I’ve always considered myself to be in pretty fair shape. I hike in the mountains frequently - I mean what could be tougher than that? Well, how about refereeing 7th grade girls basketball?
I didn’t think so either, but I decided I’d try to bring in a little extra money this winter by officiating basketball games. They started me out easy - a seventh grade girls basketball double header. “Ok,” I thought, “this will be easy enough. I won’t even break a sweat.” However, I found that seventh grade girls turn the ball over. A lot. I mean, they make Shaq look like John Stockton. So, I got to run up and down the floor. A lot. I got to quickly change directions. A lot. But it was fun - I can see how this could become something of a fun way to make a little extra cash. But I was not prepared at all.
On top of the sore muscles I have today, there was the very simple fact that refereeing is a whole different ball game than coaching or watching for entertainment. I coached basketball for four years, played the sport my whole life, and have generally enjoyed the game of basketball for as long as I can remember. (Can’t stand the NBA, though, but that is another thing altogether.) As a referee, I found that you have to be paying much closer attention. I called my first foul and was halfway to the scorers table to report it when it hit me: I had no clue what number had commited the foul! No question that a foul had been commited, but now I didn’t know who. I turned to look for her and remembered it was a tall girl with dark hair. I turned and looked at the team in violation - three girls fit the description. Well, either I made a lucky guess, or there is some seventh grade girl that is still mad at me. Several times, I forgot who had the ball after a timeout. I made a ton of mistakes, but was glad it was just middle school basketball. November 13th is my first high school game and I feel FAR from ready. Hopefully I can get in a little better shape by then.
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Man. Great story. Almost as good as when i used to umpire baseball games in the summer for all-stars for the 14 year olds. It got so hot i called strikes, balls, and balls, strikes. Then i would foget the count or the number of outs. Ahh good times. Site looks great by the way, keep it up.!!!!