[Paul in Seattle]

Y'all,

Good to be back on topic. My story (which is kinda long, feel free to skip it):

This is my fifth year doing HS girls' games, second year on the varsity list. Once I got comfortable on the court, my evaluations started following a general pattern: "Reffed a good game, good judgement, good positioning...here are a few things you can improve...and oh, by the way, has anyone talked to you about the way you run? You look kinda funny out there..."

Yes, my name is Paul, and I run wrong. ("Hi, Paul.")

I'm tall and thin, but my appearance problem has always been that I don't look right when I run. All of my evaluators agreed that I didn't run correctly, but no two could agree on how to fix it. "Pump your arms more." "Get your knees higher." "Get up on the balls of your feet." "No, run heel-toe." "Kick backwards so you look like you're really moving." I became obsessed with "running right." I checked out books on running: they all said "whatever you do naturally is probably right." Clearly, these authors had never seen me run! Net result: I was terribly confused about what to do, and horribly frustrated because I felt that this would put a glass ceiling on my officiating progress (kinda like being overweight does, I'm sure).

But then I went to camp this summer...where I ran into an evaluator who really, really put it into perspective for me. He said he really liked the game I called--he could tell I was sincere, knew the game, and could manage the game. He gave me a great compliment, telling me that "I've seen you work, and I know I'd put you on any game, no matter how big." So, just as my ego was getting big, he said: "But first impressions are everything, and no matter how good a game you have, they'll remember you as the ref that runs funny. So until you get this licked, you're going to have problems."

So I went home, and decided to give a good deal of my money to a personal trainer (a former Russian Olympic distance runner!) She busted my butt for a couple months, and for the first time, I wasn't out of shape when the season started this year. Also, my camp evaluator said he'd call my assignor to put in a good word for me...that certainly doesn't hurt! Anyway, the story right now...nobody (evaluators, friends, anyone else) has said a word about my running yet this year. I may get through the whole season without hearing about how I look on the floor! And it's nice to know that I'll be evaluated on my judgement, positioning, and game management this year instead of appearance. Not that it's wrong to point out my appearance--I have no problem with the people who did that (after all, in our avocation, perception is reality). But I think now, like the guy at camp, they're really looking at my game instead of at my looks.

Anyway...to answer the original question...yeah, my appearance has impacted my career. But I'm getting past it now, I think.

Thanks for reading--
Paul

[Edited by Paul in Seattle on Jan 1st, 2001 at 03:50 PM]