Lake Life

Student airsoft team heads to tournament
Erik Walsh
Monitor Staff Writer
MABANK–Teenagers often get bad reputations. People say they are lazy or unmotivated and criticize their performance at school. One group of Mabank High School sophomore boys is proving them wrong and having fun doing it.
These kids have put together an organized team that emulates military combat strategy and spend Sunday afternoons tromping through wooded courses in Kemp, shooting each other with rounds of lightweight plastic pellets from imitation firearms. The game is called airsoft and these boys take it seriously.
It began with just a few of them messing around and having fun on the weekend. Then a couple more joined them in the hobby. Then a couple more. Now they have a full-fledged team, coined “The Uprising,” and will be entering the biggest airsoft tournament in Texas next month.
These sophomores, Dylan Baker, Caden Monk, Van Gregg, Austin Dowdy, Justice Dougherty, Mackenzie Grubbs and Tyler Partin have invested their time and money in this passion. Some of them are sporting high-end rifles worth over $300 with fully automatic and semi-automatic fire and lazer sighting. Not all guns cost this much cash. A quality pistol can be purchased for about $50.
These guys practice hard on the field, but work even harder on their grades. All but one currently hold placement on the honor roll at MHS. They will have to make the most of their smarts and work ethic at the upcoming “Operation Grozny” tournament in Fort Worth next month. Each member has paid an entrance fee to compete against other teams in what is billed “the biggest fast action urban combat operation in Texas.”
People may ask, “Is it safe” for boys to run through the woods shooting each other with pellets?
“We take safety seriously,” Justice Dougherty said. “We always wear protective eye-gear. It’s important to us that we’re safe and that people don’t look at us like we’re stupid.”
They also sported thick military style clothing to take some of the sting when the plastic pellets make contact. Even with the protection, none of them want to get shot.
“There’s definitely a fear factor in there,” Dougherty said. “You don’t just charge in recklessly. Taking cover will deflect most of the incoming fire.”
This leaves glory-seeking rambo strategies a bad option.
Although none of them want to get shot, the boys understand the value of respecting the power of their firearms. Each time one of them gets a new weapon, they undergo a ritual by handing it to one of their teammates. The teammate turns the gun on the owner and the owner feels the power and sting of getting shot by it.
After the ritual is complete, the boy gets his gun back with a heightened sense of responsibility for what he is holding.
While these guys may enjoy a round or two of the Modern Warfare video game as much as the next kid, they are a step ahead of many of their peers via academic success and healthy exercise. Expect them to be outside next Sunday afternoon, deep in the woods of Kemp, practicing their strategies.