What’s the third most popular participation sport? Paintball! And guess what? It has roots in New Hampshire. The evolution of paintball has two scenarios. In the New Hampshire version, forest rangers marked trees with paintballs so the loggers would cut selectively. Some say the rangers developed the sport. Meanwhile ranchers in the Midwest identified their cattle with paintballs.
For the second scenario check the article in Credo Reference http://www.credoreference.com/entry/gwyouth/paintball_from_marking_trees_to_sport
An unexpected ecological benefit of paintball games is the growth of trees in the woods. While playing the game, weeds and weed trees are destroyed underfoot allowing the larger hardwood trees to flourish.
Corporations and groups take to paintball games because it develops team skills and it’s fun to play in the New England woods.
There’s a Sports Illustrated article about the start of paintball, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,cpid,url,uid&custid=concordt&db=aph&AN=15236880&site=ehost-live
If you head out to play, bring your goggles.
