Well thanks to Rick, Dan and Marcus for having such a great facility!! I was impressed from the moment I walked into the pro shop. It was like a marker hall of fame, everything from old school automags to the ultra high end Cobra Angels. There were at least 75 guns covering the walls! This was one of the most stocked pro shops I have seen, it was organized and clean, only disappointment is not having any more VL Velocity hoppers in stock, I was going to get one because I heard halo B's HATE reballs (which is true by the way, horrible jams!) But I took that like a grain of salt because on the paintball field you will break balls, have jams etc, at least on the reball field jams are the only thing that happens, its actually good practice to fix stuff under pressure and therefore makes you that much better of a player, more on reball in a sec.
After the awesome proshop tour Marcus took me outside and was very excited about the coming spring/summer 2009 season. They are making a few new fields, a mound / trench / tunnel field (we should name it the TMT field) and a few other fields geared towards the old school style, even a hyperball field! Their out door facility is defiantly going to rival some of the best paintball fields in the midwest.
When I walked into the indoor field it was a little chilly, they are installing fans very shortly that will greatly improve the temperature. As a player the temp was perfect, but my poor wife had some frozen feets! (I told her to play and she would stay warm, maybe next time!). One thing I noticed that was great, they have fantastic lighting, this place was BRIGHT and CLEAN! Marcus was pumped to take me on the field, this was one of his fun set up weekends, it wasn't Xball, or PSP, or NPPL but it was a TON of fun to play on something different (there were 3 snakes (yes 3!!), the Xball X, lots of stand ups and plenty of doritos to go around). It felt like you were playing in a paintball video game and you just designed you own crazy field, Marcus said he is going to do this about once a month and let some of the guys at PBnation design some of the fields, sounds fun! (if they use your field you will play for free!!)
AS soon as I walked onto the field another thing I was pleasantly surprised with was the outstanding turf!! Probably some of the best stuff I have ever played on! It was nice with any type of shoe you came with. The staging area was also nice, plenty of tables for gear and you had a decent view from the back of the field, no side viewing, but hey its indoor.
The games were a little slow to get going at first, I think we could have gotten started a bit earlier, but it wasn't a big deal since they were having games until 7:00pm or later, and for $25, you just can't beat that! Marcus was running his staff very well, refs were usually quick to call players out, but its Reball so sometimes its a challenge to see everything, and this is where your attitude as a player needs to come in handy. Reball is a great training tool, and a fun and cheap way to play, so you have to consider that its not the final game in the national championship, so sometimes the opposing team will take a few hits. Dan recommended a good mindset to have when this happens, say you know 100% you just hit a guy then he stays in, just say "ok, I hit that guy, then another player just replaced him at his bunker" if you have this mindset you are setting yourself up for a better day of paintball. On to my first game!
All was well on the break, my Halo B loader was being a bit testy, I just had to slow down my RoF a bit, it seemed to be working well. The game was a little slower paced than normal paintball and I found myself shooting A LOT more "paint" then normal, which was also fun because you weren't constantly reminded on how much $$$ you just spent in 5 seconds of laning. I found myself at the 50, we had a 3v3 left, I decided to make a move while the front two guys were focusing on the other side, I got 2 quick eliminations and kept running and I thought everyone was gone, then I got to the last stand up and 1 guy was filling his loader, I assumed he was out, then I got shot twice in the leg, haha guess he was still in. Was a fun way to start my day for sure. The next few games were annoying because my loader was giving me problems, then Marcus came to my rescue!!! He let me test out a COBRA angel, I will have a full write up on this baby so I won't spoil it now.
Anyhow I really felt the staff was very accommodating and professional (they really stressed safety! good job guys), they even supplied the pods full of reballs, that was another perk that made RJs an even better experience, was nice to never have to worry about filling pods, just get in line, grab them and go!
Dan, Rick and Marcus are true entrepreneurs, between them the have over 40 years of experience in the paintball industry. I encourage everyone in the state to frequently check out RJs, this indoor seasons is surely going to be a blast, so be sure to stop in a few times and get some great reballing time in! They are very willing to work and help teams practice, they have private slots during the week, call Marcus, Rick or Dan for more info.
I am very pleased to see a field really support its local players like RJs does, great job guys and thanks for a great day!
a quote from Marcus on PBnation.com
"THIS IS THE YEAR RJ'S/810 GIVES BACK TO THE PLAYERS"
http://www.rjperformancepaintball.us/
