Rant : Reffing in Recball, a friendly "How to" guide from a rec-ball player

[Tyger]

Re: Re: Rant : Reffing in Recball, a friendly "How to" guide from a rec-ball player

Originally posted by pito189

You have played for awhile so I will cut you some slack, but seriously have you ever reffed?

You have to know that refs get paid peanuts if that.

Have I reffed?

Been a head ref for a while. Reffed at a field for years. Reffed at SEVERAL fields for years. So yes, I have.

I also come from a background of entertainment. Before paintball I worked at a laser tag place. And while there, I learned that a part of my job was customer relations. I am a part of the expirence. If I'm bad employee, people will think of the facility as being a bad place.

I take that with me when I ref. I take a moment, THAT'S ALL IT TAKES, to say to the players "Having a good time?" or "How's it goin' today?". It takes less than a minute of your life to talk to a player on a "person to person" level. When reffing it takes no effort to see who's having a bad day. It takes minimal effort to offer support, or sympathy, "You'll get 'em next time." I can look at people's rental guns and squeegie them in 10 seconds. If you're feeling generous, a whole minute of your day can be "Ok, here's why they got you that game. And here's how you can avoid that."

I learned this. I learned that the customers are people. I learned that it takes no effort, or at least a small effort, to relate to the customers as people. This is not McDonalds. This is not a counter job at the movie theater. You're not bumping chairs on the ski-hill all day. As a referee on a rec field, you are an integral part of the expirence of the players. YOU are the interface between the field and the player. YOU affect how the expirence can go.

As a rec-game ref you're going to see the same people all day, and these people will have a good or bad expirence based in large part on how you treat them. I guess I forget that nobody is teaching these guys the basics of customer relations. Either that or they just don't care , as long as by the end of the season they have their shiny new e-gun they "worked so hard for."

So yes, I have reffed. Yes, I practice what I preach. I don't believe that it takes much effort on the referee's behalf to actually interact with the players, and not be percieved as either "rent-a-cops" or "drill sargents" or "trees in goofy vests".

Customer relations is a part of the job. Just like keeping people's goggles on and paintchecks. IMHO, if they can't handle that, they shouldn't ref.

-Tyger

[hitech]

Re: Re: Re: Rant : Reffing in Recball, a friendly "How to" guide from a rec-ball play

Originally posted by Tyger
I take that with me when I ref. I take a moment, THAT'S ALL IT TAKES, to say to the players "Having a good time?" or "How's it goin' today?". It takes less than a minute of your life to talk to a player on a "person to person" level. When reffing it takes no effort to see who's having a bad day. It takes minimal effort to offer support, or sympathy, "You'll get 'em next time." I can look at people's rental guns and squeegie them in 10 seconds. If you're feeling generous, a whole minute of your day can be "Ok, here's why they got you that game. And here's how you can avoid that."

[Tyger]

it should go without saying, actually....

Originally posted by hitech

Come on guys, I do this as a PLAYER.

As should everyone, regardless if you're "on the clock" or not. But my point is that all the people that ref lately have either forgotten this, or never cared about it in the first place. It's about "doing time" at the field to get the hardware, or because a team's sponsorship is tied into reffing the "rec guys".

Sad state of affairs, it is. Very sad.

-Tyger

[xmetal2001]

Re: Rant : Reffing in Recball, a friendly "How to" guide from a rec-ball player

Originally posted by Tyger
or telling that new guy to put his goggles on for the fifth time, don't ref.
-Tyger

No. He'll get a warning the first time, if it looked accidental and harmless, second time, he's gone. Its for his own good. Thats the policy, and if I uphold it then there won't be a problem, people will learn.

[FallNAngel]

Originally posted by tony3
Badlandz refs seem like they are always high and usually never do anything, but there are a few good refs

Well, I can't comment on Country Club or CPX, but personally I think the refs at Badlandz are fine. At least the ones that have been there a while. Every once in a while someone quits or gets fired and gets replaced by someone new who really has no idea what's going on. In the woodsball fields, I would agree it's hard for refs to do their jobs (as far as seeing hits), but when I yell for a paintcheck, I should expect a ref to come running. That being said, I've never had a problem with the refs at Badlandz.

