seigenjikou
"restriction; limitation"

LIMITATIONS

We all have limitations. Many of us have more than we care to admit to (not me, mind you). The key to limitations is to know what your's are and start working within them. In a conversation with a co-worker (a fellow who I recently introduced to paintball) we discussed the limitations we encountered and how we could go about either working within them, or by pass them altogether.

There are two types of Tactical Limitations: Environmental and Personal. Let's see what they are, exactly.

ENVIRONMENTAL LIMITATIONS

Your Environmental Limitations are time, space, weather, terrain and numbers.

TIME.

You have a finite amount of time, each game, to get done what you have to do. That amount of time lessens as the game goes on, obviously. I have noticed that the real push (from either team) doesn't really occur until a ref shouts out; "Two minutes left". Then the paint flies and folks start playing more aggressively. They are pressured into doing something, ANYTHING, so they will not lose the game

SPACE.

You only have so much room to manoeuvre. The field size is directly proportional to the amount of space you can use at any given moment. Your actions on a large field are different that those on a small field.

WEATHER.

This plays an important factor on a few of your Personal Limitations. However, the weather is a significant factor to consider when you play. Hot, cold, wet, dry or what have you. When the weather changes, so do your tactics.

TERRAIN.

Most times, terrain will dictate where you can move, how quickly you can move and determines the ranges at which you engage the opposition. Thick brush cannot be played the same way as a speedball field. A village cannot be played the same way as a sparely wooded field. Think of yourself as a river, you must flow along the path of least resistance. Terrain forces you to follow it's contours.

NUMBERS.

The number of teammates you have and the number of opponents you have on the field greatly affects how you play. The tactics you use when you have superior numbers are not the same as when you are facing multiple opponents by yourself.

PERSONAL LIMITATIONS

Your Personal Limitations are mental capacity, physical state, technical level, experience and luck.

MENTAL CAPACITY.

I'm not talking intelligence, here. I'm talking about your ability to access situations, think on your feet and make decisions in an environment known for not allowing you time to think. At times you have to act quickly, other times you have to be cunning, at all times you have to outsmart your opponent. If you take luck out of the equation, the player who makes the first mistake is usually the first one to leave the field. Unless that player has the ability to think quickly enough to get themselves out of the situation.

PHYSICAL STATE.

Young or old, athlete or couch potato, your physical state directly influences your game. These are limitations you must accept (even if only to yourself). You can only run so fast and so far. You can only carry so much equipment comfortably. You may need to pace yourself (which means you're old, like me) or you may be able to play all day at top speed (which means you're under 30).

TECHNICAL LEVEL.

This is not as important as you might think. Technology is only a tool, it should not be used as a crutch. Even players with seemingly inferior equipment can master this game. The trick is to know how your equipment works and become innately familiar with it, both on and off the field. Also things like the effective range of your marker will determine your actions. You may will to move differently and act accordingly if your opponent has a superior technological level to yourself.

This also applies to the class of paintball you are playing. Stock, pump and semi share common tactics but each has their own unique style of play that does not work in the other classes. In stock you can move more as it is more difficult to be pinned down than if you were playing semi class. In other words, you will be forced to play differently as you move from one class of play to the next.

EXPERIENCE.

This is usually the deciding factor in many games. Experience makes up for a lot. However, experience is not the be all and end all of this game. I have seen fifteen year veterans of this game taken out by players on their first day on the field. Your experience, or lack thereof, is not something that will make you invincible nor vulnerable. You must be aware, however that it dictates what you do in the game. Team work makes up for lack of experience. Experience makes up for lack of team work.

LUCK.

Do not discount luck. However you should not rely on it either. Understand that sometimes you're the windshield and sometimes you're the bug. Luck is a fickle mistress and not one you can trust. You can try everything you can and follow all my advice, but if your luck runs out, that's it my friend.

CONCLUSION

So now you're wondering what the point of all this was. It's quite simple really and I'm sure you've managed to figure it out. Knowing your limitations helps you work within them. So many players cannot understand why they cannot do this or that. They wonder why they are having a hard time mastering the game. The simple truth is that they do not understand the limitations set before them and thereby do not know when they have "crossed the line" where they have put themselves in a situation whereby the limitations will cause them to be defeated.

You must remember that these limitations happen simultaneously and they each effect the other in some way. For instance, you may have the Technological Limitation of having a marker that shoots further and more accurately than your opponent, but it means nothing if the Terrain Limitation does not allow you to have the space to take advantage of the situation.

One thing I have learned in paintball is that your limitations are not really limiting. Even a fat, old smoker with a pump (that's me) can play this game, and reasonably well, when they understand that they must work within the limitations presented to them.

All these Limitations create the unique situation you are in AT THAT TIME in the game. This is important to remember because it is the situation that dictates what tactics you should use. The situation ALWAYS dictates the tactics.

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Purei katai! Purei hayai! Purei seefu!
(Play hard! Play fast! Play safe!)