Advice for first year ref...

[Rich]

Originally Posted by referee20

My first year on a varsity crew I had the ultimate error, an IW. Here's my advice, get it out of your way early and hope you never have another one

If IWs didn't happen, they wouldn't devote a section of the rulebook to it. I've seen two D-I deep guys blow IWs on muffed punts in the last year.

It's a mistake, yes, but not a thing that should define your career as an official, certainly not at the high school level. In other words, the guy that puts his career inadvertant whistles in his signature is going too far. Why highlight something like that?

Guys on my crew have had IWs. Now, they do get to buy all night at the watering hole, but I'm more interested in seeing if they go in the tank after such a mistake. Being able to put such a mistake behind you is very important.