Lessons in survival

[JRutledge]

Officiating is not much differnet than anything in life. If you want to get better at something, you need to seek out the people that might help you to some extent. That is what I did, that is what a lot of officials around me did. Because I have had young officials say to me, "I want to watch you officiate somewhere," and when I give them dates and situations to watch or come with me personally, they never show up or do not call. So if you want to become and accomplished official, you have to take some responsiblity for being mentored. We can create a mentor program, but we always have very few officials that want to participate. Not a whole lot the veterans can do. I do think that associations can take a more active role, but the young officials have to be willing to "tag along" for the lack of a better word.

We have many prelim games or JV games before the varsity and no one stays around to watch anymore. Everytime I did a game, I watched the other officials, whether I thought they were the best or the worst. Because my viewpoint was, if they are at the varsity level, they are there for a reason. Younger officials do not seem to do that anymore.

Peace