Confidence under fire

[Paintball Paladin]

I regularly play with and against a guy (not mentioning any names) who was very scared when he first started playing paintball. Story has it that on his first tourney he was that scared after the first game that he went missing for a few hours.

I personally have never been that scared of paintball, however I do wish I was half as good as this guy is now. He plays in regular tourneys and has become an important part of a good team.

He is a swine to hit when behind cover and he is very difficult to get the upper hand on when trying to get out of your cover.

would have been a bit of a shame if he'd quit cause he was scared of being hit. he's used that fear in a positive way and he's all the better for it.

hope this helps

 

[mikeyR]

I think you need to ask yourself:

What am I scared of?

and then you can tackle the problem.

If its pain, then cover all the bits you can with padding - Knees, elbows, chest, neck, groin and head. This will lessen any impacts and possibly put your mind at rest. Paintball's do hurt but once the adrenaline is flowing pain doesn't even enter your head.

If its being shot out, then give up now. You have to lose a little to win a lot. If you get shot out look back at how it happened - did you run to far to a piece of cover when you could have leapfrogged from something else? Did you get tunnel vision and only look one way? Did your equipment fail? When you analyse what you did or what went wrong you can put it right and learn from it and in turn build your confidence and lessen the fear.

Is it letting your team mates down? What do your teammates expect you to do - go out all guns blazing when you would rather defend or vice versa. If you want to defend the flag, then volunteer for it but make sure you keep the flag by getting into good cover and wait for the opposition. If you want to go and attack but your teammates tell you to defend, ignore them, tell them your going out and someone else can do it but make sure you do it positivley 'The best form of defence is attack' or something to that effect. At the end of the day you are playing to enjoy yourself, dont let someone else spoil it, do what you want to do.

Is it making a fool of yourself? We all do stupid things, trip at the wrong time, forget to turn on a hopper or the gas, forget to reload! Been there, done that (all in the same game once! ) Get over it, laugh at yourself before people laugh at you, like I say its meant to be fun.

Whatever conclusion you come too, address that fear and deal with it. Some fear is good, it means you will sharpen your senses to deal with the situation, just don't let it spoil a great day out playing a great sport.

Enjoy!!

 

[paintballmasterminer]

well said m8

 

[Pee Wee]

confidence?????

The best way to build your confidence is to buy an e-blade cocker and then watch all the biatches get out of your way. Then you have no worries about getting shot!!!



COCKERS RULE!!!

 

[SteRoberts]

Yeah but if you have an eblade they get out of your way because they thought the only way you afforded it was to sue other paintballers for causing stress and wounding. .

Seriously tho, mikeyR said it niceley.

Off the top of my head i have:

- Run into the biggest tree in the field full pelt.
- Fell down a trench backwards into crap
- Walked out into big game 2k4 without my co2
- Fired no paint in a firefight cos hopper was off

and more and more, but ive learned from those stupid mistakes, laughed at meself (alot) and ill never do most of them again.

 

[Ion]

some really good advice from these guys, if its pain that scares you i got shot twice in the bollocks in my first ever game. It did me the world of good because it can't cant hurt any more than that did.
Every time i play rec i try to get shot late in the first game just to remind me that it doesnt hurt.(not always advised lol)