Stay Safe. Stay Sharp: Archie Montemayor

Who better to ask about keeping sharp in the current climate than the player with a lifetime season pass to the MVP lounge. San Antonio XFactor's Archie Montemayor.

Photo: George Fava

Do you have your own personal plan for keeping yourself on point so you’re always ready?

For me the off season never really exists. Most of my routine stays the same throughout the year. I play often and my mind is on the game all the time. I'm always thinking about ways I can improve myself, the team, teammates, how I can talk about things. It's just about being mindful, which is more important than ever right now.

What kind of drills do you do at home? If you can.

For drills at home, I make sure I am in good physical and cardio shape, and I like to have my full setup in my hands when I am home. The more my gun is in my hands the more comfortable and "at one" I am with my gun the better. 

Photo: George Fava

Do you have a usual core of local players who play together under normal circumstances? 

X-Factor Paintball Park has a strong player base so there are always groups I can jump on with on off weekends. Those kind of weekends are nice because shooting your gun keeps you sharp but also I get to have fun with it; there are no expectations and it's much less serious. I also get to give pointers out to the local guys. 

If you play COD or whatever, do you genuinely think there are things in those games that help keep paintballers sharp?

I play PUBG as my game of choice but in general I think video games CAN help you on the paintball field. Critical thinking happens all the time in the video game world and I know practicing that kind of thinking will absolutely help your paintball game. I give a large part of my success to playing Counter Strike and Digital Paintball 2.1 when I was younger. Several current pro players played Digital Paintball with/against me.

If there can only be one event this year, what would you like that to be? And why?

I think if there's only one event left this season, It has to be World Cup. For obvious reasons. Hopefully it doesn't come to that but at least if Cup happens it would be a huge event with people all over the world sharing a common subject that we all love. 

Photo: George Fava

Any last words to your fans out there?

There is more to life than now. Be safe, keep in touch with those close to you, and enjoy the simple things during these weird times.

Much LOVE!
Archie.