The Chilliwack Progress Friday, February 5, 2016
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CHILLIWACK
Taking aim at a little outdoor fun at Sniperz Paintball Eric Welsh The Progress
“Better take cover big fella!” A man in blue overalls receives this sage advice from Kevin Mulrooney as he lumbers across the Sniperz Paintball field, and pays the price for ignoring it. Moments later he is seen walking off the course, hands in the air and paint splatter on his arm. The game continues, with Mulrooney standing in the very middle of the field.
MONDAY, FEB. 8
Family Day Page 27
Depending on your generation, he is either Yoda, Mr. Miyagi or Sensei Woo. He is the zen-like master of these eight acres just off of Chilliwack Lake Road on the backside of Promontory. Where a curious onlooker sees only chaos — young men darting from here to there, seeking shelter from dozens of paintballs that whiz by their heads — Mulrooney sees order. In his mind, he’s breaking down this game like a Grandmaster might analyze chess. The group on the field, from a local trade school, is starting the ‘Elk Game,’ where one group will try to reach a cut-out of a deer at one end of the field while another group, entrenched in a base, defends the location. “So guys, remember for this one that you really want to get to the flanks,” he says, stopping to dispense more advice. “There’s a big cedar tree up there, so whoever has wheels, get right up to the pink line so they don’t come around behind you. Try and get into these first buildings and cover the right side. It’s not a lot of fun if they get behind you.” The group is playing on the ‘City’ field. Once the action starts, masks peer out from openings in the shed-like structures that dot the landscape. One player takes cover behind the hollowed out shell of a small aircraft. Another creeps along bush-line, head on a swivel. Within seconds, the pop-pop-pop of the paintball guns breaks the silence. The fella on the bush-line is easy pickings. Too exposed, he’s eating paint (not literally, they have masks) within seconds.
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