Quote:
Originally posted by IowaMike
This is my third year of officiating. I worked a few varsity games this season, have about 5 lined up for next season so far. I primarily work JV/Soph games with some Freshman and middle school as well. I have also done some youth tournament games this year but not as much as the previous two years. I worked every game I could get my first two years and probably more than I really wanted to this year and I am ready for the season to end, both mentally and physically. Seems like the players and coaches tend to get grumpier towards the end of the season too. I have done as many as six games in one day and I can say without question that I am not nearly as sharp mentally by that last game as I was for the first. However, when you are trying to get established you really feel pressured into accepting those assignments to get your name out there and make some friends. The guys that assign for those weekend youth leagues want to contact as few officials as possible so they want you to work as many games as you can stand. I have seen guys work 10 games in a day. I will be backing off next year and will try to schedule only 2-3 nights per week. I think my wife will appreciate it and I hope it will allow me to enjoy the last few weeks of the season.
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The end of the season is tough on everyone. I worked a game between a 3-14 team and a 14-3 team on Tuesday. 22-5 after one quarter. Coaches were well behaved until the third quarter when I no-called some contact on a drive. Good no-call, good defense, coach wanted me to bail out his out of control player. I let him vent for a while and then had a quiet word with him and asked him (not in these terms) to knock it off.
The more experience you get, the better you can handle situations, even when you are tired mentally and need a break. Course I'm done next week
