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As I've mentioned before, I'm a coach as well as an official. This past weekend, I took my summer team (6th and 7th grade girls) to a tournament.
The officiating was very weak on the whole. It seems that many of the officials were either VERY inexperienced or simply didn't care. Some had patches to show they were licensed in their respective states, others did not. Many or most looked very sloppy from their appearance to their mechanics.
No big deal. It's a weekend grammar school torunament. I understand.
Except for one....
At one point, I was sitting on the fans' side watching a game coached by a friend of mine. The parents were on the trail official a bit (not bad) about a call the lead had made. The trail proceeds to turn around and engage the parents in a jovial chat about how bad his partner's calls have been the whole game. This happened twice that I saw (with the same official each time - none of the officials in the tourney EVER switched, so he was right back with the parents on every possession.)
I was sorely tempted to speak to him after the game to tell him how damaging I thought this was. I also considered talking to his partner to let him know what was going on. I didn't do either, choosing to leave well enough alone. I guess my officiating "the less said, the better" policy kicked in....
Although I know what many of you will probably say, do you think I should have spoken with one of them?
I counted my blessings for every good, professional partner I've ever worked with, that's for sure.
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