since the topic is...
You wanted a "realistic" view of officiating. Here is part of it. The absolute first thing you need to do is decide whether you are doing this as a hobby, or as a vocation. If it's a hobby, then learn what you can, call the games according to the rules, watch out for player safety and have fun.
If you are more serious and want to "move up the ladder", then go to camps, make certain calls technically incorrect but the way evaluators want them called, make lots of contacts and don't make waves.
I didn't necessarily mean that last part to be sarcastic. I think much of what you have to do to move up is proper and should be done anyway (other than making calls incorrectly because that's how some officials want you to call them), but just like in any profession, sometimes it's who you know that's more important than what you know.
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