Prior to writing this, a friend asked me what topic I would tackle in this month’s blog.  After I explained what I thought it would essentially be about, he somewhat laughed.  He asked, “So what brought you to this topic?”  I said I was recently watching a tournament where over 70 flags were thrown in one day on one field where most were deserved.  This, of course, elicited a chuckle as the gentleman knew exactly what I was talking about because he had sat next to me that whole event.  He then asked, “What will the lesson be?”  My wife, listening in, answered for me; “It won’t be a lesson, it will be rant.”  Now, I love my wife but yes, there will be a lesson… at the end of the rant.

Who knows what a practice all-star is?  Meh, silly question as I am sure you all do.  Chances are you have either encountered several over your paintball career, you know one or five personally, or, quite possibly, you are one.  They are a lot like a toxic avenger but at the same time a little different.  (https://zenandtheartofpaintball.com/2017/11/27/toxic-avenger/)

Let’s see if we can define it –

A practice all-star is a paintball player who never feels a hit, never realizes paint broke on them, effectively never gets shot or bounced and always shot you first and just has mad skills….

But only at practice.

See, their all-star powers are limited to practices and practices only.  They have their element, that environment where they shine.  It’s usually a paintball field with no refs or when others aren’t watching.  That is very important distinction as their powers are quite heightened during this time.  However, when they get to an event, those marvelous skills seem to magically disappear.  That incredible run through that they did 4 times at practice, or maybe making the snake every point and never taking any heat while the other peasants can’t make it, those amazing down body points they broke open with an awesome move, the awesome gun fights they always win…well… they never seem to materialize at the actual event.  But why?  Why does this happen!!!????

Because they actually suck.

They really did get shot at practice… a lot.  They weren’t honest with themselves (or you) before, during, or after practice.  And because they weren’t honest with themselves or you, their prowess of paintball thuggery is miraculously gone!  Just like that they are reduced to their true capabilities which amounts to the fiery intensity of a urinary tract infection (you can’t see it but you certainly know it’s there…burning on the inside).  The irony is, when their awesomeness doesn’t materialize, they are often (and this is funny) pointing a finger saying the other guy or team is cheating!  They blow up like a man with a defective metal detector in a live mine field.  They are the vampires of paintball and not just the sucking part. They are sucking the fun out of practice but when they are under scrutiny and when it counts they hiss and reduce to ash sucking away a win with penalties or overall suckiness.

Like a homeless man under house arrest, their teammates are confused and don’t understand!  Why are they losing?  Why all the penalties?  Ah the life of a paintball practice all-star must be exhilarating, just not exonerating. Why do this to yourself or the team?

As a coach, it is my job to get the players and the team to their next consistent capable level and then, beyond.

Dishonest behavior might be understandable, if not justifiable, when large sums of money and high-profile reputations are at stake (pros).  But what about the weekend warriors in our sport, our Practice All Stars?  What drives them to their descent into dishonesty on the field?

There was a study done at the University of Pennsylvania that is cited in the book Friend and Foe: When to Cooperate, When to Compete, and How to Succeed at Both, that states it is a combination of personality traits combined with external pressures that lead to the creation of our Practice All-Star.

Now, before we go too far down this path, understand this is not meant to condone or excuse any particular behavior but to possibly explain it.  I simply want to understand it (and you should too) so we can combat it as a coach/mentor/teammate in an effort to ensure players are performing at their best.  Yes, I believe in honor.  And when I started looking into the psychology behind all of this, I thought I already knew the answer: weakness.  Turns out, there is more (but weakness is part of it).  Most is obvious but let’s take a look:

Cheating is usually justified based on the situation.  The director of the Ohio Center for Sports Psychology, one Jack Lesyk, Ph.D, says, “One person might not feel bad about fibbing on their taxes, but would never consider taking a shortcut in a race. Others might be law-abiding, but view recreational sports as silly games where cheating would have little impact. This mindset is about how much they can justify.  If a runner has been training for 10 years to make a Boston Marathon qualifying time, and knows they’re going to be just over the cutoff unless they take a barely noticeable shortcut, they’re facing a lot of temptation.  They could make the choice seem “right” in their head.”

Translation – you failed on your goal and rather than fail with dignity and honor, you were weak and compromised your principles by cheating.