[Big_Chops]

i agree even if refs do get paid squat they should still do their job. when i ref i try to make is fun and fair for eveyone. i may be harsh when u do somthing wrong but thats the way it goes.and getting hit is part of the job.i mean i don't like being hit but if it happens it happens.

[punkncat]

I agree.Refs should be professional and helpful as possible.Keeping in mind that it doesn't interfere with the flow of the progress of games.
It really becomes a problem when you have people swamping you with marker problems,newbie questions,telling you a great story about how they shot someone out last game.....you get the point.All that can keep a ref from doing what is really needed.Reffing games in progress.

Now for the Ref Rant!

If you bought a new marker before you came out to the field.Read the users manual before you come.Not every ref knows everything about every marker out there.Be prepared to have to possibly buy something(springs) to make your new "Clone" work right on CO2.Especially if it summer and the last time you played,it shot 280FPS and it was 35* outside.....

Bring your own squeegee.This is fairly self explanitory.The ref doesn't have time to clean every single break on every single marker on the field all day.

Bring your own rag.My towel will not accommidate cleaning off every hit on every player all day long.

If you bought the cheapest field paint , and are renting a marker with a shaker hopper, please don't ask why its breaking balls all day.

When you see the bright yellow shirted guy...you know the one who came and paintchecked you and gave the safety talk.....running across the field try not to shoot him to the limit of your reflex and hopper speed.Refs know they are going to be shot sometimes, but simply identifiying your target before you fire goes a long way!

I am sure there are many more.....

[Big_Chops]

nice post punkncat i agree 100% i hate having to try and fix guns, and then clean the whole team's barrels and all that other crap.

[than205]

Tyger,

I agree. And I do ask how peoples days are going. Your right, it made my day better when I was just a player and it puts an image up now that I'm a ref.

I ref because I have a sickness. I can't get enough of this silly sport. I ref because I would bankrupt myself if I played. (my kids like to eat)

However, I feel I'm a rarity in that I want people to like the sport as much as I do, versus having the latest gizmo/bling.

I mention this because I started reffing the end of last summer. The staff at the field I work at were psyched because I knew what at least an ok ref could be and training was limited. I've been playing for a while and I know what I like to see and hear. So I treat people like I like to be treated.

However, when you have younger/less experienced people who's only interest is blowing up thier own ego. Or better yet, they've never had a really crappy job. It's hard to explain much less motivate them to raise the bar. I try to deliver by example mostly. I play the same way.

Things that bum me out about some players though: (newbies are forgiven as a rule)
1. People that throw equipment.
2. When I hear "veterans" (old farts like me) swearing up a storm in front of kids. Sure it's rough and tumbly sport but still it speaks volumes when some kids mom has to put up with that.
3. players (this is recball we're talking about) that spend the whole day yelling "Check-um!" "Nope your still hitting the brush pile and none of its broken on him. I'm five feet away from him after all."
4. People that crank up thier reg/velocity after the chrono.
5. People who trash on kids cause they bought a Tippy. (or whatever. This elitist crap sucks big time)
6. People that adjust thier Tippy RT trigger so it bounces and don't understand when I ask them to turn it down/off.

That's enough for now.

Still, thanks for the post. Good stuff as per usual. I'll be sharing this one.

[tribalman]

tyger- what field were u at? cause i have notice some of these things happening, but it was mostly at night, about 2 games before closing, so it's acceptable to be a bit lazy, but not the swearing thing, that's not cool. also, i've notice that the pbshooters refs doing the same thing, staying at the 50. UNTIL it becomes the team practice, then they are moving about, checking paint, etc. but i've noticed everwhere i go they mostly go on the honor rule but will still check paint. my 2.5cents

[Tyger]

Originally posted by tribalman
tyger- what field were u at?

I've gotten this a lot. So I'll do this publcly.

I am choosing NOT to divulge the name of the field.

The reason is simple. When myself and my friends decided to leave, I had 2 bags of unopened paint. I asked if they would buy it back, because I would never be back again. That got the field owner's attention. We talked a while, I told him what my problems were with his field (basically the first post in the thread.) He said nobody else would refund my money, but he did.

IN THE END, he made it right. I can respect that. Out of that respect, I'm not naming his field. This isn't to say that you folks won't figure it out eventually. I've found that the brain usage meter on this site is pretty high, which also tells me a lot about people who own 'mags. If you really put your mind to it, you can figure it out yourselves.

