For the first time ever, the FAU paintball team stepped onto the field to compete in a Collegiate World Cup. Their goal was simple: They wanted to be the best, and they wanted to make a statement. While they didn’t leave the tournament with an overall win, they did leave it with a victory.

“I want us to be a team that people fear,” Captain Greg Montalvo had said in the weeks leading up to the Collegiate World Cup 2009.

But at the end of a long, hot weekend of tournament play, the exhausted FAU team had lost games against two of the three teams they competed with, although never by more than one or two points.

One of the losses was against the University of Florida Gators, the other was against the Purdue University Boilermakers.

Palm Beach Vipers player Brandon “Mooch” Blouin volunteered, after his own competition, to help assist and coach the FAU team during the tournament. Blouin feels there are several factors that contributed to the back to back losses.

“I think it was a lack of organization, it was a lack of preparedness, and it was a lack of conditioning,” he said. “They were tired. They started making stupid moves and stupid decisions.”

Fahim Kahn, a sophomore on the FAU team who often goes by his middle name, Taj, agreed.

“We didn’t have things organized. The lines were just kind of pick-and-go.”

Montalvo feels the team might have been a little too self-assured before taking on UF.

“You want to go in confident, but I think some of us just got cocky,” the junior business major said.

He pointed out endurance as a major issue in both games.

“We all underestimated how much it was going to take out of us.”

In the game against Purdue University, the best collegiate team in the country, Blouin feels there was one mistake in particular that resulted in a loss.

“They made a critical mistake in the end, in the very last minutes of the game. When it was tied up 7-7, they sent out their second line. Those kids got destroyed.”

In hindsight, Blouin feels that the FAU team could have beat Purdue.

Addressing FAU team member Fahim Kahn, he said, “If you guys would have put your power line on, at least held them like you held Auburn, and put it on them, you guys would have won that. But you guys made the mistake of putting out your second line when it counted the most.”

Not much more than 20 minutes after their game against Purdue, FAU was scheduled to play Auburn. But the FAU team was taxed of energy and resources, and they requested additional time to prepare. They were running on empty, running out of paint, and needed to regroup.

They did, and they played Auburn shortly after. This time, they won. The FAU team beat the Auburn University Tigers 9-5.

“Everything just clicked,” said Greg Montalvo. “What we needed to do, we did in that game, because we had no other choice. What we wanted to do was sit back and shoot for the first half, and then come out really hard the second half. [We] let them make the stupid mistakes, let them run into our lanes. I think it just worked out for the better because we were so tired that we had no other choice.”

The FAU team might have played in the finals, but it hinged on one last preliminary game between UF and Purdue.

If Purdue won, they would play FAU in the finals. If they didn’t, they would play UF again to determine who would place first and second overall.

Purdue lost the game, and in doing so closed FAU out of the competition for good.

Some feel the loss was intentional.

Spectator Anthony Cappadoro, a local Boca resident who has played for fun with members of the FAU team, is among those who thought so.

“They threw the game, basically, because they knew that FAU is a better team, and that if they lost this game … they would play UF once again instead of FAU, and not play the stronger team.”

Brandon “Mooch” Blouin explained the situation further.

“Purdue was the only team to have two wins underneath their belt [before the game with UF]. All the other three teams had one win [each],” explained Blouin. “Seeing that the game they just played against the Owls almost didn’t go in their favor, they were afraid to play the FAU Owls for the finals. So, what they did — and it’s a smart thing to do, but it’s a shitty thing to do — [is] they basically played bad, sloppy, loose paintball in order to give [the] Gators the win.”

But despite not playing in the finals, Blouin thinks FAU should be proud.

“If you can scare the top team into doing some shady things like that, then you definitely have something to go home proud about.”

After losing the preliminary game to UF, Purdue went on to play them again in the finals, and this time they won.

Fahim Khan said that if Purdue did throw the game, he can’t really blame them.

“That’s what any other team would probably do,” he said.

Greg Montalvo, while disappointed at the missed opportunity to compete for first or second place overall, feels that, in a way, the team accomplished what they set out to do.

“For Purdue to throw the game like that, it sucks, but they want to win,” he said. “For them to be scared, a team that’s won World Cup and Nationals last year, for them to be scared of a brand-new team coming in, that’s really, really good for us.”

Paintball defined
A beginner’s guide to the language of paintball

Here are some of the common terms and phrases in the game of paintball:

Box – the starting “gate,” so to speak, for teams on each side of the field.

Pit – This is the holding area adjacent to the field for teams that are currently playing on the field. This is where equipment and supplies are kept and prepared during the game.

Lane – the space between two lines of bunkers on a field that reaches to the opposite side (think aisles in a store)

Laning – shooting fire down a lane on the paintball field

Tape – the space between the out-of-bounds line and the bunkers that run parallel to it

Bonus-balling – when a player has already been eliminated and is shot several more times than is necessary by the opposing team

Paint check – when a referee checks a player during gameplay to confirm whether they have been hit and eliminated

Playing on – when a player has been hit and eliminated, but continues to play instead of leaving the field. It is an illegal move.

Wiping – when a player intentionally wipes paint from himself after being shot in order to continue playing. It is an illegal move.

Blind-shooting – when players shoot in the direction of a competitor’s position without having a clear visual on the player

Wrapping – when a player presses himself as close to a bunker as possible, “wrapping” his body and his gun to conform to its shape