[BktBallRef]

This is the one that concerns my wife the most when I walk out the door to officiate a local game. People you may think of as friends can quickly turn on you in the face of competition. It's moreso the uniform that they're attacking than you. But I'm sure that doesn't make you feel any better.

It's a difficult situation that can be best handled based on your personality. What do I mean? If you're the type of person who can easily forgive people and look beyond their faults, then you'll be able to deal with those folks the next time you see them, no matter what the circumstances. Although you won't forget what happened, they probably have. You're probably hurting more now than you will later. However, if you're hurt easily and hang on to such things, you're going to have difficulty dealing with these people. It might be best to stay away a few days until you've had more of an opportunity to reflect on it. If there was one particular person that you had difficulty with, you may want to talk to them. That's up to you.

No matter how you choose to handle this, you have a decision to make. Will you continue to work games for this school or any other that your children may attend? For many officials, it's taboo to work games where your kids go to school. But that's a decision you have to make. If this is the first time that you've worked their games, they probably didn't have much respect for your officiating. That usually comes when they see you work more games.

We have a local adult church league that I've worked for about 5 years. I knew a lot of the men before the league began play. During the first couple of years, it was tough. Seems like I would call 2 to 4 technical fouls per night. But now they're glad to see me walk into the building. The teams that have been in the league since it's inception, respect me, know that I know the rules, and know how far they can push before they cross the line. I think they get a kick out of the new teams that come in and have to learn the ropes the hard way. They may not always agree with my call but they know they're going to get a fair shake.

Take your time and think about it in a couple of days. Don't dwell on it. Good luck girl!