This thread is about diving into the snake. Obviously you can dive into other bunkers, and in many cases it's a good thing to do, but for the purposes of this thread I am only going to talk about diving into the snake. I see a lot of problems when I see people diving into the snake, so I'm going to do my best to correct them. Many of these tips also work for diving into other bunkers, but this thread especially focuses on diving into the snake
Alright, boys. I have already posted Sliding 101, but diving is also a huge part of being a good paintball player. Diving is especially important when trying to make the snake. Unfortunately, many people make mistakes when diving. This thread should help you correct those mistakes.
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Purposes of Diving
The first purpose is to get you in as fast as possible. When you dive, the momentum from your run is carrying you through the dive. If you're a fast runner, which you probably are if you're playing the snake, you've built up a lot of momentum on your run. That means you're going to be diving very fast, which makes you harder to hit.
The second purpose is to get on the ground as soon as possible. If you slide into the snake, the top of your body will be exposed until you finish your slide. This is no good, because when players see someone running to the snake, they automatically try to shoot you out. Diving gets you on the ground without losing speed.
The third purpose is to make you harder to hit. When you dive, the side of your body makes a very small profile. Many times players will shoot too high or too low when someone is diving into the snake, so this gives you an advantage.
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Timing Your Dive
The most common mistake I see is timing. Although it seems like a small thing, timing is actually very important. Here are the problems with bad timing.
Diving too early - Diving too early causes your momentum to stop before you actually get into the snake. When this happens, you're open game for the other team.
Diving too late - Diving too late is better than diving too early, but it really defeats the purpose of diving.
The timing of your dive is extremely important. To know where to dive, you have to know the field. Obviously every field will vary, so you'll just have to figure out how fast the surface is. After you've figured that out, the rest is easy. You want to dive so that your feet are in just after you've started to slide. Again, diving too late defeats the purpose of diving, and diving too soon leaves you open to get blasted.
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Diving Form
There are many things you need to keep in mind when you dive. First of all is gun position.
Gun Position
Your gun should be in your outside hand, so if the snake is to your right, your gun should be in your right hand. Your hopper should be facing out, angled a little higher than parallel to the ground. This will keep it from hitting the ground and breaking off. Here are some examples of good gun position.
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Free Hand Position
Your free hand (your inside hand withou your gun in it) is used for propelling yourself forward after you land your dive. After you land, use your free hand in a swimming motion to push yourself forward if you need to.
In the above pics, you can see how he used his free hand to push himself forward. That’s exactly what you’re supposed to do.
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Torso Position
Your Torso should be as low to the ground as possible during the dive. This makes it harder for your opponents to shoot you, and keeps you from hitting the ground so hard that you lose your breath. It also allows for a smooth dive.
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Leg position
Before you dive, you should push off with your strong foot. By this time, your body should be very low and you should be ready for the dive. The only thing that should not be in place is your legs.
Your legs should be higher up than the rest of your body when you’re in the air, but not so high that they’re sticking straight up and cause you to flip over. The reason for this is that your forearms should hit the ground first, closely followed by your torso, and then your chest. This allows for a very smooth dive and slide.
The only thing wrong with his dive is that his legs are too far under his torso, which makes it easy to get off balance. You want your body to be more straight, but after his dive his legs are in good position.
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Summary/TL;DR Version
Before your dive, you should know how early you need to dive to get you all the way into the snake without diving too late to defeat the purpose of diving. Your gun should be in your outside hand, with your hopper angled a little higher than parallel to the ground, sticking out towards the tape. As you approach the snake, you should begin getting very low to the ground by bending over while bending your knees. As you begin the dive, push out with your strong foot and lift off the ground. Your forearm with your gun in it should hit the ground first, followed by your free hand, followed by your torso, followed by your legs. As you hit the ground, use your free hand to push yourself forward in a swimming motion. If you dove to soon, quickly use your feet to crawl forward and get in the bunker.
Post Slushii's superman dive again! I'm loving lil' Kenny Rosenburg's dive.
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