Thursday March 25, 2004

After winning the Paintball Sports Promotions rookie division world cup last year, the Rock-It Kids paintball team is eager to show everyone that it can do it again.

"Our goal is to repeat as world cup champions," said team captain Matt Hotard, 20, of Metairie. "Some people told us that our success last year was a fluke and that we were just lucky. But we plan to prove them wrong."

The Rock-It Kids consists of 13 paintball players ages 17 to 24 from south Louisiana and the New Orleans area. The team began competing in national tournaments two years ago after winning several local competitions.

Last year, the team finished first in the Los Angeles Open, the Chicago Open and the Philadelphia Open to take the Paintball Sports Promotions 2003 series rookie championship as well as the world cup in October in Orlando, Fla.

Hotard said the tournaments, as well as the world cup, are divided into three divisions: rookie, novice and pro am, which is for the more experienced players. Forty teams from across the country competed in the rookie division for the world cup.

The Rock-It Kids opened the 2004 season March 3 at the Los Angeles Open. After competing in the Orlando Open in April and the Denver Open in August, the team will finish the season at the Paintball Sports Promotions World Cup in October in Orlando.

Paintball Sports Promotions' headquarters is in Atlanta. Chris Raehl is in charge of the registration, scheduling and scoring for all of the group's events. He said an average of 1,000 paintball players participate in each tournament.

"The national tournaments are popular because people want to play against the best," he said. "And we give teams like the Rock-It Kids an opportunity to go up against some of the very best paintball players in the country."

The national tournaments last at least three days, and a team can play as many as 16 games, which last 12 minutes each.

The objective of paintball, Hotard explained, is to capture the other team's flag while protecting your own. Each team has a flag at the end of a football-size field. While going after their opponents' flag, a team tries to eliminate as many of the opponents as possible by tagging them with a paintball, a "shot" from a special type of air gun.

Strategy and teamwork are key elements in a team's success; Hotard likens it to a game of chess.

"I call it playing chess except you do it with a paint gun," he said. "You have to make strategic moves and know what your teammates are going to do as well."

The Rock-It Kids practice and develop strategies every Sunday at Paintball Command in Mandeville.

"We work hard, and that's why we were successful last year," said Mike Gort, 23, a Metairie resident and a student at the University of New Orleans. "We have made a commitment to practice even harder this year."

Brandon Jacob, who at 17 is one of the youngest members of the team, has dreamed of competing in national tournaments since he was introduced to the sport six years ago.

"Being part of the Rock-It Kids has been an amazing experience and a dream come true," said Jacob, who lives in Slidell. "And winning the world cup last year made it even more awesome."

Other members of the team are Jared Begnaud, 24, of Lafayette; Drew Bell, 18, of Franklinton; Tony Braud, 18, of Baton Rouge; Marcus Hotard, 18, of Metairie; B.C. Matteson, 17, of Slidell; Britt Simpson, 18, of Kentwood; Justin Spencer, 18, of Mandeville; John Vititoe, 23, of Metairie; Jason Wong, 24, of Mandeville; and Josh Mosbey, 18, of Slidell.