Paintball Pro Talk Episode 3: BJ Heningburg and Matt Jackson from AC: Dallas Part 2

Hey guys, we are back with BJ Heningberg and Matt Fuzzy Jackson for professional paintball team AC Dallas. Today we're going to ask BJ three questions that we think he would have a little more expertise in. See if Fuzz has adds his own little opinion in there. Alright, BJ. So, first question. What is the most important skills? Let's say two skills you would say up and coming Snake players should focus on the most.

The most important one for a Snake player is knowing the field. I see a lot of guys get into a crucial spot for the other team, like say the 50 Snake, and they don't even know where to put their gun first. They don't know where to shoot, where the bodies are going to be at. It almost seems like they don't know the field very well. So, that's one of the things that I try to focus on when I get into a big spot like the 50 Snake. I like to know exactly where the bodies are going to be at, where to put the paint. That way I get the kill quickly.

And so you learn that just through repetition, through practice. Like you get into the 50 Snake, the first game, you look inside and say, well, I can't see crap from this side, let me try outside next time. Is that type of thing?
Yeah. And just from trial and error, being in events, knowing that I wasn't really prepared and knowing what I can work on to come back for the next event, there was a lot of times where I could have capitalized a lot better if I would have known the shots a little bit better. So, trying to study that on your own time and paying attention to it at the field during practice and memory retention, if you can't remember it, you got to ask for help. He distracted me.

So, would you say let's say they can't remember. Have you ever written down on a piece of paper like, hey, what I should do? Have you ever taken notes like in your phone after practice?

Just take pictures from your spot. If you got your phone with you, take pictures. And that way you can look at it during the week while you're at work, sit at a desk. Or you can make a slideshow of all the different shots of what they look like from each bunker. You can go in and edit it and number them or name all the bunkers.
So, that's super smart, guys. That's really good. So, you don't go from a Sunday playing to the whole another seven days Sunday or seven days away. And you're forgetting. You have to remember all over again. So, at least Friday night review. That's really good. And do you have one more do you have one other skill that you think you should focus on?

Yeah, first ball accuracy. That's a big one for me as well. And a lot of the things that I like to talk about are things that I've had issues with. I wouldn't say I have a bad issue with first ball accuracy, but there's been times where I have missed a shot, and it was a shot that kept a team in the game. And if I could have made the shot the first time, then of course it would have been a little easier of a win. But yeah, first ball accuracy is really huge to work on.

So, how do you think, let's say I'm out doing drills by myself, or not me because I don't play snake. What would you think? Like a quick drill? Like, maybe you have a drill idea, maybe sliding into a spot and snapping that first ball? Or what would you recommend to give a drill just to be able to get repetition better?

You can just make the snapshot just from your bunker. If you're already not good at your first ball accuracy, trying to add sliding in that other mechanic with it and trying to make the shot, you could be making the drill much harder on yourself. Basics. Everybody's done snapshot and drills, but I don't think a lot of people do them anymore. So, just keep it simple. Make the shot from the bunker. Shoot a cone or a mask, like Fuzz said before, you can set up anything to make the shot. And then once you get good at that, then add in that next mechanic.

Nice. Okay. Heck yeah. All right, so we know you work out. You're super fast. So, I had a question. How do you prepare paintball during the week? I get this question all the time. I go know pro paintball players. You don't see them necessarily in the gym all the time, but how do you personally prepare during the week, physically or even mentally, for your workouts and to be more prepared to play paintball that weekend?

Yeah. So, I try to replicate the feeling of being on the field for 40 points to practice. You can't really go into the gym and do a lot of the different workouts that they have set up in the gym, the different equipment and stuff like that. But, if you can replicate what it feels like to be a practice, the different movements, that's going to give you your best ability. So, for me, I like to do a lot of things on the ground. I can pull a sled on the ground. Army crawl with a sled. When your legs get really fatigued and you're trying to crawl down a snake, it makes it really hard. Hip mobility and flexibility, that's really huge. We all use our hips when we're playing, so trying to find the different workouts that you can do to keep your hips strong and your core strong, and then all the mobility is really big. So, stretching, staying limber, even doing yoga. Yoga is really big.

Nice. Okay.

And it's really not all strength. A lot of guys get in there and they tend to want to lift a lot of heavy weight. If you can push a lot of heavy weight from your legs, then you can increase your explosive speed. But, a lot of it's an ability. A lot of people are just kind of born with the speed and agility and athleticism that's super smart.
On the sled, like you said, you're physically crawling. So, if you're used to only pulling your body weight, it's hard, but you're used to pulling your body weight in 30 more pounds when you get to the Snake and you're tired. I never even thought about that's. Genius. I mean, clearly I don't play up front very much.
Well, I don't really like to share all my little tips. And then another thing too, like Fuzz was talking about the football players throwing a football around. They use that tool at practice. They take them home with them. They always got a football with them, right. Well, when we play paintball, we only play on the weekends with our guns. If you can find a facility or a gym that you can take your gun to, to keep those mechanics real crisp, that is the best thing to do. You can pull the sled with one hand and on your hands and knees with one hand while you're holding your gun. That's a movement that you always do on the field. So, having your gun with you during your workouts is only going to make you that much more better.
And Fuzz. I know. I was going to work. You kind of into that same question. I know you tell a lot of people one thing that they can do with their gun during the week. And what is that like?

