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Originally Posted by Rich
What I've learned: I was insane working 60+ HS games a season. Nights at home with family are wonderful. The games go on. I wish I could go back and cut my schedule in half.
Some people may want to take it easy, stay close to home, and not drive 3-4 hours to work that night.
No need to insult the 4th graders by calling it a "little 4th grade game."
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My first mentor told me this a long time ago.
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"When you leave your home and dread what you are about to do, it is time to change something."
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I took his advice over 20 years ago and still apply that to my career today.
I would leave my home dreading covering middle school games even if they are 10 minutes from my house, which usually is more than one game a night, on a horrible floor or subpar gym to work games. If I am going to be away from my family I would rather see as many 3 digit numbers as possible for a similar time on the floor. I do not mind driving 3 or 4 hours if I love the experience of what I am doing. I am not doing this all year long. I gave up baseball for a similar reason. I simply did not love the experiences at any level. And I was fortunate to work all levels of amateur baseball at one time. I also know you officiated college football too. Those were much longer days even if the game was 40 minutes away because of what crew chiefs wanted than any basketball game I work for the most part. Having to be on the field a literal hour before the game starts and being at the school sometimes an hour before you get on the field. And those games are on a Saturday where I really could be spending time with my wife and kid. If I can do that like I did this fall, I can work a game 30 minutes from my house (which some games are that close) and be there a little over an hour and after the game I can leave. Heck during football weekends we have to do other stuff and take our time to get out of the locker room with 6 or 7 other people there.
If I am going to work a game, I am going to at least work something I enjoy and not deal with some parent that is a coach and never played the game a day in their life. I would rather get yelled at where there is actual accountability by all participants and a larger organization can oversee the behavior of everyone. That does not take place with middle school games. Anything below high school is a waste of my time and that is my choice. So if that insults people to say, "Little 4th Grade Middle school game" then so be it. For one those that work those games often seem to get value out of those games, but that is them. Those games would make me pull my hair out and I have a lot of hair.
So even though working a few hours from my home can be sometimes a chore (like I did last night going to another state), at least I enjoy the experience for the most part. And yes you still get yelled at, but you are dealing with a more reasonable environment. Working a middle school game can be a cluster with no personal value to working those games for me. I do not apologize for my stance. Which is why I only work boys games and men's college during the season. I worked hard to make that choice and not turning back now.
Peace