tournaments, bad for the sport?

[FooTemps]

I've read all of your posts and I agree with this. I don't work at a field or anything because I'm a kid but when I play with my friends they wipe sometimes, usually near the end of the game. I don't see the point in this, wiping a shot when there's only 30 seconds left in a game. Playing through a whole game doesn't mean your a good player.
My parents are against me playing in tourneys and on teams because they've heard about the immense amount of cheating in paintball and they think that it will be a bad influence on me. I would like to participate in a tourney but I can't until the cheating aspect is taken care of.

[AdrenalineMag]

f.y.i.

im only 15 & ive worked at my field for about a year now, im the only one who thinks we should take a certified ref training class, but oh well its not a huge field, so if my boss dont want to pay 4 it thats fine, im taking it anyways...

[TheMadSplatter]

Hey Adrenaline Mag ... you near Maine? Come on up and take the MRPL's recreational reffing and tourney reffing courses. They're free!

Yo - Foo Temps ... you can play "safely" up here. And your folks will love it. We don't accept cheating - period.

[FooTemps]

Too bad that I don't live in maine...

[mr_cool2588]

I am 13 years old, I,ve seen the people that go off the fiels swearing and then I thought about it. Is it any different than a baseball player cursing at the ump or charging the mound? What is the difference between that and seeing your favorite soccer player get ejected for flicking off a fan. Bad sportsmanship is out of control but it is no different in any other sport. It is the point when people get so involved in trying to win a game they don't realize that people are watching them and that people look up to them.

But just because there are some bad people in the sport that would take joy in lighting up a 12 year old then curse at the ref for sending him off the field for doing it does not mean that there are not people that see a young kid that does not have as much expeirience and say you come with me and I'll s how you what to do.

I believe that there are just as many if not more good people in the sport of paintball as there are bad.

[TenKen714]

hmmm

Do what the NFL does......well, so the expense will be low, we can modify it a little. Have a couple of people(probably some of the refs) and have them run around with video cameras. Trying to video-tape EVERY player and their EVERY move. so id the player denies something or the ref isnt sure, just rewind and re-view it.

[mr_cool2588]

I'm not saying that it is the refs problem that people have bad sportsman ship. I'm saying that the ref has seen people laugh when they unload on people and then awear at the ref for talking to them about it.

There is usually one maby 2 refs and they are going to miss some things but then just like every other sport don't the refs make bad calls too.

I also was not putting down sporting I was saying that people who think bad sportsman ship only exists or is more common in paintball are incorrect.

[PaintballChannel]

Re: tournaments, bad for the sport?

I read an article a little while ago where an avid paintball player, in his mid 30's, attended his first tournament. he was there as a spectator. he liked the action of some of the good games, but noticed a few things that bothered him. Exessive language, bad sportsmanship, and cheating are a few of the things. he witnessed a game where a player that had been eliminated threw his gun on the ground and walked off the field swearing at the referee...

There are many of the factors you mentioned in every sport. Paintball is not and will never be immune. Although, I do agree that penalties should be given for these types of activities, including but not limited to monetary fines. Tournament paintball is at a very young stage ... It still has a lot of kinks to work out. I could go into detail, but that would be a whole other subject.

Although, there are some things that I see at paintball tournaments that IMHO believe should not be there or should be restricted to certain areas of the event - such as the ability to purchase alcoholic beverages, activities with heavy sexual conotations (ie. wet t-shirt contests, "paintball pit wrestling", etc). We have to remember that paintball is open to anyone 10 and up (and believe me, a lot of 10 year olds attend events), and is a family oriented sport, and should reflect as such.

Also, not to go off subject, but heavier security would be nice too. That's one thing I have always noticed at events, a lack of security.

[Zo]

I am a ref at my local field. I actually LOVE how they run it. No swearing, vulgor or racial language twords another player or his family. not allowed to touch another player. if cought wiping or using this kind of language you WILL sit the next game. And another problem we have a lot is people trying to sneak non-field paint. I hate that because thats just taking money away from my field, and the place we all love to play at. Though, if i do catch someone with it, i dump the hopper on the ground and eject them from the field for the day. The refs there also go through a "training day" and are tought all about the aspects of refing.

