Okay guys, let me lay it out. After last Saturday (04/21/07) I will take no more crap when it comes to the treatment of my referees, so I suggest you do WHAT they tell you, WHEN they tell you. As you know we had our hands full with close to 70 players and Tony was the only ref that showed up to ref. He's one of my MOST dependable refs even though he's still a bit green. It doesn't matter though, as most of the people causing the problems were ex-LOF refs themselves and know better. Emily volunteered to go out and aid Tony but soon returned as she was shot at until she came back crying and didn't want to go back on the field. I was really pissed and all I can say is, you're lucky we were so busy inside as Papa Bear (Rick) was about to come rip some heads off. I think you should all be made aware that in the state of NC it is a felony charge to harm or even touch a uniformed referee in ANY sport! And I have no problem pressing charges when it concerns my referees! I know of at least 3 players that shot at Emily (you know who you are) and none of you will be allowed to play at LOF again until I see a personal apology to her attached to this post. Don't think I'll even miss you if that's the way you're going to act. You're more than welcome to find another 'paintball home'. I'd suggest the sooner the better in posting your apologies. I'll even start by apologizing to Emily for the way my 'mature' players acted by shooting at an unarmed 10-year old as ultimately the actions on the field are my fault. Sorry, Emily.

it sucks to hear this and if i would of been there things would of been different just b/c emily is smaller than us that doesn't give us the right to treat her like crap so i'm telling you this if i ever see anyone messing with her i might have a few words for you so be careful what you do anyways i hope to be out there soon i've been busy/broke so most of the time i can't make it out there but i will be there this summer alot and hopefully refing so if you treat me like this something not good will happen i know i will be shot and i have before but i can tell if its on purpose and that won't end up good so try not to shoot me please and if its on accident i can deal with it but apologize it doesn't have to big be but an "oh my bad" would be good you know something to let the person refing know it wasn't on purose but anways i hope you get something out of this i'm not too sure if any of it makes sense but i try


and toby don't think i've forgotten about lof cause its still the only field i play at i've just been broke and busy with this top hat project but as soon as this is over i will come out to ref for you

if you think it was me shooting her then you are wrong. ill admit i was pointing my gun at her. but thats not unusual for someone especially someone who knows emily well to do. Emily knows i wouldnt actually shoot her but... Emily if i did scare you i am sorry.

i was there also, i didnt point my gun at her, nor did i see or hear anyone shoot at her im not saying it didnt happen i just didnt see it.
it was definately wrong of whoever did. im sorry this happened

I wasnt there so i really dont know what happened, but from my experiances i have noticed that emily overreacts to things sometimes. Like i said i wasnt there so i dont know but i can see someone pointing their gun at her (which shouldnt happen) and her saying people shot her on purpose, or she just got shot reffing and said someone did it on purpose. Im not saying it didnt happen im just saying that there is a chance that she may have exagerated some.

Okay we're kinda missing the point here. This is not soley about Emily being aimed at and shot at. Yes, that was the worst of what happened and yes, 10 year olds DO tend to exaggerate. However, I haven't even spoken to Emily about this situation yet. I intend to interview her as well, but I approached and WAS approached (and e-mailed) by several players (both regulars and 1st timers) that explained to me what they saw and who they saw. Most of these people don't even know the gulity parties envolved and have nothing what-so-ever to gain by implicating them. The overall problem here is the blatant disregard for instructions given by LOF Referees. Several players repeatedly ignored given instructions by the Ultimate Ref. Most of you guys that have commented have reffed at LOF at one time or another and you know how difficult it is when you don't have enough help on the field. The refs don't need the added burden of having little to no control. And this WILL stop! You guys should help out by setting examples to the first timers and follow what the ref decides is best for the games at hand. Put yourself in the refs shoes when you're playing. Help him out and we all have a better time. That's all I'm saying.

Wow...Toby man i feel bad for you because I know you feel responsible.

Emily sorry I wish I could have been there to stick up for you. I KNOW pops was irrate as well. As any father would be.

Toby, I can come ref for you again if you need me. Unless I am just literally swamped ona Saturday and can't get out of it (you know how wedding plans are) I could at least show up for a majority of it. But give me enough notice and I honestly dont believe I would have a problem not being able to be there.

