[Alex Elliott]

Hey,

So we just got a couple of players that have played paintball recreationally but have never really gotten into tournaments who are now part of our Class AA line. The hope is to eventually get them up to Class A. I thought I would share some of the things we do with them and hopefully other teams can share anything they do etc so we all get some good ideas

Be Nice to Them

We started having a designated "Head of new player development" who talks to people who are interested in joining the tournament team. When the new guys come to practice, this person says hello (because newbs tend to get ignored a lot of times), helps find people to lend them gear, introduces them to everybody and so on.

Recently I tried playing some other sports for the first time and it can be pretty intimidating so this has helped a lot.

Go Slow

I've been involved with paintball for 12 years now and been coaching for 6 so watching new players sends me into overload with all the things they're doing wrong. Best advice is to just pick one or two things per practice for them to work on e.g. holding the gun, stance etc.

Look at it from their point of view

Sometimes, when you explain stuff to them they will say they get it and then go play 5 minutes later and it's clear they didn't get anything. That's because they "don't know what they don't know". That's why sometimes it helps to have a player that's less experienced there to give suggestions. e.g. if you've been playing for a while you forget what it was like to learn the basics but people who are still relatively new still remember.

Also, things that are obvious to you aren't always obvious to them e.g. shadowing, locking down lanes("why would I shoot if he's not there") so you may need to draw it out, explain it a couple different ways, have them watch someone else and so on.

Positive reinforcement

How many times have you heard someone say: "I got shot doing that so I'm not doing that again". Obviously that's not the whole story. I try to break it down into:
-What they did
-How they did it
-When they did it

e.g. "You went from snake corner to snake and you put a guy in and went but you had two other guns on you so at least you got 2 out of the 3". That's huge for people that have just started playing because at least it lets them know they are making progress.

Have them play people just above their skill level

In my experience, just getting crushed by people much better than you over and over again isn't the best way to learn paintball (e.g. you never learn how to close games if you keep getting beat). We try to setup scenarios where the brand new guys are playing people that have been playing for about a year or so but with some handicap (e.g. 5 brand new versus 4 more experience). This makes it a challenge for both sides.

Include them in the team/group

This is more of a general team thing but we make it a point to go out and eat together after every practice. Also, some of the older guys go to the gym with the new guys, they tutor them if they're having trouble in school etc. This goes a long way on so many levels.

That's not everything we do but should be a good start.

Looking forward to hear what other people have to add.