[paintballer82]

NO TL;DR POSTS!!!

This was written by Jason Morton, not me
www.paintball.com for credit. (edit by remix)

The sport of paintball has been swarmed recently with technological advances. These advances have done two things. First, they have drastically changed the recreation and tourney leagues. The Angel, is all that and a bucket a chicken. It has changed the way the sport will be played. Compare the Angel (a dragster) to the Automag (Mustang) and it's no race. A 10-15 round per second gun is an unfair advantage, not to mention painful! Good thing paintball isn't a shooting race. This brings me to my second point.

The second change is the silver lining. People with the fancy guns come to rely on the gun and not the fundamentals of tactical gaming. The one true thing about any sport is that fundamentals win. Vince Lombardi, greatest football coach ever, made a team of average players into a champion because he taught them to execute the fundamentals.

For the next three topics, we will need to go back to school. First, we wil cover your shooting techniques, then movement and finally tricks and treats.

Improving your Shot

Growing up, I learned how to shoot properly. My dad started me with a BB gun. He taught the basics before I ever got to shoot the gun. It was three long months. The result of that "training" period allowed me to hit the first can I aimed at, seven years old at 50 feet and 14 pumps, plink! In baseball, Griffey Jr., didn't start swinging the wood at 90mph fastballs.

He started in a Babe Ruth league hitting off a tee. He crawled before he walked. What happens in paintball is that players never get to play with a pump anymore. They get semi rentals then move up to their own tricked markers.

Welcome to shooting kindergarten.

The next time you play get a pump marker. The pump is a valuable training tool. When I began to play paintball, I was an indoor only guy. No outside markers were allowed and the only rentals were pumps. I look back on that year as the training for my "eagle eye". The pump trains you in two ways. First, the fact you have to pump makes you adjust your aim quickly after each shot. Every time you pump you, lose your aim. You may not realize this but that loss makes you re-aim quicker and quicker. This term in the Navy Seals is called sight acquisition. You don't just aim, you crystallize the shot in a brief milli-second. The pump forces you to do this whether you are trying or not. You do not need paint to practice this. You don't even need a marker. Get a broomstick, sit outside and take aim on something (not people) . Put the barrel side facing the ground, and then quickly bring it up to your shoulder. Watch the end of the barrel as it comes up, focus it towards your target. By the time it is at your shoulder, you should have to only make the tiniest adjustment.

Do this repeatedly. Each time you should always picture yourself pulling the trigger when you crystallize your target.

Practice making it as fluid as possible. Once you feel improvement on that, start acquiring different targets from your shoulder. This exercise is more like real paintball play. Start by picking targets that are only 3-4 inches apart. These tiny adjustments are more like real play. Your enemies are usually down field. Big swinging aim movements are very rare.

Remember aim, crystallize, and shoot. If you do this enough you will notice that your reaction time on shooting is a second faster. That second means everything.

Your next step is to hold your gun properly. The trend in paintball is to have a small gun. This makes people hold it more like a pistol than a rifle. The new markers have such small barrels that you fell weird holding it like a rifle. A rifle has a thick stock for your front hand. Tippman and Thundercat have the right idea. Their guns have a cushion, stock, or front handle. This allows the shooter to hold the gun with their hands spread apart. The new style player holds his expansion chamber for stability. The problem with this is that the expansion chamber is so close to the trigger. It makes the shooter cramped and doesn't spread the shoulders. The other problem is that the expansion chamber seems to get a lot of leaks from people that hold it. I personally have never had a leak from the x-chamber. Hmmm. My suggestion is to get a front handle for your gun. The taller you are, the further down the barrel you should place the handle. You can also get a thick piece of pipe foam at your local hardware store. Note: don't cover any holes on your barrel. This will throw off the air pressure inside the barrel and will effect the ball.

This brings me to the last aspect of a pumpgun. Most every pump has a buttplate. The buttplate helps you hold the aim with very little movement. It also makes you use a gun style hold. If a small handheld gun were truly effective, the military would not have rifles. Hmmm. Because you are shooting paintballs, does not mean that the essentials of shooting a gun are not applicable. If you are a semi user or remote-air user, you may not have a buttplate. I suggest you get one, or go back to an air buttplate system. Think of it as training wheels. Use it to improve your shot, once you have noticeably improved take it off. I tell this to a lot of people and most of them get better and a few even stick with the stock.

