Adrenalin junkie interview

Chris Edwards started early. Aged 33, he has been splattering opponents for 20 years. His career with the national squad, London Shockwave, London Nexus and Birmingham Disruption, has taken him around the globe. ‘I have never had a prouder moment than playing for my country,’ says Chris. ‘Cheesy as it sounds, when the national anthem plays, there is a sense of pride you don’t get anywhere else,’ he adds. Over the last three years, Chris has captained Birmingham Disruption, a team which plays in the SPL division within the Millennium series. ‘I was asked by two leading paintball companies to put a team of northern players together to take on the European circuit. Without companies like www.planeteclipse.com and www.phoenixpaintball.co.uk my team would be unable to travel and compete at the highest level,’ he says. Birmingham Disruption is just back from Disneyland Paris, where they beat Dramin Solid 4-3 in the final to take first place.

How did you get into it paintball?

I am a stereotype of how most people get into paintball. I went to a local indoor paintball field with a group of friends and enjoyed it so much I decided to go back. Soon the guy who owned the place offered me a job, let’s face it when you’re 13 an extra 30-quid a day goes a long way on paintballs. When I first started out, we were using pistols and science goggles with only a very limited tournament scene. Now we have advanced to such a degree we have to cap the speed of the tournament guns for safety reasons – a bit like Formula One – so most tournament series only allow ten balls per second (BPS) ramping at the>ir events. This means if you pull the trigger five times in quick succession, the gun will ramp to shoot at ten BPS for the duration of you pulling the trigger. It will cease once you have stopped pulling the trigger.

Who’s your extreme sports hero?

Anthony ‘Ledz’ Leadbetter – one of the UK’s legendary professional paintball players.

What’s the biggest thrill you’ve had playing paintball?

I have won my fair share of events, but the biggest thrill has to be playing an American series of events called the NPPL back in 2004. The venue was Huntington Beach, California. Huntington is one the biggest places in the US for surfing …also its about two miles up the road from Sunset Beach where Baywatch was filmed. However, the real thrill was playing in front of 3,000 people on centre court in a stunning location. Amazing!

What’s the best terrain for paintball?

Without doubt the best surface I have played on is something called XL TURF – what American football is played on – it is sort of a very thick Astroturf that cushions you when you dive. https://www.xlturf.ch

Explain in a sentence why someone should try paintball.

What other sport allows you to shoot someone ten times and then go to the bar with them later?

What other extreme sports are you into?

I would love to say I am into all kinds of different things, but sadly paintball has taken over my life. Pretty much every weekend I practice with my team – we tend to have one weekend off in four.

What’s the next big thing in paintball?

I’d like one worldwide format for tournament paintball. At the moment, we have too many variations. From Xball M7, seven-man, five-man and three-man, without one world governing body to make these choices, it’s going to be difficult to go forward with the sport.

What are your views on the debate between C02 versus compressed air for markers?

For me CO2 is what we are used to, but most up-to-date rental fields now use air, which is much safer and can have a compressor on site to generate its own air for the tanks.

What is your response to people who think paintball is a game for would-be Rambos?

Paintball is a very diverse sport which any size, shape or gender can play. We get a huge diversity within the sport. There are people whose lifelong dream is to play at the highest level. At the other end of the spectrum, there are people who want to run around the woods playing war – nothing against these guys – they do it because they love it. A lot of people who want to play war tend to head towards Airsoft as the equipment is much more realistic.

What do you say to people who think paintball is unsafe?

Paintball is no more unsafe than playing any other sport if you look up the statistics which show injuries per 1,000.

If you’ve never tried paintball before, what would you advise to get the best out of the day?

I would approach paintball like any other sport, just go and enjoy it – take it for what it is and have fun. If you are going as a group of friends and have the choice of going to a selection of rental fields, have a look of what type of game zones the rental field has: you want to get the most out of your day so the more game zones the more fun.

If you want to try paintball check out your nearest UK paintball venue. Click here