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I figured I'd better report back so you'd all know I survived!
The games went pretty well, IMO. I've always found girls action more difficult to officiate than boys, and that held true for me tonight at the varsity level as well. The crew overall felt good about both games, though admitted that at times the girls game (a 20 point blowout) got pretty ugly at times. Probably let a bit too much contact go on some loose balls and rebounding action, but will continue to improve there.
The boys game was a great game, coming down to the last minute before the visitors pulled away for a 6-point win. We felt very good about the way this one was called, and got very little talk from the coaches. The only thing any of us heard from them was from the visiting coach a bit early when his team was leading the foul count 8-2. Of course, he was full-court pressing with a very aggressive man, and the home team was playing a soft zone.
The biggest struggle was with mechanics. The partner I've worked with a lot and I were on the same page, but were officiating with a guy who hadn't officiated 3-man for several years, so we had challenges on switches. We worked on it at half and between games and were much better in the 2nd game. I was going to take the great advice here and have a pretty thorough pre-game, but this guy didn't arrive until right before the girls game because of work issues.
Anyway, challenges aside I felt we came out unharmed, the games were called fairly, even if not always perfectly, and we learned A LOT about what we can improve on.
Overall a very good first experience, and my regular partner and I are looking forward to Friday when we'll get our next varsity double-header with an experienced, quality ref from the area. Hopefully we'll learn even more.
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