He made it right, but I'm still not going to go back to that field. Everyone in my group also told me they have no plans to go back either, for reasons that aren't totally consistent with this thread. In 3 hours we were there the referee staff managed to turn off 5 players from ever coming back. And I know that if I meniton them, they'll lose a lot more becasue "Tyger said it sucked." That was not my intent. My intent is to serve as an eye opener, and I appear to have done that.

It seems to me that not only this field, but fields all over the place are suffering from the same problem. Refs looking at working off a team sponsorship or a new gun, and not really giving a damn about what they're doing. I can fault the field for this, I can fault the refs themselves, or the state of affiars, or whatever. In the end, we've got a lot of refs who don't understand the basic concepts of showing thier guests a good time.

-Tyger

[MarkM]

Whilst I can understand a lot of your post Tyger and do realise that you have the best intentions and yes the newb/punter/customer (call them what you will) are there to pay for your own paintballing needs, if you are totally polite in some situations it will lead to problems...it mainly is personality and how you project this...I will take the safety talks and after all the little jokes that relax the customers I will explain that safety is paramount and that I have nothing against anyone personally but major safety issues such as goggle lifting WILL be enforced and enforced HARD and if this means me yelling/swearing at you then I will do it...as I can't replace your eyes...I will try and avoid the cussing as you put it, perhaps the terminology you have used it means swearing AT someone, and that is wrong but yelling/swearing to get the persons attention will always work. If I was to start calling the customer names to get a reaction then that shouldn't happen but shouting politely to get that customer to replace their goggles isn't going to work as they nearly to a man/woman go selectively deaf as soon as game on is called. I take the time between games to help if required and will pre game coach and I don't have a problem with running all over to check people or clean their markers. Of course getting shot in the back of the thigh at 6 yards by a player who is pointing their marker over a barricade without looking does make me swear but I have yet to take it out on that player

[Crighton]

Originally posted by Tyger


I am choosing NOT to divulge the name of the field

I had 2 bags of unopened paint. I asked if they would buy it back

DO take care of the fields between games, especially when your indoor surface can shift like dirt or sand.

-Tyger

He lives in SE/C WI. Not all that many fields in the area, even fewer with indoor fields. Even less that make you use field paint. (assuming this was the case, or they have excellent paint prices)

Most fields that suffer these types of problems seem to hire refs who on average are <18 years of age, and don't have a head ref who actually cares enough to make sure the younger guys do thier jobs correctly.

[taylor492]

geez thats pretty bad...while i was reading your list i was mentally checking off all of them as things that me and the other refs at my field did. the owner was pretty anal about those things. i agree, i wouldnt want to play somewhere like that.

[Dryden]

As a long time ref at charity events and big games, I would like to add the following:

Refs, always talk to all the other referees, before, during, and after the games, to ensure that all calls are consistent and within field guidelines and rules. As a player, I can tolerate if a ref makes a ruling on a ball break or chrono check that I might disagree with, provided that all refs behave similarly and I at least know what to expect. Players aren't expecting perfection, they're expecting consistency.

Always remember that priority #1 is player safety. If a player is in need of a paintcheck or is being overshot, step into the middle of the fray and break it up. If you're afraid of getting hit by a paintball, refing probably isn't for you.

I'm not saying I "enjoy" getting lit up, but nothing gets the adreneline pumping like jumping between a stream of paint between two players before they seriously hurt each other from overshooting.

Refs, don't "shadow" large groups when playing woodsball. There's a fine line between being close to the action, and standing over top of a concealed player whose laying in wait to ambush. As a player, I can usually target opposing players by watching the behavior of bad refs.

Refs, if you don't know the mechanics of a marker, or how to chrony it, defer to the ultimate judge or a fellow ref. Don't pretend to know how to chrony a marker you haven't seen before. There is nothing wrong with saying "I don't know," and asking for help. Besides, no one likes a pompous know-it-all anyhow.

Refs, if you've granted a player a paintcheck, and they're clean and ready to play, consider the location of the opposing team members and what ensued leading to the paintcheck. If declaring a player 'clean' and blowing the whistle results in said player getting hit 30 times, you're not doing your job. If field rules and conditions permit, it may be appropriate to give a countdown or relocate a player. Do not allow opposing players to move in for a better shot during the paintcheck.