Look at paintball action shots. You see a ton of people holding the expansion chamber and putting the marker up to their face as if it had a buttplate. Why not just use a stock and a front handle. Your shot will get better and you feel more relaxed when aiming.

Shooting the Marker.

People never think that the manner in which you shoot really matters. If you have him aimed, pull and it's done. Right?

NO, paintball markers are effected by a number of different problems. You have to worry about balls not breaking. Balls breaking in barrels. In addition, your aim may be off. If you fire once, you can fire three times. This brings me to my point. Any marker can fire three rounds a second, which's all you need if you're good. If you fire once, your odds are that you hit your target. Fire twice, you double it, fire three times and you triple it. See my point? The reason for the high fire rates is for this reason. When you fire three round bursts, you can also use your paint as a tracer for your aim. (The military has special bullets that glow, called tracers. When they fire a number of rounds, they can follow the tracers. This allows them to adjust while shooting. ) Your paintballs are colored so you should be able to follow your shots. Remember to shot those three as fast as possible. You don't want to give your target any chance to follow the shots.

The most important part to shooting is hitting your target! You have to make sure you have a good shot, especially if your enemy doesn't know your position. If you think you can hit that guys shoulder 70 feet away, take the shot. If you wait a little though, your opponent will adjust and give you a great target. You learn this skill with time. Finding the "shot" is what makes the pros, pros.

Don't take shots you can not hit. This practice drives me crazy. Why draw attention to yourself? If your marker or skills are outmatched, you will get painted.

Sights and Scopes

This is a touchy issue for a lot of people. Sight users get real defensive if you mention that they have a sight on their gun. I don't know why this is.

I think sights are great if you can not see your opponent normally. I have used a sight and found them a pain. I spent so much time trying to look at the sight that it affected my focus. The other problem with a sight is that they outlook your gun. If you need the sight to see your enemy, your gun can't hit them anyway. Hmmm? New players should never use a sight or scope. You must learn the basics first, Grasshopper. When you use a sight, you focus your vision. This allows opponents to sneak in your peripheral vision. Only when you are an experienced player should you even think of moving to a sight.

Even then, don't rely on it. The pros that use sights don't use the sight alone. They have played so much that regardless of the sight, they know were the ball is going.

That said, I suggest that every player have a sight rail. They are a good measure for your aim. I have recently moved my sight rail to end of my barrel. If you don't have a guide on the end of your barrel, you are missing out. Every rifle in the world has some sort of notch on the end. Why not paintball?

In the early 70s, the NBA had a player named Rick Barry. He was one of the best free-throw shooters of all time. He was laughed at because he took them granny style (between the legs). He went to his fundamentals and executed them so well he didn't care. This is a lesson in humility, which we all can learn from. If you want to be a better paintballer, then swallow a little pride and get your fundamentals down. You can look like a stud when you're holding the trophy.

[paintballer82]

The Fundamentals of Movement


Paintball is a funny sport. You never get any formal training. You learn on the go. This separates our sport from the others. I know of no paintball classes. (Another reason you should support The Paintball Safety Council). The most common scenario is that the experts hang and share hints with each other. The newbies never get to glean their insights. Instead, our newbies learn the most basic things the hard way. This leads to discouragement and is not good for the game. In this vein, I wish to give you the fundamentals of movement.

Paintball is a sport that you win by making and taking advantage of opportunities. The way you make opportunities is to move. You move behind bunkers. You move to a better shot. You move to grab a flag. You move to cover a teammate.

Movement comparably, is more important than shooting.

The Sprint

When the game begins you can do a lot to insure a strong push. The teams that I watch are in a track stance at the start of a game. When the whistle blows, they are gone. They rush to the furthest safe spot and begin the process of taking space. This looks real easy but is very hard to do right.

The first aspect of the sprint is making sure you are spread out from other players. It sucks trying to share a tree for cover. The best way to cure this is to pick your spot, out loud, before you start. If someone is telling you were to go in a rec game, use your best judgement.

