sorry to say, but we all know it... YOU SUCK AT PAINTBALL!!!!

[elTwitcho]

Here's the deal. Day in and day out I hear of people who want to play more paintball to "work on their playing skills". These people honestly believe that the only way they will improve their game is to go out there and play play play. Well this is dead wrong, and I'm sorry to have to say it. There are 2 necessary skill sets you'll need to have before you will become a truly good paintball player.
1) Awareness
2) Technical skills

Awarness refers simply to knowing what is going on in the game. It's being able to see your oponents plan unfolding in front of you, and being able to stop it. It's being able to time your bursts to hit the front guy right as he pops his head out. It's knowing right when you can run to that "impossible bunker" when nobody is gonna be able to hit you. THESE are the skills that will come later on in your paintball career. You can play the game with no awareness skills whatsoever and still impress almost all the walk on players, but you'll never be great until you learn some awareness. Awareness however cannot be taught. It will come to you after you build your technical skills.

Technical skills are exactly what they sound like. Being technically proficient at the game. This means shooting more accurately, snap shooting quicker, staying tighter, and having a faster trigger finger. These skills are the fundamental building blocks of paintball. You can be a pretty decent player without any awareness of the game, but without any technical skills, you suck. Awareness cannot be taught, nor can it be reinforced using drills. You must play the game to build your awareness level. Your technical skills are another story though. You can do wonders for your technical skills without even leaving your house. There are drills you can do, on your own that will improve your game exponentially if you just put in a little effort. People often think you need to be at a field and on a team to do drills, this isnt the case as I will soon show you.

*NOTE: Do not get caught doing these drills by anyone. Your family is going to have serious doubts about you and you're gonna look like a serious dork

Say you want to work your trigger finger from that pathetic 6 bps up to 12. The only way to do it, is with practice. Shoulder your gun, and if you wear gloves put em on. Now just pull the trigger. End of story. It's so simple it's scary. I promise you though, that you will develop a quicker finger in time.

Next drills are gonna work on snap shooting. Again i want to emphasive that you arent gonna win any awards for lookin sharp around the house if you get seen doin this, but it WILL improve your game. Here it comes, put on all your gear. That's right, all your paintball clothes, mask, gloves, marker hopper tank harness, the whole nine yards. Now find an open space with a chair and pretend the chair is your bunker. Pretend there is someone on the other side and just pop out and take a few shots (as in pull the trigger, dont actually fire any paintballs in your house or even dry fire, it's unneccessary). Then pop back into your bunker fast as you can. Now repeat. Do this a couple of times, then switch sides of the bunker. I cannot emphasive enough how important it is to learn to shoot out BOTH sides of your bunker (Nem, I'm lookin at you). The only way you'll learn is practice. Within time, you're gonna feel 100 percent comfortable from either side, and you will be noticing an improvement in your game. Try using different objects. use a doorway to simulate a stand up bunker, a chair to simulate a bunker you cotta chrouch in. The seat level of your couch can be a laydown bunker. Work on all aspects of your game, because playing paintball is not natural, it's something you have to learn.



That's it, 2 simple drills. It's nothing big, you may feel foolish, but it'll help alot for newer players, or players who just arent comfortable shooting with their off hand. You do not have to be at a field or on a team to do drills, you can improve your technical game with little to no effort. All that's left from there is your awareness, and let me tell you, you're already a step ahead of the competition.

[SPYdre]

i find that using a stress ball helps alot with your trigger finger. Once you strengthen you hands and fingers they will be able to move alot quicker. TRUST ME

I went from a Shocker to an Angel and when i got the angel I knew damn well what speed the Angel was capable of. A buddy of mine can Absolutley RIP up his angel trigger. He's got a fast trigger finger.

Now when i first started using it. I could barly get to 7bps. Then i decided i was gonna do something about it, cause i knew if i had a faster finger, it would make me one step better at snap shooting. so i bought a stress ball and put it in my car. Now since i drive alot cause my work is outta town, I'd always squeeze the stress ball on my travels. Switching hands and also pretending i was holding my gun and pulling the trigger using the stress ball.(Beleive me i got some weird looks on the highway) But it payed off. Cause Now i can keep up with my buddy's shootin.
and he was the one that actually told me about this trick.

You won't be dissapointed wiht the results.
I started with my angel 4 months ago and now after about 2 months of occasionally squeezing my ball(Yea i know it sounds sick) my Angel is Much more appreciative.....and....uuUH.....so is my Girlfriend:)

[in trauma]

well some people have to gain technical experience from playing not arguing but say you just get a new video game you arent going to beat it the day you get it or be to good with at unless you practice

[FSU Paintball]

I agree that awareness and technical skills are 2 things that you MUST have to become truly elite, but I think the most important thing is playing A LOT against people who are BETTER than you.

I think it's the most vital part of harnessing your true potential as a player. When you play against people who have more skill than you, you will learn most of the skills that will elevate your game. Playing more helps advance your technical skills. When I started playing, I didn't know how to snap shoot. It wasn't something that came naturally, and I didn't practice in my backyard. I just played and played, and noticed how the other players did it. Eventually, I played enough to figure out how to angle out, shoot off 4 rounds, and lean back into the bunker before the paint hits me in the head. If I hadn't played with people better than me, I would have never learned many techniques that I utilize today.

