So you want to be a DBS Kid?

The DBS Kidz have been around for a long time, about the same amount of time that we have been kicking ass and climbing podiums. Needless to say, a chance to play as one of the Kidz is in high demand. We get many requests every month from hopeful players who want to have a spot on our roster but sadly, we can’t make everyone’s dreams come true. This doesn’t mean that your dreams to be a DBS Kid are impossible though.

My story

            I want to tell you a little bit about my story of becoming a Kid so hopefully, the aspiring DBS Kid in you may learn from it. I was a mere local rookie player in 2005, scrounging out an existence in the NW paintball community by getting my head blown off at local 3 man tournaments. My 2 years of paintball experience had not been enough to earn me a spot on top of the podium and I ended 2005, winless and sad….so sad. I practiced hard at DBS indoor, regularly playing in the walk-on Wednesday/Thursday session with some of the DBS Kidz and I got to know them a little bit. The calendar was rolling through to 2006 and to my delight, DBS’s sister team, Apollo, was having tryouts, woot! Anyways, I showed up, shot some cones and maybe a few actual people and I had a spot on the team, I now played on a local open team and things were looking good for me.

Apollo was closely associated with the DBS Kidz, we practiced together every Tuesday night at the indoor arena in Everett (R.I.P.) along with another local open team: Fallout. After almost a year of going to tournaments with Apollo, Fallout (also very closely associated with the DBS Kidz) asked me to join their team and I played my first national event in Division 4 5 man at 2006 PSP World Cup with them.

            During the off-season between 2006 and 2007, the DBS Kidz decided to make the jump from D4 5-man to D3 Xball and needed to add at least 5 players to their roster. I was lucky enough to be with in arms reach of the Kidz while they were making this expansion, and I was picked up along with two other members of Fallout.

Just to summarize what I had to do to make it onto the DBS Kidz:

• 1 year of playing as a regular at a DBS owned field at least once a week which shows a commitment to DBS prior to ever joining a team.
  
• Then 1 year of practicing with the DBS Kidz and playing on a team closely associated with Doodlebug Sportz.

Conclusion

I know for a fact, that during our D3, D2 and D1 years of PSP, no one has even “guested” on a DBS Kidz roster. There is no easy way to be a Kid and in fact, some players on our roster dedicated 2 or even 3 years to the DBS organization before getting a spot with the Kidz. I don’t want to say this to discourage anyone from working hard to become a Kid because it can happen! The most common way that we have picked up players in the past is from the lower division teams that we practice with. Right now, that team is DBSpaintball.com. If you want to play on the DBS Kidz here is the number one rule: play paintball with us! It is that simple.

Tips for playing us:

The Outdoor field in Snohomish has been open for select dates and the new DBS Indoor Arena will be opening up in the coming months. DBS Kidz are sure to frequent the walk on sessions of both. A helpful hint though would be to check our thread on PBnation.com (OTC, Washington Forum), normally we post up when we are going to go out to a walk-on session so check that out and come join us.