Ten Tips for the Beginner

1. Have knowledge of your paintball field surroundings. Know where you are on the field at all times relative to the inflatable bunkers or natural places to dive for cover. Make use of available cover. You need to be resourceful on the paintball field and use your entire environment to evade enemy fire. If you get into trouble, you need to have a log or a tree or an inflatable bunker nearby to jump behind to evade enemy fire. Bunker knowledge is especially important in speedball where players know in advance where the bunkers are placed, where the flag is hung, and the position of the boundaries.
2. Keep open the lines of communication between your teammates. Communication is the most important element of team sports. Unlike boxing and the 100 meter race, teamwork is essential for victory on the paintball field. It is important to know where your teammates are on the field, for providing each other cover, and for making sure that you don't eliminate your own teammates in a friendly fire accident. Also, you need to communicate with your teammates to let each other now where your opponents are located. Communication is important for games like hipper-ball, airball and especially large scenario games where a general must lead hundreds to troops on the battlefield. If large style scenario games, the general must communicate to his officers, and the officers must communicate with his soldiers. When all men of the armed services work together, the army has a greater chance of winning the war.
   
   
   
   
3. Practice snap-shooting in practice, and then implement this new skill on the paintball field when you have become skilled at this technique. Snap Shooting is the practice of coming up out of your point of cover to take a few shots before quickly dropping back into cover. This way you keep your chances of getting shot to a minimum, and get an opportunity to quickly survey the field.
   
   
   
   
4. Listen to the sounds of your opponents. When is a secure bunker or cover point, sit back and try to hear the sounds of your opponents paintguns or when they are communicating with each other.
5. Exercise patience and try to wait for the right shot. Shooting wildly gives away your position, and wastes money and paintballs.
6. Make a mental or physical sketch of the paintball field that you will be playing on.
7. Come out of your cover point ready to shoot. Have your paintgun ready to fire, as you may only have a second or two before your opponent his you first.
8. You and your teammates should provide each other cover on the field at all times. When the leader charges up the paintball field, someone should have their back.
9. Try not to stay in the same place for too long on the field. A moving target is harder to hit than a stationary target. If you keep popping your head out of the same place, you may start to look like a duck in a shooting gallery.
10. Learn how to adapt to the paintball environment that you are playing in.