Too many paintball players consider the game a solo venture. They step onto the paintball field and think that they alone hold the key to their team’s victory. This is especially true for the average paintball sniper. The reality of the situation, however, is that teamwork is one of the most important aspects of any good paintball game. Listening to your teammates, paying attention to the game, and reacting accordingly with your paintballs can make all the difference in the world in a tough match. Here are the top ways to incorporate good teamwork into your paintball play.
Listen Up!
Stay alert; keep your head in the game. This includes listening to your paintball team captain as well as other players. You may feel like you can go do your own thing – especially if you are a paintball sniper – but communicating with your teammates and listening to what they have to say is a much better way to the play the game.
Pay Attention!
This goes along with listening. Make sure you don’t get too focused on one aspect of the game. Even if you are a sniper, don’t ignore what’s going on around you just to get a good shot. Knowing the location of your teammates and the opposing players will allow you to make much better tactical and strategic decisions, and will increase the likelihood of a win.
Do As You’re Told!
This comes as a big problem to some paintball players, especially if they’re used to being team captain. However, ignoring what your teammates tell you can lead to horrible consequences on the playing field, especially for captains. You may think you know what is going on, but a teammate may have knowledge that trumps yours. This is especially difficult to keep in mind when time is short and everyone is eager to get the paintballs flying. Trusting your teammates enough to do what they tell you not only increases your chances for a win, but it also builds paintball camaraderie.
Recap the Game!
A very important part of building teamwork is discussing the game off the field. Getting together after a game and going over your team’s strengths and weaknesses helps you and your teammates learn more about the game and each other, and it helps you all grow as players. Paintball is a fast-paced game, and not revisiting the match afterwards can mean losing out on valuable strategic input and ideas.
Practice, Practice, Practice!
Of course, if you want to build teamwork, you will definitely want to practice together (This means you too, paintball sniper!). Work on offensive and defensive strategies, code words, “what-if” scenarios, and more. If possible, practice with other people or teams. The best way to work together in a real game situation is to practice together often.
Learn From Others!
Learn from the opposition as well as your own teammates. Closely observing other paintball players is a great way to develop new and winning strategies for your next game. Pay close attention to how other teams work together as a team. Do they talk more than your team does? Do they seem better organized? Paying attention to how your opponents work together can help improve your team’s performance.
Have Fun!
Of course, the most important part of playing paintball is having fun. There is no better way to improve teamwork than to encourage each other and always look on the bright side, no matter where the paintballs land. Negativity, name-calling and blame usually mean certain death for even the most talented paintball team. On the other hand, the team that stays positive, encourages each other, and has fun, not only improves their game play and teamwork but also has a much better time on the field. And when you really break it down, isn’t that what paintball is all about?
Whether you’re a paintball sniper or a total noob, no man is an island. That old axiom is especially true when it comes to competitive paintball play. If you and your teammates stick to the above-mentioned team-building tactics, you will surely find yourselves not only improving your skill levels and game play, but also have a lot more fun together—a win-win situation if ever there was one.
[photo: Andres Aguiluz Rios]
