Paintball: Insider Tips for the Ultimate Team Building Experience
David Wilson asked:
You want a great team building exercise for group? Look no further than the sport of paintball. In recent years, paintball has evolved beyond its somewhat paramilitary-esqe roots.
In fact, today’s paintball games have almost no resemblance to combat sports, with the player wearing brightly colored jerseys, and playing on fancifully construct fields. Instead, paintball has evolved into a fast paced, team oriented sport that can be enjoyed by everyone.
In fact, it is this fast paced, high tension feel that makes it such a team building exercise. Nothing brings people together like a little pressure and competition, and paintball is excellent at creating these feelings in your group. In order to win a game of paintball, your teams must work together, communicate, and be willing to take risks, all great attributes to instill.
Of course, the first thing many worry about when choosing paintball as a team building exercise is the pain involved with getting hit by the paintball. Don’t worry about this. While I’m not going to tell you that getting hit by a paintball traveling at 300 feet per second feels great or anything, but it doesn’t hurt that bad either.
In fact, in the excitement of the game, you’ll feel much more pain from the fact that you got hit and are out of the game than you will because of the pain of the paintball impact. The anticipation of getting hit adds an element of excitement to the game, which you don’t get from many other activities. In short, the impact is nothing to worry about at all.
When you have your team and assembled, and show up to the field, you will almost certainly go through a safety orientation of some sort. Paintball isn’t that dangerous, but if you aren’t careful, it is possible to get hurt. In particular, you need to keep your goggles on at all time when not in designated safe zones. Also, you need to make sure that your gun isn’t shooting faster then the speed allowed by the field. You will be given your full set of equipment, and instructed on how to use it.
Once all this is done with, you will be taken out by a ref to the field, the rules of the game will be explained, and then you start playing paintball! My number one tip for playing a good game: take risks. Since you’re an inexperienced group of players, most people will tend to sit behind a bunker and wait for the action to happen. If you take the opportunity to be aggressive and move up in the field, you will probably do quite well, as people won’t be prepared for your quick action.
If you’re playing against more experienced players, you won’t be able to do this as well, but with a recreational group, its a brilliant strategy. You also need to work together as a team. That is the point of all this, right? Be sure to communicate, let others on your team know where the players on the other team are. The team who communicates well will have a severe advantage over the team that doesn’t.
I hope this gives you some idea of why and how you use paintball as a great team building activity for your group. Because it appeals to our adventurous side, and forces good teamwork, it is a very effective option for your group development efforts. Call a field near you today.
Caffeinated Content
You want a great team building exercise for group? Look no further than the sport of paintball. In recent years, paintball has evolved beyond its somewhat paramilitary-esqe roots.
In fact, today’s paintball games have almost no resemblance to combat sports, with the player wearing brightly colored jerseys, and playing on fancifully construct fields. Instead, paintball has evolved into a fast paced, team oriented sport that can be enjoyed by everyone.
In fact, it is this fast paced, high tension feel that makes it such a team building exercise. Nothing brings people together like a little pressure and competition, and paintball is excellent at creating these feelings in your group. In order to win a game of paintball, your teams must work together, communicate, and be willing to take risks, all great attributes to instill.
Of course, the first thing many worry about when choosing paintball as a team building exercise is the pain involved with getting hit by the paintball. Don’t worry about this. While I’m not going to tell you that getting hit by a paintball traveling at 300 feet per second feels great or anything, but it doesn’t hurt that bad either.
In fact, in the excitement of the game, you’ll feel much more pain from the fact that you got hit and are out of the game than you will because of the pain of the paintball impact. The anticipation of getting hit adds an element of excitement to the game, which you don’t get from many other activities. In short, the impact is nothing to worry about at all.
When you have your team and assembled, and show up to the field, you will almost certainly go through a safety orientation of some sort. Paintball isn’t that dangerous, but if you aren’t careful, it is possible to get hurt. In particular, you need to keep your goggles on at all time when not in designated safe zones. Also, you need to make sure that your gun isn’t shooting faster then the speed allowed by the field. You will be given your full set of equipment, and instructed on how to use it.
Once all this is done with, you will be taken out by a ref to the field, the rules of the game will be explained, and then you start playing paintball! My number one tip for playing a good game: take risks. Since you’re an inexperienced group of players, most people will tend to sit behind a bunker and wait for the action to happen. If you take the opportunity to be aggressive and move up in the field, you will probably do quite well, as people won’t be prepared for your quick action.
If you’re playing against more experienced players, you won’t be able to do this as well, but with a recreational group, its a brilliant strategy. You also need to work together as a team. That is the point of all this, right? Be sure to communicate, let others on your team know where the players on the other team are. The team who communicates well will have a severe advantage over the team that doesn’t.
I hope this gives you some idea of why and how you use paintball as a great team building activity for your group. Because it appeals to our adventurous side, and forces good teamwork, it is a very effective option for your group development efforts. Call a field near you today.
