Protecting Your Weak Points and Hitting Theirs

While sounding rather “Zen”, Body Consciousness is an important facet of your own personal tactics.

Think back to your last day of paintball, and if your mind hasn’t gone (like mine has) think back to previous days. Do you seem to be getting hit in the same places all the time? The reason why players routinely get hit in the same areas in alarming frequency is easily explained. They do not have proper body consciousness. The way I am going to address the problem is to “target” an area on your opponent to illustrate where you should shoot, and then tell you how to prevent from getting hit in the same place.

PROTECTING YOUR WEAKNESSES

THE HEAD

Head shots can easily be avoided. You must expose the least amount of your head as possible. Look AROUND cover, not over it. By looking out to the side you are only exposing a small of your head, as you can just look with one eye, leaving the other behind the cover. Also, looking over cover “telegraphs” your intentions: that is to say that folks will see your head coming up, before you see THEM.

THE LOADER/PAINTMARKER

Some may say to get a smaller loader. However, they are painfully oblivious to the current trends for larger and larger loaders. The simple solution is this: If you are not shooting or aiming at your adversary, keep your paintmarker behind cover. Also, when you are loading or “squeegeeing”, keep the paintmarker behind cover.

ELBOWS

Keep your elbows down. Most people stick the elbow of the shooting arm out (the one attached to the hand on the pistol grip of the paintmarker). When you pop out to shoot, you elbow is sticking out another eight to ten inches. Lots of space to paint with brightly coloured marks.

Also, when loading, changing twelve grams, cleaning and general fussing, keep your elbows down by your sides.

KNEES

The trick is to keep your knees together, and when you can, stand up.

FOOTWEAR

Keep your feet behind cover; again, avoid crouching behind a tree.

HARNESSES

Most of the pouches should be behind you and not easily hit by a player facing you.

Durty Dan Sez: Here’s a helpful hint: If you are routinely getting hit in the goggles, hands, 'marker and/or loader, you’re doing something right. This means that the areas getting hit are the only ones you have been exposing to your opposition’s fire.

EXPLOITING THIER WEAKNESSES

In the days of baggy “tourney- jammies” and “bouncy-hats”, it’s hard to get a ball to break on your opponent. Here are some areas where you are almost guaranteed a break.

THE HEAD

While you are guaranteed a break on the mask and goggles, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND AGAINST INTENTIONALLY SHOOTING ANOTHER PLAYER IN THE HEAD. Not everyone maintains their goggle lenses like they should. Not everyone wears a face mask.

PAINTMARKER/LOADER

This is something that is always available. Players while shooting or aiming have to expose their paintmarkers. Other times, players will neglect to bring their paintmarkers behind cover while loading, cleaning or other such “marker-fussing”.

The hopper ALWAYS sticks out. In these days of having loaders the size of rhino bladders, you can easily hit one with a well-placed shot or two.

Durty Dan Sez:

Most folks get hit in the loader or paintmarker because they leave it “dangling” outside of their cover. I’ve often tagged players in the marker or loader while their bodies were completely behind cover. I couldn’t see them, but I could see a loader, the size of a whale spleen.

ELBOWS

Players have a bad habit of sticking the elbow of their shooting arm out. This not only gives you a really good break zone, but it increases the Available Target Size by eight to ten inches. Personally, I like people who flap their elbows like they’re migratory waterfowl. The elbow is a nice, hard target, and you’re almost guaranteed a break.

KNEES

Players who crouch have a tendency to spread their knees apart. Since most cover is in the forms of trees, their knees naturally stick out. Now that more and more players are wearing hard-armour knee pads, these make excellent “break zones”.

FOOTWEAR

Players wearing military-type combat boots provide you with a PAIR of break zones. Feet are often foolishly left out from behind cover. This usually happens when the player is looking out from behind cover and you are to one side of the player he is looking at.

HARNESS

Bulk loaders are called that for a reason; they’re bulky. The typical Myule-Pak TM harnesses, able to carry a case of paint, provides excellent break zones, especially if you are positioned on the player’s flanks. Belt buckles rarely bounce a paintball.

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