How To Treat Newbies In Paintball

My very first game of paintball ended fast and with a whole lot of confusion. Naturally, I wanted to act experienced, so I wouldn't ask anyone for questions. You can expect the majority of 'newbies' to act similarly because they don't want to be singled out as the newbie who asks lots of questions.


This fear of being singled out made my first day of paintball a living hell. Nobody talked to me, nobody helped me, and even the ref's didn't call the few people I marked out. If you come upon a newbie with these or similar actions, help him out.



Who knows, you might just be keeping the next Bob Long in the sport. In the past, I have seen countless lists about what newbies should do to get better at the sport, but I have never seen a list to the experienced player about how to treat a newbie, so here goes:

1. Treat Newbies With The Same Respect. Treat them like you treat your comrades. Nothing will make them feel more comfortable about playing paintball than making them feel that there is one person that is being nice to them.
2. Explain how important it is having safety gears. Nothing is worse than a blind newbie (or a newbie blinding anyone else for that matter).
3. Help them out with their Paintball Gun. If their barrel comes off, don't tell them that they should make a suicide run because their gun is broken, help them out a bit.
4. Squeegie their barrel if they need it. Don't forget that a new player can eliminate any player, and a straight ball or a curved ball could mean the difference between winning a match or losing one.
5. When asked, answer them TRUTHFULLY. If they ask you if a paintball hurts, don't tell the story about how Uncle Bob got hit in the ribcage with a paintball and nearly died, just say it only stings for a few seconds and may give you a bit of bruises.
6. Explain things properly. You can't expect a newbie to understand this kind of talk: "Yeah, I got an RVA on my P68SC and I think that I might rig her up with some HPA after I buy my KP2" Remember, that they still don't know what terminologies are being used in the game.
7. Don't lie. I can't put in writing how angry I was when I grabbed the center-flag and my team was laughing at me for being gullible enough to believe that. It seriously sucks.
8. Help them on the field. If they are in the same bunker as you and they say they want to go some bunker, provide them with some cover fire. Don't just shove them out of the bunker and take their spot.
9. Give advice. If they ask you to give them cover-fire to what you know is a death trap, then don't just play along, tell them that another place is better, just try and prevent them from getting themselves eliminated.

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