The Country Club in Pepperpike, Ohio started an annual paintball tournament that has helped the club interest the hard-to-reach teen and tween demographics.
The competition of a three-legged race holds the potential to be a flat-out humiliating family activity. Especially if you’re the 13-year-old boy tethered to your giggling 40-something mother who thinks this is just “so much fun.”
As more and more clubs move away from those types of dated family games, new ideas that are more sporty, more relevant and way more fun are taking their place. Case in point: The annual paintball tournament at The Country Club in Pepperpike, Ohio.
“We invite parents, tweens and teens to do battle in the woods at The Country Club every October,” says Justin Kolanz, Assistant General Manager. “This event captures the attention of a hard-to-reach group at Country: our tween and teen boys and girls.”
THE GOAL: The Country Club wanted to attract teens to events at the club, as they are the hardest demographic to reach with busy school schedules and extracurricular activities.THE PLAN: Capture the teens’ attention by creating a schedule of events specifically for them, including a game of paintball vs. their parents.
THE PAYOFF: The event not only brought teens to the club, but it gave teens and their parents something to do at the club together. After the first game, members were begging to do it again. |
On the day of the event, participants are separated into two competing teams: parents vs. kids.
“By putting all the teens on the same team, they are more likely to participate with their friends,” says Kolanz.
The paintball game Country plays—a version of “capture the flag”—works well for a field of 30 to 50 players.
A section of woods in the middle of the golf course provides the perfect battlefield for this event. There are plenty of natural bunkers here, too (wood piles, boulders and other great hiding spots) and golf play is not interrupted, due to strict battlefield boundaries. Battles are set up the same as capture the flag, with each team setting and guarding their flag. To win a battle, a team must find and retrieve the opposing team’s flag, making sure to carry it back to the halfway point on the battlefield. If a player is shot, he or she is out for the rest of the battle and must exit the battlefield with hands up.
Each battle starts and ends with a whistle from the field general, who is also in charge of settling any disputes over who is in and who is out.
“Typically, there is enough time for three battles,” says Kolanz, who notes that teams are identified by wearing a red bandana on their right arm.
Country’s paintball event is held once a year, but because it has become so popular with members, a second chance at victory, “Paintball—Redemption,” always follows it in November.
“The main challenge was to move people past the idea that we were going to be out there hurting each other and instead look at it as the game it is,” says Kolanz. “Once we found members and kids who had played paintball elsewhere to help with recruitment, we were off and running. After the first game, everyone was begging us to do it again. ”
While the majority of members supply their own equipment and paint, rental equipment is available, but in limited quantities. The club carries its own arsenal of six rental guns and also works with a local paintball store to supply up to ten additional rentals. The local store gives special rental and paint pricing to the club because of the amount of business it receives from members stocking up before the event. Country usually purchases about ten extra supplemental cases of paint for all of the players, too.
“Events like this help us extend our outdoor activities into the fall,” says Kolanz. “They also create memories for the adults and kids, capture the attention of our teens, and keep Country true to its family-oriented mission.”
After play is over, everyone heads in to the grill for beverages and a quick bite to eat. The post-battle menu includes hot dogs, bratwurst, beef stew, chili, pizza, mac and cheese, a baked potato bar, and other casual comfort foods. And healthy portions of war stories, too.
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