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top notch officials doing top notch high school games have several things in common:
they referee the defense
they have perfected mechanics
they are aware of all pertinent information: players in foul trouble, foul counts, best players, time, score, calls their partner is making and not making
they know every rule that regularly comes up during a year
they are humble, teachable, and driven to excellence-arete (had to pull out the one greek word I know)
In my opinion there are a lot of referees like that; if you have the knack, well then it just takes a lot of ballgames and hard work and you will get there, and you get there within a couple years
then it just depends on someone taking an interest in you; just like I landed the job I have today, not because I am brilliant, because there was a need at just the right moment and only a few people were applying at that moment; now that I am here, I will work hard to keep it; same with refereeing, you get just the right break (and there are only a few of them out there) and you run with it
I would hope (although I know I am wrong) that none of the "top" refs really think that they are "special" in the sense that they are irreplaceable; there are hundreds of great high school officials around the country who could jump into an open college spot and do great; give them a year or two at that level and all of the sudden people would be talking about how great they are and how they must be the best
Look at all the college refs, do you see things that set each one of them apart and make you say, "now that is a great ref." No, they are all pretty much alike, they all have the same philosophy (get the heck out of the way)and the same mechanics; every basketball game involves the same types of contact and floor movement; you ref for a couple years and you get the feel for how to police those movements, no matter what angle they come from; of course there are those who cannot do it; but there are a lot that can; I have refereed in 3 different areas now and there lots of topflight guys everywhere I go; now put them in college with great partners and great training and quickly you would find that they can handle it and excell at it
Just my opinion; this opinion of course is coming from a guy on the bottom end, down in high school and I am sure that once I get to college I will be sure that there are very few guys who can handle it and I am better than pretty much everyone else, just human nature to think that
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