Techniques Of Paintball

Whether you're new to paintball or are a seasoned veteran at the sport, helpful techniques for paintball are always a must on the field. Here are some techniques you might take for granted or might be forgetting when battling opposing teams.

1. Always be on the offensive. Defensive playing gets you shot out, period. Offensive playing means you don't hide behind cover the whole time wishing you hadn't decided to gear up and play. Get out there and shoot some players, already!
2. Move from cover to cover every seven seconds. Sometimes this isn't possible, especially in espionage games. But if you're playing behind palettes or blow-up cover, you can move easily between pieces and keep your opponents guessing your location.
3. Keep extra tanks handy. Carry a spare air tank so you never run out of carbon dioxide during the game.
4. Bring along some extra paintballs. Invest in a paintball canister belt and fill those babies up with extra ammo. Because paintball guns are too big to accommodate a New York reload, you've got the next best thing with extra paint.
5. Shoot in short bursts. Unless you're low on ammo, one of the best techniques in paintball is to shoot in short bursts. That way, if your first rounds don't splatter on your opponent, your next ones keep you in the game.
6. Shoot around cover when possible. Going Rambo is cool in the movies, but standing out in the open in real life makes you target number one. So wrap your arms, gun and a smidge of your head around cover, just enough to see where you're shooting but not enough to make a big target.
7. Run a little hunched over. When you're running around cover, you should make a small target of your body. In the techniques of paintball, this means crouching and keeping your arms and gun close to your body.
8. Move quickly wherever you go. It doesn't matter if you're moving behind cover or in an open field—quick movements are key to survival. Don't dilly dally, no matter what terrain you're running in.
9. Slide into cover. If you're wearing enough protective gear, you won't notice if you hit the ground hard. Slide in on your belly or on your side, as if sliding into base in a baseball game. Just keep the barrel of your gun out of the ground.
10. Run with your gun level whenever possible. Try not to shake the paintballs in the hopper too much. This will cause them to break and make a big mess, even possibly ruining the paintballs.