A Good Season

Well, the season has come and gone. It was my first season refereeing high school and I went from someone relatively well-known, and hopefully respected, to the new-kid-on-the-block. I think I did fairly well.

Like most newcomers, I was told that my first season I wouldn't get any middles which was OK by me. Having observed high school ball over the years I noticed that the refs do a pretty good job in the middle and a below average job on the lines. If I can be a great AR than that would be OK by me.

But just a few weeks into the season I got a middle assigned. It was a boys game between two teams not in the same district.

The game started innocently enough. There were a few fouls and I was on top of them. But then the better team scored. Three times in all right before the end of the half.

What happened next wasn't so pretty. The team kept scoring but not so graciously. As Klaus Staefe told me afterwards, even when this team wins big they make it hard for the other team. Everything was borderline. Taunting? Not so but almost. And taunting in high school is a red card offense. Simulation? Not so but almost. Everytime this team was fouled, and they were winning 5-0, they yelled, rolled, and stayed down.

After the game I asked Klaus if I kept a lid on the game or failed to keep it from boiling over. He told me it was a little of both.

I wish I had a couple of days to digest that. But I had an assessment game the next day. It would not leave me confident.

But the assessment game went well. Very well, in fact.

Refereeing is not much different than being a player. If you have a bad game you must learn from it then forget about it and move on. That is what I did.

I finished out the season with some great assignments including a District final and Regional final as well. I'm actually looking forward to our next high school season.