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So you want to start a competition paintball team? Lets look at some of the things a new team needs to consider, one of the first things you should do is decide on the captain. Before everyone raises their hand, lets look at what a captain is and what his duties will consist of.  First of all, a good captain needs to be committed to the team and demonstrate a good
attitude. You need a working knowledge of the sport, so watch movies, go to a lot of
tournaments, and of course read, read, read. One of your first decisions is to assign the
proper people to their positions on the field. I let people make their own suggestions here,
because you want a player to feel comfortable. You dont want a front man that cant
make good decisions with a million paintballs pounding his bunker; a better place may be
in the back where he has a little more time to think. As a captain, do not hesitate to switch
people around if you notice a player is better suited to play a different role. With everyone
in their new positions you want to concentrate on drills that will improve communication,
accuracy, and technique. Instill the notion that you need to work as a team and not as
individuals, even the best players need support to win games.  Let me say at this point, that a captain is not a baby-sitter. Your team should help you
coordinate practices, schedule tournaments, and set up an account to pay monthly dues.
DUES? Yes dues, every serious team needs to contribute to an account so that the cost of
tournaments and travel are somewhat offset. Our team has a secretary that tracks the
account and keeps everyone informed on any information they need. Be sure to put into
writing the terms and rules that you want your team to follow, this will eliminate any
problems further down the road. It is much easier to pay 30 to 40 dollars a month, than to
pay hundreds of dollars out of your pocket the week before a tournament. A captain also
should think about getting a couple of sponsorships to help the team, you can refer to one
of my previous articles for help on this matter. As you can see, being the captain is not as
glorious as you might of thought.Lets talk a little about the people that will probably make up your team. Often, teams are made of mostly relatives and friends, but what about that final person that you may need to complete your rooster. One good idea is to have a tryout, get all the perspective players together and see how they fit on the team. Look at the positions you need to fill and chose accordingly, if your 5-man already has a couple of backmen, why add another? 
After you narrow the field down to one or two candidates, invite them to a few practices
and see how committed they are. Take as much time as you need before you make them
an official member of the team. Constantly adding and losing players is bad for moral and
makes it harder for a team to get comfortable with each other. It is a lot easier to tell
someone they are not what the team is looking for, rather than kicking them off the team a
few months later. One of the key roles of a captain is to control the roster, you do not
want to have a 5-man team with 10 players, try to keep the number around six. On the
same note, there may be times you may have to kick players off the team, for the good of
the TEAM. You cant sacrifice the TEAM to spare one persons feelings; youre a
paintball team, not a nursery.The responsibilities that a captain will have at a tournament are numerous. Take the captains meeting for example, this is where the referees go over the rules of a tournament and talk about how the tournament will be ran. It is a good idea to have a couple of the other players in charge of setting up the canopies, tables, and banners, since you will be busy for the first hour of the tournament. We have a person in charge of getting all our markers chronographed, filling pods, and tracking game times. At a tournament everyone should have an idea of what needs to be done and do their part. With everyone cooperating, this will allow ample time for everyone to get his game face on.  A captain is a leader, friend, and S.O.B. all wrapped into one. You will have to decide
who will be sitting out games during a tournament. Be consistent, fair, and play the best
players for that day, even though you may not be one of them. Try to play the other
players during an easier game and hope they come out of their slump. As long as you set
rules and follow them every time, you should be fine. Make team decisions as a team,
with your vote being the tiebreaker. Doing this will help eliminate but youre the
captain that I hear so often. Being a captain is mostly all work and no glory, but if your
team is going to be one of the best, you must have teamwork, good attitudes, dedication,
and a good captain.ICEMAN Sudden Impact SuddenImpact.org Return to Articles Thanks to PaintballChaos.com for Pictures |