[T0talc0nfusion]

Ive been playing tournaments and practicing with the same team for two years ,but it seems now paintball isn't fun to me anymore and ill miss practices and not care. Tournaments also aren't very fun to me either anymore. Have any of you guys ever gone through something like this? If you have could you tell me what you did to make paintball fun for you again? Also i still enjoy playing but for some reason not at practice or in tournaments.


PS I was thinking about playing pump

[Gillymonster]

You just stated the answer.

I played tourney for 12 years solid.
Whenever the boredome set in, I always went back to the roots...Pump.
There are so many benefits to it too.

You'll improve your gunfighting skill.
Improve snapshooting.
Learn your markers trajectory finer.
Appreciate a well placed one shot kill.
Plus you'll save 1/4 on paint money and be able to devote that money to more pumps or playing more frequent. Serious.
Visit McarterBrown.com
You'll rediscover that true spirit which made you start in the first place.
The old school players are there with their marker collections that'll leave you drooling.
Ive played 28 years now and I rarely get bored. But I also play pump exclusively.
Good luck man.

Gilly

[Ramprat1972]

I have been playing for 22 years now. You need to change it up if its getting boring to you. Paintball is a great sport no matter what, and you don't have to do tourneys to be "in" the sport. Give it a short break, go play some rec ball or scenario.

Or even a better thought, use your experiences to form a younger team, coach and mentor them. Teach them what was taught to you. I enjoy coaching many times as much as I do playing, but it gives a different type of good feeling.

[Shawn_Savage]

I would definitely recommend trying pump like the others have mentioned. I play pump exclusively, including PSP practices and such, and it's so much fun for me. People always talk trash, games are always intense, but the pump in your hand feels amazing every time you prove those people wrong.

Coaching was another great recommendation. Take layouts, form breakouts, assign jobs, etc. It's surprisingly a rush and I thought it'd be really stupid (I'm anti-coaching, even now) but I liked it a lot.

[murph76]

Agreed.....change it up a bit. Playing rec or big games is a nice change up. Not worrying about winning losing, meeting good people and having fun will certainly bring the like of the game back.

[cww516]

pick up a pump, ditch the tourney scene, and go play in the woods with some rentals and walk-ons. actually play to have fun, not for competition.

[fAllout_oMen]

Go play a big game or scenario. Go out to the woods. Go to a field that has woods or some kind've other scenario/urban/etc field. Play something besides speedball. It gets boring playing exclusively on airball fields. We use the same bunkers, same basic field set ups (snake on this side, doritos on this side...etc) and it can and will get boring. Gotta switch it up, or find something worth playing for. I was getting pretty burnt out w/ the tourney scene until i got to college, and started playing for OU, now I'm back into things full swing. I'm plannign on attending 4-5 big games this summer with my first gun, a pmi blackmaxx. Go buy a cheap mech or a pump and go play.

like someone previously said, you'll get better-and who doesnt want to improve their tourney game?

[foreverpsycotic]

Step out of tourney ball then. When paintball becomes work, it is time to switch it up. You work for money, not for enjoyment.

[phlemoe]

what we did was played at our field and played different styles... like set guns at start stations and we started at the 50. We ran to get our guns and then tryed to break out very interesting also we mix'd things up really strange too. When a game got to a 2 on 1 or 3 on 1 someone would jump in to help out the 1 BUT only with like a pod and hopper of paint. We just came up with really goofy game types. Oh yeah I have been playing since 86

[Coenen]

I agree 100% with what has been said in this thread. I put down my machine-gun and started playing pump, in the woods, with players who could probably care less whether or not their team is winning. It's been huge fun. As a special bonus when the "serious" players come out to the field I'm still a better player than they are b/c playing pump has allowed me to keep improving my game despite the more relaxed setting.

Tournament paintball is a big investment, financially, physically and emotionally. If all you do is play tournaments and practices, at one time or another you're going to tap out each of those three resources. You've got to decide what the right course of action is for you to "recharge the batteries" so to speak.

One of my favorite things to do is hit up a field from when I first started playing. I drag a couple of my buddies (who don't generally play) with me and we get in the walk-on group and have a great time. That one trip to that one field is usually enough to remind me of just how much I love this game.

