Newbie Referee

[RocRef]

First year referee here out of Rochester, NY (finished my first season in May). I have worked a few AAU tournaments after the season to try to stay active, so I can continue to improve. I love to ref and my goal is to make Varsity with my Board and eventually ref at the college level. I just worked a couple games in a men's rec league yesterday, which were very competitive. I was already warned before doing these games, that the players would definitely whine a lot and that they would test me. This was probably the best competition that I have officiated so far. I did an okay job with handling the players and the whining, but I still could not help not feeling like a “newbie” on the court. I definitely made a few newbie mistakes on the court that were noticeable to people, but I tried to stay as confident as best as I can. These games made me realize I have a long way to go before I’m ready for the Varsity or College levels. My question to everyone in this post is, at what point in your Referee career did you start to feel more comfortable or no longer a “newbie” and everything started to “click” for you on the court?