A player wrote to me not long ago, "Ok, I read in APG and see stuff about game timers, timing flag pulls, and other stuff in tournament games. I just don't get it!"
Sometimes we forget how the most simple things aren’t easy for new teams.
Time is of the essence in paintball, especially in tournament games. The more players on a team, the more time in the game, but there is not an abundance of time to play the games. Every player on a team should carry some type of timing device: a watch, a timer built into the loader, a timer built into the marker, a talking timer, a stop watch on a lanyard.
You will have to try different timers or watches to see what works best for you, I personally like a timer on my hopper lid or on the battery housing of my hopper. It is in easy sight when I am
shooting. A talking timer has to be loud because there is a lot of noise generated in a game from the multitude of markers shooting, players yelling and spectators cheering. The stop watch on a lanyard is something I tried but didn’t keep using because I always seemed to bump the button to shut it off, and also it would get caught in branches and tangled up in my marker.
The best choice for paintball is a count down timer. Set the timer to start at either game on, or a few seconds before game on. Say the warning is five seconds. You can set your timer at game length plus five seconds or game length plus four seconds, either way. Start the timer before the "game on: so as not to get distracted pushing a button instead of doing your runout move.
Everyone on the team should keep the time and yell it out. One or two players on your team can be designated as responsible to call out the times during the game. They need to do this regularly. A trick is not to yell out 3 minutes 46 seconds (time left) but just say the number 346. Your team will know that is how much time is left. The other team may think it's a code word for something else.
A lot of times you hear, "How much time?" This mostly means somebody forgot to set his timer, or maybe the timer button got bumped. He needs to reset so answer him fast.
You can also use the time to help coordinate different moves. For example, if there is a stalemate at the 3 minute mark (3 minutes left), a code word can be yelled so that a designated
player or players will go for the pull. For example, in a tournament my team was in the semi-finals. We had a stalemated game. We had a code word, Pepsi, and when I would yell the code word, my players on the left hand side would shift over to support a push by my right hand side players. I gave the call. We pulled and hung the flag with three seconds to go and went into the finals.
So why is time so important? The flag has to be pulled and hung before time runs out. It takes time to get the flag from wherever it was pulled (center flag station in center flag, or opponents’ flag station in two -flag) and carry it to the hang point (opponents’ flag station in center flag, or your own team’s flag station in two-flag). How long will it take to run that distance? Calculate the time to start the push so there is time to hang the flag. Also, if your push does not work, the idea is not to leave enough time for the other team to hang the flag.
When you do not want to yell out "Tango" to mean "Push for the flag now" then you can have a pre-set game plan, such as: At 1:30 the flag push starts as long as you are equal or up on players. Your team should know to expect a push from the other team as time ticks down.
Keep track of time even if you have the pull and are checking each other for hits. Do not cut things close. I know of many games were somebody made the mistake of not paying attention to time on the way to hang the flag, and missed the hang when time ran out for not hurrying.
Jim Fox writes from Pennsylvania.
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