Welcome back for those of you who are returning readers, to another edition of Spotlight! If you’re new this time around, we’d like to say thanks for supporting the paintball community! Every few weeks, we ask a player to share their stories and experiences and give them a chance to show their love for the sport. This week we have one of our teammates, Nate Konieczka, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; let’s hear what he has to say on his paintball experience so far.
Nate has been playing paintball for about seven years, playing at various fields such as Three Rivers Paintball, Steel Town Paintball, Pittsburgh Paintball and Pentagon Paintball. Three Rivers is his local stomping ground, so if you’re there in the future, say hi to Nate! We’ve had quite a number of various answers when we ask what someone’s favorite thing about paintball is. Nate’s answer? “The people I have met and the stories that I can later tell”. We can all agree that paintball players are some of the most amazing people to be around and have some awesome stories to share.
We’d all like to make it to as many paintball events as we can during the year, but as we all know, there just isn’t enough time in the day (or year). Faced with that conundrum, we asked Nate to choose just one event that he would like to attend next year. He responded with “Living Legends” at Legacy Adventure Park in Lockport, IL. Why there? “Playing a two day event is something I have never done and playing in a new environment with new people is always fun”. There you have it - fun, the main reason we all play paintball! Gameplay is also another factor in the experience; speedball and woodsball vary slightly, but each have their draw. Nate likes to play both, but does lean more towards the woodsball side of playing as flanking and hiding out is a favorite tactic of his. Choosing the right equipment is crucial when you’re constantly switching between gameplay styles too. Nate has two markers he plays with: a Tippman X7 Phenom and an Axe 2.0. He uses his Axe when he’s moving around a lot since the marker is more lightweight and has a very high rate of fire. The X7 is his preferred marker when he is playing in the woods when he can crouch behind a tree or bunker. His Apex barrel does the job quite well, but only has a high rate of succession if used when stationary.
There are countless stories and experiences to share, but we have one of them right here - Nate told us his most memorable experience so far playing paintball and the impact it’s had on his dedication to the sport. Three years ago at Three Rivers Paintball, Nate attended their D-Day game; he told us how the ramps dropped and paintballs just rained down on them from the hill. Since they were outnumbered, it became more a game of strategy rather than sheer force. Nate and his team worked together to achieve victory that day. Traveling is part of the sport and we see the dedication players have when they show up to events that are states away. Nate, being a dedicated player himself, has traveled about three hours from his local area to play. Without players like Nate, the paintball community wouldn’t be able to grow and we wouldn’t all meet the amazing people we have.
Nate has some recommendations for new players as well, “Get involved in games early. Paintball is a lot more than going out in the woods to shoot people. You’ve got to think and use teamwork. Lastly, just because you have the top of the line gear doesn’t mean you are the best player out there. The gear is a tool and the gear is only as good as the person using it.”
Wise words from a veteran player. With that, we’d like to thank everyone for reading and we hope you join us for the next edition of Spotlight!
Jacob Rozsa
Buffalo Paintball