Playing with people better than you also builds awareness, at least in one sense. As ElTwitcho (great name) said earlier, Awareness is something you're born with. I agree with that to an extent. I believe that awareness is something you're born with, but I think you can also develop it on the field. Eventually, you will learn how the pros move, and how they think. You will be able to say, "He will move to that bunker in under 20 seconds," and be right about it. You will be able to know when to jump up, when to run, when to bunker, and when someone's going to bunker you soon. I wasn't able to do any of this at first, but I learned awareness on the field. Some people are born with so much awareness that they don't need to develop it, but others are not. I believe that most people who are not born with awareness can develop it, because I did.

None of this is saying that I've developed my skills as much as they can. I've still got a ways to go before I'm truly elite, but I'm definitely still learning a lot every time I play, even after 4 years of paintball.


PS Speaking of which, ElTwitcho, how do you grip your gun differently when you come out the left side of your bunker? I use a drop-forward and a foregrip on my MiniMag, and I still don't feel comfortable shooting off the left. I assume you're right handed like me. When I shoot off the right, I tuck my tank into my right shoulder, and put my left hand either under my tank, or sometimes on my foregrip. I don't aim down the barrel; I usually just have the gun off-center from my face.

[Edited by FSU Paintball on 06-21-2001 at 04:14 PM]

[Saiyan_warrior]

Where could you get those stress balls???

[SPYdre]

dollar stores

[elTwitcho]

Hold the gun the same way you normally do with your hands, and shoulder the tank against your left shoulder. It's actually really easy after trying it a couple of times, and a heck of alot easier to get used to than actually switching hands. You get used to it real quick, trust me

[A damn fool]

There a lot of other great drills u can do to improve ur snap shooting, etc. A good one is to put something that is about the size of what u will be shooting at when playing, and snap shoot from behind somethign at it. Just get ur form down. Try to come out of the bunker as compact as possible, lay off 2 maybe 3 shots, and then get back in ur bunker w/o seeing if u hit ur target. Another good skill to learn to do is shoot before u get out of the bunker. U might look dumb, but before the guy tryin to snap shoot u out can see u, uve got paint coming at him. Ive had people laugh at me when i come out of the bunker and shoot it directly in fron of me b4 i come out to snap shoot, but ive gotten a lot of people out becasue the second they see me pop out, a few paintbals are coming, and this doesnt give them uch time to react. These types of drills are esential to developing good snap shooting skills, because for speedball, u need them.

Another aspect of the game eltwitcho forgot is to communicate well, and work well as a team. U need to have a balanced team, i mean, u cant win a 3 or 5 man tourney by urself. If u want ur team and urself to excel, get together often, talk srategy, figure out codes, etc. U need discuss these things before even playing with ur team, because a team that communicates is going to be more aware of what is going on around, and will have a better chance. Paintball is a team sport,

Below is a really interetign sight that gives u tons of info on how to better urself as a player. It makes some good points, and if u actually do what they say, ull get better. My back player read the article on being a better back player, and he ltlerally got etter over night because all he does now during the games is stream paint and yell exaclty where everyone is.

http://www.paintballstar.com/gameplaytips.html

[elTwitcho]

Yes, but communication is not an individual skill, hence why it was left out :P And yeah, I've heard about people who shoot on the way outta their bunkers, if it works for you, then that's awesome

[fear my impulse]

i shoot my bunker b4 i come out, and yea you'll get laughed at, but who cares? the guy you hit won't be laughing would he?

[unreal7]

I think another great skill is practice with teammates so you can get a feel for your groups style of play

[Ded]

Originally posted by fear my impulse
i shoot my bunker b4 i come out, and yea you'll get laughed at, but who cares? the guy you hit won't be laughing would he?


if you're playing sup-air you might not want to do that

[A damn fool]

yeah, becasue then the balls will bouce back, but with sup air u can push ur barrel against the bunker and shoot, so u still have the same firing power when coming out of the bunker

Is it just me, or does eltwitcho always come up with the best titles for his threads that piss people off so much they have to read it? lol :D

[spray_and_pray]

ok just one shootin tip use your middle finger it will double your trigger speed garenteed

[elTwitcho]

Originally posted by A damn fool
yeah, becasue then the balls will bouce back, but with sup air u can push ur barrel against the bunker and shoot, so u still have the same firing power when coming out of the bunker

Is it just me, or does eltwitcho always come up with the best titles for his threads that piss people off so much they have to read it? lol :D

I dont post new threads often, so when i do, I make it good :)

[FSU Paintball]

One thing I DO like about El Twitcho, is that he post intelligent threads that you can discuss without getting mad at each other. I moderate another paintball board, and I'm a memeber of a whole bunch, and I've seen a lot of stupid bickering over the most retarded things in the world. It's rare to find the maturity that seems to be all over this board. Kudos to the administrators.

[MuckRaker]

Originally posted by fear my impulse
i shoot my bunker b4 i come out, and yea you'll get laughed at, but who cares? the guy you hit won't be laughing would he?

I do the same thing, come outta the bunker shooting ... and they only laugh if you somehow manage to shoot your self, or splatter yourself (don't ask how I know this :eek: )

[SPYdre]

Originally posted by spray_and_pray
ok just one shootin tip use your middle finger it will double your trigger speed garenteed


not necessarily!.