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Cronus · December 29th, 05:26 AM

So I'm new to the forum and paintballing. Actually I haven't even paintballed yet. I was going to but for the ammount of kids I was going to have at my twelth or thirteenth birthday party it would have cost to much. So I've never played but really want to. I've used plenty of excuses why I should be able to. My parents are pretty active (hiking, mountain biking, skiing) and although my brother and I snowboard I don't really have an athletic activity for the summer. My brother has dirtbiking. I was wondering if anyone could give me advice on how to convince my parents to let me get a painball gun. My stepmom's worried I'll shoot the house or shoot things in/around the house for fun. We have a huge vault in the back of the house (it used to be left open but I drank some) that has my parents liquor because they couldn't think of anything else. I told her they could lock the gun away when I was using it but she still said no. Advice?

***xPiZZeRx*** · December 29th, 05:35 AM

So they're just worried that you'll get paint around the house? lol, and not that it may be dangerous?

Let her know that all paint is non-toxic, biodegradable, and won't stain, most importanly. Say, if you do somehow get paint on anything, that you'll clean it up, and perhaps do more if needed? Or, you could talk her into buying you some ReBalls. ReBalls are reuseable practice paintballs which are a solid rubber and can be shot over and over again. No paint there, and you could do it in your room no problem. What I do is I take a small parking cone and I put it in a pillow case with the bottom facing me and I shoot into it so I don't lose any of them. I love 'em.

**pballa12** · December 29th, 08:23 AM

stuff above plus make rules like you wont put ur tank on in the house if it has any air in it. Making it so you wont be able to shoot in the house. To get my first pball gun i had to do chores in order for me to get 1. I did not get payed for these and i had to pay for gun. Tell them that the pretty much worse injury you can get is a welt unless ur playing woods and trip and break sumthing or get scraped up badly. If you think your parents wont like the welt thing dont bring it up. Say local fields chrono your gun so they kno its not to fast and its safe. They have refs on the field to ref the game and for players protection. The people and staff at paintball fields r always great and helpful. Also its a good way to releive stress. Some kids smoke, punch walls, get in fights, ect to get rid of stress and anger. But with paintball you wont have to. Your shooting at people lol and when ur playing with the rush you get you dont even remember anything outside the field until you leave.

**green paint** · December 29th, 12:01 PM

They'll let your bro dirt bike but not let you paintball? Thats stupid.

Sounds like she's afraid you'll get hurt but doesn't want to just tell you thats what she thinks.

Your bro's (literally) Millions of times more likely to get mangled on that dirtbike than you are playing paintball.

Cronus · December 29th, 06:53 PM

Thanks for the advice guys. It may be me getting hurt. I've just sort of been a problem child in her eyes. I forgot to mention, my "brother" is my stepbrother, her son. so even if it has nothing to do with the fact I've broken quite a few things or I can be a pain in the ass she still favors him sometimes.

**P41n7b4ll K1d** · December 29th, 07:04 PM

Awkward....Maybe start being a little bit more careful? That is helpful in trust.

TBDragonMan · December 29th, 07:06 PM

My advice would be to go to a local field with just your dad to start off with or even just visit a couple of proshops in your area. Then ask questions about the sport from new and advanced players. Get you parents involved. Then start showing them you are mature enough to play. Do good in school clean up after yourself and do other chores without having to be asked. This will go a long way to show your stepmom you can handle this. Also start learning about PB safty so you can explain to them you understand a paintball marker is not a toy. And what ever you do don't call it a GUN. Call it a Paintball Marker. This goes a long way to breaking the gun stigma for parents.

Cronus · December 29th, 08:53 PM

Thanks for the advice TB. I think a lot of that will help out. I don't know why, maybe because my dad was pretty involved when my stepbrother first started dirt biking (my dad owns an on and off road BMW). He helped my brother start the bike, showed him a few things to do, and helped him out. I don't know why but I think introducing my dad to paintballing would be a good idea. As for school, I should probably do that. We have a new semester coming up and I don't know if good grades would get them to let me paintball but it would gain more trust with them. The fact that I come home, sit down and do my homework then whatever else I enjoy doing. I'm not sure if the gun thing bothers them but I will be sure to call it a marker and look over PB safety. Thanks again for the advice. I just had to write it all out in a post so I could think about it in my head but have the feeling I'm telling someone what I plan on doing.

***Daziak*** · December 29th, 09:07 PM

i rode dirtbikes for about...2 years..before i just didn't find it fun to go from point A to point B ( we rode trails with a bunch of family friends and their sons ). i had a Yamaha YZ250.

My dad supported me in whatever hobby / sport i would pursue which was how i got started. Now there are ways to persuade someone into helping you out.

the first method being that you will do something of equal or even a little greater value for what you seek ( or to play paintball ). like chores, be nice, ect ect.

or theres always the intellectual method. you can show him how the sport works ( as your going to do already ) show him how safe it is, how the Refs watch over everyone. and show him that you will be responsible with your gear and how you manage it. and if you need some backup information, show him crashes in any pro circuit for dirt biking compared to being bunkered in any PSP or Millenium event or any speedball type scenario.

good luck! and welcome to the ever growing sport of Paintball!

