Holy Family’s Paintball Club Hits its Mark! – An Interview With Dr. Bramer

By Bryanna Bright-Hall

Serving as one of Holy Family’s newest clubs, Paintball Club provides a unique and thrilling opportunity for students to be involved in. Paintball is a recreational sport that involves teamwork, precision, and an opportunity for good times and great memories. Dr. Daniel Bramer, the facilitator and organizer of Paintball Club, sat down with Tri-Lite to discuss the club.

What is Paintball Club about?

“Paintball Club is about students being able to get together and share the most fun sport in existence. There’s adrenaline, there’s strategy, team building, personal integrity, there’s discipline, and fun. Did I just mention fun? (Laughs) It’s awesome.”

Why do you believe students should be involved with Paintball Club?

“Did I mention how awesome paintball is? Paintball is really one of the most perfect sports that blends the elements of chess, capture the flag, hide and go seek, and tag rolled up together into an adrenaline soaked, action packed adventure. One of the things that makes paintball exceptionally good is that it is one the most egalitarian and acceptable sports in existence. Literally anybody of any ability can play together competitively. There can be grandparents with their grandkids. It doesn’t matter if you’re in great physical condition or terrible physical condition- you can play paintball. As one of the few sports of its kind where at a competitive level, there’s no segregation between men and women. You don’t have a league of just men and a league of just women. A lot of teams will have both men and women on the same team or teams like Poison Ivy, which is an all-female team, and they play the men’s teams. That’s part of what makes paintball fantastic- it’s not about any kind of perceived limitation. Additionally, paintball is probably the safest sport in existence. It is statistically safer than ping pong and golf. It’s very safe, very accessible, and it’s awfully fun. There’s really nothing like it (Laughs).”

In your own words, what is the origin of the Paintball Club at Holy Family?

“Holy Family has actually been running paintball outings for a number of years. When I was here part-time, I went to one of the outings and I could tell even then there was a good bit of interest in paintball. One of the nice things about where we’re at is that there’s tremendous popularity of paintball in the region. Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware has an incredible number of fields and paintball teams. When I came aboard as full-time, I wanted to promote paintball and make it something that was more of a club where people can play at any level. This is our first full up and running year and already we have 41 members, which puts us as one of the largest clubs. The interest level is extremely high, and I think that speaks to the fact that paintball is a great sport and people are very much excited by it. I am very much looking forward to making it something that will allow students of any class level to have the ability to have a good time.”

Do you believe that the Paintball Club will be a success for future generations who will attend Holy Family?

“Yes. Absolutely. This is a student club, and it will be as successful as the students in it are willing to make it. My job as a facilitator is to help make that happen. As much excitement, talent, and interest that we already have in this club, this is pretty successful for us just getting started. Once that momentum begins to carry through, this is only going to grow. My hope for this club is to make a place where students at any level can come in and have a good time. If students want to come in casually and play recreationally, they should be able to do that. If students want to play at the highest level of college torments, they should be able to do that as well. So, I’m working with local fields and companies to get a sponsorship, exposure, and get our name out there so that we can have more opportunities and options. I really think that once this thing goes on its way, we have a really long and exciting future ahead of us, and I am very much looking forward to that. If any of the readers out there are interested, I encourage you to check us out, see what this club is all about, and feel free to send me an email. I’m very excited to see how far this club can go. Everyone is welcome. Come on board, the water’s fine!”