On the off chance that you’ve never been to a local field, or even if you have and are just wondering on how to improve your ability to ref, there are some things that you should always know and other things you should always take into consideration. Everything the ref does involves safety, however remote it may seem. Remember that no matter how many games you’ve watched, and how many times you’ve reffed, you’re going to make mistakes. It’s a part of life, and everybody – now and then will make a bad call. Don’t get mad at the ref, they’re doing the best they can and imagine what they’re going through; having to sit through games, watching to make sure everybody’s mask is on correctly, watch for barrel condoms before and after all games, run in to call a person out, chrono markers to make sure people are not shooting high, watch for cheating, watch for people who are called out, make sure every body on the field knows they’re getting off the field, watch for people shooting too close (if bang bang rules are in effect) and then to help out people with questions about the field or game who are asking questions, all while under fire with no marker to return those unnecessary shots in their direction.
Yea, it can be stressful – and a lot of times, it’s not even for pay but to volunteer to their local field to give back to the game they love. These people deserve a lot of respect. A lot. If you’ve ever been a ref you know how hard it can be, just being in the sun all day can wear down your nerves. So we’ll start off section by section to tell you what to watch for, so if you decide to, one day, give your time and energy to a local field – you will be invited back again, earn a lot of respect, and be remembered as a ‘real decent guy/girl.’
SAFETY:
We’ll start it all off with safety, the reason a ref is ‘hired’ or needed on a field is number one to promote safety for all individuals. A key point in reffing is that when the barrel sock is off, the mask is on, and vise versa! This rule applies EVERYWHERE! Not just at local fields, but also for the safety of everybody, socks on always when game is not in session, and masks on when game is. This includes people who are within shot range, which is about 300 feet from the field (unless there is paintball field type netting, and only in that situation. Only!) Remember to tell people to hydrate! It’s more than necessary to have water in your system and is even dangerous when you don’t. this is not something a field can afford to forget.
Now, a big factor, and fight in safety sake is knowledge. A person who knows a lot about the game is NOT going to remove their mask during the game, or even on the field because they know the dangers of it. Make sure you reiterate this point, and to everybody – even the people who look like they know what they’re doing. It is also your job to govern the times the games begin, and to make sure that everybody who is within range of that game knows that game is about to begin – for their sake, they must be informed with the knowledge that a game is in progress, you could facilitate the process by sharing your knowledge. And don’t be a smart a** if someone asks you something, no matter how stupid it may seem, answer it honestly and to the best of your ability. You’ll earn respect by doing this, and people will be able to depend on you for anything else they may come across.
Don’t be afraid of getting hit, I know it sounds hard, but it’s true. You are the person who will be going into the line of fire to keep a player from getting shot too much, the players will recognize that you’re removing someone from the field if you’re walking with someone – but if they’re walking alone, they’re going to get a little extra love their way. Also to refrain from getting hit yourself use your voice – you’ve got it in there, don’t be afraid to scream a little to make sure everybody on the field knows that a person is out, and they have to get off the field. This will make all the players a lot wearier of your position and keep you from getting hit more as well as the person who is out. Not only will people call you a wimp if you’re just sitting off on the sidelines, but they wont want you to cover them when you’re playing either.
A little trick some refs have is a shield. Anything can be a shield from a garbage can lid to a dartboard with a strap on the back. With one of these bad boys you’ll have a lot more maneuverability on the field without having to take any extra love yourself. A very important factor in safety is to be sure people are not cheating, someone who cheats could be shooting people more than necessary, shooting too high over the limit and many other things, and there are a few things you should watch for about cheating in the following.
CHEATING:
Yea, I know it’s a horrible thing, but it happens, and you’re here to stop cheating in its tracks. First thing to know is there are a few ways people can get hit, they are known as ‘obvious hits,’ and ‘unobvious hits.’ This is something you should consider whenever you call anybody off the field, ‘specially for cheating.
An ‘obvious hit’ is: anything that could easily be seen or felt by the person whom was hit. This includes, but is not limited to places such as the lens side or body of the marker and hopper, chest, forearm, and places that would be recognized without thinking about it at all.
An ‘unobvious hit’ is: anything that cold not easily be seen or felt by the person whom was hit. This includes but is not limited to places such as the pod-pack, front of the hopper, back of the hpa/co2 tank the person is using, and other places such as shoes that could not as easily be determined by the player weather they were hit there, or felt the hit.
Playing on: it happens, it’s when a player is hit, but still continues to play the game. Going with what was said on ‘obvious’ and ‘unobvious’ hits, it’s up to you to determine if the person should be penalized for playing on. Remain polite, if possible, and go up to the person and tag them out.
