A TEENAGER from Darlington has trained with a top US paintball squad.

Tracy Hollifield, 15, who plays for a Durham paintball team, was invited to train with Sacramento XSV.

Tracy joined more than 50 top paintballers in Manchester where the US team put the players through drills and exercises.

She will be taking the experience back to the Durham City Dragons.

"Training and doing the drills with XSV gave me a lot of confidence. Learning to come up with a game plan was good, deciding where to go on the field," she said.

Tracy won her place at the training weekend when she was awarded player of the day by referees at a regional competition this summer. She has also been named most valued player by the Durham team.

"Paintball is cool because you get to meet a load of people. One of my best games was last year when we played Leeds.

"It came down to one on one, I was the last player in for Durham and we won the game," she said.

Tracy is a year ten pupil at St Michael's School in Billingham, her father Andy manages the team and they are in division four of the league. Her 19-year-old brother, Mikey, referees at events around the world after retiring from top-level paintball last year.

He has just returned from refereeing the Paintball World Cup in Orlando, Florida.

Sacramento XSV is one of the top US professional teams. There are seven players to a team.

For more information on competitive paintball, visit the Paintball Association website, www.thepaintballassociation. biz