“In athletics there’s always been a willingness to cheat if it looks like you’re not cheating. I think that’s just a quirk of human nature.” -Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Admittedly, I haven’t met a paintballer to date who wasn’t super competitive.  But let’s say I did.  This person would be less likely to cheat or take the risks that come with cheating. But most paintball players, at least that I have met, (most…not all) are incredibly competitive and have that “winning is everything” mentality.  If that is part of your “identity”, if you expect to win, then I would wager that winning is way more important to you than average Joe schmoe.   In other words, if you believe you’re a better player or team than your opponent, but the game isn’t going your way, chances are you are more likely to cheat to maintain your reputation or your “identity”.  Maurice Schweitzer, one of the authors of the study done at the U of PA that I mentioned earlier puts it pretty bluntly, “If people perceive a sport as a game or as a challenge to outsmart, rather than as a true measure of ability, they’ll look to cheating as the smart, winning tactic.”

Translation – I can’t do it on skill alone so I will rationalize myself into believing its part of the game and therefore I am superior, not inferior, for doing it.

Also a translation – now you’re a tool and weak.  And no one wants or likes a weak tool.

Here’s where it gets interesting from a sports psychology perspective.  See if this makes sense:  a Practice All Star who cheats is quick to justify their cheating as a matter of fairness. Here’s the logic: subconsciously or maybe consciously, they believe they have some disadvantage, and therefore, by cheating, they’re “leveling the playing field”.   How many of you have been at a practice and you KNOW the other team is cheating?  And how many of you reacted by figuring, well, if they are cheating, we will too! Yeah… you’ve done it.  It’s the ol’ “everybody else is doing it” herd mentality.  This can lend itself to and create a culture of, well, quite frankly, dishonesty.  Like socialism or communism, you eventually devolve into chaos.   Just know that both are stupid ways to govern and the people who believe in those systems are destined to fail.  They are also imbecilic.  Life is hard especially if you’re stupid.  Now, hopefully, none of you reading this are that weak willed.  Got a little off topic there… where were we?

Translation – You can’t win so you will sacrifice your dignity and honor to do so. 

Also translation – you’re a weak tool without the skills to hang.

Caveat – you’re trying to harm my family or friends or remove my 2nd amendment rights, I will not be fair, I will cheat, and you will die.

Here’s the thing about a Practice All Stars – they aren’t usually concerned with the long-term consequences of their actions.  They don’t weigh the consequences because if they did, they might be deterred by the embarrassment of being caught and labeled.  See, they are more interested in the short term benefit.   But we see you.  We know who you are.  That’s right, most practice all-stars are known to be exactly that.  And most have no idea they have been pegged.  But you have been.  And we all secretly laugh at you.

#laughatthesuckbag

Some will even admit to their transgression after the fact and wear it like a badge of honor.  But it isn’t.  Once you have that rep…  Some people will take one step, realize they didn’t get caught and it wasn’t that bad, and then another, and then another, and then BAM! They’ve dug themselves into a reputational hole they can’t climb out of.

Translation – you suck and everyone knows it, they just aren’t telling you.  But thank you for the laugh.

Then there are the Practice All Stars who occasionally show up like a snickers bar commercial. Its not necessarily the norm… They get physically exhausted and inhibition goes out the window.  As their mental capacity deteriorates, and frustration and exhaustion set it, they begin to battle what they want to do and what they ought to do.  “If I could just win without effort”

Translation – yep, you’re still weak.  Have a snickers and move on.

“I would prefer even to fail with honor than win by cheating.”  – Sophocles

Okay, so end of rant.  Here’s my point.  Don’t be a practice all-star.  Stunning… I know.  Try this instead.

At practice, when you get hit, come out.  If you are preparing for an actual event whether local, regional, or national, and you take a bounce?  Come out.

If you do NOT come out (perhaps you were shot on the break but want to see how the point goes), TELL someone afterwards.  But don’t make this a habit.  If you are having to go to the other team and say, “Yo you shot me when I was here.” Or “You bounced me when I bumped to here” and you are doing this after every point, you are abusing the opportunity.  Just start coming out.

Why, you may ask, should you come out on bounces at practice?  You are probably saying to yourself, “I wouldn’t come out on a bounce at an event?!”  Yeah, I know but follow me here.

