Debra Dion Krischke lets out a long sigh when asked why she canceled the Three Rivers Paintball Tournament that she's produced for the past 16 years with her husband, Ryan.

"Things changed," she said. "The industry changed. You've got to know when an event has had its life span."

It was five years ago when the paintball community created two separate leagues, "akin to the AFL and NFL," said Mrs. Krischke, of McCandless. And that was the start of something that affected the viability of the tournament.

Mrs. Krischke believes the different leagues polarized the industry. An industry conference was part of the Three Rivers Paintball Tournament, which was also known as the International Amateur Open.

It attracted thousands of participants, industry insiders and spectators from all over North America. For most of its existence, it was held in New Sewickley. It moved to the Big Butler Fairgrounds for several years and returned to its original location last year.

It's been estimated that the event brought as much a $20 million into the local economy during its run.

Mrs. Krischke laughed as she recalled that paintball movers and shakers equated the tournament to the country of Switzerland.

"We were the one place where the entire industry could come together and not literally bring out the guns and shoot each other," she said.

"That's my nature," she continued, "to be inclusive and bring everyone together for the betterment of the sport and the industry and it worked. It was a good, long run."

Mrs. Krischke was one of the first women to play paintball back in 1982.

"I loved this game from the moment I first shot somebody. It was tag, hide-and-seek all rolled into one, played in the woods and those games are timeless," she said.

She started doing public relations work for The National Survival Game while she ran a restaurant in New Hampshire and she met her husband at a paintball conference. She sold the restaurant, moved to this area and began running Three Rivers Paintball with her husband on 70 acres in New Sewickley. It's one of the oldest and most established fields in the country.

Although it's sad for Mrs. Krischke to give up something she spent almost two decades doing, she won't miss the countless hours spent organizing the tournament. "It was grueling physically and mentally. It's more than a relief. It's like a 2,000-pound weight off my shoulders."

She's also is finding comfort that she has something else in her life to focus on.

"I moved into producing fund-raisers for women's initiatives, specifically domestic violence, education for single moms. I took my skill set and just moved it into something that has more meaning for me at this point in my life. So that certainly helped."

She joined Zonta, an international women's service organization and created the Glass Slipper Ball, featuring the Best of the Chefs. Since its Pittsburgh debut four years ago, it has sold out each year and generated more than $210,000 for scholarships. Mrs. Krischke is helping to start the program in other cities, including Houston, Texas. She was honored as one of Pennsylvania's Best 50 Business Women for 2006.

"I think if I didn't have some other higher purpose, something else consuming me, it would be a more difficult transition," she said.

"Things change. That's the only constant, right?"

Although her voice has a touch of sadness as she talks about the demise of something she worked on for 16 years, she said she feels a sense of accomplishment.

"You don't set off to start something that's big like that. You just set off to start something that's going to be great and needed, that's going to be well received. When you start from that place, things can happen. People embrace it, they need it and they want it. They support you and they help you to have it grow."