The paintball team was invited to a Florida tournament in April and needs donations to travel to represent UH for the first time. | Courtesy Steven Schade
Students of the First Year University of Houston Cougar Paintball Club are trying to raise funds for an April tournament.
The National Collegiate Paintball Association tournament starts April 15 in Lakeland, Florida.
“The Cougar Paintball Club was founded in the fall of 2010,” said Steven Schade, program coordinator for sports club. “It’s the fifteenth sports club at UH.”
Hotel and restaurant management junior Anthony Galvan is both founder and captain for the club. He looks forward to the upcoming competition.
“On average, 50 college teams attend nationals,” Galvan said. “It is an NCPA Nationals Tournament, which means all the teams are composed of full time students in their particular school team. Colleges such as TCU, Georgia Tech, Baylor, UNT, University of Texas and Texas A&M are among the few attending.”
Galvan has high hopes for the UH team’s success.
“I’m excited about the tournament,” Galvan said. “It’s the NCPA Nationals; most of the colleges that have a team participate in this tournament. We have a good team and we know that we can go to nationals and strongly represent UH.”
Galvan’s confidence about the tournament is due to a recent regional game.
“We participated in our first regional NCPA tournament against colleges such as Texas A&M, Sam Houston University, Baylor University and UNT,” Galvan said. “We placed first among all the teams in attendance and also received an invitation to attend the NCPA Nationals in April.”
“This is a huge opportunity for our team as well as for our school,” Galvan said. “And I believe that we have a really strong and competitive team.”
Galvan explains how the team has done in past tournaments, along with their preparation for the upcoming tournament.
“There are currently 15 members in the competitive team,” Galvan said. “All the players have experience in paintball. We’ve been practicing all year to get to nationals as a strong team and proved it when we took first at the NCPA SCCC #4.”
“We also have played in national events for Promotional Sports Paintball, which is one of the Pro Leagues for paintball as well as other tournaments in the Texas area,” he said.
But before they can show their strong competitive spirit and skills off at Nationals, there is one thing that the team must do first.
“One of our main goals to get to Nationals is to just raise enough funds to help get us there,” he said. “We are continuing to work as a team to improve, but as for attending nationals, it all depends on if we are able to come up with the funds or not.”
To raise funds, Cougar Paintball is receiving donations from different resources.
“So far we have only raised $500,” Galvan said. “We are currently looking for Corporate Sponsors in the Houston area, to help us get to Nationals and we are also going to be doing fundraisers at school.”
Corporate sponsors and school fundraisers aren’t the only way that the club can achieve their dream of going to Nationals.
“The club is also looking for community donations to help fund their dream of representing UH at Paintball’s Collegiate Nationals,” Schade said. “More than anything, the club needs donations to fund the travel and tournament expenses that going to Florida requires. The Paintball Club is asking anyone and everyone to help out if they can.”
With fingers crossed about raising funds for Nationals, supporters for the club, such as Steven Schade, have nothing but confidence for the team.
“I am very excited about the possibility of UH being represented at Paintball’s Collegiate Nationals,” Schade said. “The Sport Club program within Campus Recreation is growing and the Paintball Club has been a great addition. This tournament would not only benefit the club, but would promote Sport Clubs, Campus Recreation and the University of Houston as a whole on a new national stage.”
