Coates

Geezer Bio

Name: Mike Coates
Description: Balding, nearsighted, small, loud, father of eight kids

Qualification to be a Geezer: I was there when the geezer patrol was invented. I'm 50 years old. But, let it be known that I have a gift of immaturity.

Reasons for Playing Paintball: Got started a few years ago after my teenage sons attended a couple of paintball birthday parties. They raved about the fun they had and they were willing to have me participate. There are not many athletic sports where teenagers and geezers can compete on equal footing; in paintball we can. I continue playing primarily to spend time with my sons and to enjoy my friends. I like having the opportunity to push the envelope of my personal abilities. I enjoy disciplined risk-taking. I like the other geezers.

Preferred Style of Play: Recreational ball only. The rest depends on the situation and how I feel. I really enjoy separating myself from the larger firefight to stalk strays, flankers, and rear-line opponents. Stalk, approach unnoticed, one shot/one hit; that's exciting. I get kicks out of being behind the opponents' front line when the geezers bulldoze through. I love approaching an opponent by using a natural blind spot that they have overlooked (most everyone has some). Another thing I enjoy is being a flanker when the geezers are moving through the playing field. I like getting out on the flank and removing cross-fire so that our point can move forward. I love finding and picking off the key flank opponent so that the opposition crumbles in front of the geezer patrol. In certain games, I enjoy most being a rusher. I love gaining more ground in a fast developing game than the opposition is willing to take. It's especially satisfying to rush far enough into the opponents' front wave that they have to stop and deal with me. Often that means that a number of them have gone too far and are exposed. It also means that the other geezers have a distracted opponent to pick off.

Major Lessons Learned: 1) Camoflage is useless. I've gone to great extremes to prove that how a person moves is much more important than what they wear. I have a lot of stories of walking up on an opponent unnoticed wearing a bright red or neon green shirt. This opinion may ruffle the feathers of some other geezers, who are very fond of camo, but I suspect that their fondness for camo is unrelated to its effectiveness in paintball.
2) It's easy to be over-aggressive. There is much more finesse and calculated risk-taking involved in paintball than I originally thought. Aggressiveness is essential, but timing and support are critical to success. When I've been over-aggressive, and gotten creamed by the opposition, it's usually because my teammates weren't able to coordinate their moves with mine.
3) Shoot & Move. Never, never stand still or take a stand to defend a place or an object. One exception is that you are the last person alive on your team and there is a chance that your bravado will stall the other team long enough to allow your team to win the game (in that case, it is worth the pounding that is inevitable with digging in). Even while defending, shoot and move, shoot and move. Counterattack, rush, shoot and move.
4) Talk to your teammates. Yell at them. Forget using codes; the other guys can't see things from your perspective anyway. Tell your teammates what you are doing. Tell them what you see. The most effective teams I've played with talk a lot. The geezers do this better than most.

Philosophy: Shoot the other team. Shoot every last one of them. Don't shoot people up close. Tag them with your hand if you're that close. If you have to shoot up close, make one shot do the job.

Equipment: Tippmann Carbine modified to suit me: polished trigger, two small CO2 tanks, Smart Parts 12" SS barrel, 140 round hopper. I sometimes carry an extra hundred paintballs. Keep it simple, travel light, get closer, make your shots count.
Alternately, I occasionally use an old Mag with some custom fixtures: small hopper, slinky remote, gas-through stock, gas-through forward grip, bottom line connection. Someday, I may get a custom barrel for it.

Personal Thrills: The first time I saw a pink splat appear between an opponent's shoulder blades from one of my shots. Holding off the other team by myself for the last two minutes of a game in spite of the fact that they had two flags to hang and a least fifteen people to attack with (WE WON). Forcing anopponent to surrender when I was out of paint and out of gas. Hand tags. Eliminating the whole other team in the first hour of an all-day big game.