Thank the newbies now and then.

[DasBaldDog]

On my way to my first game, I rode in my friend's Suburban. He was 5 years older than I was (He still is I suppose) but and had been in paintball for a while. We both worked at a local Boy Scout Camp, that's how I met him. Anyway, on the way, we talked about how the game was going to be played, the rules, the no-nos and what not. It was as much fun to talk about it with a friend than it is to play without them (I found out). Well I had a really fun day. Hell, I was hooked. I bought a Splatmaster (Yes, it was THAT long ago) and a mask at the proshop at the field and was all set to become an official paintball player. Well, my friend did something I never expected him to do on the way home. He said "Thanks". He thanked me for playing. It made me feel really good cause it made me feel like I belonged to the sport. It washed away any feelings of "He just didn't have anyone else to play with that day that he knew so he invited me as a last resort." I later found out that some of his closer friends had asked him to go and he told them that it would ruin my expierence to be among so many people that could beat me down. I think, as expierenced players we should thank the newbies for joining the sport. If they didn't, there wouldn't be a sport in 7 years. We owe it to the new people to be respectful to the refs. We need to follow the rules, not just when they're around but all the time. We need to play with common respect to the other players. We just need to play. It's a game, remember?

[Xander]

first of all you are welcome(I am a newbie) and second of all you were lucky to have such a cool guy drive you to your games i have a *** sick neighbor who is 2 years older than me and trys to hang out with me at school and tries to make fun of me and my friends who he follows around (the making fun of my friends and I we really don't care because it coming from a 17 yr old *** a$$hole):(

[FSU Paintball]

Hey, we were ALL newbies at one point. If you've forgotten what it was like trying to play against really good people for the first time, you shouldn't be playing with newbies. All veterans should go easy on newbies, and try to make them want to play the sport, not drive them away from it.

[CARBON]

At one time, everyone was a newbie, I was, but I have been playing for about 4 monthsa now, and I play every week. I guess that makes me a junior or something like that
________
Mac Game (http://macgame.org)

[Warlord]

You guys are right on. You gotta be nice to newbies, cause you never know when they're gonna come back in a year and kick your @$$! No, really, it takes a lot of guts for newbies to go out there against vets. I remember when i first started, asking everyone i knew "how bad it hurts". Those were the days. It's nice to read about people trying to keep the sport. People that brake all the rules give it a bad name. In other words, "the tall people are gonna take away our toys!"