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Well, I am happy to say that my first Official's meeting will be monday evening at Valley High in Las Vegas.
In the time since my last post some months ago when I decided this is something I wanted to try I was able to secure the various rule books (rules, cartoon, case book, official's manual) from last season and have been reviewing them. I found a mentor. I'm a District Attorney and I found another local attorney to help me out who is a long time Ref in Vegas. We have talked. He led me in the right direction on equipment and what the local officials like to see in a squared away newbie. He and I are even meeting to do a couple private lessons on mechanics to get me tuned up. I gotta say it is great to have the help of an experienced official.
I've gotten another DA friend of mine all geeked up on the idea so he is going to get involved too.
My understanding is that this first meeting on monday is a "paperwork" kind of meeting. We will also get the most current books. Then the subsequent weeks are training classes and scrimmages. Then games begin end of November. I'm not sure when we take "the test" or what test it is exactly. As I understand it, once we pass the test we newbies will work HS Frosh girls games and boys games with a senior official at first until the association deems us qualified to get higher level games.
I am really excited. I'm 6/5" 225. I played HS ball and competitive ball in leagues for years. But recently with marriage and a daughter I havent really found the time and I have missed it immensely. I'm 37 and dont have much interest in getting into gym leagues with 21 year olds who just want to jack up 3s, so I thought officiating would be a fun way to get back into the game I love. And I like the idea of helping the HS kids develop sportsmanship and good clean competition.
So...any thoughts from all you vetrans out there for a newbie like myself who is just starting out? What things should I look for? What kind of stuff can I do to get a leg up on initial training? Any things you wish you knew or that someone had told you when you were first starting out?
Your help is appreciated.
Clark
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