I would expect (hope) that you were asked because, as you've been playing there a long time, they have had the opportunity to experience your temperament and disposition, and feel you have the right kind of personality to be a marshal, and unless the site is a shitshow (playing there for a long time suggests its not), then that's a compliment.
As well as being able to watch over the players in terms of safety, cheating etc, a very important part of being a
good marshal is being able to deal with people.
You need a level head and a calm manner.
You need to be able to confront people, in a professional, civil way. Not aggressively, but firmly.
You need to be able to deal with an angry, or upset, or simply over excited players confronting you about something they feel passionate about.
We've all seen the angry dickhead marshals.
The marshals that seem dismissive or uninterested.
They escalate situations, and reflect very poorly on the site they work at.
A marshal shouldn't be shouting at players, unless the player in question is about to do something stupid and/or dangerous.
How would you deal with a player reporting another player for non hit taking?
Or those two players getting in each others faces?
How are you with emergencies? Say someone has sustained a nasty injury, are you calm in those situations? How do you feel about the sight of blood?
Can you stay attentive to the game day when you're not playing? Or are you going to sit on a log looking at your phone, or chatting to a pretty girl?
And while not a neccesity for a marshal, to me a great marshal is one that interacts with the players as a team.
Can you remain enthusiastic and encouraging for the players all day?
You've been assigned the red team for a skirmish day, and they are losing every game so far. Could you rouse them up?
I work at an Airsoft site, and before that I was a volunteer marshal at the same site, and we still have a lot of volunteer marshals.
They don't all encompass all of the qualities above, but they have at least the important parts.
All of them still play. Some play roughly every other weekend, using the marshaling day to accrue a free game day, while others play a lot less often.
The less often ones, however, are loooong time airsoft players, and they still enjoy the hobby but feel the need to play less.
I play less these days, but when I do I'm a better player for the marshaling experience, and I appreciate my play time more.
I really enjoy marshaling, I'm glad I started. Mind you, I'm a bit weird ?
Try it, see how you like it. You say you love the site, this gives you an opportunity to pay back the fun you've had and possibly even make suggestions for improvements.
But one piece of advice; don't let it go to your head. You're just a guy herding toy soldiers.
And if you don't have your high viz on you're just a guy.
There was a guy at a different site we went to play at the other week, who was shooting medic state players on our team. When questioned about it the conversation lead to an angry "I'm a marshal!"
Get in the fucking sea, ya prick.
Have fun!
As a group airsofters have the attention span and memory retention of an average 1 year old , and organising them is like hearding cats.
All the replies here have good points, but this one is worth highlighting ?
Airsofters leave their brains at home when they pack their kit for a game day.
You WILL have to deal with absolute mongs, macho dickheads and all kinds of stupid questions (oh god, the ones that think they're funny....).
You need a lot of patience.
