Alex Neuscheler

I’ve felt the gratification of lighting up an opponent in bright paint pellets on a field before. I’ve also felt the sting and disappointment of being on the receiving end of a paintball barrage. But I’ve never played paintball the way RIT’s team plays paintball.

Careful planning of an excruciating practice led the Tigers Paintball Team to compete in a national tournament in Florida. At the tournament, each team earned a certain amount of points mid-game for eliminating opposing players, surviving, and capturing and hanging a flag. The field had a very specific layout. On one side were what are called Dorito bunkers, essentially large triangular structures that bear a striking resemblance to the cheesy snack chip. That side, referred to as “D-Side,” was the half of the field the flag was hanging on to start the game. On the opposing side of the field was a long strand of lengthy bunkers referred to as “the Snake.” The Snake is very important, because a team in control of it will have excellent position and views on the opposing players behind Dorito bunkers. Unlike the haphazard casual play familiar to me, RIT’s team is full of talented players with very specific duties in-game.

The role of Evan Mickel, club president and second year Applied Networking and Systems Administration major, was largely defensive. Mickel played either at the team start area or in one of the back corners. As a defensive player, one of his jobs is to keep paint flying downfield towards the opposition to limit easy advancing. Possibly more important, though, was his use of vision; from the back of the field he would call out the opposition’s movements to RIT’s players.

Jeremy Berke, a first year Electrical Engineering major, was RIT’s designated Snake player. From the breakout of the game, he would either run and shoot on his way to the Snake bunker or sprint there from the first possible moment. As the player in the Snake, Berke had a major impact for the Tigers. If he could make it all the way up the Snake to the opposing side of the field, he’d have excellent vision of the opponents hiding behind the Dorito bunkers. Even if he didn’t make it all the way up, Berke drew a lot of attention from the opposing team by being a threat in the Snake, which helped free up movements for the rest of the Tigers on the field.

Andrew Shuman, a first year Mechanical Engineering major, also had his attention on the Snake side of the field. Shuman mostly played the back Snake corner. One of his focuses was preventing the advance of the other team’s Snake player. If Berke were to be eliminated, Shuman would step right up to fill his spot in the Snake.

Victor Goldberger, a first year Mechanical Engineering major, played all over the field. One job he had was to keep paint going towards the opposing Snake player. He would start defensively and, depending on how the game was turning out, would adjust how he played. If RIT started to lose bodies, he would play more conservatively, but if they remained constant he would play more aggressively. Goldberger uses a Luxe, which is widely regarded as the best gun in paintball.

On the forward end of the field for RIT was Brendan Morrissey, a second year Civil Engineering Technology major. Morrissey usually played on the D-Side of the field for RIT and, unlike defensive players, was more concerned about position rather than the amount of paint he was putting in the air. Morrissey would advance up the D-Side, moving and shooting to keep opponents from advancing as best as possible. Adam Raducha, a second year Marketing major, filled in for Morrissey a couple of games. Rather than play more in a position-based style, Raducha played back and laid out as much paint as possible.

Several supporters also joined the team in Florida. Asher Simonds, a second year New Media Marketing major, and Dylan Lim, a third year Chemistry major, didn’t play for RIT but were “in pit.” They would get paint, fill pods with balls, and refill air for the players when needed. Bryan Baum, a first year Biology major, was also present as a photographer for paintballphotography.com. Michael Caldwell, a fourth year Mechanical Engineering Technology major, served as RIT’s coach for the event.

The RIT team had good players, but the team is young and without much tournament experience. Their best result was against the University of Arkansas, where they eliminated all five opponents while only losing two of their own. The closest game was against the University of Michigan, where the Tigers lost despite eliminating three opposing players and being the first to pull the flag from its starting point.

The University of Michigan team was praised as being very friendly. The RIT team also spent time with the team from the University of Buffalo. Next year, the Tigers will be competing in four events, as well as returning to the college national tournament. With no players graduating, the Tigers are looking to improve with this experience behind them.