After experiencing a lull in the mid 2000s, paintball has surged in popularity and is now the third most popular of the "extreme" sports, behind only inline skating and skateboarding. While the overwhelming majority of frequent players are young adult men, women and families are also getting into paintball as a fun sport and group activity.
One reason for the increasing popularity of the game is that it now features better equipment that is more reliable, safer, and less expensive. For around $25 a head, players can rent the equipment they need for a day of playing paintball.
There are a few basic paintball skills that will make your game much more enjoyable and exciting once you master them. The first basic skill is perfecting your stance.
Perfecting your Stance
While it sounds almost too simple, your stance behind a bunker is one key to whether you will be taken out early, or whether you will last in a given round. Intuition tells the beginning player to face the bunker they are standing behind. But this actually results in more unstable balance and a slower response.
Instead, you should stand with your side to the bunker. If you are right-handed, put your left foot forward, and if you are left-handed, put your right foot forward. Keep the tank of your marker pressed against your ribs and support it with the lower part of your arm underneath the tank. It is better to look over the top of the loader. If you need to sight your target better, lower your head to the Gun rather than bringing the Gun up to your eye.
Position your marker so that the loader is hidden by the bunker. With a balanced stance, you will be able to aim at your target by simply moving your upper body a few degrees in the proper direction.
"Psy Ops"
You may think that psyching out your opponent is just for highly trained military personnel in combat, but you can psych your paintball opponent out, too. Your goal is to have your paintballs in the air headed toward your opponent by the time he comes out of his bunker to fire at you.
You do this by playing on the odds that you can be successful when your opponent has been pushed back under cover and you are sighting your marker at him.
Here are a few pointers to playing into your opponent's psychological state to your advantage.
Remember that if you are firing continually, no opponent is going to come out from under cover. You don't have to wait for your opponent to be visible to you. If he is, he can fire first if he's a decent shooter. Make an educated guess as to where he will go next, and then time your shots in that direction at the time you estimate him to go there. Even if you miss, a close call can seriously fluster your opponent.
Run-Shoot-Run-Shoot
Another basic paintball battle tactic is the run-shoot-run-shoot technique. Practice this before using it in combat. To begin to master this technique, learn to walk and shoot at a single target. Once you have this technique down, speed up until you are running full speed, as if you were in a real game.
Squeeze the tank tightly, and look over top of the loader. Run at full speed. Keep your upper body as still as possible, but when you run, lift your feet to make it less likely that you'll trip on a tree root or something. Short, quick strides will make it easier for you to keep control over your upper body and Gun.
There are a number of paintball battle techniques to master, but these three - the stance, the psych-out, and the run-shoot-run-shoot technique are three basics that will take you a long way in being successful at paintball.
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