I have never wanted to hurt anybody and I certainly never wanted to shoot someone so I found the idea of paintball a little strange. People go off to the woods at weekends and get shot at with paint balls by people they hardly know and it turned out two guys from my office do this most weekends. I never could understand why grown men would want to run around in the woods playing at being soldiers while they dodged paintballs flying through the air.

They were always suggesting I join them for a weekend paintballing in the woods but I resisted until one weekend I realised I had absolutely nothing planned so I agreed to join them and learn about paintball. As we travelled out of town heading for the paintball camp site I was a bit nervous as I didn't know quite what to expect.

The following morning I was kitted out with protective clothing and told never to remove my face mask while on the paintball fighting area. Next I was shown how to operate a simple paintball gun and the we were off to my first paintball fight. I got hit by a pellet of pink paint almost as soon as I got there. I never even got to see who it was that shot me and I realised I had a lot to learn about paintballing.

It was such an enjoyable time I had that weekend. I had a great time shooting a few of the guys and getting shot a lot myself. The protective clothing gives a degree of protection but there is always a bit of a sting from the paintball hitting you. It's just part of the fun of the game.

You might guess I am now a regular paintball player and most weekends you will find me out in the woods with my cheap paintball gun. When I was first starting out I just picked up some cheap paintball gear but over time I am improving it as and when I can afford to but all I had to start was a cheap paintball gun and some protective clothing one of the other guys gave me.