Off-season: what to do?

I've been thinking about this for a couple of weeks now and these are my final thoughts.  What is the off-season to you? 

For some it is the season in which it is almost impossible to play due to work, weather,  or in my case weather and family.  Don't get me wrong,  this is not a bad thing. My wife is very understanding and supportive of my desire to play paintball but playing paintball also takes me away from my family on weekends.  

The off season for me is a time I don't get to play paintball, but that doesn't mean I do nothing.  It is an opportunity to concentrate on my fitness. It is a time to watch YouTube videos of paintball games, training, tech videos, etc.

To expand on YouTube:
1. Paintball Games: Whether the game is a good or bad; new and valuable information can be extracted for use. You can usually learn what not to do or a new way of doing something you've always done.

2. Training: there are plenty of video on how to work as a team either tactically or through communication.  As a Rec ball player I have even learned some valuable information from X Factor on those tryout videos online.  Training can be applied to any form of paintball regardless of style of play.

3. Tech Videos: I find these videos to be the most valuable in my opinion.  These can be anything from moding vest to real tech issues with your marker. Even if you don't have the particular marker in the video the issues can usually be solved the same way. (Not always)

Finally: the off season is a great time to improve flexibility and strength.  My personal workout is stretching, 15 push ups, 25 crunches, and 10 leg lifts. I will vary occasionally and add in squats and calf raises to break up the routine and to add a change of pace.  I do all this 5 days a week before getting ready for work.

I hope you have enjoyed this post. I apologize for the hiatus but I have been working on some articles for a magazine that doesn't serm to be working out.
Time to start posting again.

See you on the field and "lets burn it up".
-Fenix

TGR2 Mark2 first impressions

I have had the recent opportunity of playing with the TGR2 Mark2. My over all opinion is an 8 out of 10 stock out of box.  Initial upgrade needed is a barrel.  The 10 inch barrel is not very accurate. A 14/16 inch barrel should be fine. My other complaint is a ball chop. I had one issue of ball chop and the issue had me leaving the playing field to go work on the marker. I was able to get back out to play but I lost about 30minutes of play. I did use the sock tank and a remote line and at this point I cannot say I saw a difference,  but I may update that comment later. If you have questions feel free to contact me and I will be happy to answer them.
-Fenix

DP G5 Programming Cheat Sheet

I have received several comments on my cheat sheet for my G5 programming. I thought I would just post the picture on here so anyone who wants to look at it can. Below is how I was able to stream line the programming procedures. If you have questions just let me know!(In the last column the number represents the trigger pulls necessary to make the changes needed, therefore, for rate of fire 1=10 means that 1 trigger pull equals 10 BPS)

Visitors Take: Air Force member!

During the Go'N Postal Event in June I was able to invite someone who served in the Air Force. For privacy reason I will not share how and where I know this individual, but I was able to catch him between assignments.

Q. What is your title and job in the Military? (if you wish to answer)

A. USAF Security Forces

Q. How long has it been since you played paintball?

A. It has been approximately 10 years.

Q. How has the sport changed since you last played?

A. There are two changes there were the most obvious. First is the change from CO2 to just compressed regular air. Second is the advances in the technology for the paintball gun, including the changes to fully automatic weapons and hopper advances.

Q. How does it compare to your world? Good or Bad?

A. It does not really compare with military training because it is a game versus training for the real world. In a game you can take chances that you would not take in the real world because the ramification are different.

Q. Di you have fun and what was fun or not fun about it?

A. It was absolutely a blast to get a chance to play paintball again and see how the sport has evolved over the years I have been away.

Q. Did you like the field? Why or why not?

A. The field was good. I would have liked a larger field with longer game times better but overall the filed was well setup.

Q. Will you be picking up paintball again or just go on occasion?

A. I will play when fields are located in my local area.

Q. Final thoughts either paintball related or having nothing to do with paintball for my readers?

A. The sport has changed a lot over the years. Ten years ago most people played with either a pump gun with same CO2 containers and straight paint tubes and semi autos where the new thing and limited to three balls in the air at a time. The increase in speed ball changed all this and I was never a fan of spray and pray speed ball although I do recognize how that style of game did help expand the sport. I am excited to see how the evolution of play with the addition of magazine operated guns may bring back some of the strategy style of game play that I enjoy the most.

I'm sure this goes without saying but a big thank you to our military friend and to all of our military in general for thier service to our country. God Bless and come home safe!

"Let's Burn it Up"
-Fenix

Two man advance-Paintball Tactics

I recently watched this video on YouTube on how to do a two man advance by Johnathan Vadasz.
His page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWm5j_gstZs

I found this very informative and decided that I wanted to post this on my blog page and add some drawings so you can visually see what was going on.

