What Do I Wear To Play Paintball?
By Andrea Wilson, Fri Dec 9th
Paintball clothing is as varied as the players themselves, butsome recommendations and rules apply at most commercial fields.After that, no two players will dress alike. You'll see theweekend recball players in long sleeved t-shirts, jeans andbaseball caps, sporting rented markers. Then you'll see the prosand die-hards in full camouflage gear, sporting the fanciestsniper rifles on the market.
1. Ghillie Suits and Sniper Suits
Ghillie suits and sniper suits are similar. They are bothcamouflage suits that consist of headgear, jacket (or poncho)and pants covered with simulated vegetation made from jute orother similar material. Basically, you look like a walking heapof forest growth.
Ghillie-type headgear is especially useful in that it breaks upthe outline of the human head. The shape of the human head isnot found anywhere else in nature so it is easily recognized byan opposing paintball player... or by a wary deer, for thatmatter.
Since ghillie suits are used by hunters, as well as paintballplayers, you might try your local sporting goods store. Snipersuits can often be found in military supply stores.
There are several online stores that sell ghillie suits. Theonly problem with buying online is that you can't try on thesuit to see how it fits or to see how you like one particularstyle versus another. So, make sure any online store has a goodreturn policy. You can get a lot of tactical gear, includingghillie pants, jacket and poncho, here:http://www.ablewebs.com/rap4.htm.
2. Headgear
Headgear other than goggles and masks consists of ghillie hoods,veils, headwraps, baseball caps and knit caps. Ghillie hoods andveils are used for camouflage to disguise the shape of the humanhead. Baseball caps, knit caps and head wraps are used to keepthe paint out of the player's hair. Baseball caps worn backwardsare also useful to cover the back of the neck.
3. Regular Clothing
Paintball requires a lot of physical energy so players tend toget quite warm when playing. Although sufficient layers ofclothing are needed to prevent paintballs from leaving welts,too much clothing can cause overheating of the body. Therefore,a heavy winter jacket should not be worn.
As well, most fields won't allow a heavy jacket because itprevents the player from feeling the impact of the paintballwhen they are hit.
The rule for clothing is to wear loose-fitting long pants (notfitted jeans) and a long-sleeved shirt or jersey over a t-shirt,with an added light jacket in cool weather. Although some fieldsallow t- shirts and short pants to be worn during play, thisleaves the skin exposed... and since you WILL get hit... ouch!Not recommended!
Wear clothing that is earth-toned or olive green in color. Donot wear white unless playing in the snow. Avoid the colorsreferees and judges wear (usually red or orange) and avoidbright colors that you wouldn't find in nature, like brightyellow, lime green, shocking pink, etc.
4. Footwear
There are a lot of recommendations about various kinds offootwear for paintball. Most players wear running shoes, sturdywork shoes, hiking boots or combat-style boots. Cleatedpaintball shoes are available in some paintball stores.
5. Gloves
Gloves come in various styles: full finger, half finger, andfingerless. Full fingered gloves give the best
