Ref-in-Training Why on earth would anyone want to be a ref? You have no friends! And you're only as good as your last call.
You run up and down the court, whistle in mouth (does anybody ever choke on those things?), yelling at players and using all sorts of funky hand signals.
Apparently you can be young or old, male or female, fat or skinny. There are refs who look like they're about to have a stroke, refs who only walk the court, and refs who run like they want to steal the ball and shoot.
And you don't need any intelligence -- since you are always wrong!
I'm happy to report that here at the USJN tournament, the refs have been finally been forced back to school. It's called the Big East Conference Officials Camp. At each game you'll see three refs with numbers pinned to their backs (no, those aren't targets!). All are being watched and evaluated, either as part of conference "continuing education" or in an effort to be qualified to ref in the Big East.
Kathy Ridilla, a veteran from Pittsburgh, has been a ref for 15 years -- the last 8 in the Big East. She comes to these camps just to brush up on her skills and be a part of a big-time basketball event. Why does she ref? "I just love the game," she said. Ridilla played college ball at Duquesne, and then coached for a bit at a small college. When juggling the coaching with her full-time job became too much, she found the outlet she needed in being a referee. Ridilla happily reported that in all her years she has only ejected one fan from a game and no coaches or players. She mustn't have been at some of the games I've been at!!
Day 1 Results : Belles over NY Crystal City Stars, 65-54
Belles over VA James River Blaze, 69-43
Day 2 Schedule: 12 noon vs. NJ Elite, 4:20 vs. NYC Exodus
4 comments:
Hi Sharon,
Who would think to profile the ref at the game? I thought that was great! Also, I like the "no friends" comment - it does seem they take a beating from fans a lot of times.
HA! I've thought about this so many times: who wants to be a ref?!? (Or an umpire, since I'm a baseball fan.) So many have a crazy intensity about them that has lead me to belive it's simply a passion I don't understand. Great to hear about the ref monitoring program in place at the tournament.
Sharon, I love this ref post.
I especially love the "no friends" part. So funny! Great idea for a longer piece at some point.
This is a great topic.
I have been a ref many times and enjoyed it. You get to be in the middle of the game and the adrenaline of watching the teams compete is really cool.
As long as you're fair, Ref's are respected.
Best regards,
Luis
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