Today we’d like to introduce you to Miguel Sarmiento Webel
Hi Miguel, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My name is Miguel Sarmiento Webel, better known as Happy in the paintball world. I am from the city of Maracay in Venezuela, and I have been playing paintball for 20 years. My beginnings were in 2005 in my hometown, when my cousin, along with a group of friends, went to a paintball field where they invited me to play. I didn’t want to play, but several friends left, and one more was needed to play, so I joined in, and from that moment on, I never stopped playing.
For many years, thanks to God, I had the opportunity to play in various leagues throughout Latin America, meeting many friends who became like family. I also attended several world championship events in the United States.
It is worth noting that in Venezuela, I had a brand of extreme sports clothing, and I am also a graphic designer specializing in marketing and advertising, and branding management.
Due to the political situation in my country, I had to flee, fighting against the government, separating from my loved ones, which has been the hardest part of the whole process.
During my escape from my country, I had the fortune to continue playing the sport and travel to several countries in Latin America, playing and meeting many friends.
Until 2018, I started a photographic project for two Colombian leagues and the 507 league in Panama, where I was in charge of taking photos and videos, with a great Colombian friend named Oscar Araguato. The partnership I had at that time ended because we didn’t see eye to eye, and at that moment, I had the photos of the 507 league in Panama. When I met with them, they told me I had signed a one-year contract to take photos of the league, but I no longer had the brand with which we had been doing the photography.
In that situation, I was forced to create social media accounts to publish the tournament photos. I met with my friend Carlos García Ponte, whom I consider an older brother and one of the best graphic designers I have worked with. We started brainstorming ideas with a name that had occurred to me, which was PAINTBALLLATINO. Writing down ideas one afternoon, we managed to create the PAINTBALLLATINO logo.
At that time, I had about 10 photos from the 507 Paintball League event in Panama. I opened Instagram with the PAINTBALLLATINO logo, creating a 5-day teaser campaign. I didn’t post anything and dedicated myself to editing the photos. On the fifth day, I started posting the event photos with the new PAINTBALLLATINO logo. It is worth noting that at that time, the 507 Paintball League had players from 13 countries and was also televised.
At that time, no one in the Latin paintball community knew who owned the page. I remember a friend from Colombia called me and said, “It’s you, yes, it’s you. With that name, you are touching the fiber and heart of Latinos.” Several leagues called me to cover their events. Several people wrote to me wanting to invest in the brand, but for me, at that time, it wasn’t a brand; it was a movement, the Latin American paintball movement, where for the first time, our Latin community could be aware of all the events and the number of players outside Latin America. Through the page, they have been able to find teams in Europe and the United States.
During the pandemic, we worked very hard on the page, conducting many interviews, showcasing many players who are shining outside their country and fighting to put their flag on the map of the countries they emigrated to.
I believe the name was born out of the need to show that Latinos are fighters and also good and worthy of being great in this sport. With this thought in my head, I always felt something was missing, which was how we are Latinos but still don’t have that flag that identifies us at an event in Europe or the United States.
I had already left my country, and we continued fleeing from the criminal gangs that followed us to different countries where we emigrated. I had been 9 years without seeing my mom and family, and fleeing, I decided to come to the United States, where my family is. That was 3 years ago.
I remember that three days after arriving, I was already at a paintball field in a Florida tournament. I started to realize that there are many Latinos, and despite my many trips and visits to Latin America, I didn’t know many, and from there, I dare to say that the hardest Latin paintball is here in the United States.
At that moment, talking with my brother-in-law Carlos Colchón Ramírez, without much money because I had just arrived, I said, “Let’s make some t-shirts with the logo. I know Latinos will like it and feel identified.” We made about 300 t-shirts and took them to a paintball world championship. At that world championship, a hurricane hit, and instead of having 5 days to sell, we only had 3. We went with a cart to sell the t-shirts at the world championship, and I remember that the person who made the t-shirts didn’t fix the paint well, and when we washed them, the paint got damaged. We had to run out to buy a special iron to fix the paint, and we managed to sell several t-shirts.
