The big difference between paintball and most other sports is the scope for deliberate cheating.......wiping, altering markers, altering padding, playing on etc... etc... plus in a tournament you play an awfull lot of games, which other sports play nine games in a day? so lots more chances to cheat..... nine chances to lift your marker early, nine chances to slide in and clear paint from your knees. On top of that you have a scoring system that requires a fair amount of "honour" (even the regular cheats call themselves out more often than not).
On top of that you have the accidental "cheats" e.g. the newer players who haven't realised the extra layer is cheating (it happens all of the time) because they haven't read the rules, the occasional player who missuses a marker from lack of experience. Or the simple things... I role my sleeves up on everything (child of the 80's.it's a Miami Vice thing), this gives me lots of extra bounce on the forearms, I'm trying to stop. but still do it occasionaly.
Two choices... Draconian marshalling, or name and shame, naming and shaming gets my vote as accidental rule breakers will get a bit of stick from those who know them, the serious offenders will be noticed by sponsors.
And yes, you can break the rules without cheating..... a hot marker, sliding out of bounds, knocking a bunker off it's pegs etc... etc.. I've only had penalty points once, it was for overshooting (fired four paintballs into his battlepack as I ran past him), I didn't argue (the Marshalls had a tough enough day) so I'd broken the rules, I didn't cheat.
On top of that you have the accidental "cheats" e.g. the newer players who haven't realised the extra layer is cheating (it happens all of the time) because they haven't read the rules, the occasional player who missuses a marker from lack of experience. Or the simple things... I role my sleeves up on everything (child of the 80's.it's a Miami Vice thing), this gives me lots of extra bounce on the forearms, I'm trying to stop. but still do it occasionaly.
Two choices... Draconian marshalling, or name and shame, naming and shaming gets my vote as accidental rule breakers will get a bit of stick from those who know them, the serious offenders will be noticed by sponsors.
And yes, you can break the rules without cheating..... a hot marker, sliding out of bounds, knocking a bunker off it's pegs etc... etc.. I've only had penalty points once, it was for overshooting (fired four paintballs into his battlepack as I ran past him), I didn't argue (the Marshalls had a tough enough day) so I'd broken the rules, I didn't cheat.
, Bet if you looked around, you could find some pretty bouncy hats, is looking for a nice soft hat cheating? I suppose it is really, bout time we had a compulsory helmet thingy really.
