The Heltah Skeltah competition paintball team was founded in 1999, just prior to the turn of the millennium. Based in Hunington, WV, the team was founded, or you could say resurected by two people that could not give up their love for the sport of competitive paintball, Kevin Byrd & Freddie Wooten. Prior to Heltah Skeltah both players had been members of the Midnight Seals paintball team, WV Stingers paintball team, Loaded Deck paintball team, and were later instrumental in founding Team Coup De Grace. Never-the-less, due to very different circumstances both found themselves without a team for most of 1999.
     Initially both players met in the early nineties playing for the Midnight Seals. The paintball connection started at an indoor field in Huntington named the Adventure Zone. Freddie having already been on a team entered in the tournament picked Kevin Byrd up as a substitute player...the rest is history. After the tournament, in which the their team placed third (or second depending on who you ask! hmmmm) the two eventually ended up on the Midnight Seals paintball team. A team that was made up of a friendly group of guys that played for fun. Opting for more competitive play, the two started playing more competitive paintball with the WV Stingers. Eventually both players were invited to join the Stinger team. The Stingers were a very good, and competitive paintball team, it was also the largest and most successful team in the Huntington area at that time. The Stingers competed in many tournaments including fields such as Storm Paintball field (Felicity, OH), and fields throughout Ohio, Indiana, and WestVirginia. Unfortunately, due to internal structural problems the Stinger team began to experience unsurmountable turmoil. Around 1995 the WV Stingers split up, and Loaded Deck was formed from the remaining players. Loaded Deck offered a brand new team structure, and a new beginning, but it was hard playing under a different name and a new name didn't solve all of the teams old problems. After a stint as team Loaded Deck the Stinger team was re-established, but the problems that plauged the team early in its establishment proved to be to difficult to overcome, and the team fell apart once more. After the second falling of the WV Stingers many of the player that chose to stay, decided that a whold new approach to the game was needed, and so Team Coup De Grace was formed in the early part of 1997. CDG, took the players to an entirely different level. Practices were more organized, and the team focus shifted to a more aggressive style tournament play. CDG was formed of about 10 players mostly younger players, with some experienced players such as Kevin Byrd, Freddie Wooten, Chris Berry, Brian Terry ...all veterans of the Stingers, and Loaded Deck. Just as CDG was getting involved in competitive play, the team experienced problems of another sort. Lack of sponsership created financial difficulties for the team, and slowly but surely the amount of play began to decline to the point where it was basically non exsistant! Eventually, with the lack of play, the team fell silent once again. Other circumstances contributed to the team not playing, such as player injuries, players moving out of the area, and in one severe instance a player lost all of his equipment in a housefire.
     But the love for the sport proved to be too strong to hold down. During the month of Dec. 1999, Freddie Wooten and Kevin Byrd decided to kick start the ole paintball fanaticism in the Huntington area once again, and formed TEAM HELTAH SKELTAH. Well seasoned by earlier experiences, and well prepared the two founded Heltah Skeltah, and the rest is history! So look out and keep your eyes wide open ...cuz the whole world is goin Heltah Skeltah!