Paintball is a very popular and rapidly growing sport. A look at some Paintball info will show its rapid growth and some other interesting data concerning this extreme sport.
The Sporting Goods Manufacturer's Association (SGMA) has released some Paintball tidbits that show the surprising popularity of this extreme sport. Although Paintball participants are vastly outnumbered by bowlers (over 52 million), there are some 10.4 million paint ball players in the United States. The only participation extreme sports to have more players are Inline Skating and Skateboarding.
The sport is generating a lot of income for the Sporting Goods Industry as well. Almost $390 million dollars was spent on Paintball equipment in 2003. Interestingly, an estimated 49% of Paintball players reside in the Southern part of the country. This is obviously out of line with the population figures for the various regions. Also, the sport is not very popular with females. The SGMA started keeping statistics on participation in 1998 and since that time the percentage of female participation has remained unchanged despite a tremendous increase for male players.
The paintball is not actually a paint ball at all. It is described as a spherical gelatin capsule that contains mostly polyethylene gycol, some various non-toxic and water soluble substances, and dye. However, that would hardly be an appropriate or easily mastered name, so paint ball is used instead. The capsule is propelled by a compressed gas "gun" with the object to hit opposing players. The capsule and its dye usually leave little room for controversy over whether a hit has actually taken place.
Despite the bellicose nature of the sport, it is among the safest of all extreme sports. The injury rate is around 0.2% of every 1000 activities. This means that out of every 1000 players, only around 20 sustain any type of injury at all. Even so, the 20 injuries are more often either slight bruising from close hits or sprains from running and falling during the games. The Industry standard for muzzle velocity is 300 feet per second, but the actual Paintball guns fire, at the most, at 280 feet per second. This margin of safety is typical of the sport. Protective equipment use, especially face protection, is virtually always used.
The sport has developed its own variety of various games such as capture the flag. It also has its own slang. Such expressions as over shooting and bonus balling are part of the Paintball lingo. Over shooting and bonus balling refer to the practice of shooting an opponent that has already been hit and is out of play. It is considered rude, but is often done as indoctrination for new players.
Aazdak Alisimo writes about paintball gear for PaintballGearStores.com.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Aazdak_Alisimo
No comments:
Post a Comment