Main Gun: Indian Springs Thundercat
Gun Mods:
Mask:
Camo Pattern: Woodland
Rieve has been playing paintball for a while and it shows. We have
seen him grow up at the Backyard. Like most younger players he is fast,
but he also has a good sense of timing. Rieve is quiet (unlike his Dad),
but don't let that fool you, on the field he is fearless. He is not afraid
to take a chance, when it comes to a big payoff. I'm always glad to see
him with the same color armband as mine.
Bio by Joe Lambert:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amidst the blur of unknown faces that make up my days at paintball, Rieve
has always been a face with a name. I was there for his first game and
I have enjoyed watching him grow into his own style of play during these
years. I am selfishly pleased to say that his reliability, alertness and
speed make him an ideal teammate to cover my six in many situations. On
more than one occasion I have heard Rieve as my teammate say "Don't
move, Paul!" This occurs when I am mulishly trying to make a bad
situation worse by wrongfully advancing (my usual way out of most games).
Also, when I am winded and wheezing, I can hand off the flag to him with
confidence (April 2003). As I watch Rieve in action, I wonder what kind
of different player I would be if I had begun in my youth instead of a
graybeard so set in my ways.
Bio by Paul Rosengrant:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rieve started playing paintball with his father at the age of 12 in
1998. As son to his father, Rieve, like his five siblings, was use to
following orders. Rieve has been following his father's orders on the
paintball field almost from day one. Well, almost from day one.
The first trip to Mike's Backyard was intimidating for a boy of 12. All
the other players looked so old (like Mike) and so large (like Joe), and
had all kinds of fancy equipment (like Paul), so Rieve spent his first
trip Mike's Backyard hiding behind anything he could find, most often
his large father. After that first day in Mike's Backyard, Rieve went
away empty. He had no stories of great battles, no "kills,"
or even no being "killed." Rieve, like the trees in Mike's Backyard,
could only make one boast. He was there. But during his second visit to
Mike's Backyard all that changed. And here is the story of that day.
In a shoot out in open field, Rieve and his father had taken up a position
behind a piece of plywood that faced the old bunker fort. Opposite and
behind their own wall of pallets, three opponents had taken cover. While
Rieve's father held the three at bay with a continuous round of cover
fire, Rieve remained hidden behind the plywood and his father, only occasionally
poking his gun out to squeeze off a round. Knowing that he could not hold
the three back on his own, the father ordered his son to stand and to
lay down a volley of cover fire.
But the young boy simply could not bring himself to do it. Fear had taken
control of him and he confessed as much, "I'm afraid," the boy
said. His father ordered him to arms a second time, then a third, but
still that little boy, barely longer than the gun he bore, could not find
it in him to obey.
There was only one thing left for his father to do. Taking his son by
the back of the neck, the father lifted his boy into the air, held him
out as a target, invited the opponents to shoot at his son, and said to
that boy, "Now son shoot or be shot!" The father fired away
with his right hand, while holding his son with his left.
As paintballs whizzed by his head, that boy lifted his gun, pointed it
in the general direction, closed his eyes (so the story goes), and squeezed
that trigger as fast as he could, neither hitting or being hit, but firing
all the while. Somewhere in that great fire-fight the father no longer
needed to hold his son for that boy was soon having fun. When the time
expired, two hand fallen, but the father and his son remained. "That
is how it is done," the father said. "Proud of you my son."
In that moment an amazing thing happen. That little boy was transformed
into a paintball ball player. In that moment fear gave way to fun, and
a real competitor was born. In that moment that son and his father shared
in the glory of a battle won.
That was nearly five years ago now and it is common to see Rieve running,
jumping, driving, and shooting. Many a paintball players have said how
they like being Rieve's teammate. He follows orders well, he doesn't abandon
his teammate, and stands his ground. When Rieve does get hit, it is usually
because he does not look before he leaps (literally).
Yep, it's just paintball you say, but it was much more than that for a
12 year old boy and his father one summer's day. On the paintball field,
that little boy is no longer around. The teenager doesn't follow his father's
orders as the boy once did. But that's okay. Rieve has a younger brother,
Brenz, age 10, who is now learning how to play.
Bio by Craig Stanford
Reeve in Action |
|
|
