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Thread: Pushing our Sport to New Limits

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    Pushing our Sport to New Limits

    I thought I would share an article I just wrote with you guys. I would love to hear some feedback on the last part, I know its a touchy subject for some, but you are the designers of the equipment. Let me know your thoughts

    Pushing our Sport to New Limits

    In the past I have talked about how lessons can help grow paintball by legitimizing it as a sport, answering questions from parents and help educating people about the sport’s nuances and become educated spectators.

    But here is another reason for a formal paintball lesson’s structure.

    The easiest way to explain it is go take a moment on Youtube and watch some sprinters, high jumpers or long jumpers in action in the 2012 Olympics.

    Then dig around and look at old footage from the same sports from the ‘30s.

    You will notice in the high jump in 2012 athletes are doing a back flip over the bar. If you go back 50 years ago or earlier, they are doing the scissor kick.

    The sprinters in 2012 are using blocks and get right down in a horizontal starting position. Jesse Owens in 1936 started from a crouching position with his feet dug into sand.

    You will also notice a huge difference in style with the long jump.

    If you take my usual favorite sport for comparison, skiing, the difference in style, technique and abilities is even more outstanding.

    Now let’s take a look at paintball.

    For a moment, forget the equipment, we will get back to that at the end.

    Formal instructions break down the techniques of a sport into small pieces and allow new players to focus on each piece in an accelerated fashion.

    Simply put, a player who learns through a proper lesson structure will arrive at a high level of skill in a shorter period of time than a player who has to struggle on their own with a few pointers from others.

    Think about all the highly skilled sports and professions, if you want to achieve the highest level, you need to go to school or have a professional level of instruction.

    Yes, Speedball at its highest level does have coaches and formal instruction. But take a look at the other end of the paintball spectrum, the novice.

    The novice doesn’t have any form of formal instruction. A novice player must struggle and learn the slow way. When and if they get to a high level, then they might get some proper instruction.

    That’s backwards.

    Now here is the kicker….

    High jump, sprinting, long jump…and a whole lot of other sports are always pushing their limits. Athletes break new records and boundaries all the time.

    Sports like football, hockey, baseball become more entertaining to watch because athletes are pushing the boundaries of skills and ability and that’s exciting.

    By offering formal instruction from the novice level up, our athletes will arrive at paintball’s highest level sooner.

    Then players will have more time to come up with new techniques …. new starting stances, new moves…then those will be added to the formal learning structure so others will learn and start to push the sport’s boundaries again.

    Just like high jump, sprinting and long jump.

    Now let’s get back to equipment.

    Undoubtedly paintball gear has improved tremendously since 1981 and in doing so has changed how we play the sport. Imagine how paintball will change if First Strike rounds become the standard.

    With a formal lesson’s structure, equipment improvements will accelerate even faster but with player techniques in mind. Instead of the equipment improvements, like how many balls a marker can fire, dictating how a player plays.

    It’s like how a starting block in sprinting was created because sprinters were starting so low down to the track. It was not the other way around were starting blocks were created and sprinters had to figure a way to use them.

    In the end, a formal lesson’s structure will help paintball reach a higher level, pushing players and exciting spectators….and growing our sport.
    Last edited by gmore70; 04-24-2013 at 06:47 PM. Reason: didnt like a paragraph

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