Aaron\’s blog

Aaron Bruss

4/2/07

Section 09

The Paintball Years 

            Have you ever been really good at something but just enjoyed doing something else so much more?  This was dilemma that I was placed in when I was 15.  For many years before I had been winning golf tournaments and taking first or second with my best friend,
Jordan in every league we played.  We both played at least 36 holes a day, constantly trying to push each other to get better.  If we weren’t playing a round we were on the driving range or chipping and putting on the putting green. Golf consumed all of my time until the day I discovered the sport of paintball.

            One summer day, an old buddy of mine named Brent, asked me if I wanted to come out in the woods and play paintball.  We played all day long and I was instantly hooked.  The next morning I woke up and all I could do was think about playing paintball.  Brent and I quickly jumped on our bikes and biked 3 miles to our local paintball field to pick up more paintballs and C02.  After my first week of playing paintball I never looked back to golf at all. 
Jordan continued golfing everyday and we slowly drifted apart.

            What started as a hobby quickly grew into an addiction.  Paintball was my life and it was all I wanted to do.  Everyday I would practice at a local field, running drills by myself if no one else wanted to play.  When I was at home the only thing that was ever on T.V. was paintball videos.  I was having fun playing the small tournaments and a lot of rec-ball (just playing with friends) but I was ready for something bigger and better.

            Soon I started winning all the tournaments in the state.  Then soon after that my teams were winning all the tournaments in the
Midwest.  My summers consisted of traveling and I loved it.  On a Thursday night I would fly to Dallas, TX for a weekend practice just to get back early the next week and head out to
Los Angeles, CA for a tournament.  I was having a blast.  Each event my teams were doing better and better just waiting for the one day when we could finally be national champs.

            The kids I met playing paintball are still some of my closest friends.  Our ages ranged anywhere from 15 to 30.  About 12 of us got to travel all over the world together to play the one sport that we loved the most.  All of us were very cocky because we were the best that Minnesota and most of the
Midwest had to offer and we knew it.  We formed a bond that I have never felt with any other group of people, we were a family.

            You hear about broken families that slowly fall apart, well that is exactly what happened to us.  After 3 years of national tournaments together, the best we ever ended up placing was fourth.  Slowly players would leave to go and try-out for other professional teams.   Also, internally we were having money issues with people stealing from the team account.  Next thing you know it was over.  All of us went our separate ways and very few of us still play paintball or even talk to each other anymore. 

            Meanwhile, my buddy Jordan continued to golf everyday and became an amazing golfer.  He travels to exotic places to play on beautiful courses and still gets to play golf almost everyday.  After not talking to Jordan for three years I recently saw him and found out that he had received a full scholarship toColorado
State
University for golf.  I was very proud of him and impressed how far golf has brought him.

            It crosses my mind quite often that I may have been just as good of a golfer as
Jordan.  That if I would have continued to golf, I would still be there competing with him at a collegiate level.  None of that matters to me because I could never replace the friends and experiences I had while playing paintball.