If you take a solid hit in practice, someone put a good shot on you, yes?  Okay, trust your teammates and see what they can do without you.  It’s practice after all and your team will find itself in these situations sooner or later anyway.

Or maybe you are shooting cheapo practice paint that are marbles but shoot straight.  Okay, do you think tournament paint will be that hard and bounce too?  Probably not.  Come out and see what your team can do without you.  Oh, and take note of what got you shot.  This is how we improve… by recognizing when, where, and why we were BAD.  Recognition of when we don’t perform as well as the other guy leads to improvement.

See, you should always do something because you really want to do it. If you’re doing it just for the goal (winning?) and don’t enjoy the path (practice, prep, hanging with your boys, learning), then I think you’re cheating yourself.  In other words, how will you ever know how really good (or bad) you are?

Let’s break this down into the most rudimentary and uncomplicated way I can for you.  It all boils down to this.  Ready?  Here it is.

All good is hard.

All bad is easy.

Whether it’s dying, losing, cheating, or just plain ol’ mediocrity… it’s all easy.

Stay away from easy.

Maybe you do, maybe you don’t.  I just felt like it needed to be said.  I promise you WILL improve once you know WHERE you stand.  If you’re a Practice All Star, you will never know where you really stand.  And chances are, you won’t get very far anyway.  And people are laughing at you.  Thanks for the laughs by the way.

Okay – end rant – point made –

Be water my friends!

“The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.” – Sun Tzu

MARTIAL

adjective

1. inclined or disposed to war; warlike:
2. of, suitable for, or associated with war or the armed forces:
3. characteristic of or befitting a warrior:

Did you know that the term “Martial Arts” actually came from Europe and not Asia?  The term actually comes from Latin and is translated as “Act of Mars” for the Roman god of war.  And now you know.

But what does this have to do with Paintball?  I was talking with a group of friends on a team I guested with recently and we were talking about how to effectively execute on the paintball field.  I used the analogy of my past training in the martial arts in an attempt to explain how we should think about each point on the field.  I made a mental note of the conversation and decided it would make a good blog post.  You tell me.

I think the argument can be made, and I believe most would agree, that paintball is a martial sport.  Similar to Boxing, Kickboxing, Wrestling, MMA, and the like, the only difference is that paintball is a team based fighting sport.  When fighting in the ring, we want to train ourselves to recognize and create openings in an opponent’s defense and hit clean causing as much damage and trauma as we can.  Conversely, we want to make sure we don’t make a wrong read of our opponent and take damage. **(Maybe American Football would be a better analogy for my Alabama readers?  Everyone has their job to do for a particular play to develop.  A missed assignment by a linemen or back can spell disaster for the play/team.  But I think we can all agree that, when players do their job, things usually go well.)**

Let’s break it down to a street fight analogy.  The “street” would essentially be your physical surroundings/environment or in the case of paintball, the layout.  The “Break” in paintball would your body positioning in relation to your opponent.  With your environment being the field layout, it will determine how you move to position and engage your opponent.  The ground you take on the break or rather, the bunkers you position in, determine whether or not you are fighting from a position of strength, one of disadvantage (loss of players on the break) or an even playing field.  Of course, this is all in relation to the “stance” your opponent took.

Your game plan is the “style” or “technique” you wish to engage your opponent with.  Similar to the jujitsu practitioner wishing to take opponents to the ground or utilize an opponent’s clothing to their advantage, the game plan needs to have a purpose, a goal.  Do we think their guns are weak snake side? Do we want to take the snake on the break and put two guns behind it to push that side, or utilize the center more in order to lock a side down, etc.?   All of this needs to be committed to.  The game plan is your attack, it is your defense, it is your footwork…

Reading your opponent is a necessity in any fight and it is every bit as important in paintball.  Being explosive, quick, feinting, and countering your opponent by understanding what he shows you is vital.  It is the reads we make that ultimately determine how we will react.  What did the opposing team show you on their last break out, during their mid game, how they finished (hopefully you scoped this team prior to playing them, an excellent advantage)?  Individually, did you see a specific player-position drop on the break and if so, did you already know what you needed to do once this happened?  When you block a punch or kick and counter, paintball is no different.  Blocking could be your lanes on the break, zoning up, and acquiring dominance on a player.  Attacking is getting that kill, making that aggressive move into the 50, gaining position and drawing guns.

