|
Now that this has taken a turn towards why work youth games, I'll tell you why I do it:
There are a couple of reasons, first and foremost, I enjoy being on the football field. Be it a Friday night Varsity contest, or the youth games I work on the weekends, it is something I love doing, and seeing the season is so short, I do not turn down the opportunity to be out there.
Second, I enjoy helping the kids and coaches enjoy the game. I cannot tell you how many times in the past two weeks I've had a coach come up and tell me "thanks for helping me with that illegal shift problem in week two, thanks to you the kids learned how to set correctly" or something to that effect. I coach my son's baseball team, and I know that these guys are just dad's out there so they might not know all the rules, so being proactive and helping makes me feel good.
Third, the assignor for the league I am working in is on my HS crew, so helping out a friend put the best possible officials out on the field is something that I would also do.
Last - it is a good way to get to know other officials and see how they work. I have met people at association meetings and what not, but working with them and seeing how they interact with folks is really something that you cannot get anywhere other than on the field. Who knows when that connection might be something that helps out in the future. Getting a small bump in income during the fall before Christmas is nice as well.
As with everything, there are also minuses to working these games -
Working 6 or 7 games on usually less than ideal fields can be a pain (literally)
It is mentally draining to listen to the Parents and spectators all day yelling about NFL rules to you on the fields.
It does take away from my family time. This is something that really is the worst part, but it is for 12 weeks in the fall and I do not work any other sports, so my family is fine with it, plus they come out to the field and watch and enjoy the atmosphere most weeks.
Some of the attitudes of these young kids and parents is disturbing. to see young kids out there swearing and with such huge chips on their shoulders makes me very sad. Also seeing how some parents push their kids to the point of crying is a shame. But what this does it help me to see this behavior and in reality makes me a better Dad, in my opinion.
So all in all there are positives and negatives, but I just enjoy being on the football field, so I dedicate my weekends and Friday nights in the fall to Football.
|