You have picked your best spot. What does it have to offer? Do you have sufficient cover? Do you have easy access to bunkers ahead? Can you retreat safely? Do you have a good shot? These are all questions you have to answer quickly.

Pick places to start that are easy to navigate. If you get to a bunker on the front and have no cover to move ahead, you have wasted a good sprint. I like to find the less traveled but heavily covered area. This allows me to keep moving forward without to much exposure to my enemies.

Working a bunker

Every field has some sort of cover or bunker. So thinking logically, it would behoove you to learn how to "work a bunker". The first key to a bunker is to get behind it! This sounds simplistic but you would be shocked at how many players put unnecessary body parts outside the safe area.

If you just arrived at your new bunker and don't hear any paint thuds, your doing well. This is a sign that no one almost had you. If you do hear some shots hitting your bunker, pay attention to where they are coming from. This will give you an indication of what area to stay away from. You hear it on the right side so start to the left.

This next technique is a military move. It is called "cutting the corners". From behind your cover, you will angle around the corner. When doing this you can effectively turn a corner clearing the area ahead. This is a slow movement for two reasons. One, you are keeping aim. Two, if someone is behind cover they will only pop out every few seconds. Now that you have cleared one side move back to the other. Slowly repeat this maneuver on the other side. Pay careful attention not to expose any body mass.( Chest, back, legs, and even shoulders.) Learning to cut the corners well gives you an edge over everyone who does not. You can not be surprised if you cut a good corner. The best part is the only defense to a cut corner is a great shot.

Now that you have cleared your corners, its time to move. You saw the field and know what is safe.

Moving in hot spots

The paint is moving and you are too. The sprint got you good position. You now have to use your combat movement. This is moving fast under control. You lower your head and move. It's near impossible to shoot on the run with any accuracy, so just get to the next safe spot without getting tagged. The idea is to make a lot of short safe moves. If you have a long way to go or a large empty area to cross, you have to zigzag. The zigzag is a gamble. It opens you up, making you an easy target. The movement is just like it sounds.

In high school, I got into a little trouble, and usually talked or weaseled my way out of it. My Dean of Discipline called me a zigzager. "One of these days you're gonna get caught zigging when you should have been zagging." If you zigzag you can expect to get hit a few times. Then again, you wouldn't have to zigzag if you had picked a better position from the start. Hmm?

The Crawl

Ding Chavez said it best in CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER. "The sniper approached the Captain by being a sneaky bastard, Sir!"

I have never been a fan of the crawl until I watched a lady decimate six guys. She crawled almost everywhere. She crawled so well. She could get directly next to someone, grab his or her marker, and offer surrender. The biggest quality to her crawl was that she would find an opponent that was focused somewhere else. She then made a quick dive and scooted right up to his bunker. She made an aggressive move that was so unexpected; no one could keep track of her. I think that is the secret to the crawl. Be aggressive and do what they are not expecting. The crawl is also a pretty effective way to move. Your body is low and moving, this adds to your opponent's difficulty. This difficulty is enough time for you to get a three round burst back at a big target. Remember Chavez was the only guy to get out alive.

Be the Ninja

This is going to sound funny but it works for so many reasons. It is funda-"mental". I want you to picture yourself as a swift moving ninja. Make every movement a smooth, efficient move. Each move must be strong and controlled. Move into the groove. Go with the flow. Get down on it. Get jiggy with it. Now get in the pit and love someone, and about every other clich?, you can think of.

The idea is to make your style conservative. Wild movements only work in movies. A good rule of thumb is if it looks good, it probably doesn't work. The way I was taught this was as a defensive back in football. Our coach always said move like a ninja. It gave me a style to emulate. I was swift to the spot and would hit like a snakes strike. Quick, effective, and deadly. It also brought a peace to my game. I pictured a ninja as a silent, sneaky character who only lets his presence known when he wants it known. This lends itself well to paintball. You can draw the obvious conclusions. I don't suggest being a ninja to people who have already adopted a playing style. This is for those who have never thought about this matter. Now you are either laughing at me or saying, " I've never thought of that". Trust me. We had a great defensive backfield.

Keep moving

Whether you are playing an objective or elimination game, you can not win without making forward progress. You should never stop moving this makes you a sitting target. It also does not allow you to get a shot you can hit. Remember the idea of good movement is to allow you to make the best shot. If you are not getting elimination's then you are not moving effectively. Because the guns work.

