First Games

[cdaref]

Originally Posted by bas2456

Got 2 Jr. High boys games today. I've read some of the horror stories about officiating at that level...I hope I come back alive!

You should have fun. Yes, they can be a pain. But they can be pretty good. I havent worked them in a long time. But I remember my first year officiating. After a bunch of freshman and bad JV games, a mentor of mine said we were going to go do some junior high games. I first complained saying, I work low enough level, do I really need to go down. He said (and was right) that these games are often better attended, have more cheering (though the parents are more psycho) and have some better players than the games I had been working. Granted, he cherry picked a few for us and we worked at a junior high post season tourney of some sort. He also said many of these kids have played AAU together for some time and may be better as a team than the ones I was used to and also that a couple of the kids--though 8th graders now--will start on varsity as freshman. He was right. The games were way better than my freshman games.

So there is a story of good, fun, quality play at the junior high level to counteract all the bad stuff you have heard.

Go have fun!