Remember the halcyon days of youth, where joy was taking aim on a bunch of fellow commandos and spraying them down with high velocity, gas-fed globs of paint? It made you feel like Rambo, but without the risk of actually dying. Most of us have had to move on to boring jobs, but Toledo’s Carl Markowski never stopped living the dream. He’s proficient enough at paintball that people actually pay him to do it.
Markowski, 31, grew up in Toledo and though he’s moved away a few times, he always finds himself back in the Glass City where his family lives because it’s a great place to raise his son. But it isn’t so easy being the only professional paintball player in Toledo.
Does Toledo have a good paintball scene?
We had a really nice paintball field out in Sylvania, called WarZone, but it’s now Funagin’s, a big play center. They have trampolines and inflatable play stuff. Toledo, right now, doesn’t have any [tournament-style] paintball. It’s weird, there used to be a couple fields here. I was hoping one day to open my own field, but it’s not as big as it used to be. I have to drive two-and-a-half hours to any “local” practice.
How does professional paintball work?
I play for the Chicago Aftershock. That team’s been around since the early ‘90s. We’re part of a 16-team bracket out of the NXL— the National Xball League. We play teams from Moscow, Russia, Seattle, San Antonio, from all over the place. We all compete in five different national tournaments over the season.
How’d you get into paintball in the first place?
At Toledo Indoor Paintball over on Lewis and Alexis. A buddy I went to high school with— I graduated from Waite High School in 2004— took me there during my sophomore year, and showed me around. I had no idea what it was, but I was a football and baseball player, so I was really into competition and feeling the adrenaline. Paintball was this whole different “fight or flight” feeling. Ever since then, I was hooked.
How did you go pro?
There was a team out of Toledo Indoor Paintball called Tippmann Effect. And they were a factory-sponsored team. The guy who ran that team worked for Tippmann (a paintball gun manufacturer) and also owned that field. That team would go to all the national events and I eventually got on that team. Once I was on that team, a pro program saw me and had me fly out to try out for them (in California). That was back in 2004. I actually started missing baseball and football games to start playing paintball, and I almost didn’t graduate high school because I was travelling all over the world.
Do you have a nickname?
The main one I get called is “The Microwave”— because I heat things up.
What protective gear do you wear when you play paintball?
The only protection I wear is, there’s this company called Carbon Paintball and they make this compression top and bottom and it has integrated arm and elbow pads. Other than that, I don’t have any other padding. Eventually, you feel the balls hit you, but it’s just secondary. It’s like being out on a bike and falling. You just get up and keep going.
What’s the annual salary for a pro paintballer?
It’s tough. It’s not on the mainstream yet, but it’s big in its own world. A professional player can earn anywhere from $50,000-$80,000. It depends on how much you want to hustle. Sometimes we’ll get product (that we can sell) in place of a normal paycheck. Some guys just want the normal paycheck.
How long are you gonna be able to be do this?
I started playing when I was about 15-16 years old, there are guys out there who are playing in their mid-late 40s. Maybe early 50s. The average age playing at the professional level right now is maybe 23 or 24. I’m still kicking it up front with all the new kids.
Any chance you will open that paintball field in Toledo one day?
It’s definitely a possibility if the market is there. It was big back in 2003-2008, but since the fields closed, I don’t know if the market is there. I think that’s why I started my podcast and started going that track. That way I can still be involved with the sport when the whole playing side of it ends.
What’s your podcast about?
I’m host of The Playing On Podcast, a paintball/life podcast. I only have 12-13 episodes out, but it’s taken off pretty well. I already have a lot of people listening. I’m really enjoying that.
Check out Markowski’s The Playing On Podcast on soundcloud.com.
Find out more about the Chicago Aftershock at teamaftershock.com