[paintballer82]

Tricks and Treats


In the last two sections, we have covered a number of fundamentals that will improve your game. This last part is the candy of paintball. Sweet nuggs of info that are instantly gratifying. The next info came at a price so I hope you appreciate it. That price is what I call tuition. Every time I make a mistake, I call it tuition. I learned from it.

I wish I could take credit for all these. I'm merely stating everything I read and was told as I learned. So on to you young Jedi.

Play the Wire

The wire, line, or tapes are all confusing names for the side boundary. The wire is my favorite so that's what you will now use!

When I started playing, I was always told take the wire. The expert told me that for a reason. He knew that the wire has a tactical advantage. If you get next to the wire you only have to defend half as much area as everyone inside of you. NO one can shoot you from out of bounds. That's your clear side.

NOTE If you take the wire, you have to keep the wire. You are the end of the line. If they break by you, your team is all but done. If trouble arises, yell for help. It's better than getting painted. It also allows your team to know that they are attacking there. If you do catch a paintball in the puss, your team was a warned.

The wire is usually the road less traveled. One out of four times you will get no resistance. Two out of four times you will face an attack. The are odds are with you though.

Every wire has a trail next to it. Don't walk on the trail. The trail is were they expecting you to walk. Get dirty in the heavy brush.

Use all your assets

If there is loose brush around you can set stuff in front of you. Here in Seattle I can always find a good tree limb to setup. The idea of cover in paintball is not always a solid object. I love the spring. The tall grass makes for great cover. The paintball is not a bullet. It is not aerodynamic. If it hits the tiniest object, its trajectory is thrown way off. The most frustrating thing to your opponent is when he can see you and his gun should reach. That grass or sticker bush just wont allow it. Expect to catch a lot of splatter. Odds are you will be okay. Bridges are also a great spot to shoot from. People have a deep-rooted, sub-conscience fear of trolls. Sit under a bridge sometime. No one will bother you. You are the troll make them pay to cross.

Communicate

The biggest problem with newbies is that they will get eliminated quietly. The rest of team still expects them to be there. If you need help yell for help. It serves many purposes. The biggest reason is that I will come and save you. If you are one on one with someone, get another teammate. Now it's two vs. one, that is good play. That kind of teamwork is what wins games.

Use hand signals. Action Pursuit Games has done a number of good articles on hand signals. Look them up. The other part of communication is asking questions. If you don't know what to do, ask. I have never seen an experienced paintballer not give a suggestion. It strokes our ego. You thought enough of me to ask me what to do. That is flattery.

Learn by Example

If you are serious about paintball, you are going to have to learn a lot. The best way to do this is ask an expert on your team if you can tag with him. Follow the leader is about the only way to get a live example of what to do.

The idea that you can run onto the field and channel Rambo is false. Rambo would have never made it 2 minutes at my field. The first year I played, I followed the studs. It gave me someone to learn from. It also kept me alive a little longer. After a while, one of the guys I followed was impressed enough with me that he invited me to play in a tourney with his team. That is a great way to get started.

Think Opposite

This is a new philosophy. I learned it from Sienfeld. George had a long string of bad luck, 35 years worth. His revolutionary idea was to do the opposite of what he would normally do. This got him a girlfriend, job with The Yankees, and his own apartment. Not bad.

This works well in paintball. If you go to the same spot three times and meet an opponent at that, spot each time. The chances are your opponent will not be there the fourth time. If enemy is painting you to easy, do the opposite. This idea takes you outside your head for a minute. It makes you think in a non-conforming manner.

Take risks

Risks are what change the flow of a tight game. If your team has no advantage, you have to "make" one. Getting that bunker, rushing for the flag, taking out the Angel that has your teamed pin. These are all risks that will change the tide of the game. Even if you do get hit, you will have shaken up the field allowing other players to make an opportunity.

Take calculated risks. Do not sprint from the start to their flag. That would be dumb. The only risk worth taking is one you can make.(read last line again) Before you move, always consider how much of a risk you're taking. You are more valuable if you can still shoot, so don't get eliminated. A risk is best explained by gambling. If you bet 5 bucks, you win back 5 bucks. If you bet 1000 bucks, you can win 1000 bucks. You can also lose 1000 bucks.

