Training in the 21st Century

[Buddha 3]

Ever since I started playing tournament ball, the ONLY way for me to approach the game is as a sport. Why? Perhaps because I have always been involved in team sports, so it was just logical for me to do it that way. The main concern I have though is whether or not I'm doing the right drills. After all, there is hardly an established foundation to base these on, it's all pretty much analizing what needs to improve, and coming up with ways to do it. Hopefully we're doing it right. I for one would love to see how the Legion or Nexus is going about it. (Pete, can you sneak a camera in for me? )
I can see why a lot of players have difficulty of doing it that way though. A lot of ballers have started out as the proverbial recballer (no offense meant, I know there are recballers who take their game seriously), and just picked up a marker, ran straight into the woods, picked teams on the spot, and shot eachother over the course of an afternoon. These guys then move on to tourney ball. But they are used to an individualistic approach, with little work on skills, just afternoons of shooting guns. Some of them don't even feel the responsibility that one teammember has towards his fellow teammembers. Sad but true.

Hey! Shouldn't this thread be in Tactics and Techniques?

 

[TJ Lambini]

Very good point - and that's where it is!

 

[Tyger]

When we did USPL, a few of the guys on my team complained about how many games they were playign in a row. One guy did some math, and figured we had played 33 or so games of "Tournament Paintball" in a day. MY reply was "Yah? So?" IMHO, it's not so bad to be forced to show the world that you can do something that not everyone else can. If everyone could run 100 Meters in less than 10 seconds, it wouldn't be that spectacular.

I go to tournaments, I see people smoking between games. I see people drinking after (and, occasionally, durring) the event. We have a culture where we don't think of ourselves as athletes. Granted, I'm not the picture of perfect health, but I take this seriously. Ask my wife, I've practiced snapshooting for hours off the back deck.

We need, basically, a revolution in thinking from the players, collectively. We need to go from 'enthusiasts', which we are now, to 'athletes'. And when we make that mental leap, then we're on teh road to being ready for the big time.

-Tyger

 

[Buddha 3]

I have to say that I'm optimistic in all this. The change won't happen overnight, but as soon as the teams that really train start kicking ass and take over the top spots, all the other contenders will HAVE to adapt. Or they'll just cease to be. Darwinism in paintball, gotta love it.

 

[Gee]

Originally posted by Beaker
The thing that frustrates me about this more than anything in attitude costs nothing.

What's stopping people turning up for training doing snap shooting, fitness, technique, fitness, snap shooting, technique.

Probably require all of 1 case per 5 people, but they just want to turn up and play and shoot paint.

Amen Brother Beaker.

You know i agree with this way of doing paintball. But Buddha raised the biggest problem that faces people wanting to do it this way.

Fitness - easy to find out what to do to improve it.

Snap shooting - Sit/stand behind something come out and shoot a target. Both with and without someone else trying to put you back in.

Its just trying to break down other areas of technique into drills and get it right that is rather difficult. Especially since the only book/article, that i know of, that goes into detail on not just the how but the why. Is Alex Goldaev, and i haven't managed to find a copy yet.

Brother Gee
Paintball Research And Training

 

[Archer]

I probably missed out on the article posted somewheres, but how exactly do you guys train? Do you play games at numerical disadvantages, set up scenarios player vs. player or have a more static approach of shooting stationary, non-human targets?

What's your regimen like?

 

[Mario]

the thing is, it's a vicsious (<-spelling) cycle
Teams haven't got the money to afford even 5 boxes of paint a week which means that they can't be bothered to get off their arses and do anything. This leads to a bad attitude when they come to train and it turns into a shambles. which means they don't want to spend money on paint
Me as a young player, i don't have the money to travel to a training ground, hire a hotel room and pay for paint. I just can't afford it. However while i'm at home i practice with my gun wandering round the house getting used to it in various situations. if this is what i can do to become better then i'll do it.
Back to the point of team training, if you take the time at home to put some basic skills in then in the end the team will get better. Not as fast as the team who can practice every week but in the end it'll come good.
Also for those who put there nose up a local tournies they can teach you a lot. Trust me.

 

[Problem]

No magic formula, only willpower

I've always thought training was a) limited by resources, and b) needed to cover the basics. So if your A is big but your B is limited, you haven't done all you can. For instance:

All training should focus on both the basics and then special training.

The basics would include solo practice, group sessions, and games.

Solo practice could be broken down into:
-target range target practice both hands for long balling,
-snap shooting with either hand,
-shooting while moving,
-break out strategies,
-transitioning bunkers.

