Editing Steve Corkill (section)

== Involvement in paintball ==

=== Paintball Direct NZ ===

Corkill was a co-founder of [[Paintball Direct NZ]], a New Zealand specialist paintball equipment retailer.

Paintball Direct NZ Limited was incorporated on 21 May 2008, with Corkill and Rosmarie Corkill as its founding directors and equal shareholders.

The company was registered under company number 2134260 and New Zealand Business Number 9429032732566. [1]

The business was originally based in Ōpunake, Taranaki, and operated both a physical equipment shop and an online retail store.

Its historical business listings described Paintball Direct as a specialist supplier serving New Zealand tournament paintball players. [2]

The retailer supplied equipment used in recreational and competitive paintball, including electronic markers, protective masks, loaders, compressed-air equipment, accessories and inflatable tournament bunkers.

Products advertised during the Corkill ownership period included equipment from manufacturers such as Planet Eclipse, DYE and Virtue.

Paintball Direct provided New Zealand players with access to specialist paintball equipment through its Taranaki shop and nationwide online retail operations.

=== Community involvement ===

Paintball Direct participated in community sponsorship activities during Corkill's ownership.

The ''Ōpunake & Coastal News'' of 22 March 2012 identified Paintball Direct NZ among the businesses contributing prizes to a fundraising raffle supporting an Ōpunake High School student's rugby tour to Samoa.

The business donated a T-shirt valued at NZ$50. [3]

The report provides contemporary evidence of Paintball Direct's activities in the Ōpunake community.

=== Change of ownership ===

Paintball Direct NZ Limited subsequently came under the ownership of David Hopkins, a New Zealand paintball organiser associated with the competitive team [[Expendables Feilding]].

New Zealand company records identify Hopkins as becoming a director of Paintball Direct NZ Limited on 5 August 2021.

The company's later records identify Hopkins as its sole shareholder. [4]

The surviving company records establish the change from the original Corkill ownership to Hopkins but do not establish the precise date or terms of the business transfer.

Paintball Direct subsequently operated from Feilding, in the Manawatū region, with a retail showroom at [[Arena Paintball]].