Getting the picture?

If you want a physical embodiment of this, hopefully you had an opportunity to watch the webcast of the NXL Cleveland Open this past weekend.  An excellent example of punch/counterpunch, reading an opponent, creating and taking openings would be the AC Dallas/Houston Heat game.  Watch the first 2-3 minutes of the 1^st point (the first point went over 5 minutes).  The 4^th point is another excellent example of punch/counter punch.  Sure, there are more examples from the webcast but I was watching that match when I wrote this…

Like fighters, we have to train our bodies and our minds.  ** (Like football players we have to train as a team, we have to train and understand our assignments, so that when the time comes and we are mixing it up, we know what and how to do our job)** Roll Tide/War Eagle

I’m going to shift gears a bit hear and hammer something I have talked about several instances before.  Training individually is smart.  It needs to happen.  But training as a team is every bit if not more important.  Remember, there are several components to creating a successful team.  Team is the most operative word in paintball.  Everyone has a job to do and everyone needs to train accordingly.  But creating that environment in order that the team has this capability is paramount.

Teamwork is an incredibly underutilized trait in many teams.  It needs to be recognized and supported.  A good paintball team will set a goal and before they just blindly chase it, they should develop tasks that must be performed in order to improve and move towards that goal.  It makes sense to develop skill sets but you have to identify who has those fundamental abilities already.  A good team will always maximize individual talent and leverage that with an environment that focuses on positivity and team cohesion.

Now, in order for your team to reach its maximum potential, you need to make sure you have chosen the right people.  We have talked about this before.  You need like-minded people in regards to winning and work ethic, people who understand the goal of being competitive.  But at the same time, try to find those that will complement each other.  Choose those who will support the culture you are developing.

When your expectations have been communicated and everyone is on the same page, now everyone needs to pull their weight.  I can’t tell you the number of times I have played with a team and when the match was over, certain people grabbed their own stuff and bailed.  This is unacceptable.  You are all in it together, from the coach to the pod runner, you all have stake in the team.  So act accordingly.  No one is above the other.  Help each other.  Foster the team environment.  Manage expectations from the get go so you don’t have a diva on the team.  Make sure everyone has an assignment and mix it up.  Trust me; you will be happy you did.

You will want to see results, right?  So you will need to track progress of individuals and the team as a whole.  In a perfect paintball team environment, everyone gets along, everyone pulls their weight, everyone helps everyone, no one gets angry, everyone improves, everyone plays and you win.  But this is the mythical unicorn.  It doesn’t exist (if it does, I want to come play for that team).  Sure, there will be differences and that is okay.  It can make the team stronger in some instances.  But for the most part, you need to make sure there is a way for things to get worked out.  A forum where everyone is heard and differences are addressed.  Otherwise, it will build up and explode.  Have that outlet pre planned.

Before this gets too long, it is important to remember that, when your team wins, exceeds its goals, or moves in a positive direction, be sure to recognize that!  Build each other up.  It pays off, I promise.  The more successes, the more drive to have that feeling again, the greater the comradery, the greater the need to feel that success again.  This builds upon itself until you have an environment where there is a constant motivation in the camp.  Good stuff.

All of this is to say that, when we train appropriately, when we have the right work ethic, when we have the right team mates, the right leadership… then a paintball team has all the advantages and tools it needs to compete and win.  Like Bruce Lee said, “A good martial artist does not become tense but ready. Not thinking yet not dreaming, ready for whatever may come. A martial artist has to take responsibility for himself and face the consequences of his own doing. To have no technique, there is no opponent, because the word ‘I’ does not exist. When the opponent expands, I contract and when he contracts, I expand. And when there is an opportunity, ‘I’ do not hit, ‘It’ hits all by itself.”

Be water, my friends.

