Part Three of Robbo's Guide to becoming a
Paintball God

In Paintball, we seem to be allotted more than our fair share of idiots; go into any Paintball chat room on the Internet and you will see what I mean. I suppose these people really only reflect what is going on out there in the big wide Paintball world and I had better define why I think these people are idiots before I go any further. They talk as if they know everything, they say this barrel shoots further than that, this gun out-ranges that gun and none of them has any real idea what the hell is going on.

In other words, they just talk the talk but can't walk the walk. One of the great misunderstood areas of Paintball is that of ÔTactics'. The very idea of tactics elicits wondrous gazes from new players; they think the area of tactics holds some mysterious key to Paintball excellence and it is only a case of trial and error or some imaginative thinking before the Pro-ranks open up to them and they win the World Cup, all because of tactics. Well let me tell you something, tactics ain't worth shit in present day Paintball.

I have been lucky enough to play for two of the World's greatest teams, the All Americans and Aftershock, I can honestly say that in four and a half years of playing for those teams, I never saw a sophisticated tactic being used. I am not saying we never had any but I am not far off saying it either. I think the only time in either of those two teams a tactic was used was when a player decided before the game to bunker somebody off the break. That was about the extent of the tactical expertise of both teams.

Who needs tactics?
Now all you new players may well feel slightly disheartened at hearing the news that tactics are virtually useless, but don't dismay. The reason new players (and some old ones) like to think that tactics work is because it is an easy option. The people who like to think they know about Paintball love to introduce the notion of tactics as some sophisticated, arcane set of skills only really to be known by the hierarchy and the inner sect of Paintball gurus. In reality, these people know shit. They talk about these supposed finer points of Paintball in a revered and knowing tone - not to push back the boundaries of knowledge but to try and infer upon themselves a degree of Ôknowing' and status within the game. After all, if talking tactics is an obscure indulgence (which for the most part it is) then it prevents any meaningful criticism or definition, leastwise from the new players.

My point here is that Paintball, like other sports, is dynamic and lends itself to intelligent play. The mistake occurs when we try to split the game into tactics and techniques, apportioning equal and sometimes greater significance onto the tactical area of Paintball. The difference between technical and tactical play is as follows: tactics are what could be described as game plans and strategies, they have to be pre-determined. Techniques, on the other hand, are what each individual player uses to stay in the game and to shoot opponents.

Who needs bullshit?
OK, we have now established the difference between the two and I have said that tactics are virtually useless - but how did this situation come about? Why should Paintball be different from other dynamic sports like American football or basketball, where tactics presumably takes on a more significant role? Playing competitive Paintball obviously involves playing in a team, which infers teamwork. It is this aspect of the game that then leads the unsuspecting down the road to Paintball bullshit. Teamwork has this mysterious quality to it; it's insubstantial but nonetheless apparent. When a team consistently loses it is easier to say Ôlet's try a different tactic' or Ôthey must have had better tactics than us.'

It is easier to attribute a loss or lack of good play to an elusive quality such as tactics rather than acknowledging that your skills are lacking. And herein lies the essence of what is important. When we lose a game of Paintball, it is generally because the other team was better, but better nearly always in the technical department. The best way of analyzing a Paintball game is to reduce the game to its component parts, so here goes:- Each team is made up of individual players; each player has a certain skill level, or rather technical skill level. It is these individual skill levels as an average across the team that determines the better kill ratios for each team. I had better explain that last point: if you think about the game of Paintball as being 10 guys shooting at 10 others across a line, then you won't be too far off the mark. Then, if you think about the team that wins, it is generally the team that has made the most kills. Those kills were determined by who was the better player in that particular engagement and therefore the team with the better individuals is generally going to have the better kill ratio.

Nothing too surprising there, so for the beginner to have anything else in his head other than aspiring to become a better technical player is pointless. Do not even bother yourself with the idea of tactics, they are distracting. So what should you concentrate on? It's fine me going on about techniques as the major determinant in how a game unfolds but how do you make yourselves better players?

Who needs practice?
There is a myth in Paintball - and this myth is perpetuated by the top Pro teams as well - that to become better at Paintball, you have to practice playing Paintball. Now I am obviously not saying you can't improve by practicing playing but it is not the only way - and certainly not the best way. To turn up at your local field with your team mates and spend the day just playing another team or playing each other is, in my opinion, a waste of time. If we can for a moment truly understand what is most significant in being able to play this game skillfully then we are halfway there in devising a practice day - a day that concentrates on what is significant and not what is convenient. It is convenient to just play each other or to go up against another team for practice, but it ain't gonna do you much good in the long run. All this does is consolidate bad habits and does not provide a real opportunity to learn new skills.

You must remember that when you play the game of Paintball, even if it is such an informal affair as playing amongst yourselves, it is the game that is in control. As a player you are reacting to things around you; you are bound by the rules of the game; you cannot always control what happens; and the whole point of playing in these conditions is to win and not to learn. I hope you can understand the difference. I mentioned just then that you are bound by the rules of the game, I will just qualify that. If you set up a training day, it should be centered around the one-on-one engagement, i.e. you set players up to go against each other on a one-on-one basis.

You allot a time period of say 10 minutes to each engagement between those two players; if one player is hit, the engagement is not over, you carry on till the 10 minutes has finished. In this example the rules of Paintball do not apply, you remain 'in' to learn more.