The Lesson Paintball can learn from Snowboarding.

Snowboarding came about in popularity in the mid 80's. With the first commercial snowboard available in 1986.

Snowboarders didn’t fit into the ski culture. They dressed funny, acted funny...they were just a bunch of crazy kids. So resorts banned snowboards.

The problem was that the kids loved it.

When little Johnny wanted to snowboard, Mom and Dad - who grew up without snowboarding - knew nothing about the sport.

Those parents had to do research on this “new sport” by asking others.  Most were told snowboarding was banned because it was a dangerous sport; it was a trend, that kids who snowboard were rough kids.

But the biggest challenge to a parent and to snowboarding in the 80's was...where did your child go to learn how to snowboard

Its kind of strange how snowboarding’s origins and timeline is so similar to paintball.

So how did snowboarding - a rough dangerous sport that was a trend and only for crazy kids - become an Olympic sport with highly paid professional athletes and can be seen on major TV networks?

And paintball is..where?????

It all started at resorts like the one I helped to manage...which was one of the first resorts to offer snowboarding lessons.

That’s right lessons.

Lessons meant that mom and dad could offer little Johnny a 'safe way' to learn the sport from professionals.

It took the edge off the sport.

When my son wanted to play paintball for the first time, that was the first thing I looked for...who offered lessons.

Now, don’t laugh, think about it. I was a parent who wanted the best for my child. At the time, I was ignorant of paintball's safety record or what the sport was all about.

But what was sad...no one offered any lessons for someone who has never participated in paintball. 

Even now,  when I do a quick search on the internet, I find nothing!

Go ahead and do it yourself. Go to Google and type in paintball lessons. Now type in snowboard lessons. Now try that with any other sport...

I am sure there must be some fields that offer lessons, there must! I’m sure after I post this someone will say such and such a field offers instruction. But it’s so rare that you can’t find any details.

What’s even crazier...all these other sports that offer instruction have professional bodies that certify instructors and provide a curriculum.

Now before you go off and say, what’s there to teach, I mean you just point and shoot? But really...really is that true. Think about it, if that was true, then everyone would be a pro the second they walked on the field.

We need to realize, if we want more kids to play the sport, we have to go through the parents. If the parents say no, that’s that. And lessons offer a professional way to answer parent’s concerns and needs.

Another thing to think about is, just like snowboarding, a few people will take paintball lesson and not return to the sport. It will not be for them.

But like snowboarding, you wouldn’t completely lose them. Those people now have a deeper understanding of the sport. When they see the sport on TV, they will watch it and understand what’s going on.

So here is my nutty idea:

1. Get local fields to offer lessons for beginners! Hey, it’s another revenue stream!
2. Create a paintball instructor’s professional body to oversee certification of instructors and create curriculum.

We need more kids playing, more parent paying and more people watching, if we want our sport to have professional athletes that can pay their bills...or maybe play in the Olympics.

Let me know your thoughts.