I was reminded again that training always trumps equipment as two two rounds exploded into me; one hitting my exposed right knuckle and the other against my shin. I raised my hands as the two pre-teens that had been randomly showering my position with hundreds of rounds screened “we got him”. Paintball and its airsoft counterparts are both very painful reminders that I always need more training and a whole crapload more cardio work. In this case one of the .68 caliber paintballs left me with a sore knuckle and bleeding bruise all because I leaned out for a shot with my leg exposed and forgot to keep my leg in and angle the barrel out instead of the whole gun. The net was I exposed my entire hand and leg when taking the shot.
I know not to do this, I have had a lot of training on not doing this and been shot with a lot of paintballs and airsoft rounds as a reminder, but I was tired, hot, tired and sweaty. The previous two hours of running paintball around paintball ranges in 98-degree heat. Discomfort and fatigue were showcasing that I needed a bit more muscle memory training and my cardio certainly played a factor in all that. The net was that despite all twelve of us on the field having exactly the same equipment and me with boatloads more training, two random shots from over 100 rounds spraying my position showcases a momentary lapse in the moment. That and if I would have moved instead of letting my ego keep me in that position. If they would have been real bullets, I would have been out of the fight or at least a lot less effective.
My fatigue was a factor and a lot of that really could be pinned on my Covid bod which unfortunately has gained weight and had far less exercise that it should have had since all this started. A higher level of fitness training would have allowed me to focus a bit better even after being tired instead of dropping by from a more aggressive pace, focus more clearly, and not just want to finish the game to grab a quart of Gatorade.
Training Trumps Equipment - Fitness, Tactics, and Equipment
All this noted, a top tier paintball gun that would have allowed me to shoot twice as fast and with twice the accuracy would not have helped me get shot less. A whole lot more cardio and more tactical muscle memory would have kept my hand and leg behind cover.
The caveat here is that we all had good high quality loaner paintball guns that ran perfectly, so for equipment you do need the best, the most accurate, or the most featured, you just need reliability that will keep working. Skip the budget stuff, buy quality, but most importantly get training and if possible get out there on the field to to test yourself once and a while.