Building a Paintball Team
Starting a team is as easy as saying you want to. This article will teach you how to actually run the team. Teams can be any number of people. Every team has a different focus or agenda. If you are one of the founding members of your team, figure out what your goals are. Do you want to go pro? Are you just trying to have a good time? You might want to put together a team for just one event. Find other players with an agenda similar to yours.
This article will focus on building a team for a tournament. The
most important thing for a tournament paintball team is a stable roster. At
this point, skill level isn't very important. Your team will learn and grow
together; sometimes picking players who are much better than the rest of the
team will cause resentment, and that player will leave to a better team. Since
you are probably acting as captain, approach a player and ask him to join your
team. Tell them what you're about and ask them to come to a practice. If you
are just starting, you probably won't have enough clout to steal good players
from other teams, but try to avoid that if possible. If someone doesn't fit or
doesn't want to come back, don't force it. You will spend a lot of time with
your teammates, always pick people you get along with.
Tournaments of all sizes can be found at almost every paintball
field or at least in every region. 3-man and 5-man are the most common formats
at rookie and novice events. Check on the Internet for tournament dates and
locations. Tournaments range from low-cost outings with few or no prizes to
highly competitive big money tournaments. Which tournament you enter depends on
the size of your roster, your skill and your budget. It's good to play
cheaper tournaments at first, as they are generally less competitive. This will
help you get a feel for the tournament scene and give you some valuable experience.
Once you've picked a tournament, you'll need to practice for it.
How much you practice depends on a number of factors: how much time you have
before the tournament, how many players can make it to each practice, how much
money you have, etc. Try to give yourself at least two good practices before a
tournament. It's better to have a few good all-day practices with your full
team than to have a lot of half-assed practices. Trust me on that one. Set up a
practice schedule that everyone can follow. If you can, find another team to
practice with. If you're just starting out, you'll want to find a team of
similar skill. If you can take it, practice a team better than you. It will
only help you get better.
At practice you'll want to simulate a tournament as closely as
possible. Start the day by walking the fields, getting a feel for where
everyone will be playing. Establish priorities and game plans; do you want to
keep them out of the snake, work on your communication, try to close with
everyone alive, etc. ? After the game discuss what went well and what didn't.
Talk about mistakes and how you can improve next game.
Try and have someone who knows paintball (a friend, a teammate
sitting that game) watch from the sidelines and offer an unbiased appraisal of
the game. Everyone will walk off the field screaming their version of what went
wrong. Always listen to that guy on the sidelines, adrenaline clouds your
memory. If you can, have that person or someone else take pictures. They will
be valuable for posting pictures of you on the 'Nation bunkering some fool,
looking at how poor your technique is, or just plain ole' memory.
If you're practicing a better team, ask for advice. I don't know
any player on the planet who won't tell you what he thinks you're doing wrong.
Try and find the player you were playing against, or who shot your, and ask
what you could do better next time? There's no harm in making mistakes, only in
making the same mistake twice.
One of the most difficult situations you will have to deal with is
alternating players. If you are only playing local tournaments I recommend you
have only as many players as the format allows, i.e. 5 players for a 5-man
team. Unless you have a set rotation pattern, or someone is OK with sitting a
lot, this will become a major issue. It's hard to get into a rhythm when you're
constantly rotating people, but it's even harder to tell your friends they have
to sit. Always be honest, always try to be fair.
Try and make your team a team in the fullest sense of the word. A
lot of teams get matching jerseys or t-shirts to play in. Ask your local shop
for a sponsorship of some type. Pack a cooler of snacks so you can sit around
at lunch time and talk. Designate someone to bring water, or batteries. Call
each other, see movies, hang out. Little things like this make a team feel and
work better.
Teams teach you how to deal with people, how to accomplish common
goals, how to work together, how to break rental cars, how to get arrested and
more. Losing hurts, but you learn a lot more by losing than you do by winning.
Take everything in stride, forgive your teammates if they make mistakes.
Everyone's young, pressure does funny things to people.
Remember, always have fun. If you're not having fun, why bother?
This game is sure time consuming, and there ain't much money in it. Do it for
respect and do it for fun. Enjoy yourselves.