(P.S i would just like to congratulate Balla on his upgrade to a Promaster, grats buddy! go rip it up. )

**Kyle_18** · December 29th, 09:53 PM

Go to google and gather yourself up some facts about paintball and the average injuries there is in it vs other sports like football and dirtbiking. Let her know masks are rated up to around 400 FPS and paintball guns don't shoot that fast. Also let her know about all the good things paintball can do for you like getting into shape and learning good habits that can be applied to real guns like checking to make sure you point it in a safe direction and putting the barrel cover on and what not. Go to a field and have her talk with an experienced person 1 on 1 so she can ask what she wants and get a good answer. Even have her play it once or twice if you want, she might end up liking it. Let her know you won't put the tank in the marker when it's in the house and the barrel cover will be on. If she still says no then talk to your dad about it lol.

**eFFect_wannabe** · December 29th, 10:04 PM

Tell her paintball is the safest sport out there and that no one has ever died from playing it. If she still says no just punch her in the head or something.

**Invision** · December 29th, 10:48 PM

Check out both of these sites. They have injury statistics. Paintball being the lowest out of major sports.

http://www.ottersccustoms.com/newbie.html#safe

http://www.palmer-pursuit.com/PBSafety/index.htm

Cronus · December 30th, 03:32 AM

Thank you for the advice and the safety stats. Those might help as well. In a way I'm suprised that lacrosse is so high, and hockey isn't. I wanted to play lacrosse a bit longer than I have paintball but if the stats are like that, probably not.

Just a quick edit, what do you think of the package offers Sports Authority has?
http://www.sportsauthority.com/confi...tPage=category

ab3i · January 2nd, 10:00 AM

My Mom put up pretty much the exact same argument when I said I wanted to start playing paintball in 9th grade. I'd played with a couple large groups, and was totally hooked. The "Shock and Awe" campaign seems to be the best way to go with most reasonable parents.

There are alot of reasons for parents to dislike a hobby like paintball. Its expensive (and nothing torques a parent like spending a bunch of money on something, and then the kid never uses it), It has a bum wrap as a dangerous sport (the statistics prove that), and theres always the mess factor.

I went online, found several websites (government sites, neutral sources) that quoted safety statistics and printed them out. I also made a list of safety rules that would keep any accidents from happening (barrel plug, no air or paint in the marker except when its in use, responsible use of the mask)

Then I got a few paintballs from my friend, and picked out a quality (but affordable) marker and package, and found out EVERYTHING about it. All its quirks, the good reviews, bad reviews, what accessories it needs, what upgrades it can handle. Then I went to her and presented my case. I showed her the stats, explained the function of every part of the marker package, then broke open a couple paintballs and showed her that they wont stain, and they aren't apt to spontaniously explode on her carpet.

By putting that much effort and time into the argument, you're proving that its something you're really interested in, its safe, and you're mature about it.

She agreed on the condition that I earn half the money for the marker, and she'd only buy one case of paint, and two bottle refills per month. (Parents, go figure

)

-Dave

Cronus · January 4th, 06:28 PM

Wow. That's a really good way to do it. I probably shouldn't be asking but if you have the safety rules and statistics do you think you could send them my way? If not, I'll go ahead and start looking.

ab3i · January 5th, 09:56 PM

http://paintball.about.com/cs/safety.../dangerfaq.htm

This seems to be one of the better sources I can find at the moment. Unfortunately I'm deployed overseas right now, and most websites are blocked here, so I'm pretty limited in what I can view to check for better sources.

It also details some of the rules that should be followed for safe participation in the sport. Good luck!

-Dave

**NickBizzar** · January 5th, 10:08 PM

Parents basically say that paintball is dangerous and they are afraid for you because it involves the word gun. Tell your parents and prove to them that you are a trustworthy kid who won't do anything stupid and won't Fu** around with a paintball gun. Maybe don't use the F word but just show them that you deserve this. and go to that site with the 1,000 injuries thing and show them that. The injuries were probably like stepping in a hole and twisting your ankle and things like that. Also tell them that there is a limit to how fast a paintball can go before it is illegal. And that Is 300 f.p.s. (300 Feet Per Second). A lot of the stories are overrated of getting hit. The only time that it'll hurt really bad is at point blank range. Even then there's mostly a surrender rule if you're within' 10 feet that a lot of the woodsball areas and your friends will go with.

ShotYouUp · February 7th, 12:22 PM

Yo, it's me Cronus. I'm going to put together a information guide of some sort. Just like a packet/folder with information about paintballing but I don't want it to look like a grabbed some random facts from the internet and threw them on some paper. If anyone has a great layout, the order of information possibly even what information to use.