“Every team starts at the
beginning; dedication will get
you the rest of the way”
When forming a team as a young player,
whether with your friends or from scratch,
you need to give it a lot of thought to show
everyone that you’re serious about it. Get
a badge done, make a forum on your local
site’s forums – whatever it takes.
It’s not an easy job – running a team is
hard work and getting it established is even
harder, especially as a young player or a
young team. Why? Because as I’ve said
before nobody takes you seriously. This is
why my team didn’t make it: we didn’t get
taken seriously as we were all teenagers
(and still are). Through that dedication,
though, look at where I am now: I’m writing
for a magazine at 16!
Anyway, through making my team I’ve
learnt a lot about leadership – both as a
leader and as a team member – and playing
airsoft in a different perspective. As a leader
you see the game a totally different way,
and this is how you really learn things such
as tactics. It totally changes how you play
and think about airsoft, in a good way!
066
January 2012
By the way, don’t forget that having a
team is meant to be fun. For example (and
here’s a good one for those father/son
players out there) when I had my team,
my dad wanted to try his luck and test us
out so we developed a little game called
the ‘Enemy at the Gates’ scenario. My dad
switched teams for a while and we made
a deal: every time I took him out with my
team he’d give me £1 and every time he
took me out with or without my team I’d
have to give him 50p. This obviously sent
me into a paranoid state and I was anxious
to find him every game and take him out,
which I did about seven times in total while
we did this. But he did manage to outwit us
once…
My own dad ambushed us, alone, with a
grenade and pistol. He threw the grenade,
taking out two of my friends, and jumped
out the bush with his Luger pistol and shot
me and my other friend! Now to get taken
out like that, by your own dad, when money
is involved just isn’t cool!
Every team starts at the beginning;
dedication will get you the rest of the
way. Through my team I learnt a lot about
leadership and some consider me a natural
leader. My role at my local site is now
2IC (second in command) or PC (Platoon
Commander), both are which are important
roles for leading our team to victory.
Personally I’d recommend younger
players join an established team. If you’re
accepted into the team and serious about
it you can learn an awful lot about tactical
gameplay and all sorts of tips and tricks.
Plus you’ll learn about leadership whether
you’re doing it or not. Listening to your
leader and paying attention to how he does
things, or just working together, gives you a
real good idea how it all works.
I’m currently going through the
recruitment process for a team at my local
site called Team 27. Playing with them even
now I feel that I’m constantly improving
when I play; the way the team works is
amazing and to be part of a squad assigned
special missions by our overall team leader
(in charge of our whole side) is brilliant.
You really do get a feel for how the SAS do
it; being one of 12 guys setting out to get
an objective or clear an area focuses you
and can get you well-known quite easily!
As a young player, you can learn a lot from
teams like this and as I’ve demonstrated,
actually get somewhere within the airsoft
community.
Working as a team is crucial in the airsoft
world, espec ially at sites like mine – without
teamwork there’s no doubting we will lose
every game. ■