This will be my inaugural season as a football ref after having played interior line some 25 yrs ago.
My first meeting - a rules update compressed video meeting - was a hoot! My first time meeting the others.
Now I know where all the old athletes end up! Nothing like a roomful of "young" old guys. I thought I was the lone 44 yr old ex-jock but now I know where some of them end up!
Anyhow, even though I played a long time ago, have watched countless HS, collegiate and pro games, I feel quite overwhelmed.
My initial intentions were to ref the Junior High and some local 9 man HS games around our area. Leaving the Varsity HS games to the "old" guys. As luck has it, our area is very short on refs so apparently I'll be doing some Varsity games.
I'm reading the 5 NFHS booklets on rules, official manual,simplified, case and handbook but man it's a ton of stuff.
Not knowing where they'll place me yet, can some of you point out the areas I should be concentrating on initially as it relates to the most often violated rules? Or point me to a few basic articles for the new ref?
I'm also thinking of ordering my gear from
http://www.getofficial.com has anyone used them and would you recommend the starter package there?
Obviously I will be a lurker here for quite some time. Just wanted to let you know I was around and soaking up all I can here. Nice site. Hopefully one day I'll be able to contribute to it.
Apologies for the lengthy post... Thanks.