If you are serious about wishing to improve then one of the best methods is to seek counsel with someone who's been and done it … and then some !
One of our top moderators, Jim Montgomery [Dusty] is going to share his combative experiences by juxtaposing his Mixed Martial Arts expertise [Taekwondo] along with his extensive experience playing paintball.
He'll be attempting to develop an alternative perspective on how to understand the game we all love to play and maybe give you an idea on which direction to take when training …. I'm sure we'll all learn something from Jim's take on how best to approach paintball as a combative sport.
Over to you Dusty …..
Dusty explaining just how much a kick in the guts hurts …
So, the Boss gets in touch and says something like, I want an article and here’s what I want, so I say, “ok”.
Basically it’s about the link between martial arts and paintball, similarities, differences and I got to thinking as I do, how can I make this better (which is a point I’ll come back to) so I decided it’s going to be about the similarities between great paintballers and ANYONE who has accomplished anything in life.
I’ll start with some background. I’m a Taekwondo coach, 3rd Dan black belt, been at it for 23 years next month.
I’m 41 so I did get started relatively late in the day but it didn’t stop me from competing and winning a few medals and trophies here and there. I’m not a bad fighter actually, good timing and when I started out I was fighting in the 65-70 kg category so it was lots of fancy kicks and point scoring, now I’m at 88kg+ so tactics have changed, I now hit harder but less often.
What I consider to be my biggest achievements though are helping others to get where they are. I’ve a 14 year old who just made team GB, I’ve a 42 year old woman who became national champion in her age category, I’ve another lass about to be offered a place on the Irish National squad, among countless people who’ve gone from just training to being medallists at local competitions.
I’ve also coached para athletes, provided an outlet for parents with kids who have behavioural issues, learning difficulties, physical and mental therapy requirements. There are no medals but when parents text you to say he or she went home smiling and content, feeling good about themselves, I guess that’s a measure of success in its own way.
Anyway, enough prattling on, what’s this got to do with paintball? Well, when you want to be good at something, you’ve got to put the hours in. It’s like anything, you do it enough and you get good at it but is it enough to just turn up and do your thing for a few hours a week? No. It’s not. Great “players” as we call them in Taekwondo put the hours in to the right sort of training.
If they specialise in patterns/forms that’s what they practice.
Not going over the entire sequences all the time but breaking them down to the fundamentals, individual movements and timings and that’s absolutely key.
If they’re competition fighters then they don’t just turn up and fight people for 2 hours at a time 3 times a week, they drill the pad work and work on the breakdown of a fight.
Range finding techniques, intercepting techniques, maximising point scoring techniques, combinations, strength and cardio. Then they fight once a month. Paintball is the same, break down the games into their phases, breakout, mid game, end game and work on the fundamental aspects of each.
What do you need for a breakout?
First ball accuracy, running and gunning, sliding, diving, communication.
Identify the components and practice then practice some more and when you’re sore and tired, practice again.
I know from first hand experience that most people, the VAST majority who begin martial arts training drop out before their third belt.
Why?
Because the training is boring.
Initially it’s exciting and new and a novelty, just like your first game of paintball as a rental most likely but when you want to get good and I mean really good, you’ve got to drill your basics and fundamentals and that unavoidably means repetition.
You’ll see the truly great martial artists drilling and repeating a simple punch or simple kick hundreds and thousands of times and it’s boring, it’s frustrating but by God when you need to use it and you’re the one landing that kick because you practiced it thousands of times more than your opponent did then all of a sudden it’s worth it.
Now here’s the catch, you’ve got to learn it first in depth, then practice it right. If you’re doing it wrong someone needs to tell you and show you how to fix it then you do it again to make it right and that guy is your coach.
If you don’t have one then find one, go to a seminar or organise a seminar, find out where the pros train and go watch them. Practice a technique incorrectly and you’re wasting your time. The guys who has practiced it properly for half the time will beat you.
Then you’ve got to know how and when to use what you’ve drilled, you’ve got to use the right tool at the right time. No point trying to dig a hole with a hammer or hammer a nail in with a shovel. Of course you’ll get there in the end but use the right tool/technique/shot for the right job/situation just makes the job easier and more efficient. Don’t snap shoot when you need to cover a lane.
