SPRINGFIELD -- When a group of young men pelted Yolanda Cancel with paintballs earlier this month, she decided to teach them a lesson.

Cancel was peppered with welts and bruises after being hit a half-dozen times. She was furious.

She considered pressing charges, but instead decided she could reduce the problem of marauding gangs of paintball players in the city if the players knew more about the game.

"Let's give them an opportunity and a chance to play it safely," said Cancel, a past City Council candidate and a member of the city's Police/Community Relations Board. "If you want to play with someone, it is fair game, just don't shoot up random people."

So rather than taking action to punish them, she arranged for them to learn how to play the game properly.

Rash of incidents in the city

Several people in their teens and early 20s recently have been arrested after splattering cars, homes and bystanders with paintballs.

Cancel talked to police officials and Ward 1 City Councilor Adam Gomez about her idea to teach the players, and all endorsed her plan.

She then contacted the owner of Xtreme Paintball in Agawam and explained about the problems with paintball players hitting Springfield residents, homes and cars. Cancel asked if she could bring as many of them as she could to the business to teach them safety practices and the general rules of the game before someone gets hurt.

Not only was Xtreme Paintball owner Joe O'Malley game, he said he would not charge them for the use of the fields, he would provide guns and masks and teach them about safety so they don't repeat their past actions and give other players a bad reputation.

"We wanted to show them what we do. Hopefully they will like it and will come here and play safely," O'Malley said.

On Sunday, more than a dozen people in their teens and early 20s headed to the Xtreme Paintball fields off Main Street in Agawam to play paintball without annoying residents or attracting police.

Cancel said she has played paintball and found it to be fun and safe as long as people follow the rules.

This group did not know those rules, she said.

In her case, she was stopped at a red light at Fort Pleasant and Belmont avenues after picking up her 16-year-old daughter from her job at Six Flags. Her sister and son's pregnant girlfriend also were in the car.

"I got out of the car and they ended up shooting me up," Cancel said, saying her car was splattered with paint and she was pelted with paintballs while wearing just a T-shirt. "I was just a random person ... I wasn't playing their game."

She did call police, but later had second thoughts about pressing charges.

"We have this huge opportunity with jobs in Springfield with MGM and Union Station and the train car manufacturer (CRRC). Who am I as a community person seeing they get charged?" she said. "If they have a record, they can't get a job, and that is a burden on Springfield."

Some people do play paintball in open parks and fields, but that isn't always safe. People walking in the woods or hanging out in a park may accidentally be struck, O'Malley said.

That is exactly what happened on July 7. Police responded to complaints that a large group of paintball players were chasing and shooting each other in Van Horn Park in the Liberty Heights neighborhood. In addition to disturbing a group practicing yoga, the paintballers were running out onto streets, firing paintballs at vehicles, and then retreating into the park. A jogger was seen "protectively covering his face" as he fled, and a family, thinking they were firing real guns, gathered their children and hid until police arrived, police reports said.

Police arrested eight people, but many others fled when officers arrived.

Others were arrested this month in a separate spree in the Hungry Hill section of Liberty Heights, where homes and cars were vandalized.

Police also charged a Forest Park neighborhood homeowner who allegedly opened fire with a real gun at two paintballers near Forest Park on July 5.

Along with arresting the players, police also confiscated 11 paintball guns, several protective vests and masks.

Most of those arrested were charged with vandalism. State law bans minors from possessing an air rifle or BB gun in any public place unless he holds a sporting or hunting license. It also bans people from discharging "a BB shot, pellet or other object from an air rifle or so-called BB gun" across a street, public way or right of way. The law, however, does not specifically mention paintball guns, although they are powered by compressed air.

"It got totally out of hand," Cancel said. "If you are going to play paintball, play it among yourselves. You don't know if I was someone with a gun."

Turning a negative into a positive

Cancel said she started reaching out to some of those arrested through social media, by going to their homes and through word-of-mouth to invite them to Xtreme Paintball. Her son helped contact paintball players because he has friends who knew some of the neighborhood players.

At first it took a little convincing because players were worried she was out for revenge. Eventually, they bought into the idea.

One of those arrested was Christian Gutierrez, who joined the group of more than a dozen people at Xtreme Paintball.

"We learned not to do that. We now know not to be hitting random houses and stuff like that," he said.

He and friends play in Forest Park, Van Horn Park and recently have been going to the area by Five Mile Pond in the Boston Road neighborhood.

"I think (the Xtreme Paintball lesson) is going to help. A lot of people don't know the rules," Gutierrez said.

One of the problems is there is a video that has gone viral of people playing paintball in urban settings, and Springfield youths are trying to imitate it. In Cancel's case, the paintballers were playing in an apartment complex on Fort Pleasant and running around cars.

"It's time to start teaching them about safety. We don't want the (police) commissioner, we don't want the mayor to say, 'I'm going to ban paintball,'" she said.

As the group prepared to play on Sunday, O'Malley and his employees handed out face masks, protective vests and guns. They also showed them basic maintenance of the guns.

Nigel Astwood, of Springfield, who works as a referee at Xtreme Paintball, reviewed the rules: First and foremost is to keep a face mask with goggles on at all times when in the playing area, which is made up of multiple fields, to avoid being hit by a rogue paintball from another game. All players were told to keep a cover on gun barrels in non-playing areas so the guns would not go off and hit someone who was not wearing face protection.

When a player was splattered with paint -- and knocked out of the game -- they were told to raise their hand while exiting the game so they would not be hit again while not playing.

Willie Peoples, 22, of Springfield, said it was one of his first times playing, but he came to support his friends, some of whom were arrested and had their guns confiscated.

"I think it is really a positive idea," he said.

The group divided into teams and first were led through a path in the woods to "Nuketown," which is based on the video game "Call of Duty" and includes an old school bus, several old cars and other barriers. They also had a chance to play at a 120-by-120-foot castle and a short field.

Adrian Reyes, who is better known as A.J., was one of the more experienced Springfield players. He came with a paintball gun he customized himself, explaining some of the better guns sell for between $400 and $500. He said he used to play a lot but is currently undergoing cancer treatments.

"It is better for the kids than shooting with real guns," he said. "It is fun, and it is a good stress reliever."

An impetus for the city to learn what its residents need

Gomez, who represents the North End section, said the paintballers and city officials have learned a lesson from this.

A lot of his constituents don't have the money to play in an organized spot like Xtreme Paintball very often, so they end up playing in the streets and hitting bystanders. It is important to talk to residents, including young people, to find out what types of city services and recreation they want, he said.

The cost to play at Xtreme Paintball is generally $40 a person for a group of 10 or more, which includes equipment rentals and a supply of paintballs, O'Malley said.

Gomez said it isn't just about paintball, although that is causing the most problems. Right now, handball is very popular, especially in the North End and the South End, but there are limited courts, and the existing ones need some attention.

"We need to be more adaptable to find out what is really going on and what is popular to keep them engaged," he said.

In this case, Cancel created that avenue to a conversation and more community engagement. Gomez said it is now worth exploring the idea of creating an area in the city where paintballers can play safely and without hurting anyone.

"Sometimes they play but they don't have the proper equipment, and those things hurt ... we can put on our thinking caps and talk about how we can create something," he said.

But he agreed with Cancel that the players must show they will be responsible and play safely.

"If you are maliciously out there trying to cause harm with the paintballs, then I can't support that," he said.