Wiping: this doesn’t just happen sometimes – if you see someone wipe they meant to do it. People who try this are obviously hit, and refuse to leave the game. These people deserve to be pulled and probably flamed by everybody there, they could’ve received eliminations that they didn’t deserve and ruin the outcome of an otherwise good game. But you have to be weary of other things like ‘old hits’ from previous games, ‘bunker rub’ from paint that was already on the bunker, and things like ‘ground balls’ that a player might have accidentally stepped on and popped during the game, but was never shot and eliminated. Some people have come up with some crafty ways of wiping, including rubbing the spot against a bunker to make it look like bunker rub, sliding where they were hit to let the ground to the work for them and even shooting themselves where they were hit to say they did it themselves, ‘see look, it’s my paint.’ Chances are, things like that should be called out, weather an accident or not, just to be sure – but if you’re not sure they cheated, you should probably not penalize them for it. Again, it’s up to you to decide.
Shooting High/Over chronograph limit: at all local fields, but not all personal fields there is a limit to how fast a paintball may travel in feet per second (fps). It is usually about 280 through 300 feet per second, and shooting any faster than this causes more pain then necessary to players on the receiving end and more likely to break the skin. It’s difficult to test the fps on a player owned field without a chronograph, but if the ball hurts excessively, be courteous and turn down your velocity for their sake.
Bonus balling: ok yea, inadvertently shooting someone when they’re getting off the field happens, I don’t want anybody to run up on me, but watch out for this, certain players are known for laying down some extra love for someone who eliminated them on a previous skirmish and that creates more problems than it solves. It can cause fights (as seen on many popular paintball videos online), it can cause tension, and it can even cause newer players to loose a love in a sport that really needs all the real love it can get.
Cycle rate too excessive: this doesn't only apply for local fields, but it applies for tournaments and locations where the ROF is capped to a certain number to avoid excessively shooting a person who is already eliminated. It’s painful and dangerous to shoot someone more than they have to be shot to eliminate them being shot in the same place 3 or 4 times can even make you bleed. Lets face it, you don’t want to be shot 15 times before you get off the field, so assume everybody is like you and hopes for the same mutual respect from the other players.
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○ voted most helpful member winter 2006/7 ○
Yes, unfortunately as a ref, it is your job to learn how people cheat so you can properly assess their penalty. Remember it’s your job to keep people safe, and to deter people from cheating you should penalize them for the things they do wrong, it sounds different, but it’s necessary. For most occasions, on local fields and personal fields, a good punishment for cheating is making someone sit out the next game. (Or few games depending on how severe the infractions were.) Repeated infractions, like on this forum, could ultimately result in a partial or permanent ban from the field. Usually there is a boss in whom a ref would go to (on most occasions known as the ‘ultimate ref’), and usually, but in not all instances it’s the person who owns the field that would decide something like that.
Not all penalties are the same for each field, nor are there set guidelines for what should be done in every situation (for local fields) – so a lot of what happens here is up to you. Be creative, remember just ‘cause someone cheated doesn’t mean the HAVE to sit out a few games – you can even go as far as only allowing them 50 balls in the next game for shooting someone 5 times more than necessary, or only allow them to be chrono’d at 150fps for shooting 15fps over in the last round. (Usually it’s about 300fps set for a field, so multiply times ten the number they were over and subtract that from 300, which can be their punishment!)
POST GAMES:
Yay, the games are over, and now you get to total up the score and decide who wins this day. In tournaments you would do this after every game, and bring the scores to the ‘ultimate ref’ and the team captains would then sign the scores to verify that they are correct. Then it’s up to you to walk the fields and make sure that there are no random pods which may trip someone up, or things like stumps that can make later rounds dangerous.
Ooh, here’s something fun, after the day is up, and all your friends go it’s up to you to have all of your bunkers cleaned and deflated (if possible). And again you have to walk the field to make sure all random and out of place objects are removed. The refs who can do this without complaining are the refs who are always invited back to ref again. It’s also the refs who do this that have people come back to their field and remember that specific ref and field ‘cause it’s clean, and has good field service.
DEALING WITH UNRULY CUSTOMERS:
There is no set rule or thing for dealing with people who are overly energetic or unruly, a lot like with the penalties for cheating. I would even go as far as saying, this can be the hardest part of any reffing job you may have. It's these people who have monstrous egos and believe your field would not be blessed without thier presence that will cause most problems, and for the most part cheat most frequently as well - they never believe that they deserved to be eliminated and therefore stay in the game. Watch out for these guys!
Remember for most local fields it is a company and they do need the business, but that does not mean you have to deal with bad-mannered and abusive customers. Try to remain relaxed, keeping your temper is the difference between you being invited back as a level headed ref, and being shunned as a ref from the field. If you cannot yourself get the ego-maniacs to calm down or sit out a few games, then most people including your boss would suggest that you go to your ‘ultimate ref’ and report the issue to them. I know it sounds bad, but sometimes that’s the best you can do…
This is not a guide on the exact specifications of reffing, but rather a rule of thumb that some newer players might have to follow in order to increase how useful they are to their local field and make their personal fields more safe and fun to play at for all players, experienced and those unalike. Good luck on your future endeavors, and have fun playing or reffing!
