Welcome Stongl. You sound slightly insane - should fit in well with the rest of us!
I'll have a go at answering some of your questions:
The formal Academy is once a month, but there are likely to be opportunities to train at other times. Try to get hooked up with one of the teams that train at Maidenhead.
I would be careful of firing a marker in your back garden unless you have either a) very strong, very high walls or fences or b) an incredibly enormous garden. Try snap-shooting at politicians on the TV (NO! NOT with the gun turned on!
). I find the sight of Tony Blair works wonders with my accuracy.
Sorry, no zen-like state for walking through a hail of paint, but there ARE sacred mysteries that will allow you to pick running lanes to minimise getting shot. Come & worship at the temple of Sparklie and if you are favoured, all will be revealed (No, not that kind of revealed, I mean you'll get told how to avoid being shot).
For those of us who are circumferally enhanced, wise through experience & velocity challenged (fat, old & slow) there's always the option of playing BACK. This takes much intense & strenuous training in subjects such as how to eat more burgers & pies than the rest of the team put together, how not to grab & carry flags, how not to move faster than a stroll on the field, how to only get the big barricades.........