I do not consider myself a professional Paintball player, although I have been playing for 24 years, because I have never played on a professional team. However, I have played a lot of tournaments, I have won a lot of tournaments and I have been paid to play. My name is Derwin Pérez, and I compete under my Paintball nickname, Galactor. In Spain, I am known as the grandfather of Paintball because I am the oldest in all the tournaments I have played in Spain, at least so far.
I am Venezuelan, and I currently reside in Spain where I obtained nationalization many years ago. Paintball is my passion. I have participated and won many tournaments in Spain; and traveled to many tournaments everywhere, to compete, to promote the sport, to teach and train other players with less experience for several years. I even managed a weekly Paintball program, every Wednesday at 9, where I talked about paintball here in Spain and live.
Champion of Spain this year, 2021, at 55 years old. Paintball is a sport that anyone can play regardless of age, from 14 years old because the laws do not allow it; but at any age you can play at a good level if you maintain a high level of discipline, training and stay in shape. Sport in competition is very demanding, but age is not a problem that prevents you from competing and obtaining good results; I am proof that if you want you can.
2 weeks ago we became champions of Spain, with my official Venezuela Army team. A project that I have worked on for more than 4 years, because although I have had the honor of playing for Spain on 4 occasions, with my shirt and for which I will always be very grateful, I have always had that thorn of being able to represent my country. This year, I finally managed to get Venezuela represented in the Nations Cup, in France in the first week of September. A very important competition, in which many high-level teams from different countries participate. Without a doubt, one of my greatest achievements on a personal level.
Derwin Perez What advice would you give to a person who has never played paintball?
The first thing is to contact a Paintball field that is nearby. And the second thing, gather friends, family,... with whom you want to share a pleasant time. Shooting people and smearing paint on them is super fun, to release stress, to have a laugh,… you will be talking about the Paintball game for a whole week, I guarantee it, because you laugh and have a lot of fun.
The most important thing is to go to legal fields that treat the material well and store paintball balls well. If they are not stored well the balls become hard and if they become hard they do not break. There would be players who should be eliminated, and who would still be playing the game. And even more important, if the ball is hard it hurts and can even leave a big bruise, which is why you have to go to legal fields, not pirate or improvised ones. Go to fields that are recognized and known on social networks or see reviews, but in any case it is always better to inform yourself.
Derwin Perez What are the different types of players and roles on the battlefield?
In Paintball competition there are basically 3 types of players. In the back line are those who protect the players in front, give them coverage, and help them advance. And they give them the communication to know where the opponent is, how to eliminate them, how many are left, how many are there... that is the one who is furthest behind. They normally move their position a lot. Then there are the advancing players, which are 2 types of players.
One of them is the snake side, which are very small, low parapets, a player who is quite agile, fast, and who has to know how to cover himself very well, that would be the snake player. On the other side of the field there are some parapets that are normally called doritos, these players have it a little easier to move around there but they also have to know how to cover themselves and be agile in any case. Those are the 3 types of players.
I am a Dorito player but I have been playing for many years, 10 years ago I played snake. As I got older it was much more difficult for me, I stopped playing snake to play the dorito side. However, I have been playing for 5 years now, providing communication. Dorito is much more fun, you move more, you can kill a lot of people, realistically, I'm good at playing back and controlling the middle of the field now.
The competition field is a field the size of a 7-a-side soccer field and has about 40 parapets, all different, with regulatory measurements, and lately in the central part they are putting very large parapets, which makes it much easier to occupy central positions on the field. . We recently played in Madrid. The field they designed and the center parapets were spectacular. I went in there and made a complete mess. I love moving in that area. I'm pretty good at it, although sometimes I have to stay behind to help and provide cover for the team. My goal is to cover those who are advancing, give them the information so that they can advance and kill. Every time I have the opportunity I get in the middle and do my thing. It is something that characterizes me a lot as a player.
When you play, could you describe what feeling you have? What motivates you?
Is awesome. Getting up on a Sunday morning and going to hit people with balls is indescribable. There is nothing that compares to him even though he sounds a little crazy. The adrenaline that Paintball produces is so great that on Sundays in the finals, I end up not being able to take it anymore. On the last day, we were 5 players left, because 2 left before the finals.