-Bianca

There is a topic I have seen popping up now and again on several paintball forums I frequent.  I have stayed out of responding for the most part because I figured someone out there in the vast expanse that is the internet would have the right words at the right time for the person inquiring.    The topic, in some shape or form, has dealt with discovering the right mental fortitude for paintball.  “How can I overcome this…” or “What do you feel is the best way too gain confidence in…”  These questions appear to be more frequent than before.  It reminds me of a quote from Socrates: “Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.”  Good stuff.  But it wasn’t until I saw one or two inquiries regarding these topics from older individuals that made me decide to write this particular blog.  Conventional wisdom states that older athletes should already know the path to success, right?  Not necessarily true and it never hurts to be reminded.  I believe we have touched on this topic a few times before but it never hurts to revisit.  Especially with the new NXL season just a few days away.
We all know the age old sayings “Practice makes perfect” and “it’s 90% mental”.  There is good reason why these sayings are repeated generation after generation, it’s because they are true.

Practice those skills… but don’t underestimate the power of hair.

How a person views and thinks about competition is very important in regards to how they will approach their practice, performance and results. All of these things must be in sync just as the mind and body must be in sync if one expects to do well.  If your mind and body are in sync then you are no doubt performing at your peak.  So let’s think about that for a moment.  Why would you not train both mind and body?  The body is easy.  It’s the mind that gets you.  So let’s discuss it.

You have read on this blog before that excuses such as “The ref made a bad call” or “it was raining and muddy”, etc. are factors beyond your control.  But you have also read here that, what are you doing on YOUR end when it comes to things you CAN control?  How hard are you working to address strengths and weaknesses in your game, in your team’s game?

How many times have you heard someone say, “Just wasn’t our day” or “we couldn’t get into a rhythm”?  If you have played competitive paintball for longer than an hour, you have heard it at least 8,000 times.  What people are really saying and don’t even realize it is, “The other player/team is better than me/us because they worked harder and found the balance of their physical and mental game”.  In other words, you got outworked.  Nothing to be ashamed of… but take note.

One thing I have prided myself on (and should probably stop) are my pep talks before a game or a practice.  They are usually quite violent and wrought with disturbing adjectives and descriptions of what we will do to the day, the other team, what have you.

How I imagine my guys will feel after my pep talk

However, these pep talks don’t instantly make my guys into the greatest paintball team on the field that day.  The idea/goal is to put them in a positive mind set, one of a team.  We control our destiny and we will not be denied (blood, gore, filth and farth!).  However, the fact of the matter is, developing the right mental attitude started way back before the first practice.  The right attitude is just as important as the right technique in a gunfight or any competition for that matter.  You have to train your brain. . .

For those of you who have been posting on those forums I mentioned earlier (hopefully you are reading this) about preparing for an event or preparing your team for an event – you need to start well before the event.  Ask yourself, what do I want to achieve?  Don’t go weak or simplistic and simply say, “I want to win!”  How do you want to win?  Set definitive goals at different levels.  Get specific.  This can focus you on specific tasks.  This will then help you develop a path to reaching your desired outcome as it will point the way on what needs to be done in order to accomplish each goal. Once you understand and recognize these steps, you can begin working on them.  It will become quite clear how much time will be required to reach them, too.

Here’s the thing. . . If you are already doubting yourself, either quit and do something else or get in the game for real.  You either want it or you don’t.  There CANNOT be an in-between.  If you are serious about being competitive, then get after it. Believe in yourself.  Believe you can do it.  Leave no room for doubt. The moment doubt enters, it will seep and fester and will detract from the goal.  Have no doubt because there is no doubt.  If you don’t believe you have what it takes, then you don’t.

This isn’t to say that if you don’t feel confident, it can’t be developed or that your doubt can’t be overcome.  It can.  Most people are naturally skeptic and often times that translates into their very own abilities.  That’s okay.  Taking the doubt in one’s head and beating it into submission is exactly what we are talking about here.  Just like the physical discipline it takes to get your body strong, there has to be the discipline it takes to believe in oneself.  Bruce Lee was a master of this.  136 lbs of pure mental and physical tenacity.  The right attitude means having the right mental fortitude and recognizing the belief in oneself.  It goes back to when we spoke about small successes.  Build it and keep building.

Now, back to the practice makes perfect train of thought.  We all have work to do to get better or to maintain a skill set or to peak.  We have to give 100% EVERY time we train.  If we don’t and just go through the motions, we aren’t accomplishing anything, especially from the mental aspect.  Remember the other old adage, “Practice like you play”?  Again, good words to go by.  Push the envelope in practice so that you know how far you can go come game time.  You want to play a slow layout aggressively?  You better practice it aggressively and do that a lot so come game time, it is second nature.