Paintball is a sport that seems to be goal oriented. You play with the hopes that someday you get sponsored. I have played for seven years. The only free thing I have gotten is one case of paint. You should never play paintball for a sponsorship. You play to win and have fun. The sponsors will follow. I laugh at the team of newbies that tries to get free markers from manufacturers. They have only played one tourney, took 4th out of five, and have no future tourney plans.

As for me, I did want a gun named after me, ala Bob Long. I finally went to the local airsmith and had him anodize and etch my signature series gun model on it. The BOSS LP. Boss being my nickname and LP being my low pressure Spyder. It is as close as I am gonna get for a while.

In the last three sections, we have covered the fundamentals of shooting, movement and tricks of the game. This is what makes a good paintballer. The marker is only as good as the person shooting it. What that means is that an Angel can not shoot through a tree. Nor does it make a good shield. Do not get intimidated by the experts. Part of there game is a silent intimidation. Once you put some paint on an expert, you will lose you inhibitions.

This was written by Jason Morton, not me

[PiranhaGuy]

Well I know most of those anyways just because I do, its natural...but the whole crystalize thing and the butt plate wont work IMO. Paintballs wont go straight so theres no point in pointing excactly at your opponent, get some cheap balls set up a target and get used to guessing where your baal will go from just looking at the barrel. I did this and at first i was missing the target and painting my neighbors house blue but after a while you get good not aiming down the barrel but just using your hands to point the gun and let off 3-5 balls. The Buttplate is not as good as you make it sound it puts your gun farther in front of you(depending on the stock) and over all makes your gun a little more bulky. If you want to use those tactics it would be more suited to a scenario game not a speedball game where you usually only have time to point and shoot.

Just my 2 cents.

[paintballer82]

Theres some woodsball tactics, and some speedball tactics. but it's natural to want to hold your paintball gun like a rifle, you can change it if you want, but i think it's more natural with a buttplate. And crystalizing is proven to work. and yes, you can practice just knowing where it's gonna go, but IMHO, it's easier with it in front of you.

[Master of Paint]

what exactly do you mean by crystallize?
Nice post...def deserves a rep point.

[paintballer82]

this is what crystallize me

The next time you play get a pump marker. The pump is a valuable training tool. When I began to play paintball, I was an indoor only guy. No outside markers were allowed and the only rentals were pumps. I look back on that year as the training for my "eagle eye". The pump trains you in two ways. First, the fact you have to pump makes you adjust your aim quickly after each shot. Every time you pump you, lose your aim. You may not realize this but that loss makes you re-aim quicker and quicker. This term in the Navy Seals is called sight acquisition. You don't just aim, you crystallize the shot in a brief milli-second. The pump forces you to do this whether you are trying or not. You do not need paint to practice this. You don't even need a marker. Get a broomstick, sit outside and take aim on something (not people) . Put the barrel side facing the ground, and then quickly bring it up to your shoulder. Watch the end of the barrel as it comes up, focus it towards your target. By the time it is at your shoulder, you should have to only make the tiniest adjustmentans:

[paintballer82]

bump...come on, reply people

[aTrain2k7]

This thread has proved itself worthy of a reputation point. Not my place to decide, but some of those tips were great pointers, if not all. I learned a ton from your three posts, more than I have ever since being apart of these forums. Very nice posts.

[HellRaiser101]

good job

[hurdlebeast]

i like this thread, it helps newbies like me out who either have never gone pballing or have gone and gotten pwned.

[paintballer82]

Just keep in mind that some tips are for speedball, and some are for recball and scenario ball, and some are for both.

[pbmoto]

Here are some good tips. dont worry about getting shot it dosnt hert and when ur playing woodsball dont stay in the back thinking u can shoot and pick off ppl from far away.....u cant so dont try what u have to do is get up in the middle and try and shoot ppl cuz now u can actually hit them.

[PaintballRemix]

nvm! make the author bigger.

[paintballer82]

no, i said at the bottom of the 3rd thing"this was written by jason morton, not me"

[PaintballRemix]

small enough?