Good Luck Ray!
 

For those who are uninformed, our very own Back In The Saddle is calling his first varsity game tomorrow afternoon in a tournament in Utah. As his friend, I want to be the first to give him an "attaboy!" and to tell him good luck.

Do what you do best Ray!

Doggone it, stripes, you beat me.

Ray, I don't know if it's really appropriate to pray about a 1st varsity game, but if it is, here's my prayer for you:

Lord, make his feet fleet, his stripes straight, his whistle weighty, and his signals sharp. May his speech be simple and succinct. Temper his temper, and widen his wisdom. Let him adjudicate judiciously, and judge with justice. Most of all, Dear God, show that assignor that Ray is a damn good official!!http://www.smilieshq.com/smilies/innocent0006.gif

Don't forget to pray for a good table crew!

Amen! Thanks for all the good wishes. I'll let you all know how it goes. :)

It went well!
 

Thanks for all the good wishes, everyone. Sorry it's taken me so long to report back, but it's been a very, very busy couple of days.

Yesterday, the day of my game, started fairly early. It was a 2.5 hour, 150 mile drive to the game. I got there nice and early to meet my partner and start getting ready. It was a 1A (smallest classification) girls varsity tournament played in a really nice facility called the Sevier Valley Center.

My partner was a 20 year vet and great to work with. I noticed in warm ups that one of girls had a wristband above her elbow. I told him I'd talk to her about it before the game. He suggested that it would look good if I went and did it then while some of the board were watching. I did; it got me noticed. You gotta love a guy who has your back like that :)

The game itself was pretty easy to work. One of the teams is ranked #1 in the state, the other is unranked. It was obvious going in that it would be pretty one-sided. Even still, both teams played pretty well. So we called the obvious and just kept it under control.

I was pretty nervous the first half, more than I thought I'd be. For the most part I worked my game, but some combination of a quiet game, small crowd, and being nervous I was very quiet the first half. The evaluator brought that up at half time, and I fixed it in the second half. Maybe that's what did it, I'm not sure. But in the second half, the nervousness left and I just did my thing. I had a couple interactions with coaches that were noticed positively too. I also got one good off-ball call.

That's not to say that everything went perfectly. I had a call in the second quarter that I as soon as I called it, I wished I could take back. I guess that showed in my face because the evaluator commented on that. But to complicate matters, I also remembered at that moment that it would be the 7th team foul. In process of getting my shooter lost my fouler. No problem, I picked the closest girl, assumed she was my fouler, and reported it. I got the wrong girl. As we're lining up to shoot, the coach questioned the call, one of her teammates informs me that the girl I reported was "nowhere near the foul" and a second girl tells me the foul was really on her. My partner steps into the lane smiling and asks me if I want to change who I reported. It seemed like a good idea :) Went to the scorer and changed it and we went on. Nobody said a word about it.

After the game the board had a couple things for me to work on, but the feedback was very positive and most said that they felt the next step was to see how I handle a big-school boys JV game and that they'd make it a point to come see me work one of those.

About the only way I think it could have been more positive is if it had been a more difficult game and I could have showed a little more of what I'm capable of. But I'm pleased with the result and I'm looking forward to the next step.

Good to see it went well, Ray. Oddly, I also officiated a girls varsity game involving a small Utah school yesterday. My first varsity game since moving to Colorado; small Colorado school hosting a small Utah school (2 hours SE of SLC). FWIW, Utah won. :)

Who were the two schools? I had a game with the Moffat sophomore girls team out here a couple weeks back. It's always fun to see teams from other states.

Altamont, UT, went to Rangely, CO. Altamont ended up with a clean sweep.

FWIW, Altamont is about 2 1/2 hours east of SLC. I feel bad that you were in Rangely. Never much liked making the trip out there. CNCC has the worst gym in the SWAC...

First of all, congrats on the varsity game. It sounds like it went well. Secondly, you're driving 2 1/2 hours to a high school game?! That's just brutal. I should apologize to my crew for complaining when they schedule us more than 1 1/2 hours away. Is that long of a trip common for officials out there? How do you make that work with jobs?

Thanks, it was a good day :)

Our association services about 20 high schools and several junior highs. Most are within about 20 miles of each other. But we have several outlying schools as well. Depending on where the school is, and where you are coming from, 2 1/2 hours is pretty long, but not the longest. I happen to live a ways out anyway, which puts me a lot closer to some of the outlying schools, including Altamont (though we don't work their games), and a lot farther away from some others. I've been averaging 3-4 long trips per year since I started.

They do pay mileage for anything over 50 miles round-trip, however. I got invited out to a tournament about 2 hours drive away. I worked four soph. girls games in a row, plus got mileage. My check was $233.

Actually, it's a decent enough gym at the high school. The practice court has "sports court" or something like that. Real easy to run on; fairly short yet big enough for a decent jv game. The varsity gym is cozy but still decent size. Officials dress in the teachers' lounge. It was an hour and half drive, but I drew the short straw and got to drive. :)
Where do you ref out of?

There are 4 high schools within 20 minutes of me (much different than in Des Moines). There are two more within an hour or so. After that, 90 minutes for a few more. But the drive is much prettier. :)