Splatter Shot : Paintball Course Opening in Oxnard Takes Aim at Companies and Families

To the untutored eye it looks like a random scattering of discarded garage doors, hammered into ramshackle huts with bamboo fronds for roofs, massive tires and makeshift wooden barricades.

But aficionados have waited for this for years: Ventura County’s only designated paintball course, built on a Santa Clara River levee at 5011 Gonzales Road in Oxnard.

Dubbed “Urban Quest,” the site comprises three paintball fields with 12 acres of intricate tunnels carved out of heavy brush, open terrain and a simulated urban battlefield.

It officially opens 8 a.m. Sunday as a sanctuary for people who like to spend weekends in the great outdoors, splattering opponents with garish, biodegradable paint shot from carbon dioxide-powered guns.

“I guess there’s thousands of people in the tricounties that want to play . . . but there aren’t the accommodations,” said owner Dave Palmer, who estimates he has spent $18,000 to $25,000 building the fields on leased land over the past nine months. “My target is companies and families--people who haven’t done it before. I’m trying to bring [the game] to the people.”

Palmer’s timing is right. Paintball has moved into the mainstream in the past few years.

When it began more than a decade ago, most people regarded it as a somewhat suspect fringe hobby with a wargame image, played deep in the woods by weekend warriors toting toy guns and clad in army fatigues. No longer.

While the dominant demographics of players remain men from 18 to 40 years of age, increasing numbers of families are playing what is becoming a legitimate sport. Paintball is drawing spectators and corporate sponsorship, with ESPN and ESPN2 televising games since early 1995. An entire industry is popping up to supply the increasingly expensive and sophisticated accessories players are demanding.

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And, as if to emphasize paintball’s rapidly evolving wholesome flavor, ESPN is taping the World Championships that are being held this week--at Disneyland.

Paintball’s militaristic reputation is a relic of the past, said Judi Keeney, editor of Paintball Sports International, a 90,000-circulation monthly periodical that covers the sport.

“If you go into somebody’s kitchen you could find enough contraptions to commit murder and mayhem on the entire population, yet nobody would say cooking is a violent sport,” she said.

Still, outside the confines of designated courses--and without the required protective gear--paintball equipment can wreak havoc.

In 1993, a Palos Verdes youth was charged with assault with a deadly weapon for hitting an 11-year-old boy in the eye with a paintball. The boy required extensive eye surgery to save his vision.

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Last year, four Van Nuys residents faced assault charges for a paintball shooting spree, hitting pedestrians, bicyclists and homeless people. In Simi Valley, a skateboarder was left with a large welt in November after an attack from a passing car.

But enthusiasts say the designated courses force people to use the equipment properly and to wear the appropriate protective gear. Face masks are mandatory, and guns must be set at safe levels, so that the paintballs do not shoot out too quickly, said Robert Ferguson, 28, of Ventura.

Ferguson has played for about a decade and traveled internationally to compete in tournaments with a group that calls itself Team America. Manager of a car-repair shop and owner of a paintball- supply company, Ferguson said he has played against lawyers, millionaires and disabled folks of all ages.

“It’s not war at all, it’s a high-tech game of tag,” he said. “Paintball doesn’t have an age bracket. Football and baseball, you outgrow. Paintball you don’t.”

The sport has several variations--so-called speedball games, for instance, can last less than 30 seconds. But essentially, paintball is a combination of tag, hide-and-seek and kick-the-can played between two teams, each intent upon capturing the opposing squad’s flag as paint pellets fly through the air.

Paintball is different things to different people. For some, the machismo element remains, with players reveling in the adrenaline rush from the fast-paced game. For others, it’s about teamwork and strategy, hence the interest from corporations.

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“I play because it’s exercise, it gets me outside,” Ferguson said. “I’m more relaxed after a game than if I sit down and watch a football game all day long.”

Palmer, 31, admits that for him paintball is about money.

A former gun dealer, he opened Hueneme Surplus and Paintball Supply in Port Hueneme three months ago.

After playing the sport for the past five years he got tired of driving the hour or so it takes to reach the nearest field in Valencia. Playing on so-called renegade fields--public or even private land in rural areas--isn’t always satisfactory because of occasional harassment from authorities or safety concerns.

So he searched for land unusable for anything else. He found it at the site next to the river in Oxnard.

Capitalizing on the sport’s increasing legitimacy, Urban Quest is sanctioned and insured by the American Paintball League. All games are umpired, with safety rules enforced. There are plans for junior, adult and women’s leagues.

But it’s not an inexpensive sport.

Duane Carlson, 39, of Thousand Oaks recently outfitted himself and his two sons, ages 10 and 12, with guns and facemasks. Total cost: $900.

“That was their Christmas present, that was their only Christmas present,” he said. “I tell my kids, ‘Save your ammo, it’s a nickel every time you fire [a pellet].’ ”

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Custom-made guns can cost even more, up to $1,200.

Urban Quest will charge $40 a day for admission and equipment rental, $20 for those with their own equipment, though prices will be slightly lower for the grand-opening Sunday.

Palmer’s hoping to draw families like the Carlsons.

“How many other sports can you play with your 10-year-old son--a competitive semi-contact sport,” he said. “I have fathers and sons smiling together as they leave the fields with stories to tell each other for weeks on end.”