Come out of the woods

Alright, stock class players, the time has come for you to step up and leave your camouflage at home. Put on your jersey and join the 21st century.

I love stock and pump play. I even enjoy playing in the trees sometimes, but speedball, hyper-ball, and concept fields are where paintball is headed. Don't get me wrong sneakin' and peekin' are fun when you can find people to play, but let's face it, most new players are cutting their teeth on bunkers that are not living things.

If we want to show the world that we are competitive with our "antiques", then we need to play on the same fields as everyone else. To take this idea one step further try being the front man. There is no shame in getting marked out; hey it's part of the game. But the look on a player's face when you bunker or gog them is absolutely priceless.

If you still don't feel comfortable, try running a tape instead. This will give you many great angles to shoot, and limit the number of sides from which your backside can get lit up.

Movement is the key to survival. Once your trigger-happy opponents figure out where you are at, it will not be very long before you are drowning in their paint.

Another thing to consider is semi-support. Staying near a "Spray and Pray" junkie is a great way to help keep heads down. Have your buddy bang the bunker while you move in for the finishing blow.

Finally keep your cool. At fields that I visit I usually here remarks such as "the guy with the pump is first on my list." or "Man that guy is just stupid.". When I walk off of the field with my armband still intact, I just smile.

This is not to say that you can't ever play in the woods. Or that if you wear camouflage that means you are a loser. The point is, that the sport of paintball is changing and we need to adapt to certain parts of it. We already buck the system with our old school style of play, but to get the interest that we need, to draw in new people we must prove that we can play and beat those who would simply outgun us.

God bless the semi-auto players, they've helped make paint cheap for the rest of us.

- Dan