I was playing speedball at Hollywood Sports one day, 2v2. This was right after I got my new setup – 2003 VF Autococker with a Ricochet 2k, 68/4500 tank, and more paint than I knew what to do with. My friend was equally equipped. We thought we were unstoppable. We looked for a challenge, and these 2 guys accepted. We laughed in their face. They were using PUMP GUNS. We thought to ourselves, “14bps, they won’t even be able to move. They should get out of the 80’sâ€. We went to our respective posts. “3,2,1 , GO!†I broke left while my partner went straight down my center. On my way to the bunker, I got pegged in the leg. I was in shock. I was barely able to comprehend my current situation when I heard my friend scream “HIT!†We were both in shock. All that paint, all that equipment, and we were stopped with 2 paintballs. Therein lies the moral of the story: it doesn’t matter how fast you can shoot, or how much paint you have, all it takes is 1 hit.
From that day forward, I had a new found respect for pump guns. If you feel that you are not the player that you can be, give pump a try. If you’re used to dumping paint at targets, be prepared for something DRASTICALLY different. Pump forces you to do a few things – first and foremost, you will need to learn how to AIM. Spray and pray is no longer an option here. You need to learn how to aim, and you need to learn fast, or you’re going to be spending a lot of time in the deadbox. Playing pump for 6 months – a year will do more for your aim than anything else you could possibly do.
But pump isn’t all about the aim. You will quickly come to realize that playing pump is about the strategy. If patience wasn’t a virtue before, it will be soon. It’s hard (to say the least) to join a pickup game where the average BPS 13 and survive using “normal†tactics. You need to be aggressive, but patient. You won’t be able to go head to head with someone, but if you’re patient, you can easily find a set of goggles through a crack in the bunker, or a leg sticking out behind a car. If you’re aggressive enough, it’s going to be easy to put yourself in position to get those flank shots, or even the shots from behind the opposition. Combine aggressiveness with patience and you will become a MONSTER. It’s not about making every difficult shot. If you set yourself up in positions where you can take EASY shots, you’ll obviously hit more often.
Pump hones your aim, makes you more patient, and makes you a better tactician. But nothing is as satisfying as having a guy carrying a Timmy go up to you after a game and saying “damn kid, you got some skills.â€