By Justin Daily
Bay City Tribune

MARKHAM – Extreme sports fans can get their thrills in at Markham Paintball Supply’s Tournament Speedball Clinic on July 1 with former professional tournament player John Montague.

The event is the first of its kind in the area and thrill seekers need not go far to learn or play the sport that is touted by NPPL (National Professional Paintball League) as the third most popular extreme sport in the world.

The clinic is open to ages 10 and older and will be held at Markham Paintball Supply (MPS), a facility located a quarter of a mile north of Markham on FM 1468 that offers open paintball games no less than twice a month along with equipment rentals and sales.

Montague and MPS owners Chad Hammons and Aaron Villereal will teach participants how to properly set up markers – the sports’ lingo for paintball gun –along with techniques for playing tournament speedball.

“We’re trying to shed some light on the sport. We want to get quality players to learn to the play the game the right way and raise the level of competition as well as the skill level of the players,” said Villereal.

“We want to make them better players, but it’s also safer to play the right way. Basically, we’re trying to bring structured paintball to Matagorda County.”

The event will begin at 10 a.m. and, depending on the heat, they’ll drill and teach for a few hours then break for lunch and move on to applying the techniques learned with several practice games.

“We’ll go over jousting, snap shooting and breakout drills with team-building exercises and how to utilize your abilities among the team,” Villereal said.

The cost of the clinic is $15 per person, which includes the training, all-day air and 200 paintball rounds for the drills along with door prizes, which includes harnesses, jerseys and stickers. For participants without their own equipment, rentals are available for $5 and a case of paintballs (2,000 rounds) cost $28 for the practice games at the end of the day.

Liability waivers are required before participating in the event. There are three forms to fill out and participants ages 17 and under must have a parent’s signature.

The forms can be printed from the MPS Web site at www.markhampaintball.com or www.markhamspeedball.com.

Montague started playing tournament paintball in the late 1990s and captained team CGS (Come Get Some. CGS won the Carolina Field Owners Association (CFOA) Wild Wood Championship and came in second in the Real McCoy cash-money series. Freedom Paintball and Nelson Paintball Manufacturing became major sponsors for the team in 2003.

“He (Montague) definitely knows what he’s doing. When you spend that many years in the business, you have to pick up something. He’s knowledgeable and has played with some of the big names in the industry,” Villereal said.

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