If you're into contact sports - that is contact with paint - you might want to give the Chicago Open paintball tournament a try this weekend. I can't say that paintball is my sport, but my son likes it, so I'm in it.
The tournament started on Wednesday June, 24 and runs through Sunday, June 28, at Volunteer Park, which is just outside of the Park District's Aquatic Center. There are over 200 professional and non-professional teams expected to be dressed in gear and seen shooting one another in full paintball combat.
"There are teams coming from all over the country and world," said Keeley Watson a spokesperson for paintball sports promotions of San Diego, California, "We have games going on, on six different fields," she said. There will be teams from Russia, England and Mexico in appearance.
This is the show's fifth year in Bolingbrook, and it's free to the public.
"It's a cool visual show to watch," said Dan Leahy, a spokesperson for the Bolingbrook Park District. "There will be huge arenas on the field," he added. For people interested in getting into the sport locally, the park district sponsors annual paintball trips for teens ages, 12 to 17. The groups travel to Challenge Park Extreme near Wilmington, Illinois, in the fall and spring to get "their paintball fighting on."
In the sport, teams compete against each other in a "capture the flag" style approach. Players use paintball guns filled with gel capsules to "mark" their opponents. Once a paintball hits a player and "marks" them with paint, he or she is out of the game.
And if you're really, really into the sport you can pickup paintball paraphernalia at the show, as trade vendors are expected to be on-hand selling their wares. Hope to see you at the games.
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Debbie Lively is an award-winning journalist, novelist and Bolingbrook mother of two. She also instructs people in the art of writing.
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