Oh, the biggest thing I think I know what you're talking about is literally like just grabbing your gun and putting it in your arm and then switching hands and putting in your other arm. Switching hands can be a little bit more advanced if you're call your wreck balled kind of just now getting into tournament paintball, but just picking your gun up naturally, picking it up and putting it in your shoulder, it should be the same every single time, right. So, literally just having your gun kind of laying around in your room, wherever you are, just pick it up, shoulder it, put it down, pick it up, shoulder it in the other arm. Do that thing multiple times.

Do that repetition. Like BJ's. Talking about just that motion of doing it will make it more natural when you go to play on Saturday or Sunday, whichever day it is, doing it from Sunday to Sunday, like John's saying is like that's a long time compared to any other that that makes a huge difference when you're trying to get really good at something. Not having that know, every two days you do this or every other day. Kind of on the question, though, I was going to say this. I want to say the mental aspect of it during the week, if it's a layout, think of the mistakes that you made on Monday, think of the mistakes you made on Tuesday and start playing those through your head to make sure, well, I did this when this happened. Let's not do that this time, right.

So, if you start kind of I say this like patting those mistakes in your head. The idea on that is to make sure you just don't do it again. So, then when you go into the next weekend, you're already that much farther ahead than the guy that forgot about all those things, right. You don't have to relearn the mistakes from the last Sunday.

And that goes into the pictures that he was talking about, taking pictures of the layout and stuff like that. It's amazing. So, on Wednesday, you're halfway through the week, you pick it up, you review your shots and everything you go through.

Cool, fine. At least 20 minutes, 20 more minutes than anybody else is probably doing, especially.
When a layout comes out. If you do that a lot more, then you'll realize on that first weekend you have learned the layout compared to learning it on the last weekend.
That's awesome. That's really good, Fuzz. I know. Fuzz. When you and I used to live together when were younger, we'd never paintball guns set up all the time. Like they never came down. So, we literally would put them on the couch, put on the bed. You would just grab and act like we were snap-shooting at the mirror or whatever. And guess what? When you go grab, it Saturday morning for the first time, not the first time anymore, it's 47th time that week. You just haven't shot a paintball out of it, which is one step past that. So, that's awesome. I think that'd be super helpful.

All right.

And last question for BJ. Here the specific for BJ. Unless Fuzz, you got kids that we don't know about.
I mean, I don't know about them.

BJ, you're a parent and you have also been playing paintball for a very long time. What would you tell other parents out there who are considering letting their kid play paintball for the first time or play tournaments for the first time?
I would let them know that the game is safe. So, it's really a safe sport as long as you learn safety. When it comes to a paintball gun, taking them to a field where they promote safety, where they force them to wear a mask, having your kids go out and play in the woods around the neighborhood, that's probably not a safe idea. But, if you're going to have them at a facility where there's referees and there's a lot of safety involved, it's a very safe sport. It was different for me when I was a kid. My mom let me go to Walmart and get a gun. Of course, she had to be there to buy it. The whole neighborhood got them and we just ran around the neighborhood playing. We didn't even have a mask the first time.
That's crazy.

I bought a gun with no mask. So, there wasn't a lot of education there. So, there's enough stuff out on YouTube, on websites, and then local fields. They can help you out. There's a lot of safety information out for parents to be able to review that stuff, to make a good decision for your kids to be able to play it.
Okay, so in addition to safety, as far as the community, like, clearly you've been around, you've met thousands of paintball players from around the world, literally around the world. And what would you say, like, if a parent walked up and you've got grown men playing with 15 year old kids at the same field? What would you say about that? How's the environment for a parent that's intimidated for the first time to let their kid go play a tournament or something? Like, what do you think?
Awesome environment, very encouraging. A lot of kids play with adults all the time, so having kids around, it's not like you got an adult just beating up on a kid. No one ever really lets that happen. So, it is very encouraging to have kids around.

My kid plays, she has her own set up, own gear, bag everything. She's played some scenarios with me, and she's ten and she had a lot of support from all the people that she played with, and not a single person knew her.
Cool deal. So, if anybody has any questions, BJ, can they reach out to you on social media?

Yes. I'm not really big in the social media, but if you send me a message on Facebook, I may see it. I don't know how long it's going to be….

Better option message our Pro Edge paintball Instagram for a question for BJ or our YouTube comment and we'll make sure we share it with him. Same for Fuzz over there. And Matt, if anybody has any questions, younger players, they have any questions about you or if anybody wants to get any jerseys from you guys or anything like any advice on a layout, can they reach out to you guys?

Absolutely. Anytime you have a question, don't think it's silly, don't think it's stupid. Questions are questions and people at different levels. That's all it is.
And last thing, if a kid sees you at the field, can they come up and say hi?
Always and forever.
They'll be scared, right. Cool deal. All right, guys, thanks so much. Thank you guys for watching. If you guys have any questions, comment below and make sure you subscribe and like this video. Thanks guys.