About ISU Paintball
Welcome to the Official Illinois State University Paintball Team page. This organization is also referred to as ISU Paintball, Redbird Paintball, and the ISU Paintball Team. We strive to promote the sport of paintball by providing affordable opportunities for our students to play, competitive and recreational environments, and through active participation and success in the National Collegiate Paintball Association (NCPA).
When the ISU team formed, the NPCA was still in its infancy and has since then grown into a very complex organization working together with other national tournament scenes to enhance the sport. By participating in the NCPA, ISU is among the many college teams that actively prove that it is possible for academic institutions to support and maintain a positive relationship with this sport. This is a crucial milestone for this sport as paintball is often misunderstood as promoting violence.
When the ISU team formed, the NPCA was still in its infancy and has since then grown into a very complex organization working together with other national tournament scenes to enhance the sport. By participating in the NCPA, ISU is among the many college teams that actively prove that it is possible for academic institutions to support and maintain a positive relationship with this sport. This is a crucial milestone for this sport as paintball is often misunderstood as promoting violence.
In 2001, James Kroesch and Brandon Hall started the Illinois State Paintball Club, which became an official member of the NCPA. Like any other team getting into the competitive paintball scene, the Redbirds started out small, practicing at our former home field Sudden Impact Paintball and having just enough core players to compete in NCPA sanctioned events. However, that was not to say that the inaugural Redbird Paintball Team was in any way new to the sport. The original roster of James Kroesch, Brandon Hall, Tim Gough, Mike Finn, Mark DiMayo, Paul Ciesiun, Nate Bartholomew, and Adam Zschau had lots of experience prior to college paintball, and they quickly proved their competitive edge on the field by finishing 4th in the 2002 national standings.
Since then, ISU has been a consistent competitor in the college paintball scene. What started out at a small core group of players gradually grew into a large powerhouse team in college paintball over 5-6 years. As ISU Paintball made its name known, active participation grew from less than ten to over 25 members, some of them also playing on high level PSP/NPPL teams outside of the college paintball scene. The ISU Redbirds have traveled across the nation to play in paintball tournaments from anywhere in Illinois and the Midwest to Florida, Texas, and virtually anywhere the team decided to play. With such large numbers entering these tournaments.
Although the economic downturn has affected our active participation in recent years, our organization has managed to stay alive and remain a strong team. With a new team direction in focus, the ISU Paintball Team has incorporated a recreational group to its organization allowing us to extend the sport of paintball to all players of any commitment and skill level. This new generation of ISU Paintball will carry on a great legacy that we hope will continue for many years.
Since then, ISU has been a consistent competitor in the college paintball scene. What started out at a small core group of players gradually grew into a large powerhouse team in college paintball over 5-6 years. As ISU Paintball made its name known, active participation grew from less than ten to over 25 members, some of them also playing on high level PSP/NPPL teams outside of the college paintball scene. The ISU Redbirds have traveled across the nation to play in paintball tournaments from anywhere in Illinois and the Midwest to Florida, Texas, and virtually anywhere the team decided to play. With such large numbers entering these tournaments.
Although the economic downturn has affected our active participation in recent years, our organization has managed to stay alive and remain a strong team. With a new team direction in focus, the ISU Paintball Team has incorporated a recreational group to its organization allowing us to extend the sport of paintball to all players of any commitment and skill level. This new generation of ISU Paintball will carry on a great legacy that we hope will continue for many years.
2012-2013 Season:
Heading into the 2012 season, the Redbird team found a second wind in a reinvigorated roster. After many players moved on to graduate, the roster was filled up by new blood but hardly new paintball players. The team took this roster to MICT #1 and took 3rd place showing the Illinois College paintball scene that ISU is back and ready to play. After a long winter grind the Redbirds went to Florida with two lines. Both lines competed well but failed to make it out of prelims. Not to destroy the spirit of the team many players vowed to post a much higher ranking in next year's Nationals. |
2013-2014:
Going into the 2013-2014 season, the Redbirds picked up even more new blood and brought two lines to the first event of the season at H2 Paintball in Holiday Hills Illinois. Despite a shaky start, one of the lines went on to take 4th in the event and show last year's Class AA Champions that the Redbirds are back. The team spent much time scrimmaging and traveling, including a trip out to Purdue's home field Paintball Barn in Attica, Indiana. The trip proved to be profitable as many players learned a lot and got a boost in confidence. After a long winter grind at O'hare Indoor Paintball field and Paintball Explosion in East Dundee the Redbirds were ready for the sun and sandy field of Florida. Ready to redeem themselves from last year's mistakes, the Redbird team went down to Nationals and went undefeated in the preliminaries only losing 1 point in all their matches. The team went on to Sunday taking the number 1 seed spot and earning a buy into the ochos where they faced off against Drexel Univeristy, a team that faced last year. Unfortunately the flags were not in ISU's favors as they sealed the single elimination match with a major penalty and a 0-2 lose to Drexel. The lose aside, the small team from the Midwest ended up taking 9th overall in Class AA out of 56 teams. A huge jump from their performance the year before. |
2014-2015:
Please stay tuned to our social media networks as the team gets ready for the 2014-2015 season. Expect big things. Roll Birds!
Please stay tuned to our social media networks as the team gets ready for the 2014-2015 season. Expect big things. Roll Birds!