FEATURE ARTICLE

Paintball Accidents – 4 Simple Tips To Prevent Them

Despite what you may think, paintball is actually a very safe sport in comparison to other sports. In fact, you are 19 times more likely to suffer a serious injury playing football than you are playing paintball. Injuries do still happen though playing paintball, which is a shame as the vast majority of them are preventable. In this article I will try to outline the steps you should take to further reduce the risk of you being injured playing paintball.

The majority of serious paintball injuries involve a paintball making contact with a person’s eyes which can cause blindness. At Delta Force we take your safety seriously, which is why all Delta Force Paintball centres we provide full head protection goggles that once on are fairly tricky to take off, especially during the heat of battle.

We're constantly surprised by people bringing their own eye protection to our centres that are often damaged goggles or glasses made for other purposes such as laboratory use. If you wear this type of eye protection then you are putting yourself at a much higher risk of suffering an eye injury. If you want to invest in a good pair of paintball goggles there are plenty of online paintball equipment suppliers or you could try Amazon.com for a cheap pair.

At Delta Force Paintball, we take pride in our first class safety record and we provide full public liability insurance as standard should anything go wrong. We employ friendly, trained marshals who ensure your safety during games and make sure you and your party have the best day out possible.

First time paintballers often ask "do paintballs hurt?" Depending on where you get hit, they can hurt but steps can be taken to reduce the pain and bruising that the impact may inflict. Paintballs hurt a lot more when hitting your naked skin compared to when they hit a clothed area of your body, that's why it's important to wear long sleeve jumpers and trousers even on a hot day. Full length ninja suits are provided as standard which do absorb some of the impact, but if you're worried then it can't hurt to have a little extra padding.

Speaking from experience, one of the worst places you can be hit is in the hands and that's why it's important to wear gloves during the games. You can either purchase specialised paintballing gloves from our on site shop or bring your own, you won't regret it!

Paintball can be a very physical game, as you are constantly moving and dodging opponents’ fire so it is very important to wear appropriate footwear. We strongly recommend a sturdy pair of boots with good grip. One thing to bear in mind is that most paintball games are played outside in fields, which can be very slippery if you do not wear the recommended footwear. The majority of paintball injuries are caused by people tripping up or slipping over and a lot of these can be prevented by wearing the appropriate footwear.