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1st Marine Logistics Group

Victory Through Logistics

1st MLG takes out competition in CG’s Cup paintball tourney

By Sgt. Sarah Fiocco | | February 24, 2014

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CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - An excess of paint splattered almost every surface, making everything seem like abstract art. However, this wasn’t an area for painting – this was an arena where opposing teams sent paintballs pelting at each other, furthering their chances at winning the Commanding General’s Cup at The Paintball Park aboard Camp Pendleton, Feb. 19, 2014.

After each team played four games in the round-robin matches, winning teams moved on to the semifinals and then the finals. Combat Logistics Regiment 17, 1st Marine Logistics Group, entered two co-ed teams into the regular division and three female teams into the girl’s division. By the end, four out of five CLR-17 teams placed in the paintball portion of the CG’s Cup.

The Commanding General’s Cup is a series of athletic events for units to participate in and is broken down into two halves.

“The tournament is a full year. We start in January with our fist event which was racquetball,” said Theresa Flores, sports coordinator for Camp Pendleton Athletics, and an Oceanside, Calif., native. “So the first half goes from January to June, and the second starts in June with our soccer league and ends in December with our rifle and pistol matches. Our first and second halves kind of overlap a little due to the leagues.”

Leagues refer to the intramural sports such as soccer, basketball and softball that require a commitment of eight to 10 weeks to complete, but each game still counts toward the CG’s Cup. Winning a tournament or a league isn’t the only way participants can win the Cup.

“If you want to win the CG’s Cup, the key is to come out and participate,” explained Flores. “When a unit comes out to an event, they get ten points for the first team that they enter. After that, depending on if it’s a league or a tournament, the points get broken down differently.”

For this tournament, each first team that entered earned their initial 10 points. Every unit team entered after that was awarded two points and additional points if they won first, second or third places. If they come out and get max participation, participants can get up to 58 points.

With five teams from CLR-17, it seemed plausible that at least one of the teams would walk away with a medal, but all three 1st MLG female teams surpassed that expectation.

“There were four female teams, and we made up three of them, so we were hoping to have a sweep,” said Cpl. Jayme Copeland, embarkation clerk and team captain, Headquarters Company, CLR-17, 1st MLG.

A shutout is exactly what the 23-year-old Casper, Wyo., native got. All three 1st MLG female teams placed and earned the maximum participation points for their division in the tournament, a victory they credit to teamwork.

“It actually shows that we wanted to come out here and do this – even if it means getting a few welts,” said Copeland. “Overall, I’m just excited to be out here representing CLR-17.”

The females weren’t the only ones to win. One of the CLR-17 co-ed teams won first place in their division.

“Our strategy was to go out and work as a team,” said Lance Cpl. Gregory Murray, field radio operator, team competitor and avid paintball player with communications company, CLR-17, 1st MLG. “At one point their guys were too forward and we were too far back, so I took out a couple of their guys, so we could move forward.”

Despite the stings of the speeding paintballs, Murray, a 26-year-old Tacoma, Wash., native, said the game was very enjoyable.

“It feels like a quick whip with a towel. It’s a little sting, and then it goes away,” he explained. “It’s not as bad as it seems. The welts may look bad, but they go away. It’s just part of the sport. It was a lot of fun out there.”
This event was only the second tournament of the CG’s Cup. Ultimate Frisbee is the next event and is slated to take place in April. For more information on future CG Cup events, visit www.mccscp.com/athletics.



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