Something that's always been present in the 14 years I've been playing is that some people treat rec-ball like there's money on the line. The way this manifests that bothers me the most is not carrying half a case out to a walk-on game or throwing ropes at renters, it's shouting "Get Out!" the moment you see you hit (or think you hit) a player. (Or "Get out, player!" or "Get him out! Get him out, ref!" etc.) No one has the reaction time to call themselves out as soon as a ball breaks anywhere on them, and how do they know without checking if it actually broke?
When I was starting out I would call myself out as soon as I felt any impact but that often led to me needlessly exiting the field when I had just caught a couple bounces. Now if I feel a hit I duck back into cover and check myself for breaks before I call anything.
Yelling at someone to "get out" ruins the vibe of rec-ball for me. We're all there to have fun. I want to be able to laugh about it with anyone who shoots me. Shouting at players like that is basically accusing them of cheating when they are still reacting to the hit. It always seems to be the tourney guys that end up doing this too and it must come from that culture. I've never played tourney paintball but I know that cheating is common and this attitude must be part of that game. I just wish it would stay there.
I sometimes call for players to check themselves if I saw I hit them in a harder to notice area like a hopper, pack, or leg. "Check your ." But that's it. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong.
What do you think? Is this kind of thing innocuous and I'm just being overly sensitive? Do people do this at your field? (For the record I can't actually think of a time someone yelled at me to get out, but I've seen plenty of it out on the field in walk-on and big games and it grinds my gears every time)
When I was starting out I would call myself out as soon as I felt any impact but that often led to me needlessly exiting the field when I had just caught a couple bounces. Now if I feel a hit I duck back into cover and check myself for breaks before I call anything.
Yelling at someone to "get out" ruins the vibe of rec-ball for me. We're all there to have fun. I want to be able to laugh about it with anyone who shoots me. Shouting at players like that is basically accusing them of cheating when they are still reacting to the hit. It always seems to be the tourney guys that end up doing this too and it must come from that culture. I've never played tourney paintball but I know that cheating is common and this attitude must be part of that game. I just wish it would stay there.
I sometimes call for players to check themselves if I saw I hit them in a harder to notice area like a hopper, pack, or leg. "Check your ." But that's it. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong.
What do you think? Is this kind of thing innocuous and I'm just being overly sensitive? Do people do this at your field? (For the record I can't actually think of a time someone yelled at me to get out, but I've seen plenty of it out on the field in walk-on and big games and it grinds my gears every time)
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