The UW-Platteville Paintball Club is ranked sixth in the nation and will be heading to nationals April 18 to 20 in Lake Wales, Fla. The club placed first at the Midwest North Event #3 – Stinger last November.

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“We have about a 60-ish percent chance to win it all at nationals or at least make the top five teams,” Lance Schumann, UW-P Paintball Club member, said.

The UW-P Paintball Club will be competing in the AA class with over 30 other teams, Corey Horning, UW-P Paintball Club member, said.

Everyone on the team is healthy and expecting a good outcome from the tournament, Schumann said.

“We’re expecting to be in the finals,” Horning said.

“The team should at least finish in the top five teams or I’ll be disappointed,” Alex Kornely, member of UW-P Paintball Club, said.

Kornely said there will be a team of five people from the UW-P Paintball Club going to nationals.

Schumann said Alex Kornely, Corey Horning, Lance Schumann, Jon Robbins and Jake Dischler will make up the team heading to nationals.

The club has around 15 to 20 members in it this semester and looks to grow next school year, Kornely said.

“The team plays both indoor during the winter and outdoor when the weather permits,” Horning said. The typical style of paintball played by the club is called speedball with different kinds of inflatable structures on roughly a 50-by-50-yard field.

“Members must supply their own gear, but most members have extra stuff if a person is missing something,” Kornely said.

Schumann said there is a $100 member fee that helps with things such as tournament fees and practice fees.

The member fee helps cover costs on most things, but each member attending nationals has to pay $200 per person that wasn’t covered by the club, Horning said.

The cost might be higher next year, but the club seems to have people interested in becoming new members like the incoming freshmen, Kornely said.

“Next year is looking good for the club,” Horning said. “We have no seniors leaving, everyone is returning and there has been a lot of interest from students.”

Anyone interested in joining or who just wants more information about the UW-P Paintball Club can go to uwppaintball.freeforums.org or send an e-mail to any member. The contact information of the members is located on the Web site. There is also a Facebook group created for the UW-P Paintball Club that people can also join and find more information on it.

People interested can also attend the club’s meetings that take place at 7 p.m. every Tuesday in the Wisconsin Room of the Pioneer Student Center.