Season Goals
 

I'm giving a test today to my math students today so I have a little more computer time than normal. I'm jsut curious what everyone has set for goals this season? Here's what I'm thinking of;

1. Professionalism. I don't have much of a problem with this at the varsity and college levels, but at times I don't feel I treat sub-varsity coaches with as much respect and professionalism as they deserve. I sometimes do the same with coaches at smaller schools. I think that may hurt my reputation over time.

2. Posture. As the season wears on I get tired and slouch a bit when I'm on the floor.

3. Getting to the table. Again, this is something that regresses as the season wears on. I need to jog to the table to report fouls rather than walk.

4. Slow down at the table. At times, I get in a hurry reporting fouls.

That's my list for now. Once I have my pre-season meeting with my high school crew I'm sure it will change a bit. The pre-season list includes dropping a few pounds. I'm not over weight, but I know my knees like me a lot better at 185#s rather than the 195#s I'm carrying around the football field.


So, what kinds of things are the rest of you thinking about?

The main areas I'll be focusing on this season will be my 3 Ps:

1. Presense
2. Positioning
3. Patient whistle

After attending some great camps & seeing excellent officials from across the country, I definitely need to get those parts of my game up.

1. I really really need to slow down on my charge mechanic. I feel I'm strong on all other mechanics but that one. I see a PC and my eyes light up and I jump out of my shoes.

2. Handle the coaches better. I feel you can always improve on this.

3. I feel I'm strong on the floor, and I often work with weaker partners who have more years of experience than me, and I think I do a poor job of speaking up when I see them do something incorrect or we disagree on a call. I ran into this a few times last year w/ my partners calling travels in my PCA and I didn't say anything. I want to be a better partner and speak up when necessary w/ more experienced officials. I feel like if I speak up and say hey I think you/we could have done this better, they'll say hey I have 10 years of experience, you have 4, go fly a kite.

4. I really want to dig into the rules regarding the scorebook. I don't think I'm as prepared as I could be for scorebook issues that could occur before and during the game.

5. The most frequent thing I heard at my camps was to slow down at the table so I'll be concentrating a lot on that as well.

My primary goal is to have JR's head explode. I think I can accomplish that by:

1) Improving my focus on game management
2) Decreasing the number of "game interrupters"
3) Being concerned about the coach's reaction as I make a call / ruling.

That's good stuff. :D

I'm sure my goals are a lot different than anyone else's. My main goal is to train at least four new HS kids to ref in our kids rec league. Last night, there was a school open house and I recruited two of them.

Don't want to hijack the thread, but do any of the kids think that officiating is really "uncool"? I'm 26 and most of my friends think it's pretty nerdy, I can only imagine the peer pressure at 14 or 15. Personally, it's a great way for a young person to make money and learn some good life lessons, but that's just my thoughts.

I was recently told to always listen to Bob; so I'm going to set my goals accordingly.

1. Get through the season healthy
2. Have fun
3. Get better as a college official

These are not major goals, but things I think about as the season approaches. Talk to me after football is over, these might change a little.

Peace

1) I am still relatively new to the profession and work mostly at the JV, MS, and F levels. I want to continue to learn the rules and my “book smarts” better so I can communicate with the proper terminology to the coaches and hopefully get better (read - more JV/V games).

2) An area I need to work on too. Some of my senior partners don’t seem to want to improve and move to the next level (or time has passed them by). I want to be more patient with them, but also speak up for what I believe and learn from the ones who can teach me best.

3) Good one Mark. I also help recruit and train younger officials in our Rec Leagues and want to be more encouraging and tolerant with the young ones and rookies. I have to remember not all of them are “really into it” like us and be more cognizant of criticism and the way I teach.

4) I want to attend more games on my "off days" and watch some of the more senior officials and maybe get into a pre-game or two.

These are two areas I know I had experience with. There are some lower level guys that have no aspirations for getting better and moving up. Working with them can be extremely frustrating. You can always use them as models of what not to do.

One thing I did a lot was go along with good crews. I'd go out every chance I got. I'd also stick around after I worked the early game and introduce myself to the varsity guys. Sometimes I'd ask if I could sit in on pre and post game conversations.

My primary goal is to post as many irrelevant and irritating pictures and gifs as possible until ModeratorMan's head explodes.
http://1000smilies.com/animated/bomb.gif
It's not my fault. I was diagnosed with BillyMac Syndrome. :( There is no known cure.

Here's another one to work on, along with your crappy sentence structure and sh!tty word selection...
http://www.stopstart.btinternet.co.uk/nc/Crayon.gif

Pretty much all the kids we recruit have played in the league for a few years, so they're familiar with the situation and structure. They just look at it as a fairly well paying PT job. Many of them have younger brothers and/or sisters who play and those younger kids think it's cool having their older brother or sister be a referee, even though we don't assign them to games with family members.

There's been a few who have continued up the ladder as they got into college and beyond.

Now, I'm still learnin', so I could be wrong here.

This is where I'm supposed to say "STFU," right?