[lamorte]

If you're a referee in the middle of a game with markers blazing, players and the crowd screaming, how do you effectively communicate your judgement calls to all the participants and other judges on the field without uncertainty? By using hand signals of course. There are basic hand signals used by judgement officials in other spectator sports for similar reasons as well. Why not paintball?

This thread was created as a visual aid to photographically depict the hand signal gestures used by the reffing staff of league paintball for existing refs, future refs and the general PbN paintball community.

I'd like to personally thank all the members here that have assisted in the content of this thread by providing photographs and/or descriptions. Any members that would like to discuss or contribute further to this closed sticky thread may do so by clicking here.

Thanks to FatalKitty of Shyy Photography for providing the first NPPL segment of this thread.........



Excerpts Taken From The NPPL Official Rulebook 2009 Referee Edition

11.06 Referee Hand Signals. Referee hand signals will be as follows:

Game Start



1) 10 Seconds to Game Start - The Head Ref will signal 10 seconds to Game Start by raising his right hand.

2) Game Start - The Head Ref will signal the game start by dropping his right hand.

The ref shown above is raising both hands because he doesn't have to hold a stop watch. The head ref will be holding a stop watch and raising his right hand. All other refs on the field will make this 2 handed signal.

Player Eliminated



3) Eliminated - Referee will signal when a player is eliminated by holding his right hand on top of his head and pointing his left arm at the player who is eliminated. The Referee will then pull the eliminated player’s armband. The Referee cannot put a player back in after calling a player eliminated with a hand signal.

Player Safe



4) Safe - Referee will signal safe by waving both hands in front of his body. This “safe” signal indicates that a player is considered clean of a hit and is still an active part of the game.

Pursuant to section 11.05

Paint Checks

Paint checks are performed by Referees for the purpose of determining if a paintball has broken on and marked a player. Paint checks are performed by a Referee when the Referee has observed a player taking shots, or when shots are directed into an area occupied by a player that the Referee cannot directly observe, when the physical location that a paintball may have broken on is not visible to the Referee, or when the Referee is directed to do so by another Referee.

1) Player Requested Paint Checks - Referees may, but are not obligated to perform a paint check after a player has requested one on another player.

2) Flag Carriers - No flag carrier will ever be stopped for the purposes of performing a paint check, unless requested by the flag carrier.

3) Not Easily Verifiable - Players, who are hit in obvious locations, which are not easily verifiable, such players may call for a paint check. If player request such a paint check, the referee must reply with hit or clean and do respective hand signals. (See rule 19.03)

1 for 1 (or 2, or 3)



5) One-for-One - Referee will call a player eliminated for a One-for-One using the eliminated signal first followed by a double fist up and down movement both arms in front of his body and tossing a red flag. Referee will then eliminate the player and again signal a One-for-One. The double fist up and down movement may be repeated as necessary for Two-for-One and Three-for-One eliminations.

Out of Bounds(no photo yet)

6) Out of Bounds - A referee will signal a player out of bounds with a swing of both arms towards the direction where the player is out of bounds.

Game Time



7) Flag Hang - Referee will signal a Flag hang by placing both arms over his/her head and holding the left wrist with the right hand.

8) Game End and Stoppages - The Head Ref will signal the game end or game stop by waving both hands overhead so that the wrists cross.


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