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The local AD assigned me to a junior high school game last week with a local college kid as my partner. (The son of one of the local teachers.)
I'm standing on the court when my partner shows up 5 minutes before game time and walks across the court towards me. I could not believe my eyes!
He had on white sneakers, grey sweat pants, a zebra shirt with a turtle neck shirt, an outsized wristwatch, a sea shell necklace, three "cancer bracelets" and a circular earring in his ear. (I had just finshed telling one girl to take a hard barrette out of her hair.) He had played on the local high school team two years ago that won a state title so he has seem plenty of basketball officials.
I told him that he had to take it all off before he could ref with me. His response was: "Your kidding me right!"
He decided that he would only take off the wrist watch and said again: "Your kidding me right!". I went back into the locker room and tried calling the AD on my cell but she had already left for the day.
I went back out on the court and told him one of us was not going to ref the game and seeing as I was the patched official he should go home and that I would work the game solo.
At which point he left and I did the game by myself.
The next day I called the local AD and told her what had happened. My partner (and his mother) had alread met with the AD. The AD proceeded to tell me that I did not have the authority to send him off the floor; and besides: "he needed the money for college and had always wanted to be a ref". I offered to sit with him and point him in the right direction but she said that she would have a talk with him before he does another game. She also said that she has me working with him again next week. Every other game I have ever done for her I have worked with another patched official.
The AD gives me about 15 games a year, which I enjoy doing because both the middle school and high schools are only a mile from my home. My regular assigner would typically be sending me an hour out of town for the same money.
What should I do? Let it go and run the risk of another pre-game confrontation with this kid or take a stand and refuse to work with him and run risk of losing 15 games next season?
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