Paintball Communication Drills

Paintball is a sport where two teams compete in a wargame scenario, using weapons that fire small pellets of paint. Paintball is and requires effective communication between all of your team members to ensure success. You can use drills to ensure that your team understands your communication codes and develops the increased team cohesion that you will need to win.

  1. Positioning Drill

    • Position your team carefully. A standard paintball team has between five and 15 people, depending on the size of the competition you enter and the availability of other players. Assign one of your members to communications and position her behind the rest of your team. If your team is larger, more than ten people, you can position a second person in the communication position to guard your primary communicator and to fill in if your opponent eliminates her. Practice repositioning on the field, keeping your communicators behind your line of paintballers and safe.

    Communication Codes Drill

    • Develop specific codes that you can use to pass information to your team. Include your team's kills, your team's losses, the amount of time you have left, any failures in team equipment, position changes and identification of your opponent's location. Keep your codes short, allowing your communicator to call out codes quickly without drawing too much attention from your opponents. Sit down with your team and have your communicator call out these codes, while the rest of your team takes turns saying what the command means. Practice this until your team understands each command.

    Multiple Communication Drill

    • Establish a second set of communication codes for your front line team members to use to send information to your primary communicator. Avoid verbal codes, as these can give away your team member's positions and risk your front line. Instead, develop hand signals for your front line team members to use, such as a thumbs up motion to inform your team that you spot opponents on the move. Practice these motions, and have your primary communicator practice translating them into verbal codes for the rest of your group.

    Silent Drill

    • Practice silent team assaults, using no communication from any team member. Instead, practice reacting to each other's movements, shots and positions. Communication is vital to paintball success, but this drill teaches your team to read each other's non-verbal communications on the battlefield. This includes watching where team members are firing, and scanning for opponents in that area. During an actual tournament, this drill translates into team cohesion.