Bon jour, all of you lovely people!
I'm going to quickly recap a few major events that have happened.
Remember the first time I went to a flag football tournament? It was in Notre Dame, freezing cold and I was pretty shell shocked and was wayyyyy out of my element but had a good time and learned a lot.
Well my co-worker and I made it back to that tournament for this year and it was again, at Notre Dame, still super cold and I was again shell shocked as I was asked to be on an official's committee.
But I learned probably 3 times as much as the 1st time around and really came to love my job even more.
I got to see some familiar faces, who not only I recognized, but recognized me too. I got to expand my professional network even more, start recruiting for my position next year (that's right, I'm going for a big girl job!) and learned how to evaluate officials on an entirely new level.
Not going to lie, I was probably the least experienced official committee member there. But gotta start somewhere, right? Right. I got the email asking me to be on the committee about 3 weeks before heading up and I immediately ran into Lane's office.
"OH NO! I got official's committee?!? Why? How?! I didn't do that last year! What are they thinking?? I've never done this before, why choose me?! I can't evaluate officials! Not in flag! That's not my strong sport!! LANE!?!!!"
Lane takes his usual approach, leans back in his chair, crosses his legs and arms.
"Breathe... your first response should not be "oh no"...maybe they want to give you a shot. Maybe they think you actually can add to the committee. Maybe you deserve this."
"I'm not ready!"
"We'll get you ready. You'll be fine. But you're going. You are definitely going."
Damn it.
Official's committee is a group of people who really get the game and how to officiate flag football. They teach the refs at the tournament as it's a competition for them to get the chance to be selected to move on to the National Tournament. And I was now going to be considered apart of that group.
Gulp.
So we got ready. I went out to our own flag games, not as much as liked with my class schedule but when I could. I watched a lot of video. A LOT. I would watch it, write what I thought and how it should have happened, was told 'No, you're wrong, try again.' and would watch more video. I got advice from my student staff who had been to these tournaments before as well and high school football officials. Lane and PJ made me use cheat sheets for penalties since the last time I threw a penalty on the field was during Obama's first term as President.
And then what felt like way too soon, PJ and I made our trek up to South Bend, Indiana, home of the Fightin' Irish.
The next three days were kind of a blur and slow-mo all in one. I got to see my old student staff, remember WannaBeGA Guy?? Well he got that GA so he's no longer a Wanna Be. And it was really great to catch up with him and talk GA up's and down's and all that jazz. He was on the committee with me as well. There was a pretty funny moment when sitting with WannaBe and another committee member was asking us questions "So, what's your story? Why SIU, what was your major....(etc. etc.)?"
WannaBe -"Oh I can tell this one! Let me tell it, ok this is a great story, see she's a small town girl from California, don't let the blonde hair fool ya, and she was a political science major but her heart was in recreation sports since that was her job throughout college-"
Me- "Hey! Ok, smartass, he's asking me not you! Knock it off Michelle! (his nickname I dubbed him as he was the only male worker in the office last year)"
One of his officials sitting with us- "Michelle?? Oh that's precious, so using that one!"
WannaBe laughing- "No, no you can't, I won't answer. She can, she's allowed, she's my GA."
Everyone around laughed though and it was pretty hilarious. He did sit in on my interview for the SIU job and we did work a lot together last year. I can tell his story too though, don't get it twisted, that boy is a talker too.
I got a great chance to listen to some very good evaluators and watch some pretty good officials too. The games were not half bad but it was flipping cold so that always takes away from being super duper fun. The best part was probably when the leader of the committee was standing with me watching officials and said "Ok, I'm going to go to this other field, you got this?"
What.
"Um, yeah, sure. You know, I'll maybe ask so-and-so to come by and-"
"Ok sounds good see ya"
Oh. Ok. Oh crap. Ok. Ok. You got this, you can do this. You know that guy should be standing about 2 yards off the sideline and you know that back judge is farther than 17 yards out. Just tell them that. Work on the things you know. They'll listen. They won't laugh or won't listen to you. You can do this.
So the crew comes up to me at the time out and asks for advice. Oh crap. I'm alone and they want me to evaluate them. They're eager like little puppy dogs waiting for you to throw a stick for them to fetch. Make me better, make me look good. And I'm blanking. CRAP.
I swear to you it was an out of body experience because the next thing I know I started explaining how standing off the sideline can make your field of vision better and that sticking to your areas of coverage makes the whole crew a better crew, and I'm moving and talking and their nodding and then they're back on the field.
Whoa.
And then a bang-bang play comes and my guy who is know 2 yards off the line is in the PERFECT position to see the player get possession of the ball before being shoved out of bounds and he calls it correctly.
Yeah! Awesome job! And you listened to me! And it worked! Wait..I did that? I DID THAT
The rest of the weekend wasn't full of those moments but I did relish in those few times that I felt like I contributed. But again I was reminded how much I love this field and how I want to continue working in sports, a college setting and with students. And coming back to Carbondale was bitter-sweet because I'm one more flag football tournament away from moving on to the big question mark in my life...the next step.
Cue internal screaming and histeria.
To be continued!
No comments:
Post a Comment