Understand that it’s natural to have some anxiety.  The key to beating it, however, is to focus on the task, not the outcome.  When you get caught up on outcome, you open yourself to reinforce doubt.  Remember, there is no ROOM FOR DOUBT.  There is only getting better.  “It is like a finger point the way to the moon.  Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all the heavenly glory.”

“Don’t think! Feeeeeeeeeel…”

For example, when drilling on the break laning, I focus on several different factors: my position on the box based off my teammates planned breakout; how quickly I can get my gun into play and paint downrange; my foot work and mechanics of my draw; where my lanes need to be in relation to the job I am doing, where I am in relation to immediate threats on the break, etc.  If all I focused on was whether or not I hit the guy on the break, I could get discouraged rather quickly.  The guy didn’t break wide… so my lane didn’t shoot him.  But I can have small successes; For example, perhaps my job on the break was to take away the wide runner on the D side.  I bring my lane up but the runner saw the paint and goes short.  I didn’t kill my guy… but then, I didn’t have to as I still accomplished my goal.  Success.  This is why scenario training in paintball is so important.  Play 4 on 2’s or 3 on 2’s.  Practice timed heavy pushes where one team has to win the point in 45 seconds.  By doing these things, you learn to recognize them in real game situations and know what has to be done.  You have created an environment where you know what it takes to succeed and therefore, when confronted with the situation, are therefore comfortable.  There is no “unknowing” or unfamiliar territory.  It is not outside of your experience and therefore not foreign.  There is nothing to fear.

The last thing I want to leave you with this month in regards to the right mental attitude is this – Disappointment and failure to accomplish goals will happen.  It is how you decide you wish to face these defeats that will determine future success.  Losing when you know you put in the work is the worst.  We have all been there, some of us more times than we care to admit.  But you must continue forward.  Some of the biggest names in sports will always tell you about how they learned from their failures.  They didn’t let their losses define them.  They didn’t let those short comings stagnate their drive to improve.  And you shouldn’t either.  Not if you want to get better.  Listen, we will all have a day where things go wrong but if we learn from it, we will be that much better.  Cliché’?  Sure.  Fact?  You bet.

You want to be good, then work hard at improving your mind and body.  You want to be great, then you better strap yourself in and embrace a life of mental and physical tenacity.

Noah Gallaway has the right attitude. What’s your excuse?

Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t.  Remember, your mind is the greatest weapon.

 

Be water my friends.

PS  ENJOY THE WISE WORDS OF THE MAN HIMSELF IN THE VIDEO BELOW

Previously Posted

This past weekend, I was out at the Prime farm a little before 7 am. The plan was to have a relaxed fundamental drill day with a small contingent of the team which would allow a lot more one on one time. I like days like this because we can really focus on individual players and their techniques, get into the minutia of body mechanics and work muscle memory. Not only did we execute drills that emphasized quick target acquisition (short, medium and long range) but also footwork, hand switching and plenty of cardio. As we continued to perform these drills, we did them at a relatively fast pace. As we continued to push, I began to see a slight decrease in performance. Every so slight… someone wouldn’t keep their gun up, more cant to their gun than normal, a stumble from a surefooted player or they would stop in the middle of a drill to check off on something. Fatigue appeared to be setting in. Or perhaps, it was already there….

World Cup is coming and there is no doubt, based off Virginia Beach, it will be a dog fight. So, we need to prepare for the scenarios we may find ourselves in. Playing tired can lead to mistakes and mental errors. Sure, physical fitness training, good sleep, even good solid field walking can and most certainly will alleviate the issue. Bruce Lee use to say, “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough: we must do.” So let’s do that here. But understand that, being “tired” doesn’t necessarily translate to just physical fatigue. As stated earlier, that can be addressed through a proper regimen of workouts. I’m talking mental fatigue.

The mind does crazy things when it is tired and obviously paintball players (even though some of us may believe we don’t make mistakes and are legends in our own minds) are not immune. Physical fatigue can lead to mental fatigue and vice versa for that matter. Perhaps you had a particular stressful week at work, maybe you received some bad news or finances are tight, family issues, relationship issues, whatever the matter may be… these things can all lead to mental fatigue.

