Chapter 6

PLAYING TIPS

BASIC SKILLS TO MASTER/MISTAKES TO AVOID

I can’t possibly include all of the skills, tips, tricks and tactical moves necessary for a good paintballer to know.  There are many fine training videos, other books, magazine articles, and clinics devoted to just that subject (many of which you’ll find referenced in the Appendices), but I can give you a few insights that can make you sound like a paintball know-it-all.

Earlier, I referenced the three most common rookie mistakes – Failure to Communicate, Tunnel Vision, and Failure to Play Aggressively. Here are some tips for learning how to avoid these mistakes:

For communications – Learn each player’s name on your team. Players respond more easily when their names are called. Go on to the field with two or three things that you will say or ask continuously during the course of the game, such as “Frank, what do you have?” (asking Frank what he sees on the field) or “Billy, what’s the count?” (asking Billy how many opponents have been eliminated). Also, learn to update your teammates with your condition: “He’s on me.” means an opponent is shooting at your position. “Dorito is hot.” means that there is an opponent in the Dorito bunker (or whatever type of bunker the opponent is in). Also, try to remember to repeat, loudly, any other meaningful communication that is transmitted by other teammates, such as the count, an elimination call (Most players know that a call of “D1!” – or something similar – means an opponent was just eliminated, so repeat it.). Finally, it doesn’t hurt to have a ‘nonsense’ call – something you can yell when you need or want to yell something to keep the talk going. Anything that won’t be confused with true game information will do, even a ‘woohoo!’ works.

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In this chapter I enumerate the three basic playing skills (shooting and proper aggression in addition to communication as described above) and provide some basic drills that can help improve these skills.