Scenario
Canadian Scenario Teams walk for Charity
By
Apr 28, 2008, 13:38

Two scenario paintball teams walked today in the Brantford Classic Run 08 to raise funds for Special Needs Children and other Rotary Club Community Projects like the Lansdowne Children's Centre and the Brantford Boys & Girls Club. The BT Warror: Online sponsored Glen Morris Mercenaries paintball team out of Brantford Ontario, and the NCO paintball team out of Burlington, Ontario joined schools and individual participants in the 5km walk division.  Over 2,500 people ran, jogged or walked the course to help the Brantford Rotary raise funds for deserving projects.

Commanding the Glen Morris Mercenaries, Tom "Tomcat" Cunningham reported that they achieved the day's goals for the 5km walk. "The weather was good, and we had the opportunity to meet some great participants and volunteers today.  I think we totally achieved our goal of raising both funds for the Brantford Rotary projects and raising some awareness for fun, safe paintball."

Chris "Jackal" Ross, commanding the NCO paintball team out of Burlington, offered something similar.  "I think we demonstrated that people who play woodsball paintball come from all walks of life, and are as interested as any other community member in doing our part to raise dollars for community and charity projects."

Both paintball teams had harsh criticism of those who use paintball equipment in an unsafe manner or as part of blatant criminal mischief.  "Paintball is about camaraderie, teamwork, and getting out in the fresh air for some exercise" said Ross. "We play in a safe, fair and regulated manner, because we want to continue playing for a good long time.  It seems that much of the media surrounding paintball to the general public is centered around kids who shoot friends with paintballs or who do drive-by paintball shootings.  The paintball community in Southern Ontario abhors this kind of behavior, perhaps even more so than the general public do.  It’s the opposite of what we are all about."

"The only thing about paintball in the media these days seems to be the awful things-teenagers and young adults shooting people with cheap markers from cars or backyards.  Many times these sorts of things result in injuries.  It’s an uphill battle we contend with everyday and makes it that much difficult for people to see that there are good people out there who care about safety and sportsmanship in paintball" says Cunningham, "we try to educate as many people as we can on the proper and safe way to play the game and represent the sport and players in a positive light.  Our charity endeavors are just part of that process."

The Glen Morris Mercenaries and NCO paintball teams have been part of raising over $11,000 dollars for charities already in 2008 including the Brantford Rotary and the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and have plans for many more charity events this season.

For more information on the Glen Morris Mercenaries paintball team, contact Tom "Tomcat" Cunningham at gmmhorseman@hotmail.com.

For more information of the NCO paintball team, contact Chris "Jackal" Ross at rossman@cogeco.ca