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Poetter Hall was purchased by the SCAD founders in March 1979. Classes began in September of that year.  
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Trivial Pursuits

Trivial Pursuits
 
Alumnus aims to excel in paintball


 


By Monique Bos
Published: Friday, June 30, 2006

Paintball is a fun activity for many people, but for Savannah College of Art and Design alumnus Jeremy Cook (B.F.A., computer art, 2001) it’s a passion.

Cook started playing paintball 10-12 years ago, as a teenager in Franklin, N.C. “Some friends and I were out in the woods behind a friend’s house, and we started shooting each other,” he said. “We did that for awhile — just played in different places with groups of friends.”

Their hobby took a more serious turn when a local field opened and the owner sponsored a three-on-three tournament. Out of eight teams, Cook and his friends placed first, which motivated them to continue playing competitively.

“Once we got into it, we kind of got hooked,” he said. “We started playing other tournaments in western North Carolina and northern Georgia, and we decided to get more serious about it.”

Cook’s dedication endured after he moved to Savannah to attend SCAD. He spent many weekends commuting to North Carolina, where he competed with his old team, and he also played with a local group.

“I would still play here weekends when I wasn’t traveling,” he said. “I hooked up with some guys from Charleston, Beaufort and Hilton Head [S.C.] and played a couple of events with them. The team was never that serious and wasn’t really competitive enough, but we definitely had fun.”

Cook said playing with several teams or switching teams frequently is common in paintball.

“Teams have a habit of falling apart after a year or so,” he explained. “What usually happens is that for a certain percentage of your team, life gets in the way. That’s why there is such high turnover.”

Another factor is sponsorships. Equipment, competition and travel costs can quickly add up, and well-known non-professional teams may strike deals with local fields or retailers — which makes those teams attractive to players.

“Sponsorship is a big deal,” Cook said. “You get free gear, free guns, free travel — all the perks.”

After spending a few seasons playing with the Carolina Ruckus out of Asheville, N.C., location and sponsorship lured him to P.C., a new team in Charleston, in 2004.

“We had a lot of financial support and backing,” he said. “It was a really good offer. On top of that, I knew some of the guys and the chemistry was good.”

The team became more serious and competitive as they played together, he said.

“We had practices almost every weekend that we were not at an event,” he explained. “It makes a real difference when you can afford to practice and refine your team this much.”

Their work paid off in a successful season, as their showing at the World Cup — which Cook describes as “the Superbowl of paintball” — proved.

“By the end of the season at World Cup in October, we had placed high in most of the events we played regionally and we ranked sixth in the world in the professional and amateur five-man series,” he said. “We even managed to beat the No. 1-ranked team in one match.”

With the end of their winning season came the end of the team, however.

“Sponsorships were getting harder to come by,” Cook said. “Career changes and kids came along, and this was about the time I got married. It’s now much harder to travel the way we did. So we split up the prizes, cash and trophies and went our separate ways.”

Cook, who still lives in Savannah, continues to practice and play with several groups and also is coaching a new Charleston team.

“There is something about this game that is addicting,” he said. “It’s … a game of teamwork, strategy and timing.”