[Rufus]

I'm not sure I can offer great advice as I sometimes (not at all so far this year, thankfully) run into this situation at the sub-varsity level when partnered with varsity guys. Whether or not it is viewed as such by my brethren officials this is the most important game at that time for all parties regardless if it's a 7th grade girls game or a varsity match of state playoff teams.

What I try to do is call my game and concentrate on my primary and make sure I'm getting what's there, not making stuff up to compensate for a partner who may be taking the night off, and definitely not consciously going to their primary to "help".

While it's great when you are "in tune" with your partner(s) there is also satisfaction to be gained from knowing you did a good job yourself. When coaching baseball I tell the kids there are a million things going on the field, about five of which you have influence over. You can get distracted by the other things or concentrate on what you can influence. I've been trying to use that philosophy this year when officiating and seems to be working so far by trying to be objective in what I did well, need to improve, or when I kicked a call.