Painting the town

Mike Sciacca

The sand around the Huntington Beach Pier has served as a tour

stop for the world’s top volleyball players and surfers in the

premier beach sporting events.

Come the weekend of Feb. 7 and 8, there will be a new kid in town:

the Paintball Super 7 World Series.

The extreme sports festival featuring vendors, music and, of

course, a paintball competition, is making Surf City the first stop

on its five-city U.S. and two-city European tour for 2003.

It is the first time that Huntington Beach will host such an

event.

“We’re extremely excited to bring a new event to this city,” said

Surf City resident Chuck Hendsch, the president of the National

Professional Paintball League for the past two years.

Hendsch is setting up the league’s world headquarters on Main

Street.

“We view Huntington Beach as the extreme sports capital of the

world,” the 35-year-old said, noting that paintball is listed as the

third-most popular extreme sport behind skateboarding and in-line

skating. “This city has a lot to offer, and this festival we are

staging here has a little of something for everybody.”

Hendsch, a former professional player, said that paintball

industry vendors will be set up along the beach and two DJs, brought

in from London, will spin during the three days.

A free concert will take place Saturday, Feb. 8, from 4 to 7 p.m.,

he said.

One-hundred paintball teams will be competing for more than

$125,000 in cash and prizes during the Super 7 World Series event,

with athletes coming from the U.S., Canada and Europe.

Team Dynasty, last year’s Professional Division National

Professional Paintball League champion and European Champion, will be

among the teams competing.

Teams and players are ranked in four divisions: pro, amateur,

novice and rookie.

The premise of paintball is much like the games of “capture the

flag,” or, “tag.”

It’s an elimination team sport in which players are eliminated

when hit with a paintball shot from an opponents’ high-tech marker.

The paintball does not contain paint: rather, it is a soft-gel

capsule that is manufactured by a pharmaceutical company, Hendsch

said.

It’s a very strategic, fast-paced game that has been featured on

television and in the movies, says Hendsch, adding that paintball is

the fastest-growing sport in the U.S.

Six courts -- including a center stage court -- will be set up on

the north side of the pier.

He said that bringing the series to Huntington Beach was a natural

move.

“The setting here is incredible,” he said. “We originally wanted

to hold the event on a patch of grass somewhere here in the city.

Paintball is generally played in a stadium-type of setting.

“We met with city officials and groups in early November, and they

suggested that the event take place down on the beach,” Hendsch said.

“The meetings went really well, and the city embraced the idea.

“We have a solid track record,” he said. “For our first event to

be set on such a perfect stretch of beach is very exciting for us.”

Huntington Beach is the initial stop of the Super 7 World Series.

Other U.S. stops are Las Vegas, Chicago, New York City and Miami.

France and England will host the series overseas.

“Over the past several years, Huntington Beach has become a place

where many of the world’s greatest extreme athletes come to compete

in various events throughout the year,” Councilwoman Pam Julien

Houchen said. “This history, combined with the rising popularity of

paintball, makes Huntington Beach a perfect site to kick-off this

world-class event.”

* MIKE SCIACCA covers sports and features. He can be reached at

(714) 965-7171 or by e-mail at [email protected].