Camouflage for the Woods Paintball Player

By Jordan Ricks
4-24-05
www.specialopspaintball.com

If you play paintball on a regular basis, you’ve most likely come to appreciate the importance of complete body protection. Personal preference for paintball safety gear varies considerably among players, as some prefer to leave nothing to chance by piling on layers of clothing, while others opt to only wear a few strategically placed pads.

Regardless, if your style of play has you flying through the woods, crashing heavy brush, or crawling through thick weed patches, it’s easy to see the importance of comfortable protection and
body padding.

For years, the problem was that no worthwhile clothing was being designed and produced specifically for serious woodsball players. Most participants simply put on long-sleeved shirts and jeans, and if they were lucky, they’d have some old knee pads from carpet or tile laying days to throw on over their pants.

Clothing manufacturers focused on mass producing the high-profile tournament pants and jerseys that practically glowed in the dark,
while woodsball players were . . well, they were left out in the woods. Tourney clothes are comfortable and look cool, but wearing a neon-yellow jersey to play woodsball is about as smart as snorkeling
in fish chum off the Great Barrier Reef.

Wearing the right paintball clothing and protective gear can actually improve your performance and increase the dynamics of your game by giving you the added confidence to consider ‘other options’ when you’re in the heat of battle. Don’t get sucked into an ambush because your opponent knows you prefer to keep on the trail rather than crawl through the bushes and risk snagging your favorite snowboarding T-shirt. Make sure you’re equipped to blaze your own trail so you can be the ambusher, rather than the ambush-ee. (Besides, didn’t your mom teach you that it’s better to give than to receive?) Use your head – and your protective camos – to flank your opponent by crawling through the thorny weedpatch that everyone has been avoiding. After you lower the boom with your kill shot, you’ll have an even greater appreciation of the value of top-quality protective clothing.

There are some fully-padded suits on the market; but, unless you’re scrimmaging along the foothills of Alaska’s Mt. McKinley in mid-January or training the canine unit of your local law enforcement agency, you’re not going to find padded suits very practical. Besides, a lot of fields forbid the use of such excessive padding, so you might as well just leave it on the mannequin at Paintballs ’R Us. They’re hot enough to melt Martha Stewart’s heart, and chances are, you’ll sweat so much in one that it'll be ripe enough to stand on its own the next day, not to mention that you’ll probably dehydrate within the first hour of play.

Fortunately, you can find durable, protective woodsball clothing now that offers the lightweight functionality and comfort of tourney-style duds – without the fluorescent ‘please-shoot-me’ colors.

Special Ops Fusion System
One favorite clothing option among players is the Special Ops Fusion^™ System. Designed by woodsball/tourneyball players, the Fusion Battle Pant is the perfect blend of tourney experience and woodsball survival. Combining comfort, durability, and functionality, the pant features the patented SpecOps tactical Digi-camo^™(that blends perfectly into the forests and fields) and is constructed to meet the unique demands of rugged woodsball play.

The built-in knee pads allow you to crawl and kneel for extended periods. For serious crawlers, separate kneepads are still a good idea, and the pants have a zipper on the leg so you can take off your kneepads without taking off your pants.

And if you’re looking to ‘beat the heat’ during scrimmages, you’ll find the Fusion pants to be remarkably cool (in more ways than one), even considering the super-heavy cordura panels. The Fusion Battle Pant contains a comfortable inseam and waist, stretch panels in the legs and crotch to facilitate mobility, and is made from heavy-duty polyester so you can crawl-stalk from Toledo to San Diego without worrying about wearing holes in your knees. Unlike military camos, the Fusion Pant was designed specifically for paintball athletes.

The Special Ops Fusion Jersey provides the comfort and functionality of a tournament jersey with the durability, protection, and stealth required by woodsball players. The end result is a comfortable, long-lasting camo jersey, and it's the only tourney-style jersey that you'll see Team Special Ops wear.

Special Ops Marauder Camouflage
The Special Ops Marauder^™ Camouflage System is designed specifically for the serious woodsball player. Featuring reinforced knees, squeegee pockets, and the patented SpecOps Digi-camo, the comfortable, lightweight Marauder Pant meets all the demands of woodsball play and has become a favorite among players everywhere. Built for athletes who need non-restrictive camouflage, the Marauder Pant has a comfortable waist and is much more comfortable than military camos. Finally, there’s a pant that brings the BDU into the sport of paintball.

Bridging the gap between outdoor ruggedness and indoor finesse, the Special Ops Marauder Jersey is a half-breed between a standard paintball Jersey and the sturdiness of a military uniform. The jersey is 100 percent cotton and features the SpecOps Digi-camo, rip-stop fabric, and a comfortable, high neckline to protect you from neck-shots.