A couple of general rules apply. You do not need full auto or even 3 shot burst. Semi-auto should work just perfect for this maneuver and you will also conserve ammo by using Semi-Auto.

First part of this tactic is to not stay in one place, move from one side of your cover to the other. This keeps your opponent guessing. (All illustrations will be as if looking down from the sky.)

The next step is to provide consistent cover fire while your teammate moves.

The next step is where you teammate provides consistent cover fire while you move.

You do this repeatedly until you reach the desired location or until you take out the other team. Now I want to draw your attention that this does become harder the more opponents you have to worry about so use your team to spread out the other team so that you don't have to worry about more than 2 maybe 3 at a time.

Thank you for checking out my channel and please leave comments or suggestions below. Also please feel free to subscribe to this blog and my youtube page which I will provide below.

As always, "lets burn it up"

-Fenix

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/louKYpb

First Major Issue and How I Handled It: Part 1

To my readers, I apologize for taking so long to another post up, however, life is life and if you work and have kids you may understand.

While getting ready for the June go'n postal event I went to fill up my tank and the nipple pin burst/broke/didn't work and the air would not remain in my tank. I promptly went into the pro shop to get help and the tech immediately attempted to help me replace the nipple. However, he had issue and the threads ended up getting stripped.

Here is your lesson. The reg I had used a metric system and most of the paintball world uses 1/8 NPT. So if you happen to have to replace anything on your reg make sure you know measurement system is being used.

For the event I ended up renting a tank (at no cost, because the pro shop guy was awesome in helping me out) and was able to get out and play ASAP.

Since then I have ordered a ninja pro reg which I have received, however, I have not replaced it yet. I plan on doing a video on this and that will be part two.

Thank you for checking out my blog and "Lets burn it up!"

-Fenix

YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/louKYpb

First Event Hightlights: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly...

The Good

     This event was a lot of fun to participate in. Kenny (the owner) and his staff were very friendly and my friends and I needed help with a few things and they made time to help us (which was amazing because they were very busy that day). On top of the Paintball Asylum staff, the 502^nd SOG paintball scenario team were amazing refs. They were available for paint checks fairly quickly. They were doing random chrono’s making sure everyone on the field was safe, and they did a good job keeping play going.

     The layout and set up worked really well for all types of play and players. What I mean by that is if you were a run and gunner or a stealth and crawl your way to victory, or even a tactical team then the layout was advantageous to all types of playing styles.

     With regard to the teams, I was on red team and we did a great job with tactical planning and communication. I can remember one time that I took out the last guy on the right side of the field and I yelled to everyone to “move up, right” and all those on the right side of the field took off without hesitation. That is what I call teamwork and trust. Imaging if I was wrong, all those on the left side would have been lit up most likely. This is where I give a shout out to the UPPK (United Paintball Players of Kentuckiana) paintball club. I have played with them a couple of times now and I think I have enough clout that they trust me especially on the field.

The Bad

     One of my biggest complaints about this event was the marketing or advertisement of the event. I feel that they should have had the online registration open a month before the event and posted more stuff on their website, Facebook, and paintball forums that they are a part of. Now granted I called the Wednesday before and Kenny said they have been having issues with their PayPal account linking correctly. That being said, if they had started a month earlier and tested it then they would have had time to fix any bugs. Excluding that, there was no push to get the event name out there.

     At the end of the day right after the raffle, Kenny asked us all to support the event and get the word out. I will be happy to do so, but the same could be said for his website and Facebook. If he would market that information earlier I could have blown up all my friends and family on Facebook and linked the website to my forums and blog site and so on.

The Ugly

     This event was a very hot and humid day. By the end of the second series of attacks I was starting to get over heated and I had made the decision to sit out the last hour just to rest and cool off. However, at the end of that second attack series everyone was finished so it wasn’t just me and due to heat and wanting rest we all decided to call it a day. What could have made the day better were longer breaks between attacks or even short breaks where we would be allowed to take off our mask and get air to our face. An hour of fighting and not being able to take your mask off will take its toll on anyone.

Takeaway’s

     What I will take away from this event is first off I will offer my help with getting the website up and running if he wants it. I will also make sure to make up my own information so that I can help market the event and get more people out! Finally, I will first off not be afraid to just walk off and take a break, get some water and cool off. Though there was ample seating, I will make sure to take my own chair in the future just in case, that way everyone will have a seat (hopefully).  Will I go back and do this event, absolutely, however I think I will do the events that take place in the fall and in the spring when it is cooler and stick to partial days during the summer/hot months.

Thank you for checking out my blog and as always, "lets burn it up"
-Fenix

Special Thanks:
Paintball Asylum: www.pbasylum.com
502nd SOG:  http://www.facebook.com/502ndSOG
UPPK:  http://www.facebook.com/groups/UPPK.SPC/