HIGH SCHOOL OFFICIAL LOOKING TO ADVANCE

[fletch_irwin_m]

Be pateient, professional and humble.
There are a lot of people who have been at this longer then you have. You may not think they are better than you are, but they may be. They have experience, and that takes time. You will find that there are three types of people in your association. 1) Those that are college officials and are always trying to get better 2) Those who are good officials and happy at the level they are at and continue to get better 3) Those who are not interested in getting better, and just do it for the beer money. You CAN learn from all 3 groups.
Don't bad mouth fellow officials. My situation is unique, but if my wife ever complains about an official (which is rare) I always tell her, even watching tape, I wasn't there, not sure what the "feel" of the game was. Don't let coaches jump on you to "help your partner out". Don't bad mouth to fellow officials. This is not professional, and shows more about you then those you are talking about.
There is no game "beneath you". I worked a middle school game this year with a guy who does DI college games. (Which made the hecklers seem that much funier to me) We all have to work our way up the ladder. I will admit that at first I had a problem with this, "Hey, I did Varsity last nite, why am I here tonite?" BUT I realized that my growth was GREATLY helped by those "verteran" officials who helped me when I was at that level. Treat those games like any other with regards to mechanics and positioning. You will impress the bageezers out of the fans when you do.

Sorry it was a long one. I was a philosophy major in College!