Hi all,
Could anybody please advise on how to find a tournament paintball coach to coach and develop a team to high division standard?
Many Thanks!
This mostly depends on how deep your pockets are!
You are best looking for a recently retired player, preferably one who has successfully played at the level you aspire to and has the time to devote to your team. Then you'll probably find that the minimum you'll need to do is pay your coaches expenses, i.e. travel, accommodation, food etc. and provide any kit they need.
There are lot of people out there who think they know how to play paintball and 'coach' their own teams by simply spotting and calling the opposing players from the sideline, this is not the true function of a coach. You should really be looking for someone who understands the complex 3D aspects of the game and who can impart their knowledge to the team, someone all the team respect and will listen to, especially the team owner and/or captain.
Someone who will be there when you train and run endless drills until you have mastered the basics, find your strengths and weaknesses and work on them to your advantage and keep beasting you until you get it right. Then when you do play they should be able to devise game plans for you, scout the opposition and be able to debrief you and adapt your plays between games/points.
You first need to have a team meeting and decide between you what you want, and what your budget is! For instance, if you live in Newcastle and your coach lives in Bristol, its going to get expensive on the travel front.
You need to commit 100% to your coach, I can cite one instance where after training a coach (then a recently retired successful pro-player) gave specific dietary advice to an aspiring Millennium team on what to eat pre/post training and event for the best performance, who then totally ignored his comments and went straight into Mcdonalds. Suffice to say, that relationship didn't last long.
I'm not going to make any particular recommendations, as I don't know who is available or what commitments they may have outside the game. It may well be worth your while, after you have had a team discussion and have worked out if you are in a position to afford a coach, to post up a wanted ad for one!