GUN UP LOADING 

A very crucial skill to learn in tournament paintball is how to load with your gun up. Loading gun up is not always done in the form of defense, but also in aggression and maintaining control. I've noticed in my years of helping divisional players that a huge common flaw that most of them have is losing control of a situation. It is often caused by them dropping their gun to reload. 

Gun up loading is not a must-do thing with every pod you load, but more so a technique used in so many scenarios of paintball that could literally make or break a point. Also, I am referring to loading gun up, not loading and shooting which means consistently shooting while loading. 

You should load gun up when:

• *Holding a lane
• *Dominating a wire
• *Suppressing a player
• *Watching a gap
• *Protecting a teammate
• *Protecting yourself
• *Killing the game clock

There are a few ways you can practice loading gun up. 

• *Practice without paint in your pods, just position yourself to be holding a lane and bring the pod from your pack to your loader and then drop the pod. 
• *Practice with paint in your pods this time working on making perfect contact with your pod to your loader opening. 
• *Practice while shooting one ball every half second at a stationed target as if you were "shot placing" while loading to cover a gap. 
• *Do the same thing above, but have a friend stationed in a bunker behind the target to shout out what parts of your body are exposed so you can practice doing it tighter.