Newbie questions

[Back In The Saddle]

Originally Posted by euby

Wow...thanks for the quick and thoughtful reponses...I appreciate it.

I must admit I'm a little nervous about the whole thing but my goals aren't exactly that high! If I can have an impact at the youth level I would consider my efforts a success. Right now I have scheduled 8 games of in-house at the sixth grade level on Saturdays and 7 games of AAU (3rd thru 6th) on Sundays....so my whistle will get worked out and on. The association (Indiana Officals Association) will hopefully get me lined up with some middle school games to get me started and I will go from there.

I'm sure there will be situations arise during the course of the year when you guys who are in the know will be called upon...thanks in advance

Oh yea...one other question. I've seen you guys post about camps...is there a place to look for available camps to attend?

Anyone interested....here is my league website. www.djba.org

Thanks again.

Steve

Being nervous is normal. I started working 6-8th grade games. Every game was a big one for me at first, because I had so much to work on and I didn't feel comfortable with it all yet. Today I wouldn't be the least bit nervous, and you'll get there too soon enough.

As for goals, it's good to have them. Quantify what it means to have an impact. If you don't know what it means, how can you do it? And set goals to work on specifics too. I started keeping a game journal early on. After every assignment I'd sit down and write a page about what went well, what went poorly, what I recognized that I did wrong, questions I needed to find answers too, etc. If you'll do that, you'll work up a good list of specific things to work on pretty quickly. Then attack them one or two at a time. Work on those two until you've got 'em cold then move on to the next couple.

As far as camps go, your local association will probably be the best place to find out about them. For the most part camp season is over for the year. But maybe there's one or two left in your area. Get to camp as soon as you can. It'll be the single greatest learning experience you'll have this early in your career.

And smile. This is fun Welcome to the brotherhood.