The heat of Madrid and all the previous games had me exhausted. I was talking to my teammates at the start of the game and I told them that I was in reserve, that I couldn't take it anymore. When the speakers gave the start, a force entered me that made me continue running, and I ran above the 50 line, for the Doritos, to try to win the game. It was the final, we came second and the adrenaline rush was impressive. When you are passionate about something you always have more strength that you don't even know exists and that allows you to continue.
Do you follow any strategy to play?
Yes, normally a week before, they distribute the parapets on the field. So with the team we began to prepare a strategy. Normally that field has been played elsewhere, videos have been posted and you can see how it is played, where the players can enter... and we are preparing.
When we get to the field we already see the shooting angles, where you can move, where it is easier to attack... and we prepare 3 strategies. One that is the most basic and the safest, another that is more aggressive and another that is defensive, which is what we normally do. Basically who shoots, on which side of the field, when we see that a player from the opposite side is going to enter from that side we have a player who is going to shoot there to eliminate him if he tries to pass and stop his progress. Once we reach the parapet, we also determine which person we cover to cover the area and who advances shooting or without shooting. It's quite complex, like a game of chess, you move your pieces depending on what the other team is going to do. You have to have a strategic plan that considers all options
One of the things that I am good at is that I have good field vision. When I stand on the field after the game has already started, I know what my teammates are doing and I try to see what the others are doing, which side they are shooting at, which side they are advancing on and depending on that I help attack on one side or for the other. Having a clear view of what is happening allows you to make the right decisions at the right time.
To communicate, do you carry microphones or any device?
It is prohibited to use communication by regulation. There are quite extensive regulations with everything you cannot do and there are referees who control the game to prevent you from playing with a stain, because there are players who try to continue playing when they have hit you and you have stained yourself.
In this case you are penalized in the following way: If they hit me on the arm and I see it, I have to go out alone. If I don't get out and the referee comes to check me and sees the stain, he takes me and another teammate out. On the other hand, if they hit me in the back I feel the ball hit, I have to stop, call the referee and have him check me. If I don't stop and continue playing, the referee comes and takes me and another person out. If I try to hide the hit, they take me and 2 others out, or if I run with a hit and take out an opponent, they take me and 2 more out.
Can a hit occur and the player barely notice it? What would happen Derwin Pérez?
On our back we carry a kind of bag called a pop holder, where we put the tubes that have a storage capacity of 120 balls. If they hit you there you don't feel it or when they hit you in the marker, in the charger in the bottle, you don't feel it either. Legally, if they hit you and you don't realize it or leave the field, they take you and another teammate out. Otherwise you would be taking away the other team's advantage. One more player or one less player makes a big difference on the field.
Have you encouraged people around you to participate in the competition?
I have many Venezuelan friends who have come to Spain, obviously fleeing the Venezuelan crisis, and 90% of them have written to me. For example, players that I have coached for many years, because I haven't coached anyone in a long time, who have been so motivated by the classes, by what I have taught them, that they have bought all the equipment, they have assembled teams, they have I convinced people to go with them, they have called me to teach them again... Those people are grains of sand that call people and have made Paintball grow a lot, especially here in Spain.
Now what happens is that we have been in the doldrums since the crisis here in Spain in 2009. Paintball is an expensive sport in competition and many players, many teams disappeared, shops, paintball fields disappeared,... However, in the last 4 years it has begun to resurface again. It has been a long time since there were no more than 9 teams in the Spanish League. In the last edition, 13 teams participated. It is a good signal. New teams are emerging, people coming from all over, there were teams from Palencia, Barcelona, Málaga, Córdoba... it is something important for the sport.
How many have you killed in a game?
I have videos of killing all 5 by myself. I play with the camera in the cannon to leave evidence of the damage I can do against a team. I really like watching the videos when I come back from the competition and I feel calmer.
Who teach you to play? What were your beginnings in Venezuela?
I learned by watching other players. He played recreationally and knew how to shoot and little else. When I started watching the competitions, the teams that played, the players, around the year 97, I paid a lot of attention to a player called José Luis Albites. I really liked how he played, how he communicated, how he moved and I copied everything from him, because there were no videos, I didn't know where to get information from. He was a very complete player with a lot of judgment. I copied everything. I have a photo of me playing and I have the marker holding it like he did. Copy all the stuff from him. I began to improve the technique as I wanted but at the beginning I learned everything from him.
When you were little, did you think you were going to come to this?
When I was little I didn't know anything about little guns. The only thing I played with my friends was cowboys and Indians. I arrived late to paintball, at 25 years old. My son, for example, started playing paintball at 8 years old, and at this age he played his first tournament. He has had painting in his veins since he was very little.
