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Frustrated
First, sorry for the length of the post. I am getting up there in years compared to most of the officials in our association. As some of you may know, I had to take several years off for health reasons and last season was my first season back. The schedule was about what I expected last year but I did have a few games in, what many in my association would call, the good category. I try to keep my expectations realistic. I am overweight as a result of the health issues and years of having extreme limits on my physical activity but since I was cleared to resume officiating I have lost about half the weight I need to lose and am still losing.
During the off season I attended numerous camps and the majority of the feedback was positive. The most consistent negative comments my lack of athletic appearance and needing to get faster. Face it, like many will never be 6’-6”, I will never be fleet of foot. However I constantly hear I make the calls that need to be made so apparently I have learned to compensate for the lack of speed by getting a good look when “getting beat”.
At my last camp my assignor was there and we visited for a while. I told him that I understood it was in his, and the associations, best interest to put the best officials possible in every game and that if I was not happy with my schedule I only needed to look in the mirror. Then I asked “What two or three things do I need to improve in order for it to be possible for you to give me a better schedule?” He assured me he had no problem with me and that I was on the list of people he wanted to watch during the camp. He also said that he was concerned last year about my return and wanted to see how it went. I noticed him sitting next to the clinician during two of my three games at the camp. In both those games I got rave reviews from the clinician (one that has known me for years even said it was the best work he had ever seen from me).
At our first association meeting the assignor called about 15 names and had those people stand, then told them their ratings had increased because of what they showed at camp. I was not one of them but all of them were young and I figured it was just his way of encouraging newer officials.
Today the first wave of game assignments were released and despite my disappointment I accepted all the games. Honestly, this first wave is “worse” than the first wave last year. I can keep losing weight and keep working out so even after two fast paced boys games I am still “keeping up” as well as others. However, I cannot get younger and cannot get that much faster.
I will see how the remainder of the year’s schedule ends up but if this is an indication I may have to do a re-evaluation at the end of the year. I love officiating…but I have little, if any, desire to leave work early and drive all over a major metropolitan area to work these types of games.
Sorry…just needed to vent.
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