There were more than Olympic athletes competing in France this year. And more Horned Frogs. In Dreux – about 50 miles west of Paris – the 2024 European Championship in paintball was held recently, and the event featured the top paintball teams from around the world, including Team USA.
Coaching the Team USA professional women was TCU’s Rich Adickes, manager of hazardous materials safety.
“The competition was great and we ended up winning gold in all five divisions,” said Adickes, who has been playing paintball for four years and coaching for three.
“With last year’s success winning the World Championships and a back-to-back major win in the 2024 season, the Team USA Paintball committee asked if I would head coach the women’s line and assist anywhere else needed,” Adickes explained of his recent coaching role, which took him to Europe for the first time.
Adickes attributes his coaching skills in part to his work at TCU, where he assists with lab safety, material management, radiation safety, OSHA program development and more.
“My job is very detail-oriented, so I have a knack for patterns and stats,” he said. “A paintball competition is like an active chess game. If I can identify the habits of the competition, then we can exploit them.”
In the speedball format, where up to 10.5 paintballs are fired per second, five person teams compete against one another for a designated time (15 minutes for pros and 10 for others) to eliminate the opposing players while trying to hit a buzzer to score points. Obstacles, like inflated bunkers, are set up on the field to provide coverage. Teams progress through elimination.
In this format, players are allowed to carry as many paintballs as they can carry, and the balls are shot up to 200 mph. “It’s not bad,” he said about being hit. “It’s kind of like dodgeball, but these break upon impact, with the luminescent paint splatters telling refs when a player is out.”
Paintball has come a long way from backyard fun to worldwide competitions, though it’s not likely to make it to the Olympic stage.
“We’re trying to grow the sport overseas, but it’s not as developed elsewhere as much as in the U.S.,” Adickes added.
To help grow the game, he spends most of his weekends coaching and offering clinics.
“I’m blessed to have a great work-life balance,” he said.
And when it comes to the game itself, he plans to play and coach for years to come.
“There’s nothing like running around outside, being able to pull the trigger and watching balls fly and break – and not hurt someone,” he said. “And do it again and again.”