This episode we're going to cover something that is not exactly essential. You don't have to do it, but it's really handy if you do end up doing it. It's called field walking. What we're doing is we're just making ourselves familiar with the field. Why are we doing this on air ball fields rather than being out in the woods? Because some of the concepts I want to show you are a lot easier to show you are a lot easier to show you on the air ball field, and besides this is just as much fun, so come on let's take a walk. Every paintball field has a few things in common. For starters, each team has a starting box. You have your flag station, there's the other teams flag station or dead box or whatever you want to call it. It's where your team starts the game. Everybody has to huddle right around here. There's always a 50 point where the middle of the field is, and then there are several bunkers between you can the other team. Then it's up to you to utilize the bunkers that are on the field in order to gain an advantage on the other team. First bunkers you come across are classically held your defensive players or at least on the air ball fields we call them back players. The back players, or the defensive players, are the ones who give a lot of cover fire to the front guys so the front guys can start making moves up the field. When you are looking at back position like this, what you want to do is look down the field. You want to try to see what angles you have from the position from the left and from the right and where you can cover, what you want to shut down, where your front guys are going to go, where their front guys are going to go. Nobody said field walking is easy. As you get further in the field, you start getting in the realm of the front player. The front player plays about here, which is approximately the 45 yard line. I'll get to the yard lines in just a second. The front players job is offense. He is the offensive player on the team. His job is to take real-estate and to take out opponents who are trying to take real-estate for the other team. The back player is the defense for the front player who plays up here. Between these 2 extremes, between the front and the back player, you have the mid player. The mid player is sort of a swing person. He can either play defense or offense depending on what the team needs him to do. Sometimes the back player gets knocked out, so he'll just go in and fill the role, or the front player gets knocked out so he'll just keep on going and take the spot. This is the 50 bunker. Why do I keep on using the number system? Because if you use American football as a reference point, a lot of what happens on the field makes sense. This is the 50 bunker and you just kind of count backwards layers of bunkers like they were yard lines. The 45, the 30, the 35, the 20, and it goes both ways. It's the easiest way that players can pick up on what's going on. If somebody's yelling to someone in the center 50, he's right here. Now, in woods ball game, the 50 is not always dead center of the field. The 50 often is where both teams meet and where the main fire fight takes place. I want to point this feature out right here. This is a snake bunker. A snake bunker is meant for crawling, but what I want to point out is this. Knowing about this could be vital. If you're on the other team, you can shoot into this hole. If you're on this team, you can get into this position and shoot out this hole. In the woods, almost all the bunkers you're going to play are going to be Swiss cheese bunkers. They're going to have holes in them, they're going to have angles on them. It's really important for you to know those bunkers. It's important for you to scope them out beforehand and know that hey I should avoid this bunker here because if I go here I'm going to get shot. For most new players, you're not going to have to study the field meticulously. I mean, most of the experienced guys do, but they also play tournaments and they've got a lot riding on the line every game. Most for recreational players, walking the fields should just be taking a look around as you're walking to your flag station. Take a look, see what bunkers look like they're covered in paint, see where it looks like there's only dirt and no grass. Take a look at what would be key positions that you would think would be important to win the game. Odds are if you trust your instincts, your instincts will be right. You don't have to study it, you just have to be familiar with it.
