The past few weeks I have been traveling quite a bit for officiating basketball so I have had some time to think about being a female official and the sports I officiate. I officiate Volleyball and Basketball from little ones up to Varsity which can be rewarding but a huge challenge.
Warmups: I love this part of the game because everyone is excited for the game to begin. The pep band is playing the usual songs and the smell of popcorn is passing through the gym. Emotions are running high and the adrenaline is kicking in for the girls. I shake the coaches hands and wish them good luck along with a few fist bumps from the girls during line-ups. There is no sight of bad sportsmanship and I am ready to officiate this game to the best of my ability. Now the game begins…..
I have been around sports my whole life as my dad played football at NDSU and was an athletic director and coach at one point so at a young age my parents made sure my sister and I were active. Being from a smaller town I was able to tryout for most sports and was able to choose Track, Basketball, and Volleyball to be in throughout High School. I was by no means gifted when it came to sports as I was very clumsy and didn’t have very good hand eye coordination but I worked very hard and was able to be decent with Track being my favorite. My dad has been an official my whole life and I was able to see all perspectives when it came to the sports I played before becoming an official myself.
First Half: It has only been 3 minutes and the one coach has complained about all the calls with the players and audience chiming in. Why is the coach not concentrating on his players and coaching? The coach shouts, “That’s over the back, you should be watching for that ref.” First, there is no over the back call it is called a push and second if the player is straight up even though the one player is behind the other and rebounds there is not a call. I wonder how many coaches read the rules book like we do before a season?
Sportsmanship is a concept that I see a lot of individuals struggling with. From the coaches to the players to the crowd. As you can see in this article about a Coach head-butts an official: Click Here. This isn’t the only instance of officials getting hurt during officiating. It troubles me that you have to run off the court when the game is over to avoid confrontation. Should we be afraid or should we be thanked when the game is over? When did bad sportsmanship become such an important part of the game? Don’t get me wrong there are plenty of teams that have amazing sportsmanship and it is so much fun to officiate. However, the past 6-7 years that I have been officiating it is becoming increasingly worse. What are we teaching the kids? Are we teaching them it is okay to be disrespectful to others? Are we showing them that if you complain enough then maybe the outcome will be different? Here is a great website as I look at their Facebook page quite often as they like to teach the values of playing a sport: Click Here. I even have players drop the ball in front of me instead of handing the ball to me which I always did. I guess as a parent if I saw my child have bad sportsmanship during a game there would be consequences and it would be a teachable moment. What I see is the parents also having bad sportsmanship which is so hard for me to comprehend. The interesting situation is it doesn’t start at the Varsity level it starts very young as I have officiated some 3rd grade teams with coaches that come unglued. Your right, the point of the game is to win, however the actual point of a game is to learn to win and lose graciously.
Second Half: The one team is leading by 30 points so hopefully now we can get back to how a game should be which is players playing and coaches coaching and us as officials officiating. Well there goes my partner telling the coach to tell his players to keep quiet otherwise a Technical will be given and this is the team that is winning by 30. The horn blows for a timeout as there is only a few minutes left. 30 seconds left, why is the coach yelling at my partner? Game Over.
I understand the competitive nature of sports and if a team loses too much maybe the coaches job is in jeopardy and all the other politics that come with coaching. However, I think we need to all take a look at team sports are supposed to do for our children. I get the question all the time, “You officiate?” Yes, I may be a female but I can officiate just as good as anyone. I also sometimes get treated different sometimes when I go to officiate which I feel is unfortunate because I am there to do a job just like anyone else. I have even been told “You could work up faster because they are always looking for female officials.” Again, I don’t want to get any games because I am a female but because I am a great official and I have a ways to go before I would call myself amazing! I love the sport of basketball as I can still remember very vividly winning the State Championship but sometimes it does make it hard when bad sportsmanship plays a part. I am human and of course I miss calls or make the wrong call but it is never intentional and I am there to make the game run smoothly for the kids that are playing so they have the best experience. Jocelyn has her first basketball game this Saturday and I hope it is an enjoyable experience for her. I don’t want her to see the harshness quite yet as she is only in 1st grade.
(Her team is called “Thundering Herd” and I LOVE it:))
I challenge you whether you are a coach, player, official, or spectator that next time you are at a sporting event that you exemplify good sportsmanship because you never know what the person has going on beyond the playing field.
Music has been an interesting selection lately as I have been in this funk so last weekend I decided to watch one of my all time favorite movies that has some great music called “10 Things I Hate About You” as my favorite actress is Julia Stiles. Take a listen and who knows you may hear something you didn’t before as that is the beauty of music.
Until Next Time………..
Traveling With Jo 
Great job! I agree with you whole heartedly!
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