear the smack of paintballs hitting those bunkers. I have to hear the players screaming at the top of their lungs to each other. I have to feel the game I have grown to love!
This is not something many will understand. To share this bond is life. To play this game is to live.
By Paul Forcier
