I almost work at my local field

[Glovebox Operator]

Last Sunday I went with some coworkers to my local field. Head ref told me he was managing the place for the day and the only ref was assigned to a private party so I'd have to be in charge of managing our games, then came back and said their chronograph was broken and asked if I had one, I did, so I had to chrony our self equipped players and all the walk-ons we adopted throughout the day. Everyone was understanding that I wasn't going to do paint checks during a game so I told them to call hard bounces. It was a great time but a lot more work to make sure markers were aired up, shooting under 280, people had paint, everyone used barrel socks coming off the fields, masks down when on the field, dividing teams and coming up with games. The head ref also asked me how to fix an old PB Silver Bullet someone gave him (he's mostly an airsoft guy and doesn't really paintball repairs) so I gave him an old working Orion to fiddle with and understand how they're supposed to work. Aside from a great day of play I got invited to check out the the EOD tech's shop at the local AF base and scored an Emek with a broken grip for $20. I don't know where I was going with this except that being put in charge of so much at a field I've only been to 8 or 9 times was kinda strange.

[StaticShocked]

Thanks for giving a bunch of players a great play day when it sounds like it would have been called off! I doubt they would have let all of that happen unless they trusted you to run the games correctly and keep everyone safe. You are one of the regulars now. Sounds like a stressful but interesting day and nice score on the emek!

[Daltech]

Boomalah boomalah. Pretty cool no? Hot shit? No?

[Glovebox Operator]

It was a pretty cool day. Nice to be trusted that much. Some of my coworkers had no idea that's not how it usually goes, they just figured I'm usually in charge. And those bomb squad guys go hard!

[JohnB]

Nice job! I will help out the local field on occasion and am always doing mask and plug checks. It helps the fields stay afloat and enough have gone under.

[Daltech]

That’s an awesome story, I had to make my obligatory sarcastic comment first, but now that’s out of the way.

Ive thought about volunteering at my local field just to make sure everything you did gets done. Sometimes things slip through and the refs are not motivated. When the day has someone like yourself calling the shots and keeping everything moving the experience is sooo much more enjoyable. I don’t see why it’s so hard to run a field like a laser tag arena, just get some count down to next game clocks and a few speakers and voila, even a bullhorn and a air horn would work. As far as cheaters or wiping goes, if you figure out how to fix that please share it with the community because so far nobody knows. lol.

[warbosschoppa]

Usually if I burn through my paint before the end of the day I'll jump in and help ref til the end of the day. Playing is half the fun, the other half is just being at the field with friends and my paintball family.

[Trbo323]

$20 emek? Damn

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[Fubarius]

I'm pretty sure almost no one applies for a job in paintball, those things just sort of happen. Old indoor field, had a fleet of rental stingrays. I show up with my already tricked out Stingray and a reputation among my friends as the guy who fixes them from our outlaw games. Went there 3 times, and suddenly I'm behind the counter fixing rentals at the end of the day. All I did was say "sounds like a transfer tube o-ring, wrap a little teflon tape around it before installing the tube, it will hold for the rest of the day if the valve body isn't cracked" and I was hired.

Years later, go to a newly opened shop. Trying to decide if I want to pull the trigger (so to speak) on that B2K3 I was drooling over for 2 weeks. Well the place is very busy, only one of the two guys who ran the place was there that day, and he was getting swamped. He looked at me with panic in his eye and I'm like "no prob Dude, I got you." and I step behind the counter and immediately launch into salesman mode "so this is the 32 Degrees whisper barrel, the large amount of porting makes it one of the quietest barrels for your Tippmann..." Sold like 8 barrels, a handful of assorted accessories and 2 guns in the 3 hours I was there that day. Worked there for a couple years, and at the field they started, and was on their sponsored team.

But any player who shows up and not only takes care if his own group, but also makes sure all the other walk-on players who join them also have a good time? And all the safety rules were followed? And ran multiple game formats of properly distributed teams? Dude, I would have hired you on the spot!

[Myrkul]

Did you ever get that B2k3 you were drilling over? The hype was real with those and they are way cheaper now....

[Fubarius]

Of course, with an employee discount. Used that a few years, and I still think the way the bolt and barrel interact on those (with the bolt entering the barrel a bit when firing) was somehow more accurate than most other guns of the era. It was eventually replaced by a Viking.

[ClockworkSoldier]

Heck yeah, that's an awesome feeling. I always have a great time helping out, and I've very quickly found myself in a similar position with my local field, after coming back to paintball a little over a month ago. I used to play there around 15 years ago, and I've been showing the new owners and staff parts of the field they never even knew existed, haha. Now I'm the main person helping organize to get the defunct sections of the field up and running, so we can put together some big games again.

[Glovebox Operator]

That's pretty awesome to get to help bring the field back to what it used to be.

[Jonnydread]

As fields evolve and die and ebb and flow it's super important that the OGs help out willingly and make sure the news have a good time. Sounds like time well spent.

[Glovebox Operator]

$20 emek? Damn

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With the gamma core! Oh and a dad showed up with his kid that was so proud of his newish emek, well it leaked badly down the barrel, I pulled it apart and it was missing the bolt and sleeve. I let him use parts for my new acquisition for the day and helped them find the parts they'd need.

[zenmic]

Way to keep the old school traditions of giving back to the local paintball field alive. Back when my group of nuts and I played a lot, we would end up helping on and off the field. We never handled money and left that to the owner and his paid staff. We would ref, tech, chrony, and fill. When I was living in SoCal, we would occasionally ref. I remember helping when Giant Paintball bought a new field. I spend the day in the chrony area, as ALL of the rentals were shooting north of 300 fps. During a few of the Decay of Nations event, my team's tent was the unofficial: hangout, tech (my bench would have parts scattered as I repair markers for different folks), and medical. Several of my teammates were medical professionals.

[Fossilhead]

How'd someone break an emek frame?

[Glovebox Operator]

I don't know but the feedneck and front grip got snapped off. Possibly falling hard and wrong.

[Jonnydread]

Nah it’s just in pistol configuration

[Glovebox Operator]

I thought about that but it's a 50 cal. A 50 cal pistol would be cool too though

[JohnB]

That’s wild! Bad fall or ran over