What is the mental aspect of paintball

[Carbon]

A really broad question but, what is in your opinion, the mental aspect of paintball?

The phrase get thrown around in other sport like Baseball (pitching vs batting), Hockey ect ect. Now, im pretty sure there is a similar mental chain of thought that is present all sports.

What genral mental aspect does paintball have in common with other sport?

What are paintball specific mental aspects to the game?

[Thourne]

I guess the most obvious ones would be the rec baller vs the tourney baller. These 2 would be the biggest in this sport.

From there there would be the sniper point of view (pov) in woodsball (I know you really can't snipe, but people believe this). There is also the stock class/pumper pov or the old guy pov depending on how you might define this. I personally belong to the pumper ranks. It is a completely different game. You know every game you go into you are out gunned so your skills will be more important than your gun. I still play all other styles as well.

Other people will be able to add more but that's a start.

[ß?µ£ §mµ®ƒ]

Kill or be killed, you cant just stand there and be a pacifist on the field you gotta fight to win cause if you don't you'll lose

[deathstalker]

Semi-serious answer: How to get away with cheating.

Serious answer: How to get a better angle on your opponent than he has on you.

[tyrion2323]

When it comes to tournament-styled ball:

Some of the mental aspects include trusting your teammates, which can be difficult; keeping your head during a tough time; remembering the basics and working from there...

Jacob

[cdawg]

One of the early-on challenges of the game involves overcoming the fear of actually being hit with the paintball.

[Mag Master 04]

Play paintball like you would play chess...Evaluate every possible outcome. With experience the decision making process will speed up.

[Carbon]

Originally posted by Mag Master 04
Play paintball like you would play chess...Evaluate every possible outcome. With experience the decision making process will speed up.

Hmm thats a good way to describe one aspect of the game. Always trying to think 2 steps ahead, and knowing what to do when the first step is a bad one.

[dave_p]

the mental aspect is that everyones too mental. you people think too much. just play and have fun.the rest will come with experience.

[Methylphenidate]

i have to agree with dave on this one
if you take time to think while you are on the feild you are dead every thing you do has to be a reaction. the other team gives you an opertunity you have to react to it. and with time you realise what the correct reaction to certain situations is and thats makes you better.

[trains are bad]

An important one is agression. Or maybe holding your ground...

It's a lot like when I used to race MX. If you allow people to steal your line they will. If you have the attitude that "I'm keeping my line or we can both crash", people don't push you. It's alost like a pecking order.

It's about keeping the upper mental edge. If your team has made the other team uneasy or cautious or threatened, you've won half the game. If the other team thinks they can beat you and your team is worried, then it's a self-fulfilling prophecy thing.

It's about confidence and intimidation.

[robdamanii]

I think it's all the mental aspects...

You need the broad external facet to be able to survery the field and see where your opponents are.
You need a broad internal facet to be able to bring your body into a position of readiness to shoot.
You need a narrow external to focus on your targets and to aim your marker.
You need a narrow internal facet to focus on pulling the trigger and shooting out your target.

Of course, there are other examples, but you're switching back and forth so fast it's almost impossible to identify one facet at any one time.

[ShooterJM]

You have to focus on the situtation.

You have to KNOW you're going to do something (ie if you don't KNOW that you're going to make the 50 on the break, you're not gonna).

[rkjunior303]

I think with tournament ball, its very similar to poker.. You gotta try to get to know your opponent (and the field - or game) just as well as yourself. If you know what they would do, you can act on it first.

[Mag Master 04]

dave_p and Methylphenidate: I have to disagree... if you go out and just shoot your brains off and dont pay attention to your surroundings and yur curent positioning "your dead" With experience, your decision making process will naturally get faster. just think when you first starting playing, you probably got out alot and thats because you didnt pay attention... there is a mental side to everything, take wrestling for example. you dont have time to think in a wrestling match but with practice and experience your reactions will come at a faster rate without having to think as much. its all relative.

[ShooterJM]

I agree, for instance if you're gonna move to a bunker, there had better be a reason for it. It should have a better angle, draw fire, be a set up for a run through, something. You can't just move willy nilly.

[Carbon]

Thats another good aspect of the game: Being able to discern whne and where to be pro-active and/or re-active to the given situtation.

[steveo356]

a fun way to show ur team where the otehr team is stand up like a newb n rush strait across ur side of the feield tape to mtape sure they may hit u but they always pop out

[Tyger]

I play zen paintball.

There is no past.
There is no future.
There is only the now.

At Skyball we modified it a little, after we got our photos from Skirmish.

There is no past.
There is no future.
THERE is my bunker.

-Tyger

[Mag Master 04]

Zen is the ultimate way of life, nothing in the past present or future matters, just accept things as they come and just chill with it. rock on with Zen:D

[Sir_Brass]

The mental aspect is what helps make paintball so intense. It's what makes it more intense than those huge frag fests in Quake.

The mental game is a match of outthinking and out-maneuvering. You have to have a general plan of action when the game starts, and your objective is to keep to that general plan as much as possible, but be ready to judge when that plan needs to be abandoned and a different plan come up with on the fly.

It's faking our opponent out by randomly shooting at him out of different sides of the bunkers. It's making a move while your opponent has his attention momentarilly distracted. It's sneaking around on one of the flanks to break the opposition's defense while they engage the main force.

It's pure judgement of when to do what and in what manner.

The mental game is tactics, judgement calls, and playing peek-a-boo with the opposition. It's using your head and making calls based on what the situation is.

Without the mental game, paintball would be boring. It isn't all just reflexes and instintive snap shooting and running and whatnot. It's the ability to use those physical skills at the right times in the right manner based on the situation that you're in that helps define the basic mental game of paintball.

[Carbon]

Yeah i dig the Zen paintball too. The moment of pure zen for me is the moment the whistle blows to start the game, just that microsecond everything is evertyhing. A snapshot is a nice zen moment too.


It's pure judgement of when to do what and in what manner.

The mental game is tactics, judgement calls, and playing peek-a-boo with the opposition. It's using your head and making calls based on what the situation is.
True.

[~WarpedRT#2~]

Originally posted by Thourne

From there there would be the sniper point of view (pov) in woodsball (I know you really can't snipe, but people believe this).

This was taken from Dictionary.com

snip·er ( P ) Pronunciation Key (snpr)
n.
A skilled military shooter detailed to spot and pick off enemy soldiers from a concealed place.
One who shoots at other people from a concealed place.


It is possible to be a sniper in paintball. It doesnt have to involve a scope.

[Shykicker]

I preffer the fung shui aspect to paintball. Incomming paintballs cause bad chi, and therefor we must send a return volley to yin the yang. :D

Seriously though? It's such an intensely dynamic sport, and I think that's the main appeal. There are all kinds of mental and physical angles to approach it from. Strategy, timing, patience, adrenaline. I think it's all about self-moderation. Acting on an impulse is fine, so long as you know what impulses to act on.

[Carbon]

Yeah i dig that almost paradoxical approach to it. Go on impulse but, know what impulses to go on.

[Miscue]

Field control and spatial advantage. Get your players into position such that you have more control - and you must use solid tactics to utilize strategic advantages that a superior position gives you. Maximize your mobility and firing angles, and limit theirs. It forces them to play your game.

It is 100 times easier to shoot people in the sides of their heads than to win a fire-fight.

You can win some games with trigger fingers, but you can dominate with your feet.