How to Find Practice Partners
Whenever you decide to make your transition from other forms of paintball into tournament paintball, one of the harder tasks you may find yourself up against is finding practice partners to begin to develop tournament skills with. Many fields will already have experienced tournament teams that practice there regularly, but unless they’re specifically helping you improve, you won’t learn much from constantly losing to them over and over. That’s why you need to try and focus on finding newer tournament players of similar skill level to yourself.
Talk to the Field Manager
Few people at the paintball park are going to know more about who plays at the facility than the field manager. They’ll know what teams/individuals are helpful, and which ones are there just to overwhelm inexperienced players (these are the ones you’ll want to avoid). Hopefully, the field manager can make an introduction and get you quickly inserted into the local tournament community that exists there.
Check Social Media
Many paintball parks have social media presences on Facebook and other platforms and they can be good resources for information on teams and individuals that are looking to setup practices, train and improve together. Don’t be shy, reach out, and see where it leads.
Show Up and Play
If neither of the first two options pan out, there’s always the final solution of just showing up to the field and putting yourself into practice sessions. You don’t need to show up with teammates or friends, as different versions of “pickup games”, where there are no organized teams and rather just random groups of players put together for tournament games, will start to form. Get yourself involved in as many of those as you can and you’ll naturally start to meet the regulars that play there often, which will generate more tournament practice opportunities for the future.
Do you play at the SC Arenas at the World Famous SC Village Paintball Park? Check out our Facebook group to learn more about upcoming practice schedules!