Us short guys gotta stick together! [/B][/QUOTE]Chuck sez that the feeling is mucilage.

This might be the most worthwhile post in all 7 pages of this thread.

A few years ago, I was doing a middle school league championship and since I had quite a few varsity games under my belt, I wasn't going to take any crap from the parents. About half way through the first quarter after they yelled at every call that went against them I said "we'll ref the game thank you" One of the parents fires back "when you gonna start then??" Ouch!!

I learned after that, not a say anything.

I played a lot of sports as a kid, hockey, baseball, basketball, football, soccer, touch football.

I can't remember a thing about the officals in any of them.

Don't remember the coaches either except for one.

I have trophies and badges that say we won championships but I don't remember those either.

So what do I remember:

1) Being part of the on field opening ceremonies as part of some international soccer competition in Montreal.

2) Striking out 17 in a baseball game.
(only way to get them out that day)

3) Scoring two goals in a 15-1 blowout hockey game
(scored one of them into my own net)

4) Being knocked unconcious twice in hockey, once in softball.

5) Being cut from the high school hockey tryouts.
(apparently you need some talent)

6) Several unpleasant incidents in Hockey involving other players.

7) My very last plate appearance in baseball. And the night spent in emergency that followed.

What I mostly remember was that it was fun. My dad was supportive, never had a bad word to say about anyone.


Frankly the kids want to play. The very last thing they want is to listen to adults shout and argue. I have heard that personally from enough of them.

Now this isant fair JCrow I am a highschool ref and work with them. I have been told by most of the adult patched guys that i work with that I am a good ref and they tell me to persue higher levels. The league I work in does train us tho. Every ref goes thru a 4 hour rules course, and all work with experienced guys until they prove they can handle themselves. It is okay to use highschool guys I believe by me reffing now I am gonna be that much better by the time I am in college and go searching for JV games and hopefully Varsity games

I think it's sad that topics like this one are addressed this way, but, on the other hand, I can understand it.

I don't officiate; I'm still in high school and I play. I have played and watched hundreds of games, and everyone knows that officials are often - nearly always - criticized. It's usually wrong and unfair. I know officials and looking at it from their perspective, one can understand what kind of job this is.

As for the original question: I don't think anyone can expect world-class officiating in 4th grade games. When I was in the 4th grade, the officials were all 17- or 18-year old volunteers. We didn't complain. Kids want a court, a coach, teammates, and a ref to go ahead and play basketball.

However, I think it's unfair to minimize a 4th grade game. Most of the posters here officiate high school and college games, which are obviously considered more important. The difference is that a college game appeals more to fans; but when you are 9 years old, there is nothing more important than that game. Sure, you will get young and inexperienced refs in 4th grade games, but they should still give it their best, for the kids' sake.

I also have very rarely - probably never - seen a "one-sided" game. Most of the time, officials who are officiating a poor game are doing so in general. From my point of view I don't see what a referee could personally gain from favoring either team, at least at a 4th grade level.

The key, however, to all of this is that although I have found this to be a very insightful community, it is too often marked by officials who are just being jerks because they're tired of hearing complaints. I know it sucks to be criticized all the time, especially when it's criticism from uninformed parties, but there's nothing to gain in being jerks.

I would never minimize the importance of a 9 yr old's basketball game. It is VERY important to the kid. The winning and losing part though is usually only important to the over-competitive parent. The kid just wants to play and have fun and go to Sonic after the game and get ice cream!

Good Post about "Jerks". And good luck in your HS Career.

I still remember my son (23 now) at the 4th Grade Level of play. Whether his Team won or lost......in two or three days he "remembered" that they won! And that he got 20 points! It's great to be 10 years old.