Anyway the return of the Cribbs Cup - the amateur M5 tournament held at my local field; Cribbs Pro Paintball Centre - was this Sunday just gone (May the 4th be with you) and it was also my debut actually refereeing a tournament. The first time round I pretended to look busy and kept the scores, but Kayleigh figured that looked easy enough so stole it from me.
This time we had scrapped the 3-man division as we didn't see loads of interest for it last time, instead increasing the amount of 5-man teams to 14. We kept it as a standard 5-man format where you just play 1 point against a team and the victor of that point wins the game, none of that race-to stuff with the two timers and whatnot.. just some good old fashioned 1-shot-to-make-it-happen paintball. The difference was that we had a drop out and so ran with only 13 teams. We did plan to do 2 groups of 7 that played a round robin followed by a reseed at lunchtime, where the top 7 would play a round robin against each other and the bottom 7 would do the same in the afternoon.
As we had two uneven groups, to ensure everyone got the same amount of game-time we made the group of 6 play an extra game (repeating their first match of the morning), which we then did in the afternoon too for the top division but instead of repeating their first match they matched up in pairs (1st v 2nd, 3rd v 4th) etc to make it a more interesting game.
Anyway on the day I rocked up and wandered around doing odd jobs / pretending to do odd jobs and talking to my paintball friends (fweeeeends).
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| In case you didn't know what love is. |
I did find however it was surprisingly difficult sometimes to tell a hit from spray or rub. There was an occasion where I wiped some paint off of a feedneck which I thought was just bunker rub, but it wasn't until after I had made that call that I thought to myself "How the fuck does anyone get bunker rub on a feedneck?!" Oh well, he got shot for definite soon after so not too much harm done, right?
On another occasion someone had spray on their goggles in a weird curve shape, which seemed odd but it definitely wasn't a direct hit. I told them to play on, before finding a hit on their feedneck where the spray had obviously come from (feednecks, right?!). It's definitely a learning curve and I must say after experiencing the ambiguity and uncertainty first hand, I can see where bad calls come from and I should have a bit more respect for the ref's I deal with in future.
The other strains of being a ref is standing up, on the field for hours at a time, in the heat, wearing goggles and usually some protective clothing. I started my day with a vest, armpads, my jersey and the ref t-shirt on, expecting to get shot a lot (which I did), however after running around in the heat for 3 hours straight I decided to lose the jersey. I was a lot more comfortable but when I got caught between 2 players running down the field towards each other I definitely noticed!
Field placement is hard to read also. Trying to find a position where you have optimal view of the players yet also not being in anyone's way for the sake of the game / your health. I will definitely keep my eye on the way ref's work in the future when watching games now that I have something to relate to.
So without further ado the results:
Division 1
1st - Birmingham Reflex
2nd - Norfolk and Chance
3rd - Snatch
4th - REC
5th - Evil Twin
6th - Ultraviolets
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Division 2
1st - Bad Moji
2nd - Fallen
3rd - Cardinals
4th - Jedi Wannabees
5th - Outpost.
6th - UK Headhunters
7th - FNV
Division 1
1st - Reflex were unchallenged all day, I don't think they dropped a single game and they were very dominant, rolling their guns on the Bitburg field definitely secured the G's yet they were taking every opportunity to move up the field to close out the game. Solid play!
2nd - I had no idea what the hell kinda name 'Norfolk and Chance' was until the one-and-only James Watkins told me to "say it fast". Even so they showed some game as a scratch team - an old familiar face from my days playing with Brotherhood - Josh O'Callaghan had jumped in. I'm hoping he comes back to playing again as he's still got some game!
3rd - My old buddies in Snatch did well in 3rd place, they may have placed higher if their own player, Wayne, didn't play with REC in the last game and shoot half of his own team out.. they made sure he got punished by some cheap shots on the way off the field though!
5th - Evil Twin came along and showed they could play ball - they surprised me with their communication, for a predominantly scenario / walk-on based team these guys talked to eachother more than any other team. A bit of training to sharpen their skills and some more experience for the mid-game and they would definitely have been in contention for the podium.
Ultraviolets played well getting into the top division but weren't able to keep the momentum in the afternoon. A lot of the time they got to their primaries fine but lost a couple important bodies from their bunkers, putting them on the back foot. Even so they had some newer players they were giving some spins to and so this wasn't a bad showing from them at all.
Division 2
1st Bad Moji looked good all day, a couple slips in the morning meant they missed out on entering the top division, but solid play made them the team to beat in the afternoon. Again the Bitburg layout played to their strengths as they were good at patiently getting to their primaries and rolling their guns, letting their opposition make the mistakes.
2nd Fallen got skunked at the first Cribbs Cup with zero wins and so for them to come out and win some games, let alone come 2nd in their division, was a great improvement. I love this team as not only are they improving - I mean they have a way to go but they are looking better with each showing - but they know how to have a good time. Their morale boosting team shout at the start gate was predominantly "Who's house is this?!" "OUR HOUSE!" which was an improvement on "What do we want?" "BUKKAKE!" "Where do we want it?" "LUKE'S FACE".
3rd Cardinals were the champions of the last Cribbs Cup and bagged themselves a 3rd place in Div 2 this time around. To be fair they did look good and aggressive, but this layout really hands itself to sitting back and rolling the guns, something I don't think of when I think Cardinals as they're usually trying to share your bunker with you!
4th Jedi Wannabees - not gonna lie I didn't know many of your players and as a result I didn't really look out for you.. But you didn't look too shabby out there, the snake player from UWE I was watching most of the day got to the snake 1 without fail!
5th Outpost I expected more from to be honest as they know how to roll their guns, but I don't think they had all their key players with them. I'm sure they will be coming to the next tournament with something to prove!
6th UK Headhunters - a team I haven't heard much of in the past but they did look good on the field. A bit more work and they will be contending for the podium I'm sure!
7th FNV were the new guys and fair play to them, whilst they didn't win any games they took G's off a lot of teams. I do hope they stick at it and get some more training and experience under their belts. It's always good to see new blood enter the game and so let's hope to see them again!
The other team present this weekend was the beautiful reffing team. Made upof Entity + that Max guy from UWE that no-one likes.
I had a blast this weekend and whilst it was 11 hours in the same pair of football boots, I had a lot of fun, learnt a lot about 'the other side' of the player-referee relationship and most importantly got to catch up with a bunch of my favorite paintball people. Again the atmosphere was great, I didn't hear many complaints and it was good that everyone stuck around for the final presentation at the end - it's common to see everyone clear off when they've finished their games. I also liked the support that a lot of the teams gave to the new guys who came up.
I can't wait for the next one! Which is in August sometime - Keep an eye on the Cribbs facebook page (I've already linked it, scroll back up!) for the exact date and details on how to book!
Of course I didn't shoot any paintballs this weekend so the tally remains as whatever it was last entry - shut up if you care so much you can scroll down.
I should probably get less lazy with this..
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