On Running and Gunning and Snap Shooting
When we showed up to the tourney on Sunday, and saw just how many teams were shootings PMs/DMs, Timmies, a few Egos, maybe a Shocker or two, we were surprised to see how many people weren’t playing their bunkers right, or just making stupid mistakes.
Time and time again I saw people going left on the break while awkwardly shooting from the right shoulder using their right hand. I thought it was common sense; go left shoot with the left, go right shoot with the right. Not only does it look stupid, it really slows you down. If you can’t shoot with your off hand it’s best to dive straight in, and come up shooting rather than taking the chance of getting shot out off the break.
I also noted how many people were leaving their hoppers hanging out. The field was particularly low, so people tended to stay low and snap from around the sides. When you do this, angle your hopper in towards your bunker and keep your head directly behind the gun! I still can’t believe that there weren’t more hoppers blown away.
Here’s a good form.
And despite the fact that there were so many high end guns, and we were only shooting Ions, we still came in fourth (though we held 3rd all day till the finals) at our very first tournament. I was expecting to get annihilated, but we held our own through teamwork. We didn’t lay enormous amounts of paint like most teams did; we just kept our wits about us. We developed a plan, knew what we wanted to accomplish, and played smart paintball. That’s all it takes. We aren’t great, but teamwork always beats individual skill.
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