First two nights of the year under my belt - some frustrations

[jdw3018]

First two nights in a brand new state are under my belt. Had a Frosh B, JV G, JV B triple header the first night, and B/G Jr. High doubleheader last night. (A good reminder of why I'd cut back my Jr. High stuff to basically nil the last couple years, but the kids played hard and that helped).

The first night was a 3-man crew with a very experienced official and a brand new official. It went pretty well. The new guy is still learning to put air in his whistle, which led to a lot of contact and some ugly play at times, but I know all three of us missed things. The games were competitive without being real close, which was a good way to have the first time out of the season. My only frustration was the first block/charge of the year, with the older official coming into my primary with a block while I wanted a charge. He signaled hard without giving me a chance to take it, and he was wrong. Argh. Other than that, pretty smooth night.

Last night was much more frustrating. Scheduled to work 3-man (everything here is 3-man, which is great), but one partner didn't show, so we did our best at remembering our 2-man mechanics. That went well and we worked well together for the most part. He is in the same boat I am - new to the state but with several years of experience elsewhere.

My frustration was with my own calling. I'm to the point in my development where I'm focused on what I consider "advanced" things. Game management, positioning, getting open angles and having good game awareness, really working hard on A/D, cleaning up stupid stuff before it escalates, and looking in command while doing it all. Unfortunately, I think working hard at those things caused me to lose some focus at times on some real basic things.

The best example from last night was that I was at lead and really working for good angles on the post play. For 8th graders, these two teams had some beasts with both good height and size inside, and that made it a fun game to officiate. The ball was swinging opposite, but there was a lot of action on my side. Anyway, ball is batted loose across the lane from me and heads OOB on the endline - saved by B1. Only, I have no idea if he stepped on the boundary before or after saving it. I just couldn't get it clear.

Anyway, sorry for the incredibly long and rambling post, but I had a couple of those type plays where I found myself working for position and didn't seem to see clearly the plays I've been really good at for some time now. I'm sure some of it is that it's early in the season, but I was wondering if others have had the experience of "regressing" on some parts of your game as you work to progress in other areas?

Or am I just thinking too much?!?

[Nevadaref]

Is it possible that you became somewhat distracted by your partners and your mental focus thus dropped?
This sometimes happens to officials who are working with unfamiliar partners or ones who are inexperienced may well need to be helped. Having one's focus drift in these cases is not unusual. Especially, if one of them does something which bothers or upset you.

[jdw3018]

That certainly could be part of it. I'm at that point where I'm more experienced than the new guys, but don't have the credibility of the "older" officials, though I take this a lot mroe seriously than many of them.

Anyway, I think you have a good point about having some "worry" and therefore lack of trust in my partners. Any thoughts on where my head should be going forward?

[Nevadaref]

You said that you recently moved from Kansas to SC, so I'm sure this is part of your transition. You likely called with higher caliber officials where you were and now must climb the ladder again in the new location. It's tough, I've done it myself.

You have to focus on yourself more and less on your partners. That's the best advice that I can give you. If they screw up, you can sometimes help and fix some things, but certainly not everything. Mostly you just have to accept what they called and move on with the game. Those who make the decisions in your area will notice you, if YOU do a quality job. They likely already know that your current partners aren't doing so hot. That's likely why they are on those games with you.

[jdw3018]

No doubt about all that. Just helps to hear it from someone else. I've received really good feedback so far from my assigners, so I just need to refocus and keep working.

[Nevadaref]

Also leave all of your KS interps about warnings and Ts for the coaching box back in KS!