Sports: Training for Battle

Paintball

Traditionally many cultures have trained their new generations of warriors by introducing them to sports. These games were designed to develop skills such as teamwork and strategic thinking. Games like Rugby and American Football really bring home the concept of War-as-Sport. Even soccer/football, arguably the most popular sport in the world is based on this tradition. The teams each have to defend their home base (their goals) and maintain possession of a strategic item that can be used to defeat the opposing team (the ball). Strict rules are enforced to make the game uniform and also to make it so players can be compared in relative skill vs each other more easily.

The ultimate example of War-as-Sport is paintball. Platoons of players armed with pump paintball guns that fire gelatin balls filled with dye at high velocity basically act out real life, modern day combat scenarios. No one dies, but it’s a pretty darned good simulation. The invention of the paintball gun and subsequent invention of the relatively cheap and highly effective safety equipment that is necessary to play the sport safely is perhaps the greatest achievement in sporting history since fencing.

It is perhaps an even greater achievement than … Read more at FryingPanSports