Paintball Journal

Okay, so 4th Place, that’s not bad, for our first tournament that’s exactly where we want to be.

We got a nifty barrel condom and t-shirt (Please excuse the deplorable state of my t-shirt. I kinda slept in it). We have leftover paint for our next practice. But most importantly, we have experience now! We know what to improve on and how to plan our next practice around weak spots.

I truly felt like I was the weakest individual player on our team. I played back, Evan played mid, and JP played front (with one of the shortest set-ups I’ve ever seen). Every game seemed to follow the same pattern.

I’d make my bunker, no problem, considering it was right in front of the break. I’d call out positions, and maybe pin a couple of guys, then get shot out.

Things I’d like to improve on include, but aren’t limited to:

1) Laning off the break. That’ll be easier once I get used to my trigger, and get it set up in a way that will allow me to shoot faster. Plus, I need to get it in my mind off the break to stay up and shoot at the exact location I need to, just in front of an outside back bunker. There was a team on Sunday that had a guy who would always walk to the net-side tape back bunker. If I could have put a steady stream of paint there off the break, we would have been up 3-2 in bodies, and had a chance against a team that only lost once all day.

2) Gun-fighting. I didn’t get in a whole bunch of gun-fights but my form has to be tighter. Coming over the top in the first couple of games got me shot up, and you should see my left arm. Though a lot of that is from run-thrus. Well, okay, so here’s my left arm, there were actually a total of seven welts on it:

3) Field awareness. The experienced teams walked all over the inexperienced ones because of this. You don’t have to hit a bunker and be immobile for a game. It’s very important to stay mobile, look for bumps and moves, because you won’t win a game from one bunker. That was a problem with me, I’d be gunning from one bunker and forget to move.

Anyway, all stuff to work on next time we go and practice. Ah, and here’s our win-loss record for No Trace (our team name).

No Trace vs. JFK Loss
No Trace vs. Hardcore Win
No Trace vs. Smoken Aces Win
Apocalyptic Dreams vs. No Trace Win
Hola vs. No Trace Win
Sadistic vs. No Trace Loss
Mercenaries vs. No Trace Win
No Trace vs. Creepers Win

Finals
No Trace vs. Sadistic Loss
No Trace vs. JFK Loss
No Trace vs. Apocalyptic Dreams Win

Deciding Round for 3rd/4th Place
No Trace vs. Apocalyptic Dreams Loss