[JRutledge]

Congrats on completing your first season. I am sure your mind is in 20 different directions as to what you did or what took place most of the season.

Also if you want to get better, find someone that you can follow and mentor you like stated. You will find that this mostly will be on you as it will take some effort on your part to find someone that you can call or bounce things off of during the season and off season. I would pick someone that is working somewhere you want to go, rather than just any veteran in your association. And there is not anything wrong with having multiple people fill this role. As an example you might want to have one person that will mentor you to the varsity level and maybe another that works college if you so desire to work that level too. But it will be on you to call them and talk to them about plays as many veterans I am sure are busy people in their other aspects of their lives. This might be one of the reasons you seemed to have gotten more help here than in your area.

Also without knowing the entire structure of your area, I think it is also on you to watch veteran officials in your area. Preferably watch varsity games near your house and see what those guys do. I would even tell the officials on the game I am an official and I would love to talk to you in the locker before the game, halftime and after so I can learn from your pre-game, during and post game discussions. Most veterans should be willing to do that as they were probably in a similar situation at one time in their career. And you do not have to talk with the officials to learn things. I feel you can learn things from simply watching, but if you ask them what they said to a coach or player or why something was called, you will learn more.

I hope this helps and keep up the passion for officiating. It takes time and do not try to get somewhere before it is too soon. You would rather be late to a level than too early when you might not get too many more chances to reach those levels.

Peace