Building the Ideal Team
by Rachel Mork on Nov 18, 2008
You’ve formed your paintball team; you’re holding practices, competing in events, and maybe you’ve even snagged a sponsor. Your team is psyched to play, but you’re wondering how to build the necessary skills and cohesive teamwork. How do you choose the right players and train so your team dominates the woodsball field?
Team owner Billy Smith of Low Country Paintball in Ludowici, Georgia, and team captain Dan Saunders of Team Desert Edge, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, graciously answered the following questions about how they select team members, practice for competitive events, and improve skills.
Q: What Tryout Methods Work Best?
Ten Hours of Testing
Billy Smith of Low Country Paintball is the owner of the Black and Blue Crew. After more than 20 years in paintball, he’s found a strenuous ten hour-long day of practice helps him identify who has the heart for the game and who isn’t serious.
“After we stretch every muscle in the body, we start the day with a two mile run,” Smith says. “We follow that with 45 minutes of calisthenics directed by an ex-army drill sergeant, and then we play four hours of paintball.”
Four hours? You got that right. Smith makes sure the recruits compete in at least eight 25-minute games in those four hours.
Don’t head home after the four hours of scrimmages; Smith’s not done with you quite yet. He’s still going to require you practice your snap shooting, running gun practice, and pop shooting drills for two to three hours. At the end of all that, Smith lets you know you’ll have to do this same practice at least every other week.
“That pretty much weeds out the serious recruits from the ones who don’t have what it takes to play a SPPL-level game,” says Smith.
Smith’s secondary team, the Riff Raff, participates in the same practices. His farm team acts as a second string in case he ever needs to replace someone on the Black and Blue Crew.
Tryouts start at 8:00 A.M. sharp and can easily go until 6:00 or 7:00 in the evening. Don’t be late for tryouts or practices! Punctuality is another virtue Smith values in his players.
Two Months of Inclusive Mentoring
Dan Saunders is the captain of Team Desert Edge. His team doesn’t hold tryouts once a year. Instead, new recruits are welcome to enter into the two month long tryout program at any time during the year. “Every potential recruit is required to attend at least four practices and play in two competitive events before he or she is considered for placement on the team.”
The recruit is paired up with a mentor and required to shadow different members of the team during that two month tryout period so he or she can see how the team works and can learn specific skills. “This method works so well because there are no surprises for either the recruit or the team,” Saunders said. “The recruit joins the team with eyes wide open.” Saunders said it’s important the recruit sees firsthand how the team operates—as a team of equals, equally dedicated and equally respected. This also eliminates the excuse of a person saying he or she did not understand the level of commitment required.
The team also gets to evaluate the potential recruit during this process. If it becomes evident in an event or a practice that the recruit has too much ego to work as a team player, the team will recognize the problem before a person is an actual member of the team. Saunders is adamant that team unity is absolutely crucial. “If a recruit’s ego is going to get in the way of our team unity, we say forget it, no matter how talented the individual is.”
Team Desert Edge also has a second string team. Players who do not show enough dedication to the team may be shuffled to the second string team if needed. Likewise, hard-working players on the second string team can move up to the factory team if they demonstrate ability and dedication. Recruits spend time with players from all different levels of both teams while in the tryout process.
Saunders estimates they have four to five people in the tryout process at all times.
Q: What do you look for in Tryouts?
Hustle, Loyalty and Respect
“It’s not about showing how tough we are; it’s about playing the game with respect,” says Smith. He looks for “hustle, loyalty and respect” above all else when selecting new team members. “I look for a player who’s willing to put in the effort required. I’m looking for blood and sweat kind of commitment, and a lot of heart.”
Dedication
“We don’t recruit off of skill. We recruit off dedication.” But how does Saunders’s team do so well in the competitions if he doesn’t recruit off skill? “We trust that skill can be developed if the dedication is there.” Saunders believes that if you take a new player (assuming he or she possesses basic skills) under your wing and train him or her enough, anyone with enough dedication can rise up to be a valuable player.
Speed
“I’ll go out of my way to recruit somebody if the person’s got wings.” Speed is near the top of Smith’s list of valuable skills on the field. “I look for someone with the ability to move.” Move and shoot, of course. Part of the drill is running gun practice, where the recruit gets three shots per stationary target.
Competitive, but still Humble
Top of Saunders’s list is being willing to practice hard and learn from teammates. “A recruit has to be willing to be taught, and he or she has to be willing to work hard,” says Saunders. “We can tell after two months of interacting with a recruit if he or she will qualify.”
Q: Who Decides Which Recruits will make the Team?
