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Two years ago. Hayes Burrow tried paintball. now he’s hooked
“Just a rush. adrenaline. it’s just so fun,” he says.
But with the small, jell-filled balls traveling close to 300 feet per second. it’s not always ‘fun’ to get hit.
“I got hit on my elbow and it gave me a pretty nasty bruise that bled.a lot of the skin came off,” says Hayes.
And while bruises and scrapes can heal. a shot to the eye might not.
4 years ago. John Allred was struck in his right eye.
“I’ve had I think 4 surgeries on it, and at this point they’re unable to repair it, I’ve got complete blindness in that eye,” he says.
Allred, ironically, was not hurt during a game. but in a paintball store when a gun accidentally fired.
According to a new report in the journal ‘Pediatrics’, eye injuries from paintball have more than doubled in recent years, from 500 to more than 12-hundred a year.
Researchers estimate that 40 percent of those injuries are to kids under the age of 15.
“It’s really the unsupervised activities in the back yard and in the neighborhood that can lead to injuries because the kids don’t wear their protective eye safety devices,” says Marc Tanenbaum, M.D.
Experts say paintball can be safe if.
The game is played in a closed off area with adult supervision.
All players have safety plugs for their guns and use them when there is a pause in the game.
And all players wear an approved safety mask and keep it on until they’re out of harm’s way.
“I never take off my mask, that’s the first thing you’ve got to always keep on,” says Hayes.
After all, it’s either that, says his mom, or forget about the game he loves to play.
“If anybody thinks they’re going to break any of the rules. they don’t get to play,” says Nancy Burrow. |