Group sessions should have one person observing, coaching and coordinating the session, and should use drills with people finishing the drill and running to the back of the line to go again:
-two person limited time against one person,
-two person attack with one bunkering a target,
-gauntlet runs with shooters running from barricade to barricade and engaging different targets in each transition.
Debrief after each drill is completed at least twice per person.

Team play would be larger on smaller squad time limited games, or full team on team games hopefully against better teams:
-focus two games on communications and codes,
-focus two games on volley fire and sustained firepower,
-focus two games on very long breaks and locking down in set positions.
-have four squads ready to go, two at either end. Start as normal with two. As soon as one team eliminates all players, they turn around and the ready squad they're facing launches. Repeat.

If you can video tape the games (and we had success doing this, but didn't do it long or often enough) and meet to discuss away from the field, great.

Special training would focus on weaknesses and plays.

Your weaknesses show up with how you are being beaten. If you lose plenty off the break, you probably don't have good volley amounts on the go or you're running high. If you are making your primaries but they're crossing the fifty, then you don't have running shooters (more like stepping shooters). Whatever your weakness, design drills to mimic it and repeat them over and over.

Lastly, for plays, if you have a play book, chances are you will need to introduce the plays slowly when you did. So you need to have your team do dress rehearsals of the plays. We used to find a backwoods area way away from the playable fields, and would walk through and then walk through with shooting faster and faster. Then mix them up. But we could only introduce a few at a time, and not too frequently.

To my mind, we did our best when we had one of us coaching each drill, the drills were moving lines of players doing the drill and then running to the back of the line, and when we included some games meant not to play the other team but to put to use the training, in other words, games with a focus on something. I won't tell you how we prepared when we did our worst.

I don't know if this helped or was useless, and not every type of training can be done by everyone. But whichever training you do, once a week at the field and once a week at a separate meeting is a minimum if you're serious.

Now distance or resources may limit that, but that could be your eventual goal. Every player should be working out daily to supplement the training. I've only seen that on a few squads in my time, but they were better than equally skilled rivals,

Larry

 

[jeevusmaximus]

I am in a fairly similar position to Ron. My team have only been together a few months and we have only played a 3-man tourny but as of january, we are gonna start training. I am in charge of what we do and as far as I am concerned, I am gonna do what the Russian Legion do and break down everything and look at it. I have been through the pages and threads here about training and I think I have come up with some good stuff to help all my team become better players. Now I just have to enforce it and damn well get them to do what I say.
I am with Simon and the rest of you guys. I believe that training is the only way we have a chance at doing something worthwhile in this sport. We are all fairly fit and I have started going to the gym to get mself fitter so that I can be the best.
Now, as for cost, this is the only real problem we have like alot of ballers. We plan on training once or twice a month and hopefully playing a tourny once a month. As I have never done this before, I would say for what I have in mind, we will need maybe 4 or 5 boxes of paint (5-man team). From that guess, I think it will work out fine but if I am wrong and it turns out to be 8 for a training day, it will turn the poorer members away. Fortunately for them, I am dedicated and if I feel we need to do something else but dont have the paint, I will buy some more.
Trying not to be an arrogant f*ck, I think more players should be like me and Simon and be more dedicated to this SPORT if you actually want to win anything.

Thanx for listening

 

[jeremy7]

Originally posted by jeevusmaximus
I am in a fairly similar position to Ron. My team have only been together a few months and we have only played a 3-man tourny but as of january, we are gonna start training. I am in charge of what we do and as far as I am concerned, I am gonna do what the Russian Legion do and break down everything and look at it. I have been through the pages and threads here about training and I think I have come up with some good stuff to help all my team become better players. Now I just have to enforce it and damn well get them to do what I say.
I am with Simon and the rest of you guys. I believe that training is the only way we have a chance at doing something worthwhile in this sport. We are all fairly fit and I have started going to the gym to get mself fitter so that I can be the best.
Now, as for cost, this is the only real problem we have like alot of ballers. We plan on training once or twice a month and hopefully playing a tourny once a month. As I have never done this before, I would say for what I have in mind, we will need maybe 4 or 5 boxes of paint (5-man team). From that guess, I think it will work out fine but if I am wrong and it turns out to be 8 for a training day, it will turn the poorer members away. Fortunately for them, I am dedicated and if I feel we need to do something else but dont have the paint, I will buy some more.
Trying not to be an arrogant f*ck, I think more players should be like me and Simon and be more dedicated to this SPORT if you actually want to win anything.

Thanx for listening

people like you deserve sponsors!
i wish i could get on a team with the same views and dedication as you