If you have been playing paintball with your friends for awhile at the local field and now have the desire to take it to the next level and enter a tournament, there are a few things you should consider before you do. First off, how much does it cost to play in a tournament? The average tournament will cost $140-210 to enter. You also are expected to buy the paint supplied by the tournament which will run about $50-70 a box (2000 paintballs).

Another question to ask is "how many players do I need for my team?" Typically in smaller tournaments it’s a 3 or 5 player tournament. Make sure you know how many players you need or you will not be allowed to enter.

One of the best things your team can do before a tournament is to try and look at the field the night before. If you can look at the field before, definitely take the time. This will help you familiarize yourself with the different obstacles as well as give you the opportunity to discuss different types of strategies with your team. Make sure that you have a couple different strategies. guaranteed the other team will have a strategy, so if you go on to the field with your team hoping to "wing it", you will most likely lose the game. If you don’t get to check out the field the night before, make sure that you get to the tournament early so that you have a few minutes to look at the field before you play.

Some strategies that you might want to think about is who is going to be your back players and who will be your front players? Typically, your front players should be the quicker players, in order to push forward on the field without getting shot. The back players often have longer barrels in order to shoot further distances more accurately. The back players will want to give the front players a lot more cover to make sure that they have a lot of paintball cartridges on their person, ready to fill their hoppers if they run out.

When your team first arrives, you will have to go register your team and sign waivers stating that the tournament is not liable for any injury that may happen on the field. Also, you will want to find a staging area that you and your team can leave your gear.

Before your team plays your captain needs to make sure that he goes to talk with the other captains in order to make sure that everyone knows the rules and regulations of the tournament. Keep in mind that rules and regulations vary from tournament to tournament. Also, keep in mind that rules can change within the same tournament. It is your team’s responsibility to make sure that everyone on the team understands all of the rules. If you don’t familiarize yourself will all of the rules, and you break a rule, you could lose the game. Other than that, make sure that you have a lot of fun!