One of the things you learn when training in gun defense (we’re talking real guns here… the “bang bang” someone is dead kind) is you want to train in a “real” environment if you can. When I can, I like to elevate my heart rate to mimic the stress levels of a potential engagement. I will do a jog or wind sprints or even jumping jacks to get the blood really pumping and then see if I can effectively square a target. We want to make ourselves uncomfortable so that, God forbid, if we do find ourselves in a gunfight, we are not in too unfamiliar territory.

This is why I like to utilize drills that emphasize a multitude of skill sets. As I stated at the beginning, we did drills that emphasized, targeting, footwork, hand switching, gun stability and cardio… but we did it all in the same drill. I like drills that have a lot going on because they make the brain process a lot more than “hit the target” or “go here and do this”. It’s not just physical training but mental training. Any drill that can mesh the two and can change in dynamic in the middle of it is a great tool. Call it mental push- ups… or don’t.

What are some of the drills you do that would fit in this category? Can’t think of any? If you can’t, you should know that you are a little behind the curve.

Try this one: Set up 3 targets in a “V” shape on one end of the field. These targets will each be assigned a number. For example, the back left target of the V is 1, the point of the V is 2 and the back right corner of the V is 3. Then, at the 50, set up two cones about 30 to 40 feet apart from each other. What you will do is run left to right between the two cones and vice versa 4-6 times. While you are doing this, a teammate calls out one of the numbers. You must put a stream of paint on that target on the run. This drill works cardio, footwork, (horizontal movement), hand switching, target acquisition and listening/comprehension.

See what I am talking about? There are several others you can utilize that “train the brain” so to speak. If you feel you have a great drill that “trains the brain”, post it up. Would love to know and understand what others do to improve their mental strength.

“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” – Aristotle

“The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue; courage is only the second virtue” – Napoleon

Ole Aristotle and Napoleon probably knew a thing or two about it, huh?

Be water my friends,

Bianca

Previously Posted

“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” – Bruce Lee

It is no secret that I am a Bruce Lee fan. Perhaps fan isn’t the appropriate word. Disciple? Anyway…

What is he trying to tell us? To me, it is perfectly clear. The man who practices 10,000 different kicks only one time each would, theoretically, have a wide range of knowledge about kicking. However, his execution of each kick would be terrible. His technique would, more than likely, be incorrect and ineffective in a real life scenario. Translation: He gets his butt whooped.

Now, someone who has practiced one kick 10,000 times would almost certainly have a mastery of that one kick. He would execute it correctly and appropriately. He would know all the ways to deliver it in a real life scenario and I would imagine would have a much better success rate than the 10,000 different kick fool. Translation: Maybe doesn’t get his butt whooped. Instead whoops opponents butt.

But what is Bruce really trying to get at with this statement? The operative word here is “practice”. Let me put it in simpler terms so some of you millennials understand it (and some D3 and D4 guys… you know who you are). Two guys practice free throws. One of them practices his shot 10 times and then goes home. The other guy stays there and practices his shot 1,000 times. Who do you think will have the better free throw the next day?

Again, not to harp on this topic but if you want to be good at paintball, here’s a newsflash… you have to practice. You have to commit to a regimen that is either equal to or greater than your potential opponents. You have to do it better and smarter. Ask yourself, how much do you want to win? If it is a driving goal of yours to be successful at something whether it is as a paintball team or as a professional nose picker, get your butt out on the field and get at it. (Keep the nose picking to yourself)

Don’t just run points. That isn’t practicing… it is but it is practicing how not to get better. That is the 10,000 different kicks guy. I am not saying you shouldn’t run points. What I am saying is you should do MORE than run points and scrimmage. You should constantly strive to stay sharp in the fundamentals: snap shooting, laning, run and gunning. No one likes to run drills but those who do them are always a step ahead of the competition. You should practice situational drills. You should practice communication drills. You should do muscle memory drills. You should practice, practice, practice.

I will make this one short because I have to get back on FB as I have seen there are many sheep who are in need of saving from their political ignorance and lack of logical, rational and critical thinking (I blame the new math… driving kids straight to the streets). I will leave you with another quote from Bruce. I want you to apply it to your practice schedule. He said, “If you always put a limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”

Boo-yaa…

Be water my friends,

Michael Bianca

Prime Paintball

Previously Posted