Photo By Lance Cpl. Ian McMahon | Hector Lizama lays down suppressive fire as team mate Joe Freeman reloads. Each member...... read more read more
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OKINAWA, Japan - Adrenaline pumped through their veins, heart rates rose, and instincts replaced fear as they moved from one bunker to the next taking cover from enemy fire.
Though it sounds like a combat scenario, the battle was just another competition for the Ryukyu Kings Okinawa International Paintball Team.
The Ryukyu Kings paintball team was officially formed May 1, 2006, and is the oldest paintball team in Okinawa according to the Ryukyu Kings website.
The long-standing team has consisted of U.S. service members and locals from the Okinawa community who train regularly on Kadena Air Base.
The Kings have participated in many tournaments over the years from local events to the international level.
The team dominated in the Paintball-Asia League Series Tournament Thailand last year, a competition between some of the best teams from across Asia.
“Even though it is hard for (the team) to play together all the time due to a currently small community, we have successfully been winning local tournaments,” said Conrad Bidal, the Kings team captain and coach.
The team does not limit itself to just winning, it enjoys creating awareness of the sport.
“The team’s goal is to maintain and grow the sport of paintball on Okinawa,” said Bidal.
“In paintball there is a large gap between the players who can afford the more expensive gear and the ones (who) can’t,” Bidal explained.
The Kings more than welcome new players on to the field with them regardless of their equipment.
“It is disappointing to see these kids come out to a field and see just the speedball players with all the top-of-the-line gear and think ‘I can’t play with them,’” said Bidal.
Although the team has the upper-hand in experience, it wishes to see more teams to play against. It has succeeded by advertising the sport through flyers, social media sites and word of mouth.
“Today there are more than double the amount of players on the field than usual,” said Chris Gruber, a member of the team. “We want to open the community up for more players.”
To see how to get involved with paintball, visit www.ryukyukings.com.
| Date Taken: | 02.18.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 02.23.2012 19:47 |
| Story ID: | 84271 |
| Location: | OKINAWA, JP |
| Web Views: | 156 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Ryukyu Kings give speedball velocity, by LCpl Ian McMahon, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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