Caffeinated Content
The Paintball Marker Has An Interesting History
Samantha Kay asked:
The Paintball marker of today has definitely come a long way since the introduction of the Splat Master years ago. The term itself “paintball marker” is relatively new. It tends to be more marketable then the words “paintball gun” to parents who have teenagers begging to get started in the sport.
Funny though true, the first paintball markers where used on cattle ranches. In a large herd of cattle where cows all bare very similar markings, it can be very hard to single one out of the herd. This is where the paintball marker proved to be a valuable tool. This was done usually to separate a sick animal from the herd. Once a cow had been marked, it was easily picked out of the herd.
From cattle ranches to playing fields, the sport of paintball evolved and continues to do so.
The Splat Master was one of the first markers available. It was a pistol made totally out of plastic. It was powered by small 12 gram Co2 cylinders and could only hold ten paintballs at a time. The rate of fire was also slow due to the fact the marker first had to be tilted back so a paintball would drop into the firing chamber. It then had to be cocked by pushing a button on the back of the handle.
Although even playing the game with this type of marker was extremely fun, it wasn’t long before players wanted something better, and they got it with the creation of the pump action paintball marker. The pump marker had a much faster rate of fire and could be modified with upgrades to improve performance.
Another great change that came with the pump marker was the introduction of metal parts that could be replaced. With older plastic markers, when parts wore out, a new marker was needed. Also the upgrade of “constant air” came about. Instead of using the 12gram Co2 cylinder, which was good for about 15 shots, the gun was equipped with a bracket that held a 12 ounce Co2 tank which was good for about 200 shots.
Constant air was a real breakthrough for the sport and was no doubt a huge stepping stone for the next step in the paintball marker evolution, which was the semi-automatic marker. Compared to the pump markers, these guns had an incredible rate of fire. A player with a good trigger finger could pull off nine shots a second! With fire power like that, the invention of large capacity electric hoppers came onto the scene. These hoppers were mounted on the top of the guns and could hold up to 250 paintballs. They also were equipped with a small rotating arm inside the hopper which helped feed the paintballs to keep up with the much faster rate of fire.
The semi-automatic marker was truly a groundbreaking event for the sport, but the question still hung in the air would there ever be full auto?
That was question was soon answered with a paintball marker called The Angel, but what made the Angel a real marvel is that is was computerized. It was equipped with a small motherboard inside the handle of the gun. This allowed the user to select several modes of fire, including fully automatic.
Today’s markers have followed the same road map that the Angel laid out, and we can only wait to see what the next generation of paintball markers will bring.
Caffeinated Content
The Paintball marker of today has definitely come a long way since the introduction of the Splat Master years ago. The term itself “paintball marker” is relatively new. It tends to be more marketable then the words “paintball gun” to parents who have teenagers begging to get started in the sport.
Funny though true, the first paintball markers where used on cattle ranches. In a large herd of cattle where cows all bare very similar markings, it can be very hard to single one out of the herd. This is where the paintball marker proved to be a valuable tool. This was done usually to separate a sick animal from the herd. Once a cow had been marked, it was easily picked out of the herd.
From cattle ranches to playing fields, the sport of paintball evolved and continues to do so.
The Splat Master was one of the first markers available. It was a pistol made totally out of plastic. It was powered by small 12 gram Co2 cylinders and could only hold ten paintballs at a time. The rate of fire was also slow due to the fact the marker first had to be tilted back so a paintball would drop into the firing chamber. It then had to be cocked by pushing a button on the back of the handle.
Although even playing the game with this type of marker was extremely fun, it wasn’t long before players wanted something better, and they got it with the creation of the pump action paintball marker. The pump marker had a much faster rate of fire and could be modified with upgrades to improve performance.
Another great change that came with the pump marker was the introduction of metal parts that could be replaced. With older plastic markers, when parts wore out, a new marker was needed. Also the upgrade of “constant air” came about. Instead of using the 12gram Co2 cylinder, which was good for about 15 shots, the gun was equipped with a bracket that held a 12 ounce Co2 tank which was good for about 200 shots.
Constant air was a real breakthrough for the sport and was no doubt a huge stepping stone for the next step in the paintball marker evolution, which was the semi-automatic marker. Compared to the pump markers, these guns had an incredible rate of fire. A player with a good trigger finger could pull off nine shots a second! With fire power like that, the invention of large capacity electric hoppers came onto the scene. These hoppers were mounted on the top of the guns and could hold up to 250 paintballs. They also were equipped with a small rotating arm inside the hopper which helped feed the paintballs to keep up with the much faster rate of fire.
The semi-automatic marker was truly a groundbreaking event for the sport, but the question still hung in the air would there ever be full auto?
That was question was soon answered with a paintball marker called The Angel, but what made the Angel a real marvel is that is was computerized. It was equipped with a small motherboard inside the handle of the gun. This allowed the user to select several modes of fire, including fully automatic.
Today’s markers have followed the same road map that the Angel laid out, and we can only wait to see what the next generation of paintball markers will bring.
Caffeinated Content