But you are right there is no reason for this. I mean I am sure it was done because they thought they could intimdate her, and just pick on her. But you know how 12 year old boys are.

Just let me know if you need me.

I'd like to volenteer the same. Anytime I'm there, if I'm needed please let me know. I cant promise that I can be there every weekend (little far away) but if I'm there, Id be glad to help ref a few games.

toby who are you talking about? what are you talking about?

i was inside the shop when this happened when emily came running in and crying i asked her what was wrong and she told me (people were aiming at her and threatening to shoot her) i dont know who did it but brett was standing right next to me as she was telling us to go shoot the guys who aimed at her but she never got around to telling us names she just ran down stairs.

Hey this is POPS. Guys and gals alike. I know it is hard, really hard for you to understand the topic at hand. Let me try to clarify and I know I'm going way out on a limb here, because most don't understand how to play hang the flag. Toby is a business that caters to introduce paintball to the public and show them how it can be fun and family oriented. I have told everyone that if you want to be sucessful at anything you need to apply yourself to something. Reffing is something that is taken very seriously. It is this reason why in 13 years there have been no serious injuries. If you claim to be a baller and most of you do, then why not prove it by coming out to the field and conducting yourself in a like manner. Help the newbs find out how much fun it is to be a paintballer by giving them some pointers instead of welts that will leave them scared for life and not return. Without the newbs there would not be paintball period. Ask any field owner and they will tell you that is the general public not tournament or senario players that keep them in business. I don't like to share this but I will. Toby thinks highly of those who look out for him, but I warn you if you cross him, he will make it his lifes mission to make your life miserable. I know alot of you have approached Toby about sponsership and I for one will tell you it will not happen because not only this problem but many prior have put a bad taste in his mouth. Toby knows alot of people in the paintball industry and has alot of pull so be forwarned. Ken Barret with Trauma has a saying, you will be on the opposite team one day and I will just leave it at that. Look guys I'm going to be blunt, if you don't like LOF don't come out cause we won't miss you it is just that simple. We would rather have 20 newbs than any kind of tournament or scenario player who cannot control themselves on the field. Many of you have made it clear you don't like the rules, well we don't ask you to like them we ask you to OBEY them. Besides if you don't go elsewhere you are not breaking our hearts any. Our refs from now on are going to be treated with respect or you will be asked to leave period it is up to you. If a ref asked you to go play on a team with a bunch of newbs against your buddies you should say OK and go play. You are not playing for a million dollars and a chance to be on American Idol. You are playing paintball a sport we are all passionate about. Plain and simple it is all about PAINTBALL! B)

it's spelt idol not idle. :P

but yea i do agree. you should treat people in paintball the same way you treat people in real life. it's no different.

my TKD (tae kwan do for those of you who don't know) instructor once said, "the best way to get to know somebody is by fighting them."

that can be said for paintball because in all actuality you are "fighting" them in the sense that you have to get them out before they get you. or hang the flag or find and complete a mission/objective.

I can see why a lot of people are moving away from the tournament style of play. Simply because there are a lot of tourney players that I have seen come to LOF thinking they're hot stuff and better then anyone else. Those are most of where all the problems come from.

I'm one to be out there helping out the newbs with things like tactics and maneuvers and how to lean out so you don't get shot up as much and so forth.

I have reffed for toby before and I would gladly do it again. And I have never taken a ref class. But it's been a long time since I've reffed. So unless the rules and guidelines have changed.... I should prob take the ref class for legality reasons. :P

that and not always able to get out on a saturday or sunday. specially now since we're going to be slammed at work til who knows when.

So guys treat people the same way you want to be treated. If you treat people like garbage.... expect to be treated like garbage. Because that's the way I'm going to treat you if you treat me like crap.

Simply put. Leave the bad attitude at home. It doesn't matter if you're 14 or 41. If I see you doing something you shouldn't or saying something that puts a bad stain on paintball. Then expect me to be in your face saying something.

And if you have a problem with that we can take it outside past toby's field's boundaries so he's not held responsible. lol. Trust me you don't want to mess with me. And I'm not trying to be or sound cocky. I just know.

Paintball already has a hard enough time with idiots ruining the image for us. So don't go and make it any worse. And yes you do have an effect on it as a whole. Because your actions are heard throughout the paintball community and word travels fast in this day and age.