Avenue Magazine Edmonton

There are nine of them and three of us. Rounds of ammo pelt my flimsy cover.

I stare at my shoes, steeling my nerves. It’s time to step up . . .

A scene from a bad dream? Or it could just be another Sunday afternoon at Paintball Action Games.

Its blue and white warehouse is tucked away in a southeast Edmonton industrial park. The sign outside is welcoming, as is the staff, but if you decide to strap up and brave the dim recesses of the playing turf, know that it’s entirely possible a prepubescent kid will light you up like a Jackson Pollock canvas.

The indoor incarnation of paintball is an offshoot of a game that started in the New Hampshire brush in 1981, with players using markers (the term “gun” is discouraged) to “tag” opponents with paint. “Bush” paintball is still played in fields and forests recreationally — a popular choice for stags, birthdays, corporate retreats and Star Wars re-creationists.

There are at least half a dozen such outdoor fields in Edmonton. But in the early ’90s, a branch of the game evolved into “speedball,” an organized sport now exploding in the U.S., with Canada and Europe a step or two behind, and Edmonton at the forefront in this country. Paintball Action Games is one of the few Canadian venues that focuses on speedball. The speedball form of paintball features standardized fields with inflatable “bunkers,” referees, tournaments and leagues that range from rookie to professional. Last season, a team from our city, the Edmonton Impact, finished second in the top league in the world, the U.S.-based National Professional Paintball League (NPPL).

Josh Davey, a 26-year-old originally from Grande Prairie, is the peerless leader of Edmonton’s professional posse. After four years playing pro in the U.S. and Europe, he joined the Impact in 2006 and helped them make the jump that year from semi-pro to the NPPL. A promising hockey and baseball player growing up, Davey is one of a handful of people who make a living playing paintball; he pulls in roughly $50,000 a season, generated by sponsorships, winnings and salary. Splat magazine, one of the sport’s authoritative publications, recently ranked him the seventh best player in the world. In addition, the affable, outgoing Davey is a tireless ambassador for the sport he loves.

“There are a couple of myths about paintball: it’s violent and it’s unsafe,” Davey says. “But it’s not violent — it’s a lot less violent than hockey, I can assure you.” He says statistics show it’s even safer than golf and bowling. A paintball fired at close range can leave a welt, but the main safety risk, getting hit in the eye, is mitigated by the rule of mandatory masks on the playing field.