Ken “SKUBA” Heinly, a local Narcoossee, FL man with a passion for paintball, or more specifically, “woodsball”, has created a free place on his personal property to play this extreme sport. Owning several acres of forest he runs games about every two weeks.

This backwoods area is called “The Swamp”. It’s not so much that the area is a swamp as it’s a dense subtropical jungle. The people that show up are passionate the sport of paintball and commonly introduce their friends to it at The Swamp.

There are strict safety rules one must follow to play this group of enthusiasts. One such rule is that every paintball marker that is taken on the field is to be “chrono-ed”. This is a test uses a device that measures the speed of the paintball in order to keep it below 280 feet per second, an industry safety standard. Also, the wearing of paintball safety goggles is strictly enforced as well as ensuring marker barrels are covered until on the field of play.

The Swamp has winding trails, forts, hidden hideaways, and tree stands. The players typically divide on two teams. They will commonly play a team elimination game where the team with the last man standing wins. Sometimes they play a capture-the-flag game where the team who gets the other teams flag safely back to base wins.

If you are in the Central Florida area, the Narcoossee Swamp Soldiers beckon you to join them one Saturday morning. The best part is that you won’t have to bring your own gun, compressed air, or even paintballs. They all enthusiastically chip in and help each other and especially newcomers to the sport. They have a website where you can see their scheduled games , create an account, and register for the free paintball games.

http:// SwampSoldiers.com

Free popcorn and soft drinks, too. Could’ve picked a better movie, but little kids seemed to like this when it came out. Not as much as Beverly Hills Chihuahua, but…

On Saturday, June 13th Lake Nona and DiVosta Homes will host a community movie night at the award-winning VillageWalk Town Center. The free outdoor movie is open to the public and will feature the hit family movie, Hotel for Dogs. The show will begin at dusk, approximately 7:30pm, and guests are encouraged to bring blankets and lawn chairs for a picnic under the stars. Popcorn and soft drinks will be complimentary.