Then, my brother-in-law and I started talking about registering PAINTBALLLATINO as a company. We managed to gather everything to create the company. Then we decided to start investing in manufacturing paintball items and managed to talk to a great friend, a paintball legend, Todd Martinez. He helped us create joggers, pants, and jerseys for the 2023 world championship, but due to a twist of fate, the merchandise didn’t arrive; it was held in Germany. We had invested a lot of money and suffered significant losses. It is worth noting that for the first time in 2023, we had the first Latin store at a world championship; we already had a place for our community.
For 2024, we saw another opportunity and the best occasion to do business and advertising at a paintball world championship, where the World Cup brings players and teams from all over the world. We started working in advance. We were still in the red due to the losses from the previous year, and we had to keep investing without knowing what to expect in return, whether we would lose or win. With the hope that everything would go well, we invested in the brand’s store. We didn’t pay for one space but two, and we had a spectacular reception from both the Latin community and the Americans, meeting the expectations of our product and also our line of special paintball shoes called VOLT PAINTBALL TECHNOLOGY.
We are already working for 2025 with two stops of the Major League Paintball in Florida, learning from past mistakes, to come back better and stronger and take our brand and our Latin community and continue to show that we can be great.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Due to the political situation in my country, I had to flee, fighting against the government, separating from my loved ones, which has been the hardest part of the whole process.
During my escape from my country, I had the fortune to continue playing the sport and travel to several countries in Latin America, playing and meeting many friends.
Until 2018, I started a photographic project for two Colombian leagues and the 507 league in Panama, where I was in charge of taking photos and videos, with a great Colombian friend named Oscar Araguato. The partnership I had at that time ended because we didn’t see eye to eye, and at that moment, I had the photos of the 507 league in Panama. When I met with them, they told me I had signed a one-year contract to take photos of the league, but I no longer had the brand with which we had been doing the photography.
In that situation, I was forced to create social media accounts to publish the tournament photos. I met with my friend Carlos García Ponte, whom I consider an older brother and one of the best graphic designers I have worked with. We started brainstorming ideas with a name that had occurred to me, which was PAINTBALLLATINO. Writing down ideas one afternoon, we managed to create the PAINTBALLLATINO logo.
At that time, I had about 10 photos from the 507 Paintball League event in Panama. I opened Instagram with the PAINTBALLLATINO logo, creating a 5-day teaser campaign. I didn’t post anything and dedicated myself to editing the photos. On the fifth day, I started posting the event photos with the new PAINTBALLLATINO logo. It is worth noting that at that time, the 507 Paintball League had players from 13 countries and was also televised.
At that time, no one in the Latin paintball community knew who owned the page. I remember a friend from Colombia called me and said, “It’s you, yes, it’s you. With that name, you are touching the fiber and heart of Latinos.” Several leagues called me to cover their events. Several people wrote to me wanting to invest in the brand, but for me, at that time, it wasn’t a brand; it was a movement, the Latin American paintball movement, where for the first time, our Latin community could be aware of all the events and the number of players outside Latin America. Through the page, they have been able to find teams in Europe and the United States.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
PaintballLatino more than just a paintball brand its a movement that help an support the Latino-paintball community in and out the USA .
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
For 2024, we saw another opportunity and the best occasion to do business and advertising at a paintball world championship, where the World Cup brings players and teams from all over the world. We started working in advance. We were still in the red due to the losses from the previous year, and we had to keep investing without knowing what to expect in return, whether we would lose or win. With the hope that everything would go well, we invested in the brand’s store. We didn’t pay for one space but two, and we had a spectacular reception from both the Latin community and the Americans, meeting the expectations of our product and also our line of special paintball shoes called VOLT PAINTBALL TECHNOLOGY.
We are already working for 2025 with two stops of the Major League Paintball in Florida, learning from past mistakes, to come back better and stronger and take our brand and our Latin community and continue to show that we can be great.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paintballlatino/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaintballLatino/
Image Credits
im the owner of the right of all the pictures
