Conditioning

Apparently, conditioning is often thought of as completely crucial training for tournament speedball teams. To be competitive, one must condition to achieve "power, strength, and agility." It seems that "every serious paintball team holds conditioning practices."

Lately, the college team I'm coaching has decided to have MANDATORY "conditioning practices" twice a week. If you want to play, apparently you must cut time out of your schedule to run and do pushups at exactly seven o'clock every Tuesday and Thursday night. If you have prior engagements (like class, tutoring, review sessions, lab, part-time job, etc.) then that's just too damn bad. You can't compete because you aren't "dedicated enough" to make it to conditioning.

Well... Let's piss some people off, shall we?

Conditioning is NOT an essential part of tournament practices. No matter how many pro players you quote about this, I'm going to disagree. In fact, I think it is a terrible waste of team time. Time with all players together as a group being used to run and do pushups? This is idiotic. Group time would be better spent actually playing the game, working on technique, doing drills, reviewing videos, or considering tactics and strategy.

I understand there are exceptions. For instance, if your particular team has a person or two who can't walk up a few flights of stairs without needing to stop to take a breather, then your team needs conditioning practices. If they can't sprint for 50 yards, then yes, conditioning is needed. If players are overweight enough where sprinting is an issue, then damn, make running and eating right a priority by all means.

But let me describe my team. They are all between 18 and 23 years old. They are all slim without ANY visible body fat... basically, these guys are all fairly skinny and completely in the prime of their life. They are thin, young, and healthy. Knowing this, they can DEFINITELY play a game that is held on a 125' by 150' playing field and which has a time limit of 5 minutes. Why should miles running as a team be required when the farthest distance you might ever have to run in a tournament is about a hundred yards? I mean, how often will endurance come into play when it is only 150' each way to grab the flag and run all the way back for a hang? ...and that is depending on game format. The distances may be much shorter.

I personally think this issue with my team is partly due to the fact that a person in one of the top managerial positions(treasurer) has NO experience in tournaments. He is a fitness addict. He has never played tournament paintball, only woodsball and scenario with a pump gun. He's also on the school wrestling team, which of course has required conditioning, and it should. But let me make one thing clear...

SCENARIO/WOODSBALL AND TOURNAMENT SPEEDBALL ARE NOT THE SAME! You may have to run for hundreds of yards in scenario play, but that just isn't going to happen in speedball!

Basically, my theory is that since he has very little tournament or speedball experience, yet he is in a leadership position, he feels he must make conditioning madatory since that is what he personally (he's on the wrestling team, remember) is good at. He's below average ability in the actual game of speedball, but he is stressing conditioning since he is superior in that reguard (the guy plays woodsball with a pump and is considering doing marathons).

Physical "power, strength, and endurance" are not neccesary to dominate the field in a tournament. Paintball has nothing to do with how much strength you have! As long as you are physically able to hold your marker steady and crouch in awkward positions for about five minutes, you have met the physical strength requirements to win. The endurance situation is similar: if you can sprint for a hundred yards without needing to lie down afterwards, you should have enough stamina to finish out a game of speedball. Victory is much more dependent on movement strategy, a clear head, and shooting skills than endurance and strength.

Basically, I'm aware that many teams consider conditioning crucial. But assuming all your team members can meet the previous paragraph's requirements, it is most likey not needed... or at least it isn't needed until many other skills are perfected.

I'm not against fitness and being healthy, I just think team time as a group would be much better used than running and pushups.

Note: I am aware how much speed is important, but that isn't endurance... it is sprinting. When I'm in the open during a tourney, it is done at a full sprint and only over short distances. Being out in the open for too long (even at full speed) will get you shot. Period.