Gelball Stories

I was discharged from the army in 2009 due to injury.
This was a time of my life that took a heavy toll on my mental health as I had no other career aspirations and I’d put everything I had into joining the armed forces.
I was supported by the dept of veteran affairs and rehabilitated into a new career, however my injury is long term and unresolved by treatment.
In this new career, I met and became good friends with another ex serving army member, who only very recently got me into gelball for a bit of fun and nostalgic reminiscence of times past. I’ve only been to a handful of games, but I’ve seen that there is a passionate community of other like-minded people. A community still in its infancy, which, like my military career, was cut short before it ever got a chance to be all it could be.

I am deeply disappointed with the ban.
I hope consideration is given to the regulation of the sport.

I enjoy the skill of target shooting and since w are not allowed to own Handguns without a ton of useless paperwork, here was the way to enjoy the hobby somewhat, but no.

I have served the with the Australian Army.
Enlisting in August 2008 and discharging from full time service July 2014.

I had completed 1 operational deployment to Afghanistan on FSU 8 ( force
Support unit ) rotation #8

After leaving full time service I had remained as a reservist as SERCAT 5 posted to multiple QLD units and then ultimately moving to WA in order to take on a mining role within the resource sector.

I use gel ball as a way to connect with like minded people. A community that shares an common interest in a sport that allows for members to demonstrate team work, leadership, comradeship.

All qualities that are considered valuable to the defence force.

I have had a hard transition from defence to the civilian world.

Finding it hard still even years after leaving full time service to find my foot hold.

Gel ball allows for me to feel comfortable in an environment where I can work with others to whilst performing set tasks in order to achieve a pre planned outcome.

Gel ball has allowed me to unwind after long 2 week working periods away as an all rounder operator on a gold mine in the states Pilbara region.

I look forward to the matches it gives me a sense of direction to plan my self and organise as if it were on operations.

My son and I don’t have much that we can do together. We finally found something that he loves and I am happy to do. In our house the kids have to play a sport and do a social after school activity. My son is I no way sporty but gel basting was the one thing that he loved that was social and got him out of the house to have fun. He followed the rules and didn’t play with his gun out in public. Always carried it in a box when travelling to the gel blaster fields.

I got into Gelball because I had a break down. I needed to find a sport which was active, fun and surrounded by a positive community. I found it in the Gelball community.

The games are just like social paintball events, with added strategy and tech talk. It’s a bunch of like minded friends channelling their inner Rambo or GI Jane in a sport that offers no physical harm. At the worst you head home with a few tiny bruises.

The current legislation is absurd and the government needs to at least offer chance for consideration of the licensing scheme adopted in South Australia.

I treat my blasters as if they are real firearms, and as such are always stored securely and transported in a rifle bag to and from games. If you weren’t at a game you would never know that I even own one. In fact, I’ve always had anxiety about anything mechanical- but working on my blasters has opened up my mind to an entirely new skill set.

I love the sport of Gellball and the positive addition it has brought to my life. It’s one of the least toxic sporting communities I’ve been a part of.

I have twin 10yo boys who I get once a month as I left there narcosis mother. Ad I don’t get them very much I was upset as I couldn’t take them to any sport as they werent around for training or for regular games. Last month was the first time I have taken them to the indoor gelball place and oh boy did we have fun. Not only were they away from their computer games running around it was a fantastic father and son outing. I’m also trying to teach them fixing things, using tools and their hands. We had bought a blaster each using there pocket money they had saved and we planned on upgrading them thus teaching them that skill also.

I’m really bummed that they now have been banned. Seeing them running around laughing and having fun made me feel like a number 1 dad. Now knowing I can’t take them again and have to hand there blasters in makes me sad. I’m not looking forward to telling my boys that we can’t go again.

Please rethink the total ban. There is no logical reason why we can’t licence them or put serial numbers on the gel blasters so that the sport can live on.

Cheers

I was bitten by a tick in the mining sector and contracted Lyme Disease which is not recognised in Australia.

I have been bed ridden for almost 3 years now and my friends have all disappeared due to not being able to leave my house or being cared for by my family. Gelball gave me something to keep my mind active as I love to tinker and a sense of social ability talking with the friendly community and making new friends.

I have always loved guns and used to have ranked shoots within the pistol division in Perth but due to my health I have not been able to afford the expensive membership fees.

This sport was going to be my outlet and was something I could go down and play without having the pressure that I have to play a full day. I could play and if I had to sit down due to Lyme Disease I could and the people there are caring and accommodating much more then our own government turning it’s back on Lyme Disease patients with no support at all.

I went to high school with Paks and we reconnected last year. I decided to try gel blasting, he told me about it in high school but I wasn’t interested then. I was so nervous at my first game, wasn’t sure how painful it could be. I decided to let Paks land a hit on me so I can experience what it was like to be hit by the gel balls. I got scared and argued against it but Kyle took out his glock and shot me in the leg. It was a shock at first but it was definitely funny and a highlight of my first night there. I’ve made a lot of mistakes on the course and would hide while my friend Tim ran out and got heaps of marks on his body. People at GBG respected me and gave me a lot of helpful advice, I appreciate all you have done for me and I hope this isn’t the end for gel balling. This place is the reason I reconnected with Paks and got to hang out with him before he passed away. Thank you GBG!

I’m very new to the sport itself I recently was starting to get involved in playing the sport until shocking news of the minister banning them I wanted to start to get involved and be apart of a community where I could meet new people and potentially be apart of a team and I think banning them without talking to the community’s that enjoy the sport to sit down and discuss what other actions we can apply to our blasters to make it more safer for WA and not take away something just because others misuse gel blasters and effect the people who are following safety

As a ver I find it hard to fit into today’s society. A mate of mine who is also ex service told me about PGC and about the toy blasters that are epic to play with on the field. I have been to many games, met many other ex servicemen and connected with them in ways a civi cannot understand. Gel balling is more than a hobby or sport to me, its apart of my healing process and where friends are made who can relate to you