Keirsten "Red" Pedersen plays for the Valkyries Woodsball team, regular attendees at WCPL events.  She's one of the many female players that founder Kathy Alvarez has pulled together from around the country and the world to represent female players and take an active role in encouraging more women to play at all levels of the game, as well as helping the rest of us learn to welcome female players into our ranks.

Keirsten - a striking figure, tall, tattooed, pierced and, yes, red-headed, with a forceful, out-going personality that tells you the red hair is for real - has been writing interestingly and provocatively on paintball for a bit.  The WCPL blog invited her to guest post about her experiences as a female tournament player and issues that impact the same.  We hope to see her posts here on a regular basis and hope you enjoy this introduction from a different perspective:  (Keirsten is fourth from the right in the back row)

We do this for us, we do this for them, we do this for the children!

by Keirsten "Red" Pedersen Valkyries Woodsball Team

I am an intense person. It's always been hard for me to find somewhere I felt I belonged. Even harder for me to find somewhere that I thrive in. It was a crazy series of events that eventually landed me in the passionate, talented family that is the paintball community, and I am ever grateful that I am finally here.

It's funny, because I think back to the first time I was going to play paintball and how my anxiety was so bad because i didn't want to look silly around a bunch of people I don't know. I had a friend who introduced me into the world, but I still had not a single clue really what I was doing with anything, the games, my marker etc. I ended up not playing that day and then felt SO defeated all day. I told myself I was NOT going to let that happen again. 

The very first scrimmage I played was practicing with the master blasters at Paintball Sports Inc, in Newburgh NY. I was shaking so bad. I ran slow, I was just trying to stay alive in the match, I was silent in my field communication. It was so much to take in. But I was HOOKED. That jittery feeling instantly left as soon as my legs started carrying me, and I can remember thinking I will play paintball until these legs will no longer work anymore. I fell in love with this sport, this community, the thrill. I finally understood the passion that people have for this life. 

My third ever time playing was the Montressor Classic in July of 2022, also hosted at PSI, NY. I played under team Fox, whom I have so much respect and love for. That day I met a handful of people that I will come to call some of my closest friends today. There I met Cheryl Ellis and we hit it off instantly. Although we didn't do very well, we had so much fun together and that is ALL that matters the most in this sport. I couldn't wait to do it again, and again, and again.

It wasn't long after that event that Cheryl had contacted me and asked the question that will forever change my life, quite frankly. She asked if I would be interested in playing on team Valkyries. I was over the moon excited, but nervous to think about playing with an all female team. That was not going to stop me.

It all was set up and eventually Kathy Alvarez, captain of the Valkyries, called me to introduce herself. We talked for two and a half hours and i was so taken with why this exceptional woman decided to create this team. I was sold, I was a VALKYRIE. Hearing her story, some history, her reasoning behind creating the Valkyries is so beautiful and meaningful. I had to be a part of the team that is going to change the sport and this community for the better. I didn't know how that better was yet at this point, I just know I wanted to contribute.

I continued playing in small events and practicing with a team that also has shown me so much love and support from the very beginning, the Automen. Joker, automen's captain, has been such a huge influence since I met him. The advice, strategies, and focus he has taught me to hone in on when I am playing also has forever embedded itself in my brain. I started picking one thing I wanted to improve on and focusing on that every time I played. I had finally found a passion that I know I will never get bored of and all I could think about was improving and growing my paintball family.

Once I became a Valkyrie, it was still a couple of months before I got to meet my captain and some of my teammates at St Louis wcpl 2022 held at Gateway Paintball. I was traveling, meeting new people and doing what I've come to love more than anything, play ball. It couldn't get any better than that. 

Being the first full year the Valkyries are playing WCPL, we knew it was going to be a huge learning process for all of our events this year. St Louis last year gave us many ideas on the areas we need to focus on to strengthen our skills more. But, it was definitely the foundation we needed to start kicking our feet off the ground. Many of us became very close that weekend and those bonds have carried over and grown so much stronger in the last 9 months. We had begun working on so much from that very moment. There's no where to go but up from there.

Playing on an all female team was definitely not what I expected- and for that I'm grateful. it's given me the support system i didn't realize I needed. people that now hold me accountable to showing up because they want me there. There's hardships and strong personalities all around, but that's also where our strength comes from. Over the last year some of us have played together consistently, and the improvements in our teamwork and individual skills are a direct result of that. 

I've had so many little girls come up to me at paintball events in awe that we are out there playing. It truly melts my heart to see the glitter in their eyes when they talk about wanting to play when they are older. That's what the Valkyries are all about. It is so refreshing and humbling to see that what we are doing, besides just doing what we love, is really having an impact on the younger female generation. I always think about if I had someone like me when I was younger, I would have found my passion way earlier in life. Everything would have been different. However, Everything happens for a reason, and I am meant to be a part of the Valkyries Woodsball Team. This family has given me and my teammates so much more purpose than just a group of friends to play with. The determination of the women on this team is unmatched, I couldn't think of a better selection of fierce females to help positively influence the younger generations. 

We do this for us, we do this for them, we do this for the children!

You can  visit Keirsten on her FB Page here and more about the Valkyries here