Welcome back to everyone that’s returning to another edition of our Spotlight. If you’re a first time reader, we welcome you to the paintball community and hope you’re having a great season so far!
It’s time to get to our Spotlight:
This week we interviewed Robert Rivera, a.k.a. “Firefly”, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and got his take on things so far in his paintball career. He’s been playing since 2002 and decided he would much rather have a team and explore what’s out there to offer, instead of playing the same field and game repeatedly. In 2006, he formed a team named “Project M-80”, noting that Firefly was the Lead Captain. The team also consisted of two other people - “Toxic” and “Fatman”. Together they decided they would switch from their usual playing field to Skirmish. They attended Invasion of Normandy (ION) as their first game there and have loved every minute of paintball ever since. Firefly told us that he would play anywhere, anytime and doesn’t have a particular field he feels bound to. He prefers the new and unknown, constantly on the lookout for the next field or big event to experience. He’s even co-produced a game in Canada, D-Day 2019 at Commando Paintball which had over one thousand players in attendance.
Everyone has that one game that is on their bucket list and Firefly is no different. His game of choice would be to play at Hawaiian Legends. Seeing a volcano is quite an amazing sight, most of us probably have not had the chance to see. Firefly would like the chance to see one up close, so attending the event would be a two-for-one. Obviously, planning a trip from Philly to Hawaii is no small task. Like all major traveling, it requires saving and planning and Firefly plans on going one way or another. Who knows, you just might find yourself on a plane next to him on your way to Hawaii one day.
As for what his style of gameplay is, Firefly is exclusively a woodsball player. His team consists of about one hundred and twenty players and about fifty-five of them are active this year. He typically has about twenty to thirty of his players at smaller events so sometimes the sides get a little unfair in terms of skill so they have to change things up. When asked about his equipment he’s running, he told us his preferred marker - the 2014 Bob Long G6r Intimidator, Dye R-2 and a Ninja SLP regulator on his tank. He loves the fact the marker is incredibly air efficient and made a good point: “Simply because the guy next to you in the dirt may have some paint for you, but they will never have more air.. If the tank is empty, you're dead, no matter what.”. He recently purchased a D’Fender and gave some good feedback on it, claiming it was nice for maneuverability due to the no hopper design, although is a bit of a paint and air hog.
Players see a lot of different fields in their careers, but there’s always that one that stands out to you among the rest. Firefly’s most memorable field/experience was “Living Legends 9” and the old CPX field. It was the one and only time he ever got to play on the legendary field.
Traveling in paintball takes you to many places you might not have never heard of, far and wide. Firefly has traveled to North Carolina, Illinois, and Ottawa to co-produce a game. His plans for 2020 are to get out to the west coast and hopefully, to Hawaii.
We like to ask players some advice for first time gear buyers, and new players in general. Firefly gave us his opinion on buying gear - try before you buy. If a friend has a marker you might want to buy, see if he will let you try it out so you can get a feel for what you like. He says the resale market for paintball isn’t friendly and it’s easy to spend the money on something and then find it sitting in your basement for years. His message: Gear up slowly, and talk to other players.
Thank you to Robert “Firefly” Rivera” from us here at Buffalo Paintball. We and the rest of the paintball community appreciate all the feedback and insight into your paintball career so far. That concludes this segment of Spotlight, with Robert Rivera from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Thanks to everyone for reading,
Jacob Rozsa
Owner
Buffalo Paintball
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