Don’t slide when you need to dive, don’t walk when you need to run and gun.
Get the idea?
Fundamentals in martial arts means more than the basic punches and kicks.
It’s movement, transitions, strong stances, proper techniques, accuracy. In paintball it’s the basics of the game, accurate shooting while standing and moving, with both hands, snap shooting with both hands, communication.
You need to drill first ball accuracy?
Not ten shots, not a hundred shots. A thousand.
Dedicate a training session to it, or at least 200 balls a session over 5 sessions. It’s a hopper full, people waste that over the chrono…….
You need to drill snap shooting, learn how to do it properly though.
Then when you’re doing it right, that’s when you drill your muscle memory.
Not ten or twenty times, a thousand. It will be sore and tiring, get used to that feeling. Then do it on your off side.
You need to drill running and gunning, you need to drill breakouts, you need to drill your laning, you need to do all of that right and left handed.
First you need to learn HOW to do it right, so get someone who knows to show you.
Someone who really knows. Travel to seminars, organise seminars, training sessions, ask questions, find the best you can find and watch them, ask them, learn from them.
Do your homework on Youtube or p8ntballer.com, make notes, go practice.
Above all of that, you need to WANT to do these things. You need to WANT to make it better. You need to be able to learn a technique and then WANT to find out how to make it better for you.
I’ve used martial arts as an example but you don’t have to be a fighter to be a great paintballer but I can’t deny that it helps, your attitude is the most important thing.
In Taekwondo I’ve met black belts who are doctors, barristers, teachers and engineers.
They all have a certain dedication to their craft in common, they’ve all realised that it takes years of work to be where they are and they’ve put those years in.
Nobody walks into the training hall and becomes great overnight, nobody.
Some people have a natural ability and a lot of potential but if they don’t want to put the work in they fade away.
There are obviously ordinary folk like me too, but we are all black belts. We all sweated, bled, cried and broke bones to get where we are and we all know what we all went through so there’s a mutual respect between us. If you’ve made an achievement in your life you have the right mentality.
The point it that no one achieves anything without work and lots of it.
Some people argue that luck has a lot to do with it but I find the harder I work, the luckier I get.
One of our top moderators, Jim Montgomery [Dusty] is going to share his combative experiences by juxtaposing his Mixed Martial Arts expertise [Taekwondo] along with his extensive experience playing paintball.
He'll be attempting to develop an alternative perspective on how to understand the game we all love to play and maybe give you an idea on which direction to take when training …. I'm sure we'll all learn something from Jim's take on how best to approach paintball as a combative sport.
Over to you Dusty …..
Dusty explaining just how much a kick in the guts hurts …
So, the Boss gets in touch and says something like, I want an article and here’s what I want, so I say, “ok”.
Basically it’s about the link between martial arts and paintball, similarities, differences and I got to thinking as I do, how can I make this better (which is a point I’ll come back to) so I decided it’s going to be about the similarities between great paintballers and ANYONE who has accomplished anything in life.
I’ll start with some background. I’m a Taekwondo coach, 3rd Dan black belt, been at it for 23 years next month.
I’m 41 so I did get started relatively late in the day but it didn’t stop me from competing and winning a few medals and trophies here and there. I’m not a bad fighter actually, good timing and when I started out I was fighting in the 65-70 kg category so it was lots of fancy kicks and point scoring, now I’m at 88kg+ so tactics have changed, I now hit harder but less often.
What I consider to be my biggest achievements though are helping others to get where they are. I’ve a 14 year old who just made team GB, I’ve a 42 year old woman who became national champion in her age category, I’ve another lass about to be offered a place on the Irish National squad, among countless people who’ve gone from just training to being medallists at local competitions.
I’ve also coached para athletes, provided an outlet for parents with kids who have behavioural issues, learning difficulties, physical and mental therapy requirements. There are no medals but when parents text you to say he or she went home smiling and content, feeling good about themselves, I guess that’s a measure of success in its own way.
Anyway, enough prattling on, what’s this got to do with paintball? Well, when you want to be good at something, you’ve got to put the hours in. It’s like anything, you do it enough and you get good at it but is it enough to just turn up and do your thing for a few hours a week? No. It’s not. Great “players” as we call them in Taekwondo put the hours in to the right sort of training.
