From: apskato@vax1.mankato.msus.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.paintball
Subject: Re: Player positions/attributes??
Date: 14 Nov 92 00:36:08 GMT
Organization: Mankato State University

In article <86965@bcsaic.boeing.com>, tazumar@bcsaic.boeing.com (Ronald Tazuma) writes:
> What are the various PB player position types and what are some good
> tactical strategies for deploying a certain team configuration.
> 
> In basketball they have the 5 positions 1-point guard 2-shooting guard
> 3-small forward 4-power forward 5-center
> These types of players are deployed in many combinations in a given
> situation.
> 
> I was wondering if the game of PB has any similar well-defined positions
> and what combinations work in what situations.
> 
> I know that PB has a term "point" and "flanker" and maybe "guard" but I
> haven't seen much written on it or what responsibilities are required of
> each position. 
> 
> (Actually, I would like to see more stuff on tactics with some
> definitions behind what position the player was trying to play.  It's
> been pretty quiet on this news group lately.) 

It's been my experience that the KISS principle is the best way to go (keep it
simple stupid).  Generally, the team I play on lives by the "go with the flow"
philosophy and it has served us well.  The extend of our planning and
positioning normally involves finding out how many people will attack and how
many people will defend (we have found that the best defense is a good offense
and only put a few people behind just in case the "offensive" people really
bung things up).  
        So I guess you could call people "guards", but the situation
changes so fast that a "flanker" would turn into a "guard", etc. I suspect some
teams are more organized and actually have some sort of chain-of-command, job
titles, descriptions, etc., but to me it starts turning into too much like work
and less like play at some point.  Our team is fairly "tribal" in nature, no
clear leadership or plan but things tend to work out in the end.
        We've always been pretty successfull and everyone has fun so I'd say it
sure works for us, I suspect a more organized team might do better, but I have
my doubts.
        We like to travel in groups of two or more, but we have a couple
players who really enjoy the "lonewolf" style of play and can make it work.
From what I recall (paintball season is over in the area where I play and there
are no indoor facilitys in central iowa) we generally ended up with four groups
during a game of capture the flag.  One is a defensive/reserve group who would
sit back with the flag or would come up to assist if we got lucky/unlucky
(Depending on the situation) and then one to three offensive groups (middle,
left flank, right flank) to go head to head with the bad guys.   
        The three pronged bit works fairly well, but if the baddies lump all
their people on one side, things can get very ugly.  We have experimented with
just leaving some people to hold the flag (more than normal) and then just
sending everyone and their uncle up one side of the field and hope that the
defensive people can hold out till we can get the flag.  If we get pinned down,
it's all over for the poor guys in back.
 
Not real organized or innovative, but it's pretty consistent in it's success
(with some really nasty failures from time to time) for us.
 
Oh yeah, we also have a couple guys on our team who use radios to keep a handle
on what it is going on around the field.  The jury is still out on how
effective that is, but it's nice to get some idea what is going on in the areas
that you can't see.

Eric Huber
Mankato State University
Law Enforcement Program.