GETTING involved in paintballing has turned out to be a life-changing experience for Cherry Collins - and now she's crowned a memorable couple of years with a national award.

The coveted Paintball Association (PA) National Player of the Year trophy has been awarded to Collins, who is the chairman, press officer and a player in the Basingstoke Tsunami team.

Collins is known throughout the sport as Guppy, a tag given by a team-mate after she once took to the field without a vital piece of equipment.

Each of the 40 PA league teams nominated the one player they felt had made the biggest contribution towards the promotion of paintball, as well as their on-field performance.

And after Collins had collected the accolade at the recent annual PA presentation evening in Rodbaston, she thanked The Gazette for helping her to win the honour.

Collins said: "I was absolutely delighted, and very surprised, to be nominated for this award, and even more delighted to be named PA player of the year.

"Without your (The Gazette's) help in publishing our match reports, I believe we would not have won the award, so thank you very much!"

She added: "The presentation of awards was drawing to a close when the Paintball Association director, Andy Hatton, announced that there was one more important prize to award, for the player who had done as much for paintball off the field as on it.

"Three players were in the final nominations and I was shocked when I heard my name. I was even more shocked when I heard the words 'and PA Player of the Year goes to Guppy of Basingstoke Tsunami'."

Collins has just completed her third season playing paintball - and her involvement in the sport has certainly changed her life.

She said: "I first played as a rental customer at a woodland paintball site and I caught the bug straight away. At the time, I was working for a firm of chartered accountants in London with the whole smart suit, uncomfortable shoes and nine-to-five routine.

"A certain code of conduct goes with the whole City thing, but I never felt it was quite me. Then came paintball.

"Soon after my second day paintballing, I applied for a weekend job as a paintball marshall with Delta Force. Every Saturday and most Sundays for the next year, I was marshalling and it got to the point where something had to give.

"As I had no free time at all, I took a gamble and resigned from the accountants and picked up extra hours marshalling midweek games.

"Then came a stroke of luck. Delta Force changed their paintball markers guns to Powerball Infernos - a marker I knew very well as it was the same as my own first marker. When the Infernos went wrong, I was the only one who knew how to repair them, so I was offered a job at Delta Force's head office repairing and servicing several thousand Infernos.

"Now I'm in my element - no nine-to-five, no uncomfortable shoes and I no longer even own a suit.

"On the playing front, I found it liberating to be in a sport where men and woman can compete as equals, as tournament paintball is more about technique and skill rather than physical strength."

The 45-year-old's involvement with the Basingstoke team started two years ago when she went to a game in Birmingham, attended by some Tsunami players.

Collins - who keeps fit with swimming, tai-chi and aerobics classes - said: "At the time I was playing for an all-girl team called 6E Chicks, but the team never held training sessions.

"Shortly after the Birmingham game, I was invited by Tsunami to guest for them at a tournament as they were a player short. Then I attended a training session and, in January 2003, I was offered a place in the team."

Success with the Basingstoke team also led to a proposal of marriage from team-mate Brian Best, from Stratfield Saye.

Collins recalled: "He proposed to me in front of 100 or so players, knee-deep in mud.

"We toasted our engagement with Champagne supped from paint pots, in true paintball fashion."