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New Year's Revelations-- the Journey Continues


Happy New Year!  Duke Won!  UConn won! Basketball  season is officially over, and in a few months, my new year begins.  Thats right, at the end of June I'm headed for officiating summer camp.   In preparation for the new season, my eleventh year of officiating  I begin with  New Years Revelations.   Revelations, not resolutions  are important to me for they are more than  lessons learned. They are major stopping points during the season that force a confrontation with myself.  This is the time of year that I reflect on those unforgettable moments of pain, elation and confusion that have the force of redefining my goals.  There are four revelations from last year:

The Road To Varsity: My Goal Achieved, It's Time To Take My Game To The Next Level, Too

 

In early November, I received the email I’ve been waiting ten years for: “You have new games”, read the subject line--- and when I logged into the officials’ website— I received my first high school VARSITY assignments!!  I could barely contain my excitement, but being superstitious, I refrained from blogging about it before now so as not to jinx myself.  Now, with several games behind me, I can tell the world:  I'm no longer on the road to varsity; I have finally arrived at my destination!

A long-time basketball official achieves her goal of working high school varsity games but realizes, six games into the season, that she has to up her game as well.

The Road to Varsity: Learning About 'Dead Ball' Officiating A Sign That Goal Is In Sight

I have just completed my annual summer mini-thon of two consecutive weekends of basketball officiating camp, one at UNC Charlotte, the other at Liberty University. 

A 10-year veteran of high school basketball officiating talks about focusing at summer officiating camp about the subtle "dead ball" aspects of her game, a sign that she is very close to reaching her goal of varsity status.

The Road To Varsity: Helping Other Women Along The Way Is Not Just A Goal But A Responsibility

 

On May 7, Helena Costa became the first female to coach a professional men's soccer team in the history of the sport in France. I was thrilled to read the announcement, not only because its historic importance, but because of what did not include: completely absent from the article was any mention of her height, body style, hair color, fashion sense, or other meaningless traits too often included in articles involving women. Even better, there was no suggestion that Costa was bossy; at least not yet, and hopefully  not ever! Bravo, Coach Costa! Bravo!

Just as important to a longtime female high school basketball official as reaching her goal of varsity status is helping other women succeed along the way.

The Road To Varsity: It's Important To Look At The Signs Along The Way

 

It's been a full month and a half since the high school basketball season started, yet I have yet to officiate a varsity game.

Although I have been officiating for eight years, my move from Virginia to North Carolina last May meant that I was in my first year of membership in a new association.  I fully expected some degree of scrutiny, testing and evaluation after the move.  I paid dues, attended clinics, arrived early, stayed late, volunteered for more than the minimum number of scrimmages, and sought feedback from senior officials. Despite all my efforts, energy and experience, and relatively stellar evaluations and commentary from association insiders during the pre-season, my schedule, at least so far, is chock-full of non-varsity games. 

A veteran high school basketball official learns that her move to new state has meant that the road to officiating varsity games is going to take longer than she thought and take more twists and turns, so she will need to keep a sharp lookout for signs along the way in order to enjoy the trip.

The Road to Varsity: Lessons from Little League

My relocation to North Carolina temporarily disrupted my officiating schedule. With membership into a new association pending,  I needed to find a way to work on my game during the summer and fall without the benefit of regularly scheduled summer basketball. Tennis provided an excellent venue for physical preparation.  Tennis, like basketball requires fitness, quickness, teamwork and stamina. But while tennis helped with the physical game, it was watching Little League baseball, more than anything else, that helped the most with the mental side of basketball officiating.

A high school basketball official prepares for the upcoming season by learning valuable lessons on the mental aspects of sports by watching the fun 10-year-olds have playing Little League baseball.

The Road to Varsity - Mentoring Milestones on the Road Ahead

It's been five weeks since I moved to the Tarheel State, and in that time I have attended two basketball officiating clinics. The first was held at UNC Charlotte and served as an introduction into North Carolina high school basketball. The second was a teaching camp at Liberty University, run by NCAA officials and my fourth summer attending that camp.

A high school basketball official's attendance at two summer officiating camps teaches her some valuable lessons on the Road to Varsity.

The (Fork in the) Road to Varsity

Love March Madness!  Like many of you, from March 19 through April 8th, I am glued to the television, flipping channels and watching my favorite teams. In my case, I ALSO watch my favorite refs. From the opening toss, I pretend I am one of the crew and I make calls all the while comparing my call selection to theirs.  The "block" versus "charge" calls are especially fun- and difficult- no matter if calling a Division I mens game or a high school freshman game. Both require split second judgement, positioning, and rules knowledge... with emphasis on the "split second".

Woman Officials: Paying Attention, Not Drawing Attention Is Key to Success

Being a woman official who wants to achieve varsity status requires an understanding of the unique challenges and dynamics that may not exist in traditional work environments.

Being a woman basketball official who aspires to work high school varsity games requires a delicate balancing act: working to improve our skills while not drawing attention to our gender or any aspect that negatively influences the perception of our abilities.

The Key to Performance Improvement? Dont Focus!!!! RELAX!

Last I blogged, I shared the fact that I re-engaged with tennis this summer.  Now, after four months of lessons and social meet ups, I learned a valuable lesson about competitive play and performance improvment.  In order to improve, the most important skill is NOT to focus and work hard. On the contrary, the most important performance improvment skill was to do NOTHING. In other words... RELAX.  While this may be counterintuitive, my tennis experience proves this point.

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