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Summer paintball cooled down. We are well into the summer months, it is hot, it is humid, anybody in there right mind would be inside under the air conditioner, right? yeah right! not us, we're paintballers, who says we're in our right minds, after all the local field is having free air and paint with no field fees and there is a rumor that Britney Spears is at the field promoting for Diablo in a bikini! that is enough to get any hard-core paintballer on the field no matter what the mercury says. I live in southern Kansas, the summers here are killers, over the years I have learned how to beat the heat while doing outdoor activities and paintball, heat exhaustion or even heat stroke is no laughing matter it can happen fast and we as players are very susceptible to it because of our gear and the physical exertion involved in playing. here are some things you can do to keep it cool while your in the heat of battle. Water, H20, agua! what ever you call it, drink it and a lot of it, there is no substitute for water, sports drinks and pop may help a little , but water is the element that your body needs to keep going, you cannot drink too much water while you are playing in the heat, but I have found that drinking too much at one time can give you a belly ache when you are overheated, so be careful of that. Dress down, wear breathable materials like cotton, if you are tough enough wear shorts, although I would advise against this, paintballs do have a tendency to find bare skin, another thing you can do is find a fishnet undershirt, most hunting retailers carry them, and they work, they keep a layer of air between you and your shirt creating a thermal pocket which helps to insulate you from the elements, these also work in the winter to help keep you warm, by using the same thermal pocket. Also you can wear those nifty little neck coolers, the things that look like bandanas filled with some kind of plutonium based gel, just dip them in water and their good to go! these things are great and they also provide some protection to your neck. Play in moderation and take longer breaks between games, the shorter the games are, the less exposure you have to the heat while on the field, longer breaks will help your body cool down between games, if you keep your game time to about 10 minutes and take 15-30 minute breaks you will greatly decrease the chances of having a heat related incident. Play in the woods, the foliage cover that the woods offer will shade you from the heat of the sun, avoid the open speedball course, if it is not inside or under some trees just stay away from it. Every once in a while the field operator might give free blasts of C02 when it is so hot, take advantage of this, it may not cool your body down very much but at least it feels good while it lasts. Here is a cool little trick that my friends and I came up with for our annual hog roast, buy some garden soaker hose at any department store and string it up in the air among the trees, connect a garden hose and turn it up, go ahead and exceed the recommended pressure, trust me on this! it will create a cool mist of water, all you have to do is stand under it for a bit, and there you go, refreshed and ready, but before you go stringing something like that up at the local field make sure the field operator is in on it, they are such touchy folks! it is also a good idea to keep this set up away from your staging area, things have a tendency to get muddy where ever these are. If you are lucky enough to have a field with the store on site, I bet the store is air conditioned, you could go inside and pretend to be looking for a new gun for a few minutes, but be careful the store owner might be the field owner and probably will chew you out for stringing up that hose! You can also buy those neat little soaker bottles, all you do is fill them with water and pump them up like a beer keg, then you can get little blasts of mist whenever you want, if you use something like a 4+1 pack you can put the water bottle in the pocket meant for air and have it with you on the field as well, you can even get little fans now that blow a fine mist of water. Goggle fans even help to cool you down, by moving the air around your face, if you don't have $70 to drop down on one you can build it, plans are available on the net, just search goggle fan and at least 5 sites will come up with the instructions, and the home made fans move more air than the manufactured ones. Ok so now you are cooled down and ready to play, but one of the newbies who didn't read my article just passed out from the heat, here is what you can do to help. first things first call 911, ok, I know you are 20 miles out in the booneys and the ambulance driver is a new guy so you are going to have a 30 minute wait for the meat wagon, don't sweat it here's what to do. placing ice packs in the patients arm pits will help to slowly cool his core temp down, these can also be placed in the groin area, but do you really want your friends to see you doing that? a good rule of thumb is any place hair grows the blood is close to the skin and when you cool the blood it will cool the body, neat how that works huh? you can also put ice packs under your arms to help cool you down but it looks funny, be sure not to put the ice packs directly on the skin, it may cause damage to the skin. You may not have ice available which in that case you can dowse the patient in cool water, which any temperature below 98.6 degrees will be cool to the body, but under no circumstances should you ever dowse the poor guy with ice water, it will throw him into shock and your hero status will be greatly affected, never use rubbing alcohol either, same thing will happen. Ok, now you are ready for summertime paintball, use these methods and it should make for a more enjoyable time for every one, if you think cool and act cool you will be cool. By, Buddy "Traumadawg" Hendrix |
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