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Communication

Almost every time I play, communication is lacking.

For some reason players whisper, or worse, don’t speak at all after the shooting starts.

The other team already knows that you are there once you start shooting so you don’t need to whisper. (Unless you are on your own with no teammate to help.)

Teams lose because of lack of communication. A team is not a team unless there is teamwork, and the essence of teamwork is communication. There are many forms of communication on the paintball field.

Hand Signals

Yelling

Radio walkie talkies (where allowed)

These are all usable and the best will be determined by conditions and rules. The one hard fast rule is communicate on the fields or communicate while you walk off as the losing team because you forgot the first part of this rule. Knowing how to communicate in a game and really doing it are two different things. You have to practice.

Let's look at a one way we can do this:

In this article I’ll cover the use of hand signals.

We will cover other types of communication in articles later on so come back and check often.

This can be used when sneaking up on your unsuspecting opponent. I said UNSUSPECTING because if he knows you are coming hand signals are not needed. Simply yelling to your teammates what is going on or is about to happen is fine. AGAIN--Once the shooting starts there is no reason to stay quiet.

The military uses hand signs more than just a few times and it has proven helpful in operations both simple and complex. The secret to this working is once again, practice. Everyone on the team HAS to know what the signals you are using mean. A simple set of signals worked out before hand and practiced each time you play just plan works.

So what signals do you use?

Closed fist held up means freeze.

Open hand motioned to the ground means get down. (Works for dogs too)

Pointing at your own eyes and them pointing in the direction of the opponent tells your team that you can actually see the opposing player.

Logic would say if you see 2 players then hold up 2 fingers and point in their direction.

More hand signals can be found by clinking on the button on the side of this page.

See an opponent walking? Point to your eyes, then in the direction on the opponent and then you can make a sign that looks like someone walking. (Two fingers held down and wiggles back and forth like legs moving).

Even if your team hasn’t seen it before they will most likely know. Most signals are common sense.

You can adjust anything you need to as long as your team knows beforehand what the signals are.

Next major point in hand signals is making sure your team mate saw the signal. This means you need to see them nod their head or give the "OK" signal so you know they are on the same sheet of paper you are. For your team to operate as a team, communication is the key. Watch other players that play on teams a lot. They are noisy, they talk, they signal, they communicate, and they win.

If you want to work as a team, then you must to communicate.