[#olderthanilook]

Originally Posted by UNIgiantslayers

Hey guys-

Long time lurker, first time poster. I've really enjoyed you guys' insight since I discovered this forum and appreciate your input. I decided to finally sign up and post this question after talking with a couple of buddies about it.

After being able to avoid him for a few years, my buddy finally roped me in to reffing in his Sunday men's league that he runs as director of Parks and Rec in our town. I've been officiating high school for a few years, so I'm pretty comfortable at that level. My first experience with officiating was with intramurals in college so I've done something similar to the men's league in the past.

My question is this-- In the guidelines for officials, it mentions to expect a certain number of comments from players and deal with them. If they get too bad, issue a warning then a T. I'm a little nervous about this part of the deal because it seems like it's setting the tone of allowing the players to give the officials a bunch of crap. If any of you ref leagues like this during the summer (or in season I suppose), how much do you let go, and how do you handle this to keep things in control but not have rabbit ears? I don't have thin skin by any means, but it also annoys me when coaches constantly chirp at me during high school games, but they're pretty easy to shut down most times with a "I hear you coach, that's enough" or something similar. With these guidelines, I'm not exactly sure what to expect. Any insight or advice you guys can offer would be really helpful. Thanks, in advance.

I generally live by the oft quoted creed: "What you permit, you promote."

It's up to you to decide what and how much you and your partner is going to take.