Newbie questions

[Dan_ref]

Originally Posted by euby

I've been lurking here for awhile and decided to jump in.

First a little about myself. I am a fairly old fart at 44 years old. I played Varsity HS ball and then did a couple tours in the Marines. I started coaching AAU for the little ones in 1993 and continued until a couple years ago. I gave that up to focus on Admin of our local league of which I am the President for the past 4 years (about 700 kids). So I have been around the block a few times and saw how the officials were at the youth level but I am the type of person who either "puts up or shuts up" so I started officiating little league in-house games last year and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. Anyway I figure if your going to do something...do it right so I joined our local officals association and will be starting classes here in a couple weeks leading up to the exam at the first of October. I have bought the rule book, case book, and handbook and read thru them.

Now my questions...FINALLY

What was the hardest transition to make during your first year?

As a newbie what should be my primary focus be on... rules, mechanics, networking, conditioning?

What should I avoid while dealing with AD's, coaches, other officials?

Anything else?

Thanks for any response and I'm sure I'll be bugging you all for awhile!

Steve Eubanks

1. Moving from participant's mentality to official's mentality.

2. Yes.

Networking is often overlooked by the new guys. Get your name around, you'll be getting calls to work soon soon enough. You'll need lots of games to get all the bad whistles out of you.

3. As a newbie? Avoid the need to explain yourself to coaches & fans, but do be approachable. Develop a thick skin but dont take crap from the coaches or players. Ignore the fans. Ask lots of questions of other officials. Start to catalog plays in you mind, a lot of what you'll see through official's eyes will be new and you'll be expected to react very quickly. Train yourself now to think thru each play before a whistle, if you can. Make sure you keep good books, you will want to get paid for your games.

4. Have fun!