A Reminder from the Valkries Paintball Team

"Being a mom and  playing paintball" - Kathy Alvarez

I've been fortunate to have played with and against some really good female players and long ago learned that those old saws about Momma Bears protecting their cubs is as accurate as the statement that everyone had a mother is.

Women have been involved with this game at every level, right from its beginning:  Debra Dion was the marketing face for NSG.  Jessica Sparks was an early reporter  for APG and founded a number of early initiatives (IPPA); Rose Griffiths showed us what packs were all about; Tracy Hatcher was a familiar sight at tradeshows for Pro-Team Products; I don't remember her first name, but a female member of the Nelson family headed up their efforts for years;  a woman played in the second ever game, for gosssakes!

Early on we discussed this issue and, in particular, ways to encourage more women to play (if only because the early game sausage-fests were a little hard on the eye) and we came to the well-founded conclusion that Paintball was one of a very small handful of sports that could be successfully Co-Ed. 

Despite "all women's" leagues and events (and they're fine - everyone likes to hang with people they are comfortable with from time to time - not to mention that for most of the first few decades of this game, nearly everything paintball was "all men's"), I've never thought that there was a skills/physical barrier for women in this game, and no performance issues that required gender-based  division.  One of the winningest teams in the history of this sport fielded one or two female players on a regular basis, by way of evidence backing up that claim.

All of that by way of mentioning in my sly, sneaking stuff in on you way, that several Valkyrie players will be attending the upcoming Panhandle Paintball Classic on April 1st & 2nd.  Some slots are still available.  Register at PBLeagues.com, and

the team will be competing in the WCPL's NY Classic, registration for which opens today, also on PBLeagues.com.

Just remember, you can try to shoot them, but its not polite to ogle.