Owner/Captain Collaboration
Smith estimates he makes about 70% of the decisions, while his captain makes the other 30%. Smith says this is because he’s in the unique position of overseeing the practices, events, and tryouts from his bird’s eye view, which gives him a better grasp on which player would best fill the holes in the team.
Riding on his twenty plus years of experience, he’s pretty confident he can spot talent when he sees it. “It’s a gut reaction,” Smith says. “I don’t use a point system or checklist while evaluating new players during the tryouts. I know who the right one is because of the gut reaction I get watching a player on that grueling tryout day.”
Democratic Procedure
Team Desert Edge has a unique system of government that sets it apart: it’s a democracy. Instead of one captain, the team has what they refer to as a “presidency”, which consists of one head captain (Dan Saunders) and four co-captains. The presidential body is elected by the whole team each year.
While Saunders and the four co-captains make the day-to-day decisions (when practice will be held, what drills will be practiced, who will train the team on what skills or tactics, etc.) the entire team votes to decide all big decisions, including which new recruits will be accepted on the team.
Q: What are your Tried-and-True Practice Methods?
Once a Week/All Day Practices
Players on the Black and Blue Team have the opportunity to practice every week if they’d like, but they are only required to practice every other week. Remember—those practices can be ten hours long!
Several Times a Week Practices
Saunders’s team is so big they have to schedule several practices. With over forty players, he schedules practices for three separate groups, though players are welcome to cross over (to a certain degree) in order to get extra practice time in.
Saunders allows the event for which the team is training to dictate what format and emphasis each practice takes. For example, when training for SPPL, he focuses on SPPL format in the many scrimmages. If the Ops Challenge is coming up, he switches the focus to urban warfare training.
In any case, the team divides and scrimmages against each other, then meets for an after action report. “All of the players participate in providing automatic and direct feedback as to what tactics worked or did not work in the scrimmage.” Plans are reformulated, and the scrimmages begin again.
Team Desert Edge has private practices for only the competitive players in addition to practices where all members are invited to play.
Focus on Building Endurance
Smith believes endurance is one of the keys to dominating on the field. “That’s why the practices are so long and intense. We’re building endurance so we can handle the events.”
Drill Intensive Practices
If Team Desert edge isn’t scrimmaging, they’re practicing drills. “We practice drills on a variety of techniques - snap shooting, pop ups, communication, movement drills - you name it, we practice it.” Saunders makes sure the drills are varied so they team improves in all areas.
Versatility Training
“Our focus is full-team training,” Smith says. “We want every player to be able to play any position at any time.” This means the drills are varied according to what needs improvement. Smith emphasizes there is no super star in the team; all players are equally valued and equally needed.
Rotating Instructors
Saunders believes people learn best when they teach others, so he assigns the responsibility of researching and teaching skills to different members, allowing them to teach the rest of the team. “If I see someone who needs to improve in an area, sometimes I’ll pick him or her as the trainer for the next week. This keeps everyone attentive and willing to learn from one another. It promotes unity.”
Q: Are Women and Kids Welcome on your Team?
Both Smith and Saunders said that although most of the team members were men, they each had women players who were equally tough, versatile, and swift. Both team leaders were equally positive about younger players.
Smith enthusiastically reported that the Black and Blue Crew currently has a 15-year-old girl on the team. “We’re all so proud of her,” Smith said. “She recently took on a five-to-one and came out victorious.”
Saunders has so many kids interested in playing that he’s started a junior team in addition to his second string line up. “We’ve got an awesome second generation of woodsball players in our junior team.” Saunders involves the parents of the kids who play on his teams, and all Junior team members must maintain a 2.9 GPA to play. Right now Desert Edge has 42 players in all, if you count the junior team, senior team, and the second string.
Final Words of Wisdom
Both Smith and Saunders emphasized the necessity of playing as a team of equals, with all egos checked at the door.
“We think of ourselves as ambassadors for the sport,” says Saunders. “We’re committed to teaching the most safe, honest, and fun way to play so other people can have the same wonderful experience we have had.”
“We’re competitive alright, but we still remember it’s all about fun and all about great sportsmanship,” says Smith. “Let’s play some paintball, and let’s play hard!”
Saunders summed it up pretty well. “We take paintball beyond just a paintball team. We’re committed to the game, but we’re also committed to each other.”
And that’s what being part of a team, whether it’s an established SPPL Elite squad or a small regional scenario team, is all about.
Rachel Mork is a freelance writer and total newbie to paintball. This article would not be possible without the wisdom of Billy Smith of Low Country Paintball and Dan Saunders of Team Desert Edge. Thanks, guys!