Once upon a time…last week…I was in Mexico City for a clinic and the first event of the year. One quick note on going south of the boarder, of the USA that is, be careful of what eat and drink. I have got sick 3 times on 3 separate trips…no bueno.
Anyway back to Mexico. What a huge change from the midwest winter! It gets me every time I walk off a plane, all bundled up, and whammy it’s like 85 degrees. I start sweating, taking off clothes, dropping stuff, then go stand in line for entry into the country, women looks at me like “Oh yeah, this gringo is hiding something.” Haha well I got in fine.
We started out the weekend with a clinic on Friday, small and very personal, it went very well and was on one of the fields that the event was taking place. The one thing I love most about clinics is when players have questions and hold nothing back and this group had plenty of questions. Now some might think that the language barrier would come into play and that could hinder things but it is truly amazing how well we paintball players can communicate together beyond using words.
In any case the clinic went very well and I had a great time with the hombres that took part. Now I’d like to talk about the field. Most major events here in the US are not inside any major cities, Mexico City is home to 32 million people, and this event was right in the city. The paintball fields themselves were on a full size turfed soccer field. The turf was amazing, soft, and once the paint got on it perfect for sliding. It is something that you hardly ever see in paintball.
That night, Sergio and I set off for an adventure! Looking to see what we could find in the heart of Mexico City we spent most of our trip in a cab in traffic, probably some of the worst traffic I have ever been stuck in. As time built we realized that we had not eaten and went in look for some tasty treats in the downtown area. We found P.F. Changs! So tasty. I know not what you were expecting but oh man was it great haha.
The next day I joined my fellow G.I. Sportz sponsored team Riot in taking place in the race to 4 event. Now we only got to play 1 match due to high wind blowing over some of the netting and slowing the event way down but was it a crazy one. We ended up going into over time and playing not 1, not 2, but 3 over time points. All of which were filled with major penalties, cheating, screaming, nunchucks, and some more screaming. As it turned out we lost the match….but the single most impressive thing I saw that day was the fact that there were 68 teams present at this event…it was huge!
The next day turned out to go much better for us on the field as we went on to win all 3 of our matches. A great day, a great event, with perfect weather and fantastic paint. Another night on the town and the time spent with new friends topped everything off as one of the best events I have ever been too as well as one hell of a way to start off 2013!
Stay tuned for my next blog on our practice before PSP Dallas!
