We all know paintball has generally been known as a male dominated sport since its beginning. However, things have begun to take a new role as a large number of female players have started to hit the scene. Everywhere you look now there are women involved. You will find these ladies in all areas of paintball, from being involved with the PSP, working within the industry, or just your regular players. There has been one common complaint amongst all of us ladies though; THERE IS NOT ANY GEAR MADE TO FIT US!!!
Generally speaking things such as masks, arm pads, knee pads, and jerseys do fit us ladies, but other items that are equally important do not fit appropriately. An item that had been produced at one time specific to ladies was a sports bra manufactured by DYE. I loved this sports bra since it came with the necessary padding in the front of the bra to protect the “girls.” I wish that DYE still made this sports bra since they have become so hard to find. I’ve even had other ladies ask me at games where they can get one, but sadly Ebay is about the only place you might find a random one.
Another item of protective gear that I wish the industry made to fit women is slide shorts. Personally, I get shot enough in the hips and such that I should wear slide shorts but there are two issues with doing that. One, I don’t need a cup (or anything that resembles it) and two, my crotch is not halfway to my knees. I currently have to wear bike shorts under my paintball pants to help alleviate chafing which results from the pants not being properly constructed to fit a lady, and a pair of slide shorts would also handle this issue while adding in extra protection.
Speaking of paintball pants, there are a select few out there on the market that fit fairly comfortably. The largest complaint that I have heard from different sources is that the crotch sits halfway to a woman’s knees. As I pointed out earlier, this causes uncomfortable chafing. In order to have the crotch sit where it should for us, the waist is jacked up almost under out chest. Yet again, something very uncomfortable.
Now, from what I’ve seen on Facebook and heard from several guys I’ve spoken to over the past several years, you all want there to be more ladies involved in paintball. Well, you have it. There’s several groups on Facebook that are for the ladies and even forums out there.
In my opinion there are enough ladies out there to fill the need for someone to step up and fill our needs as well as the guys. If you want to continue to see a growth in the amount of women involved in paintball then I suggest the industry guys start pushing the issue of getting the ladies some gear appropriate to our needs too. So, who in the industry has the balls to step up?