[TheMadSplatter]

Hey mr_cool2588, I think you're right. MOST players in the sport are honest and don't like to win by cheating. Most I've see are like that. At my field, many of the experienced players will take a newbie out and show him the ropes for a while. It's just the small number of dickheads that stand out - and they get noticed and help bring the sport down.

ZO - Sounds excellent! Good for you and your field! I work at a place that's very similar to yours. No "BS" allowed. Makes the sport alot more enjoyable for all, huh? The recreational fields are doing alot to bring the sport to more people and make it more acceptable. But there are still tourneys out there trashing the sport with their lack of rules (or lack of penalties for breaking the rules). Maybe if money (and winning-at-all-cost) was a bit less important .... ?

[davisdawg123]

stricter rules

at a 3 man i played in at iowa city... a player swore at the ref...the team got a fifty point penalty and nobody used any foul language or any bad sportsmanship the rest of the day...the team that had the player with the bad mouth, couldnt make to to the semifinals because of his outburst

[MagNumPI]

To some degree i'll agree with the topic.

We are classified as an "Xtreme Sport". What this means is the competitors are less then usual type of athlete. We are the "bad boys" of the athletes.. not saying that paintball = violence... Just look at the pro skaters, bikers Paintball players, none of them look like pro football, baseball or hockey players.. so with the image must come an attitude.. When your pro (seen this alot) you lose a game you can afford to pitch your angel across the field, it's not like you bought it. This behavior is then caught on camera and in magazines giving paintball a "Spoiled Rotten Brat" look to it, also giving kids the idea thats it's cool to do this. Just my opinion...

I bought my gun , I'm gonna treat it like gold , It's mine and mine alone. I play tournement paintball from time to time and i'm in it for the fun , if we win even better.

[mr_cool2588]

People don't notice it when other people do stuff that is respectable. You never hear someone yell across the field "What a great guy he called himself out when he got hit" or "wow that guy didn't run across the field swearing when he got called out".

Really wiping paint is cheating but suppose in soccer a player pushes a man off the ball and the ref doesn't see it. Is he going to run to the ref and say I just pushed that guy over I think you should call a penalty on me? In baseball if the ump calls a strike a ball is the batter going to turn around and argue to the ump that the last pitch was really a strike and he should be sitting in the dugout right now. Are these things considered cheating? NO why not they still alter the game in all three situations it is the ref who did not see it so player can get away with it. Human error is part of every sport

we almost run to criticize bad behavior but almost fail to notice proper or good behavior.

we also need to realize that just because people do what they can get away with in paintball doesn't mean that people don't take advantages of things of the same nature in other sports

I'm not coming down on refs of any kind I am a soccer ref and a paintball ref and I know I have missed calls but any one else who has refed something has also made mistakes. But it is not like we say to ourselves I'm going to let one team wipe and call splatter on the other team. We call it as fair as possible and if one team takes advantage of a bad call then good for that team. like I said before human error is part of the game.

cursing and swearing are totally different. But when someone does swear how often do other players get mad at them. Why don't all the players say we don't like you cursing around all the kids playing hear so we want you to stop cursing or stop playing here. If you say get out I'm tired of your altitude don't you all think people might change.

[MagNumPI]

Ah but now your thinking the ref has to decide if the player is tag or not. You examples are not exactly right.. Getting hit eliminates a player, thus bringing the oposition one step closer to winning... So it should be If a ref doesn't see a goal is it a goal? Same goes with Paintball Your out if you get hit and it breaks. If a player wipes its the exact same as a Goalie in hockey pulling the puck out of the net after a score then saying it never went in. Cheaters make paintball look bad for us, also they make paintball look like an imature sport where "Cheating is ok"...

[FooTemps]

Refs are always good for any game. They keep the players in line. I played paintball yesterday and I was glad there was a ref cuz I was getting overshot and the ref got pissed off at the guy and set him straight. Same thing in football, guys get penalized for excessive roughness.