Defense wins championships

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers annihilated the Oakland Raiders in Superbowl 37. Tampa Bay had the toughest defense while Oakland had the highest-flying offense. High-scoring versus bone crushing; who would win? It was the epitome of offense versus defense. Many analysts predicted that Oakland would reign victorious because Tampa would not be able to keep up. Even classical analysts all predicted that this may be the one Superbowl where defense just can’t win, and that offense would take over.
Of course, none of that ever happened. The same predictions were made win Baltimore played the Giants and when the Patriots defeated the Rams. A high-flying offense was dismantled by a tough defense.

In sports, people always say that defense wins championships. This notion has held true for hundreds of years. Defense has consistently beaten offense. But can the same hold true in paintball?

My colleague, Jerry Gaston, argues that defense is no longer needed in paintball, that paintball is a full fledged offensive game, and that no one should stay back to defend the flag. Yes, it is happening on recreational fields every weekend; players are not staying back to defend and are winning by adopting this strategy. So, is it possible that paintball is the only exception to the rule when it comes to defense?

If this is true, it defies all laws of physics and logic. Can one sport really be exceptional? Or is paintball even a sport? What defines sport? If paintball is a sport, then why doesn’t it follow the ‘defense wins championships’ law?

Firstly, paintball is definitely a sport. It requires hand-eye coordination, athleticism, and an untenable amount of skill. Why doesn’t paintball follow the standard sport laws? It does, albeit differently.

In paintball, offense is defense. As you go out to aim, shoot, and paint your opponents, you are in fact also playing defense. How? You are trying very hard not to be eliminated. You use cover properly, you stick close to bunkers, you use cover fire to put your opponents down. That is defense.

Everything about paintball is defense. The fact that we carry around markers to eliminate others is defense. Why do we need markers? Why don’t we just look at each other to get each other out? The markers mark. Avoiding being marked is defense. Marking opponents is defense. By marking opponents you advance your cause and quell theirs, that is defense.

Paintball may be one of the few sports wherein one may be playing both offense and defense simultaneously. The funny thing is, most players don’t realize it. Jerry was right; players that stay back think they are ‘defensive’ players. While players that run up to the frontline, think they are offensive players. In fact, they are both playing offense and defense.

Strategically, it maybe important to have a full rush or pressure forward; you don’t have to leave players back. But this does not mean that you are not playing defense. Decide as a group what your strategy will be. It may be strategic to leave a few back, but don’t get hung up on it. Just play to have fun and win.

Ultimately, even in paintball, defense not only wins championships, but every paintball game.