If they specialise in patterns/forms that’s what they practice.
Not going over the entire sequences all the time but breaking them down to the fundamentals, individual movements and timings and that’s absolutely key.
If they’re competition fighters then they don’t just turn up and fight people for 2 hours at a time 3 times a week, they drill the pad work and work on the breakdown of a fight.
Range finding techniques, intercepting techniques, maximising point scoring techniques, combinations, strength and cardio. Then they fight once a month. Paintball is the same, break down the games into their phases, breakout, mid game, end game and work on the fundamental aspects of each.
What do you need for a breakout?
First ball accuracy, running and gunning, sliding, diving, communication.
Identify the components and practice then practice some more and when you’re sore and tired, practice again.
I know from first hand experience that most people, the VAST majority who begin martial arts training drop out before their third belt.
Why?
Because the training is boring.
Initially it’s exciting and new and a novelty, just like your first game of paintball as a rental most likely but when you want to get good and I mean really good, you’ve got to drill your basics and fundamentals and that unavoidably means repetition.
You’ll see the truly great martial artists drilling and repeating a simple punch or simple kick hundreds and thousands of times and it’s boring, it’s frustrating but by God when you need to use it and you’re the one landing that kick because you practiced it thousands of times more than your opponent did then all of a sudden it’s worth it.
Now here’s the catch, you’ve got to learn it first in depth, then practice it right. If you’re doing it wrong someone needs to tell you and show you how to fix it then you do it again to make it right and that guy is your coach.
If you don’t have one then find one, go to a seminar or organise a seminar, find out where the pros train and go watch them. Practice a technique incorrectly and you’re wasting your time. The guys who has practiced it properly for half the time will beat you.
Then you’ve got to know how and when to use what you’ve drilled, you’ve got to use the right tool at the right time. No point trying to dig a hole with a hammer or hammer a nail in with a shovel. Of course you’ll get there in the end but use the right tool/technique/shot for the right job/situation just makes the job easier and more efficient. Don’t snap shoot when you need to cover a lane.
Don’t slide when you need to dive, don’t walk when you need to run and gun.
Get the idea?
Fundamentals in martial arts means more than the basic punches and kicks.
It’s movement, transitions, strong stances, proper techniques, accuracy. In paintball it’s the basics of the game, accurate shooting while standing and moving, with both hands, snap shooting with both hands, communication.
You need to drill first ball accuracy?
Not ten shots, not a hundred shots. A thousand.
Dedicate a training session to it, or at least 200 balls a session over 5 sessions. It’s a hopper full, people waste that over the chrono…….
You need to drill snap shooting, learn how to do it properly though.
Then when you’re doing it right, that’s when you drill your muscle memory.
Not ten or twenty times, a thousand. It will be sore and tiring, get used to that feeling. Then do it on your off side.
You need to drill running and gunning, you need to drill breakouts, you need to drill your laning, you need to do all of that right and left handed.
First you need to learn HOW to do it right, so get someone who knows to show you.
Someone who really knows. Travel to seminars, organise seminars, training sessions, ask questions, find the best you can find and watch them, ask them, learn from them.
Do your homework on Youtube or p8ntballer.com, make notes, go practice.
Above all of that, you need to WANT to do these things. You need to WANT to make it better. You need to be able to learn a technique and then WANT to find out how to make it better for you.
I’ve used martial arts as an example but you don’t have to be a fighter to be a great paintballer but I can’t deny that it helps, your attitude is the most important thing.
In Taekwondo I’ve met black belts who are doctors, barristers, teachers and engineers.
They all have a certain dedication to their craft in common, they’ve all realised that it takes years of work to be where they are and they’ve put those years in.
Nobody walks into the training hall and becomes great overnight, nobody.
Some people have a natural ability and a lot of potential but if they don’t want to put the work in they fade away.
There are obviously ordinary folk like me too, but we are all black belts. We all sweated, bled, cried and broke bones to get where we are and we all know what we all went through so there’s a mutual respect between us. If you’ve made an achievement in your life you have the right mentality.
The point it that no one achieves anything without work and lots of it.
Some people argue that luck has a lot to do with it but I find the harder I work, the luckier I get.
