H.B. paintball tournament gets another shot

A newly formed paintball league has resurrected a popular tournament that brought thousands of players and spectators to Huntington Beach for the past six years.

The O.C. Bushwackers is one of the 16 teams to form the nascent United States Paintball League, which was created in the wake of the collapse of the National Professional Paintball League, whose parent organization, Pacific Paintball, announced in late November that it would begin liquidating its assets — including the Super 7 World Series of Paintball — in their Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings.

The former president of the national league, Chuck Hendsch, has been named the new United States league’s commissioner, and will report to a five-person board of directors.

Its 2009 season opener will be April 3 to 5, on the beach.

The league will offer seven-man play from Division 3 up to the professional level, and also will offer a five-man division, a release stated.

The new player-owned league is attempting to make the tournament more affordable for the droves of non-professional players who enjoy the sport, which can be quite expensive due to the need to purchase guns, paintballs and protective gear.

“Much emphasis has been placed on catering the events toward the lower divisional teams and making the series as affordable as possible,” said Rich Telford of the Sacramento Excessive team.

“Highlights include lowering entry fees, adjusting the schedule to reduce time away from school for younger players, streamlining the registration process to make it easier and more enjoyable for teams to check-in and walk the fields, introducing an exciting, faster-paced schedule of games and setting up a Steering Committee with representatives from all divisions so everyone’s voice can be heard.”

Although the city said the tournament was a money generator for both the government and the hospitality industry, critics say the paintballers, who have come from all over the world, litter the town with splattered paint and unexploded paintballs — which could be ingested by birds and other creatures.

For more information, call (714) 858-1923 or visit uspaintballleague.com.

CANDICE BAKER can be reached at (714) 966-4631 or at [email protected].