Including me, there are seven referees in our league. I am the newest, obviously. The second newest has been reffing for about a year now, but she hasn't been going to practices lately because she got a concussion. So at practices, I've been the least experienced ref by several years.
Our Head Ref has been gearing practices towards me (I think), doing very basic things like "this is where the OPR should stand, this is what they should be looking for", which makes me feel kinda guilty, that all this time is being spent on me. But it is helping.
Last night we also (for the hell of it) got timed on skating one lap starting from a dead stop. We did it 3 times; my best time was 10.66. I'm blaming it on the fact that I had just put on my itty-bitty wheels that are more about agility than speed. (I'm also blaming them for the fact that I fell on one attempt.)
Our league is off for the month of December, so I need to find other leagues nearby who will accept a baby ref to help out at scrimmages and whatnot. I don't want to have what few skills I have now get rusty.
Don't feel guilty! We often go back to the basics to make sure we keep our foundational skills strong. It's beneficial, even for the most experienced refs. And sometimes a question comes up that we had never even thought of before, and we wouldn't have thought of it had we not gone through a particular scenario. Also, we want to support newer officials, as a stronger crew helps all of us. So it's all good!
ReplyDelete