I finally had a game that I thought went pretty well. Not an "in the zone" game but one where I felt comfortable and in control, and had very little uncertainty with any of my calls/no calls. A big confidence boost for a beginner. My partner was fairly experienced, and he didn't do anything I thought was poor. I was feeling fine with it all. He said the same afterward.

Now the down side. I heard more complaints than in any of my previous games, and from all sides: fans/parents, coaches and players. My partner was stopped before leaving the court to hear it from a coach, all the while getting it from a fan. All of this together took the luster off what I felt was my best outing.

This was a girls freshman game between neighboring school districts. Tough defense all the way along. Final score was 22-19 in favor of the visitors.

I'm sure the intensity of the game was responsible for a lot of the chirping. It did seem to come mostly from the home side. Considering they lost, too, I'm pretty sure it was emotion rather than a reflection of our performance. My mind is saying good job. My heart is not letting me enjoy a game well done.

I'm scheduled back at that school twice more, including another game with the same team. If there is any encouragement you can send my way, I hope to channel it into an even better game next time out.

Just grumbling.
Hartsy

Hartsy, keep up the good work. If you feel you did well chances are you are correct. We all know that fans look through glasses colored the same as their teams jerseys, and with good reason. A close hard fought game, they just are emotional as you said..... enjoy it and build on it :)

Chances are good, this is all we need to know about this game. If you and your partner were both satisfied, great!
Use this to build on and continue to go forward.

I always say,"If everyone is on you,you probably did a good job!" LOL

Seriously,if both you and your partner thought there was little that you wished you'd have done differently,you did a good job.

Take pride in the fact that you are self-critical,because that is what will make you better.Remember the times that
you leave the court to,"Good game ref,thanks," don't happen
as much as we would like,so keep working to get better and don't sweat the fans and coaches.

Pick one or two items to carry with you to work on for the next game and then put it out of your mind. Begin preparing for the next week by not dwelling on anything negative from fans and coaches. Trust me you will have better and more positive experiences if you can do that. There was an article kind of on this in this months Referee magazine. Good luck

I had more than my share of games like that during my first season. I was working on my stuff and I'd feel like I had a good game, but I heard it throughout from the fans and coaches. I've come to realize for me that it was the way I called my game. I was working on improving my judgement, especially of advantage/disadvantage and looking back, the games could have been a bit choppy. While one of the things I continue to work on is my judgement, I have gained more consistency and perspective with experience. Also, I tend not to be as conscious of the feelings of others in the gym as I was then and I don't feel like I'm the new guy out to prove myself to everyone in the gym. If you and your partner both felt things went well, they probably did and you'll find that you'll be more consistent and less conscious of the fans with experience.

One thing I did that helped a lot was to ask someone whose work I respected to come to a game and evaluate me. Specifically on those games where you feel you might be especially nervous. This helped me focus more on refereeing, and less on popular opinion.

Another thing you should do is attend several "big games" such as yours that are held between rival schools, and near the end of the season, when everything seems more important. Ask your assignor when there will be a varsity game of this type and then go watch. See how much these really competent, experienced refs get yelled at, and what subjects the yelling includes. Then when you have a game where there is a lot of yelling, you say to yourself, "Hey, if I get yelled at the same as Debbie and Trish both get yelled at, does that mean I'm doing a great job?" The answer, of course, is YES!!

You realize how true this is when you go to a game where you have no rooting interest. Last night our boys' team hosted the boys' team from the school I previously coached at. One of the assistants for the visitors was on the staff of the girls' team at the same time as me, so I know him pretty well. I would conceded that a couple of key calls went the way of the hosts, but weren't necessarily bad calls. After the game, the guy I coached with went off on me about how they got shafted. I hadn't seen it that way at all.

Yep, and the fact that they look through colored glasses is not a bad thing or a slight or anything else....That is why they hire us with the striped colored glasses, so that there is an impartial judge, job security what a wonderful thing LOL

You mean like every time a ref steps onto the court? :)