As someone else suggested, coaching is also fun. We used to play 5v5 "chess" with walk-on and party groups at one of the fields I reffed at. We'd each take a team and set a breakout and game plan and see how it played out. Half the time, half the kids wouldn't do anything near what you told them, but it was still a blast. You can do much the same thing with a walk-on group of young players by holding down the back center and directing traffic for a game or two. That way the kids actually go down field and learn something rather than watching "that one really good guy" kill everybody every game.

Pretty much, if you're feeling flat, do something different. Get a pump, go to a different field, play a new position, coach, go play in the woods with a rental 98 custom...just whatever it takes to make you feel good about paintball again. It probably won't take much, and the benefits will be well worth it.

[crazyboarder9999]

this happened to me, i played pump for a little but also i went national, i dont no if you are in the position to do so but it made everything for me much more fun. just the event alone was great, meeting new people, building more of a family with your team everything, so if you dont wanna stay just pump try that or a bigger tournament than just a day long local, one where you have to travel for the weekend or something

[Darthdoug]

Tournament paintball is a competition, practicing is part of that competition. Everyone has a limit as to how much competition they enjoy. Some handle losing better than others, and paintball tournaments are different than many other sports like football/baseball/softball/basketball, etc... in the percentage of the time you win.

You join a league for any of those and chances are you'll win half your games, as there are two teams in each game. A paintball tournament is 6-40+ teams in your division. Your chances of winning are small. Sure you'll win some games/points but overall, if you can't handle ending up at the middle of the pack and not 'winning it all', it may not be the kind of play for you.

So, mix it up. Play rec ball, scenario ball, pump, whatever it might be. Something were you won't feel bad about 'losing' and as long as you got to talk to friends, shoot people, and get a good workout in, you feel good at the end of the day. I recharge by playing scenarios a few times each year, and it's a great way to recharge me for tournament play.

[Spike511]

Play with these bad boys:

http://www.actionvillage.com/010-434-0002

[GrimXtk]

I like bringing new friends to the field its fun a lot of times.

Although one thing I am starting to notice is I need to invest in a cheap electro of some sort for them... friends ALWAYS hate playing with a tippman when everybody else has electros and want to use my gun which I don't trust people with usually (somehow every time I let people borrow stuff I get it back broken/dirty/etc. etc.)

[Junior.de]

Yes i would suggest pump play as said before. It will improve your game, it changes your play style, saves you money, more relaxed.

[smokeage]

Originally Posted by Spike511

Play with these bad boys:

http://www.actionvillage.com/010-434-0002

Teammate has one. It seriously can shoot almost twice as far as my g3 and a friends AC-sniper. Long-balling of course.

How does that make sense? I dont know. But it was hitting the kill-house at our field from the staging area when NO ONE has ever even gotten close to that thing lol.

Instant Apache status.

And to stay on topic, just do what everyone else has suggested. Mix it up.

[Purple_people_eaterZ]

Coaching younger kids is always fun.
we have a 3man series down here and it's always fun to coach the young kids who've just started in tourney play.
(I don't play pump but I have messed around with one before in woodsball and it's a ton of fun, and cheaper.)

[C.A.L.]

take a break from the tournaments a little bit, and play some rec-ball. one of my friends did that. hey stopped playing tournaments for the same reason, because he wasn't having fun anymore. now he plays rec-ball and he's loving every minute of it

[Papa Smurf SNY]

Just a question. Did you play tournaments exclusively on air ball fields or did you play some in the woods. Woodsball tournaments require an added skill set of deep analysis of an asymmetric field. A field may be balanced, but maximizing winning chances from one flag station may require a different strategy when playing from the other station.

I also agree that slowing down the rate of fire by playing pump or mechanical semi with gravity load hoppers makes for more movement and a more dynamic game.

If you have played tournament woodsball, however, then a I agree that a break from tournament play is in order.

[Dc5turbo]

Originally Posted by T0talc0nfusion

Ive been playing tournaments and practicing with the same team for two years ,but it seems now paintball isn't fun to me anymore and ill miss practices and not care. Tournaments also aren't very fun to me either anymore. Have any of you guys ever gone through something like this? If you have could you tell me what you did to make paintball fun for you again? Also i still enjoy playing but for some reason not at practice or in tournaments.


PS I was thinking about playing pump

i quit for 4 years. and started back up last week.