Ref Recollections

Basketball is a big part of Blackham boy life. Not just Jr. Jazz during the winter months, but also the spring, summer and fall leagues at the rec center. As fall season was winding down, I noticed a sign calling for refs for the Jr. Jazz season ... ages 14 and up welcome to apply. Hmmmm, Landon just turned 14 ... I ran the "job" past my oldest son, and he did express an interest. He attended the two training sessions and was hired. We found out that while they would be supplied with a whistle, the uniform would have to be purchased. Ref shirt ... $26. Black pants ... $12. Black shoes ... $30 ... there goes the first few paychecks (ah ... ok, the parents decided to cover this cost).

With it being Landon's first year reffing, and him being one of the youngest refs hired, I was fairly confident he would get the "easy" shift ... kindergarten. Not a lot of overly involved parents or competitive games, not really needing to even know much, just call traveling when the kids have run all the way down the court without dribbling ... So I was a bit surprised when we got his first shift ... 5^th grade boys! He would actually need to KNOW stuff and make hard calls... traveling, double dribble, 3-seconds, fouls ...and these games could get a little heated. I actually called the rec center to make sure there hadn't been a mistake, but the supervisor for the site knew Landon from school and had requested him personally. I wasn't sure if I was happy about that ...

It turned out to be a great thing (thanks LaTrill!). A couple of the other refs were older and experienced (and cool ... they played on the high school team) and Landon was able to learn so much more than he would have with the easy, kindergarten shift. It was a very good experience, gave him some job experience and a little spending money ... a three pointer!