Paintballing

The rules banning shooting at human targets (POR 9.11.1 Archery and POR 9.11.5 Shooting) refer to archery activities and most shooting activities.

Paintball guns (as well as toy/nerf guns, laser guns and water pistols) are not affected by these rules.

As with any activity, if a parent/guardian doesn’t want their young person to take part in an activity or event, then the young person won’t attend the activity or event. Paintballing and paintball games are an optional activity within the programme, so there is no requirement to take part in it.

Scouts hasn’t imposed any age restrictions on this activity. However, both the United Kingdom Paintball Association (UKPBA) and United Kingdom Paintball Sport Federation (UKPSF) include requirements around age for all of their sites. The site you are looking to use will be able to let you know what these requirements are.

The term equivalent body is included to ensure that overseas providers (who won’t be members of UKPBA or UKPSF) can still be used as long as they are members of an equivalent regulating body in their country and run paintball to the equivalent standards that are required by the UKPBA or UKPSF.

Both the UKPBA and the UKPSF have site locators on their websites.

All under 18s taking part in paintballing and paintball activities must have the permission of their parent or carer.

Before the activity, parents and carers must be made aware of the risks of the activity and then be asked to give permission. This information may be passed on through the use of the activity information form, an email or a parent and carer meeting. The parent and carer permission can also be gained in a number of ways from a permission form to the parent and carer dropping the young person off at the paintballing centre.

When choosing how to do this, consider the age of the group and the interaction you normally have with the parents and carers. 

For example, an Explorer Scout who arrives at meetings on their own, an email or form may be more appropriate, whereas for a Scout who is dropped off by the parent or carer, it may be suitable to have verbal consent.

Yes, but please remember the Safeguarding Code of Conduct (Yellow Card) rules about physical contact and be mindful of the way in which the group will participate. This should also be considered for joint Explorer Scout and Scout Network events.

Careful consideration should be made before joining a public session. In a competitive environment disagreements can happen, which could lead to intimidation and upset for our young people.

No. Paintballing can only be run as an externally-led activity using an external provider.

Yes, providing it is run by an external provider who is independent from the Scouts. In these situations the external party must be a member of the UKPBA or the UKPSF, have public liability insurance as specified by the regulating body, and both parties must have completed a risk assessment to consider the suitability of the site.