Splatting the enemy

Teen gets bitten by the paintball bug and plays on a professional team, Less Than Zero

Rob Miech
Las Vegas Sun

Dec 27, 2006

Aly Monroe pointed her $3,000 Kelly green DM6 rifle at the Russian's face, softly squeezed its hair trigger and eliminated him. She knew another lurked behind him. As the second Russian reloaded, she sneaked into the bunker to her right.
He moved in but found that first bunker empty. From her new position, Monroe had a clear shot at her second kill on that cold Texas day.

Monroe, 15, a sophomore at Silverado High School, is completing her first year with Less Than Zero (LTZ), a professional team in Las Vegas. Those two kills, against the Russian Legion in February, were her first as a pro. She'll never forget the sunken posture of the two Russians as they trudged off the field knowing they'd been zapped by a girl.

"Was I ever excited," Monroe said. "It was a big confidence boost for me and let everyone know that I'm up for the task at becoming the first female professional paintballer to compete in the NXL," Paintball Sports Promotions' top division.

Less Than Zero is the most prominent Las Vegas team in what has become an $800 million-a-year industry. The sport has more than 10 million regular players, according to the National Professional Paintball League. There are nine magazines devoted to the sport, and it gets exposure on ESPN.

Bart Monroe, Less Than Zero's 43-year-old founder and coach, built a private field in Henderson for his team because practicing at the area's lone public facility near Sunset and Las Vegas Boulevard South disrupts regular play at the sports park.

"If the rumor got around town that LTZ would be coming, 500 people would be here," Monroe said during an interview. "Nothing would get done. They'd be unproductive out on the field, trying to run a practice. Others would want to be on the field. Arguments would start. There would be animosity.

"I keep them isolated."

Not long ago, Las Vegas players looked in awe at teams such as Los Angeles Ironmen and San Diego Dynasty. Now, Less Than Zero regularly practices with those two squads in Southern California.

Aly Monroe remembers signing her first autograph. A nervous fan - a couple of years older than Aly - approached the team at a Denny's restaurant in San Diego. "Oh my gosh," the girl gushed. "It's so cool talking with you." The players signed a banner that had hung over their bench and gave it to their fan.

"She smiled at all of us like we were gods," Aly Monroe said. "The look in her eye. Oh my God."

Bart Monroe usually sports a certain look of his own, which keeps foes on their toes.

He honed his competitive streak as a national recreational watercraft and regional motocross champion - and as a businessman.

He had been working since high school in Chino, Calif., when he was named crew chief on a construction job. "That took a lot of my youth away," he said. "I know I cheated myself in life, being thrown into the corporate world at 17."

As vice president of land development for Meritage Homes, his office calendar is flipped to 2009.

"I never have time to slow down," he said. "If I'm not doing something, I'm not productive. I don't ever sleep."

He became intrigued by paintball almost 20 years ago, playing first near the swamps and sanitation fields on the east side of Las Vegas. Three months later, Less Than Zero was born in a tournament of 10-man teams. It came in eighth out of 10 teams, and Monroe finished 18th among individuals.

He stayed in the sport until 1992, when Aly was an infant. But the bug returned three years ago when he watched a friend's son playing in a tournament.

His daughter, a state tae kwon do champion, took to it slowly. Now, she's one of three players on Less Than Zero's 14-person roster who competes in all five specialties.

"It's very different," Aly Monroe said of her first year as a professional. "It's kind of scary sometimes. It can be overwhelming playing against men. I get so nervous, but it gets the adrenaline going."

A while back, Bart Monroe showed one of his old-time paintball guns to his team.

"It was pump-shoot, pump-shoot," he said. "You shot as fast as you could pump. It was heavy, a dinosaur of a gun. The kids laughed. Now, the guns and halos (loaders) have electronic eyes. They work together. If the halo is feeding the gun faster than it can shoot, it slows down. They can shoot 30 balls a second.

"It's crazy."

Some might say the same about Less Than Zero's boss and schedule. Since its rebirth, the team has played in tournaments almost every weekend. The players, most are high school age, are accustomed to hotel rooms, room service and strict discipline.

Monroe says his team is the only pro paintball team that undergoes random drug tests. He's image-conscious, getting rid of two players after seeing a photograph of one with a beard and another smoking a cigarette that the coach felt reflected badly on the team. All interview requests go through him, even from a persistent reporter from Sports Illustrated.

When a foe confronted a Less Than Zero player about rumors of Monroe's strict disciplinary measures and rigid practices, he was told that the team is locked in a cellar, with only water and saltine crackers, if it doesn't win.

"I cracked up," Aly Monroe said.

Bart Monroe has tried to temper his serious edge, planning team outings and barbecues.

"As we continue to get bigger and better, and more sponsorship and exposure, I'm controlling the reins all the time, making sure these kids have fun at this," he said.

He finally succumbed to a sponsor's advances, allowing DYE to outfit the team head to toe. Three other sponsors help offset the $500,000 annual cost of operating the team.

The trade-off was that Monroe's team entered the professional ranks two years earlier than he had planned. Less Than Zero is currently 14th in the 16-team NXL and eighth among 28 teams in the NPPL semipro Super 7.

"I want them to be the best, and we're right there," Bart Monroe said. "We're two years away."

Rob Miech can be reached at 259-4087 or at miech@lasvegassun.com.