I arrived late, I have done a lot of sports and been strong to be able to stay on the paintball field. One of the most incredible things that has happened to me has been playing in a tournament with my two children. The 3 of us were on the same team in a 3 on 3 tournament in Madrid and we won it too. The three of us being at the starting point, hearing the countdown after 3 seconds, turning around, my daughter, turning around, my son, has been spectacular.
Have you ever thought about quitting?
The money and costs have ever made me think about it. It's hard for me to maintain it, competing is expensive. It's the only problem I have in playing, but as long as I can keep running I'll keep playing.
Apart from Paintball, do you do any other sports?
Obviously I have to exercise a lot. I run 2 or 3 times a week, between 5 and 8 kilometers, sometimes on the flat, other times in the mountains. I need to be stronger than any other Paintball player because at 55 years old, the fatigue is quite noticeable. I get more and more injured, I have to be stronger than a 20 or 25 year old kid. I have to eat healthier, I have to exercise more, drink a lot more water, hydrate more in the tournament. I need to take care of myself even more to offer high performance on the field.
How long does a tournament last? Are the games consecutive or are there breaks?
There are 2 types of competition. The normal one is calmer. There are 10 teams and you face the 9 teams in 5-minute games, which happen little by little. It gives you time to enter, play, leave, rest for 20 minutes, play another game... Then there is exbolt paintball which is very fast and dynamic. There are 2 booths with 2 tables on each side of the field.
In the booths there are 4 teams, 2 teams play at the same time, 2 teams face each other, meanwhile the other 2 teams are ready to play when they finish. These games last 10 minutes, but in 10 minutes you can make up to 8 or 9 points. They are very dynamic and very stressful, because when those 2 teams finish playing, you have 40 seconds to go to base and start playing. That adrenaline it gives you is incredible, being aware of everything, with your senses at 100%.
The objective is to hit everyone and get out?
Normally it is played 5 against 5 and you have to eliminate the 5 opponents or touch the button on the opponent's base. If you touch the button even if there is someone alive you win the point. Normally the points are usually easier by elimination, since if there is only one player left defending the button, he would possibly eliminate you if you try to reach him.
What would you say to a person who has not played Paintball yet?
Two things, first, competitive paintball is the sport worldwide with the least physical injuries, represented by insurance companies. It has less risk than golf. And second, that paintball is the fastest sport in the world. The cannon ball comes out at 300 feet per second, not even Formula 1. The adrenaline is indescribable. It's the only thing I can tell someone who wants to play or try it, that it will be worth it!
Any anecdotes that you remember in particular?
Paintball trips are a lot of fun. Normally when we travel far away, I have gone to play in Portugal a lot, we rent a van for 9 people and the entire team goes inside the van. Laughter, speaking of paintball… there are many hours together. I can't think of a special anecdote now, but the experiences and moments we shared are many, and each one of them is worth it.
Are there any initiatives that currently promote Paintball?
If they exist. One of them is Chiclana Paintball, a project that already has more than 30 players. In the last day of the Andalusian League that took place in Estepona, 3 weeks ago, 5 teams participated. Something like this had never been seen in Spain. Chiclana Paintball is a project that Javi runs and he is doing an incredible job. He has a very small paintball field but he is teaching many people to play. He helps them get cheaper material, teaches them and prepares them for the competition. There are 10-year-old kids learning, who we will surely see competing in a few years.
What is Stripaintball
When a tournament ends, I'm usually the one who gets people involved and invites them to play Stripaintball. We play many against many and the only rule there is is to leave when it hurts. I usually put cardboard on my legs because I am one of the last ones to stay in the field, if it is going to hurt, it will hurt but I stay until the end. It doesn't matter what you equip, who gives you... the last one we did was in the Andalusian League in Seville. I did a live show and with my entire mask full of paint I was wondering when we finished if I had broken on one side or the other. Bestial! I had about 60 bruises from that Sunday.
Thank you very much Derwin Pérez for this interview. We hope to continue watching you compete for a long time to come and we wish you the greatest success. From Everent we want to thank you for all the support and passion you put into Paintball. We really want this sport to continue to grow at a competitive level and return to what it once was. Recently on the first day of the EXPL (Spanish Paintball League) we had the pleasure of meeting each other and you welcomed us with open arms. You are a crack Derwin! I hope we can meet again soon at upcoming events and competitions.
