I started playing paintball in 1986 when I was in high school. It was all I thought about. When I got to college (Mizzou!), I found the local paintball field and became a regular. In my sophomore year I started the University of Missouri Paintball Club, and by the time I was a junior, I was working at the paintball field every weekend. I was on a paintball team that participated in tournaments throughout Missouri. Paintball was my life. After graduation, paintball had to take backseat to “real life,” and I only played a couple of times over the next 15 years. Once my son was old enough to play (I voted for 5 years old, but my wife overruled and decided he had to be 10), I got back into it. I acquired a bunch of paintball guns and coordinated some games on private land for my kids’ friends and families. I loved playing with all the young players and teaching them some of the strategies and techniques I had learned over the years. I began dreaming of the day I could create a youth paintball league. Now in 2024, it is finally happening!