calling your shots

[Bronwyn Trea]

Any advice on these issues would be wonderfully appreciated!

Issue one- I am having trouble getting some of the guys in my realm to call light or graze on the shots that are a light or a graze shot. They just keep running in and fighting without calling it. I am trying to fix this by making them take the hit if they don't call out what they were hit with, but this of course * some of them off. Some of them argue that they are out of breath so they can't say it, so I give them a few seconds to regain there breath before I make the call for them. Is there a better way to do this?

Issue two- There are a few new kids who have been coming for a couple of months and whenever I am looking at them when they get hit they wait for me to make the call. I have told them they got hit they know were it was so take the hit. Then I wait for them to do so, but it is getting frustrating... Has anyone else had this problem?

[Bortas]

1) Keep harping the point... Common speech I hear goes something like, 'Call every strike, if people think they hit you but you don't say anything, they think you are cheating. If you know the shot was close but did not strike, say 'NO'. If the shot made contact but barely so, say 'GRAZE'. Anyone, regardless of how hard they are running can eke out a single syllable. Don't let the weak excuse fly.

2) Keep swinging and hitting until they call it. It's a newb thing, they'll grow out of it.

-bort

[debuenzo]

1. Emphasize that taking hits is up to them and calling shots is not Mandatory, but letting an opponent know what happened to clarify a 'near-strike' is common courtesy on the field. Not doing so may lead to negative feelings and a bad reputation. A few words here and there can go a long way and are much better and easier than trying to make up for a "cheater" label.

2. Tell them that it is up to them to take the hit. If they felt a hit and do not take it, they are cheating. If they keep asking you to call it for them, call them dead for cheating.