Skip to content

Marking out addiction with friendly game of paintball (11 photos)

Adult and Teen Challenge hosted its largest paintball tournament yet, raising more than $13,000

THUNDER BAY - There’s no thrill quite like searching out a friend and lobbing little orbs full of paint in their direction, and while dozens of people were out trying to avoid the sting of getting hit, they were also helping to mark out addiction here in the city.

“I’ve been playing for 30 years now and I just love seeing new people out and it’s great to see all the teamwork and people coming together,” said Jeff McAllister. “It doesn’t matter who you know, when you put a mask on you’re all friends.”

On Sunday, more than 60 people were decked out in protective gear for the 11thAnnual Mark out Addiction Paintball Tournament at Paintball Mountain.

The annual fundraiser is in support of Adult and Teen Challenge and the tournament continues to grow year after year.

“We’ve had our biggest turnout,” said Robby Ahuja, director for Adult and Teen Challenge for Northwestern Ontario. “We’ve had more than 60 people show up and we’ve raised more than $13,000, which is the most we’ve ever raised.”

The money that is raised goes towards helping Adult and Teen Challenge run outreach programs such as school presentations.

And the money raised throughout the past 11 years just keeps growing, Ahuja said, from the very beginning when a few paintballers wanted to do something to support the organization, to bringing in more than 60 people.

“We ended up raising more than $2,000 and it just became an annual thing and every year it has grown,” Ahuja added. “Last year it was more than $11,000 and this year it is $13,300 and it’s still not done.”

For McAllister and Tony Gallo, who have been coming out to the tournament every year since it first started, it’s become one of the biggest paintballing events of the year, and all in support of a good cause.

“I love paintball as it is,” Gallo said. “They get such a big group out here and it’s all for a good cause. So there are pluses all around. This is the only time I get to play this many people all at once all year.”

As for the sport itself, there is definitely a rush when it comes to running out on to the field looking for targets and looking to not get hit.

“The adrenaline is great,” McAllister said. “Anybody can play this game. You don’t think about anything else going on in your life.”

“It’s awesome,” Gallo added. “You get different people and different skill levels. This is a great place to start if you ever wanted to play and you haven’t played before.”

And just as long as you don’t mind a little pain.

“The pain makes you try harder,” Gallo said.

“It doesn’t bother me anymore,” McAllister added. “I’ve been hit a lot.”



Doug Diaczuk

About the Author: Doug Diaczuk

Doug Diaczuk is a reporter and award-winning author from Thunder Bay. He has a master’s degree in English from Lakehead University
Read more


Comments

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks