With every sport, comes the potential for accidents. Sports are typically fast-paced and give you less time to think and control your actions. If you can’t react fast enough or aren’t paying attention, people can get hurt. Believe it or not, paintball is actually safer than most other sports. Football, hockey, soccer, etc., often see more injuries than paintball. Yet, accidents still happen now and then. Sometimes accidents are unpreventable. Other times the injury can be prevented with a bit more attention to detail.

At AC Paintball in Williamstown, New Jersey, we care about our player’s safety. We take the necessary precautions and have a variety of rules to keep our players safe during play. Just as we do our best to keep you safe, we hope that you will pay extra attention as well. Below you will find some of the most common accidents AC Paintball witnesses. Follow these tips to help prevent accidents.

Bruises or Welts from Paintballs

Bruises or welts are one of the likeliest injuries to occur with paintball. Without protection, a paintball flying at 200 mph is likely to leave a mark. AC Paintball recommends wearing long sleeves and covering all your skin. The thicker the material, the better your clothing will cushion the blow. You can also wear many layers or padding. You will want enough layers to be protected, but you don’t want too many layers that you get too hot while playing. Try to find a balance.

You will also want to prevent overshooting. The more often the soft tissue of skin gets hit, the more likely it will be to bruise. You only need to hit a player once to eliminate them. Don’t waste your paintballs and risk injuring a friend at the same time. You should also refrain from shooting at anyone within ten feet of range. If you are able to corner someone, ask them to surrender instead. If they refuse, shoot them on their shoe or somewhere with plenty of padding.

Getting Hit in the Hands

You may think that your hands are strong from working all the time. Yet, they are actually one of the places that will hurt the most when hit. AC Paintball recommends wearing gloves at all times. Gloves will protect your hands when getting hit and also help you grip your marker. Carrying your marker for long periods of time can make your hands sore. Most professional paintball players prefer to wear gloves to protect their hands during play.

Paintball to the Eyes or Face

There is a reason why paintball players wear goggles, visors, and helmets. Not only does a paintball to the face hurt, but a paintball to the eye can cause blindness. AC Paintball rents goggles for five dollars. We inspect our equipment regularly to ensure safety. Yet, it doesn’t hurt to double check your equipment before use. Look for any cracks or broken parts.

You should never take your goggles off during play. Most goggles are too difficult to take off quickly anyway. You should also never shoot at anyone’s face. Take an extra second or two to make sure your shot is accurate. That second could be the difference between having fun playing at AC Paintball and injuring your opponent.

Tripping and Falling

All AC Paintball’s fields are outdoors and exposed to southern New Jersey weather. This means that there can be many obstacles such as fallen branches and holes. If it rains, the courses will likely be slippery. AC Paintball recommends wearing proper footwear with good traction. You should also watch where you are stepping while running through the field. If you want to be extra cautious, you may want to walk around the field before a game. This will allow you to find obstacles that you will want to watch out for or avoid.

Misfires

Sometimes if you get too anxious, you may pull the trigger when you don’t intend to. Without aiming, the paintball you shoot has the potential to injure someone. When not playing you should use all the safety features of your marker and equipment. During play, you should only aim your marker at other participants. You don’t want to shoot unprotected spectators or animals.

AC Paintball recommends keeping your finger off the trigger until you intend to shoot. You should also avoid blind shooting. Do not point your marker and fire around a corner before seeing if anyone is there. Not only do you risk injuring someone, but you may take out a teammate. Focus on patience and accuracy rather than shooting quick. While speed may determine who gets hit first, you do not want to sacrifice safety just to win a game.