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○ voted most helpful member winter 2006/7 ○
yea, about 3 hours in between my work at the office - coming up with and typing out the whole thing... it's over 11,500 characters and the limit is 10,000 so i had to cut it into two sections - sorry about that guys. i decided to put this thread actually because i saw someone post something about a kid being on the field without a mask - in my book that would be a major infraction like (verbally) assaulting someone else and result in some sort of suspension.
the reason i always use comic cans ms is so that i actually have to go to 'post reply' and change everything, it keeps me from spamming places and becoming irritating, and makes me think about what i'm going to say before i say it. also it sets me aside from everybody else, you'll recognize my posts immediately from the font change!
it's nice to blend every once in a while, but i like to stand out in a good way as well. it's just that i'm putting in more effort into it... you'll probably also notice that i often go back and edit my posts, i read them frequently to make sure i havn't said anything immature and all my information is as accurate as possible.
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○ voted most helpful member winter 2006/7 ○
I made this a sticky.
Keep adding to it, APG has a great monthly column on "you be the ref" and I think there is a great deal of interest out there for more folks to be refs.
I ref and I love it.
Maybe you can add a section on dealing with high energy players with monstrous egos... lol...
I made this a sticky.
Keep adding to it, APG has a great monthly column on "you be the ref" and I think there is a great deal of interest out there for more folks to be refs.
I ref and I love it.
Maybe you can add a section on dealing with high energy players with monstrous egos... lol...
Good job
i'm feelin' the love! thanks soo much guys, i appreciate it, i really do - i updated it just for you medic, but i tried to make it as quickly as possible, i'm leaving shortly and i'm not sure if i'll be back tonight to edit it agian.
feel free to give any more suggestions on what would make a reffing position more understandable and hopefully easier on a newer ref, i'll update it as quickly as i can (and edit any sections already there if you see anything there in flaw).
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○ voted most helpful member winter 2006/7 ○
good work demon. I ref i like the job. I see and put up with alot of **** sometimes, but our boss will back us 100% when customers start crap and wont stop.
Safety comes first and if the trouble makers dont come back o well, its better for the field and we have plenty of other people who come to our field that love to play there.
I feel better about reffing thanks for posting this. ^^
oh, yea - i actually made sure that the thing was stern on cheaters, but still gave them some leeway, such as the punishments - not always just taking them out of the games but creative things... one thing i didn't go over in the penalty part is things like 1 for 1's and etc, but that's much more for ultimate ref's to decide, and if you're reading this - it's not something you'll have to think about too much, lol.
i'm glad that some people can think about this and realize that ref's really do deserve a lot of respect when they're out there, a lot of times they deserve more than some of the best players on the field at the time... not always, and specially when the ref is bein' lazy or scared - but most of the time... that's one thing that peev's me though, a ref who just sits out of the games, and waits to start the next one... friggin' lazy *mumbles something to self* ... cannot believe that ... *mumbles inaudibly* ... jerks...
anywho, have fun guys!
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○ voted most helpful member winter 2006/7 ○
I ref a fair amount at our local field. Every time we set up a field(air ball) there seems to be hot spots where the balls get bounced to. Keep an eye out for these and stay clear of them! Man I have been beat up badly cause some of these spots seem the best place to ref due to no direct fire. Stay hydrated and cover your jewels too
Very well said. So well in fact, Im including it in my Sig.
I ref at a woodsball field most of the time (you know what they say, those of us that cant afford to play, ref) and my demeanor has earned me the nickname "Field General". I take my job very seriously, covering 6 acres of play area, sometimes by myself, can get stressful. So I try to make it perfectly clear that I'm not about to take any crap. I feel my job (and every refs job, for that matter) is to make sure the people playing have a great time, and in turn, want to come back, but that they understand there are safety measures in place for a reason. I've been known to jump on top of people when they remove their masks...Or take their markers away until the next game starts for not putting on a barrel sock. In the safety briefing the owner now says (about the masks) "I have one ref that will set you out, and another that will send you home" (meaning me). Good refs = a good game = a good view of the sport!
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ER Tech by day, EMT by night.
Trained to SAVE your a**, not KISS it.
I just wish that that thread was in every box that a gun is sold in and when you enter a feild there is a quiz on that exact set of rules either you pass and play or fail and learn cause it seems to me that kids like theone you were refering to (on feild without mask) dont really care for the game or them selfs and think that its just paint and it cant do any real harm to me which is 100% wrong anyway great job and thank you for caring
i ref at paintball atlanta, and thats completely true, the kids there that come and set there fps up to like 350 or higher, me and the ultimate ref have a little thing, for all the paintballs that you shoot over the limit, we shoot you, not at the same fps, but at 250. it gets kinda fun. you should also add something about frozen paintballs. we had a kid do that once. (the kid got permanently banned, and is never allowed to come back.)
im very new to paintball and i was thinking about trying to ref some were b/c i cant play alot takes lots of mony. but i all the info here helps alot thxs for it
REFFING: How to’s and what not to do’s.
REFFING: How to’s and what not to do’s.
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