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Judges/Referees, Setting The Tone

A lot of the articles you see written by the "pros" deal mainly with tournament style play. I try very hard to incorporate tips into my article that will benefit players of all types and of all skill levels. This months feature however, is geared more toward the tournament players, so bare with me.

Judges....they can be your best friend or your worst enemy out on the playing field. As a player on the field you are going to get good calls, you are going to get bad calls and sometimes no call at all. Love 'em or hate 'em you have to deal with them. Now common sense tells you that there is no reason to argue a good call so we'll go over what happens when you get the bad ones.

"Setting the Tone"

Often times referees will try to set the tone for the event in the first few games, and in multi day events, sometimes on the entire first day. What I mean here is that they are going to show the teams that are playing and those spectating what exactly they will and will not put up with and how they are going to call things on their field. The thing to remember here is these guys aren't looking to screw anyone over but after getting up at 6:00 or 7:00 in the morning they're not going to put up with any crap either. Be on your best behavior.

"People are People"

No matter what set of rules you play under, everyone interprets them just a little different and this can lead to calls that vary from field to field. Deal with it. Referees (if they are good ones) will usually give a team a short briefing in the flag station as to specific rules that apply to their field. Here's an example: The flag judge on field one tells you that if you come close to the wire or if your equipment inadvertently crosses the boundary tape you will be given a warning. You get on field two and the remote line on your pack breaks the plane of the tape and the next thing you know you're arm band is ripped off and the judge is informing you that there's a front row seat for you on the other side of the show tape. Get my drift. Make sure you pay attention to the officials before the start of the game and if they don't offer up any info ask for it!

"The Golden Rule"

Rule #1: The judge is always right. Rule #2: When in doubt, refer to rule #1. This is the gist of it so listen up. No matter what happens on the field and how bad a call on the field is, 99% of the time the judges call will stand. That is a fact of life, get used to it!!! If during the course of an event, a team argues a call and gets that call reversed, every call on every field is subject to scrutiny and can ruin what would otherwise be an excellent event because the teams have lost respect and confidence in the officials and every call becomes confrontational. There are of course exceptions to every rule, but for the most part this is the case. Besides, you should never argue with the judge, it can make for a long day. If you disagree with a judges call you dispute it, there is a difference.

"R-E-S-P-E-C-T"

Remember it, write it down, take a picture I don't care what you do but remember this word and make sure you have it for the refs when you walk on the field or as I just said, you could be in for a very long day. Judging staffs for tournaments are overworked, underpaid and could probably find several hundred better things to do than ref an event but they do it anyway (go figure). The last thing they want to hear from you is that they are an idiot, they suck, don't know anything about paintball and a few expletives that John wouldn't let me put in here. They do it for the love of the game (and a better spot in the standings) so you had better appreciate it.

I like to observe what I call the "mute button" rule. You can say all you want to the ref, as long as you are respectful, until the point that the armband comes off. When the band comes off you shut your hole or it can cost you. I've seen players on numerous occasions argue with a ref and continue to back talk walking off the field only to have one of his teammates pulled because he couldn't keep his mouth shut. You might think the judge is being an ass but basically if you talk after your hit it's a penalty, pure and simple.

Mouthing off can have lasting effects as well. At one tournament I watched as member of the tournament staff went out to help judge the finals, now he hadn't judged at all until the finals but was qualified none the less. After a player was called out for an unobvious hit, he proceeded to tell the judge to mind his own f@!#% business. After the judge totally reamed him, he walked down the field and hovered over another one of their players waiting for them to give him a

reason to pull them out of the game. If your team is known for arguing with the officials or is constantly running their mouth and insulting the refs it makes it that much harder to beat your opponent much less win an event. Those calls that could go either way start going against you. You know, the so-called splatter off the bunker in front of you that is actually splatter but it's a quarter sized so you're gone...or the famous "Ref, I knelt on a ball", the shell is half buried in the ground and you have dirt mixed with the paint and the ref pulls you anyway. This kind of behavior costs your team in the long run.

Show the judges a little respect and add a "thank you" or "good job" every once in a while and things could go the other way. Example: At the NPPL D.C. Cup a couple of years ago, my buddy Cliff talked his way out of a call and ended up having an impact on winning the game. "Cliffy" was in his bunker when a ball clipped a tree limb and cracked open but didn't break. The ball basically rolled across his chest leaving a string of paint about an 1/8 of an inch wide all the way across. When the judge approached and took a look he commented that it was fair amount of paint, meanwhile another teammate is barking at the judge yelling that it's not big enough and it's only splatter. Cliff looks the guy right in the eyes and tells the guy calmly and with confidence, "Hey, you're the judge, it's your call", his whole demeanor changed and he wiped of the paint off and told him to continue playing. He wasn't hit in the first place but the judge could have pulled him anyway. By staying calm, and showing respect for the judge and the call he would make he was able to stay in the game and help his team win. A good team to look at is the All Americans. They are always polite (except for George who's a little high strung) and show the refs a lot of respect. Hell, they even say please when they ask for a paintcheck!

The bottom line is the judges are human. They are going to miss calls and they will make their fair share of bad ones but screaming and yelling insults at them and challenging them, especially in front of a crowd is not going to do you any good. More often than not it will get you unwanted penalties and if you play the same field again you can rest assured that those close calls are not going to go your way.

That's it for this month. Next issue we'll discuss how to deal with a loss. If you have any questions or comments or if you have a subject you would like to see covered here, e-mail me at gts@phoenix.net or send your requests here to PCRI.

Until next time, play hard, play fast, play fair and play safe! - RAB