October 25, 2021 - The Hardest Job On The Court/Field

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been keying on the MAD Hoops rules we utilize in our outreach… these rules are written for a couple of desired outcomes: character/attitude of players, and better enjoyment of the games… 

These rules center on the idea of reminding a player who he is AND who he is not. So let’s lead into this week’s rule with a scenario from my life… I have always looked at ways to make a little extra to help out the family (in the ministry world this is called “tent making”; based upon how the Apostle Paul made tents as his side gig for income.)

One of the seemingly logical avenues of revenue for me would be reffing games… yet I remember the first time I tried that as an 8th grader… my coach asked me and my friend Chris to call a 6th grade game… and I still remember looking at a dad in the stands that was screaming at me and asking him if he wanted the whistle… I knew then that my temperament and reffing were a good match.

Reffing is one of the hardest jobs in the word… requiring fast judgement, while under great scrutiny. Often from the opening tip… kick… pitch… people are screaming at refs; in spite of the fact that refs are generally pretty good… but he statistics of how often they are right are truly staggering… even with modern rules for challenges and replays they are usually right even on close calls. (So much so that many think challenges should be done away with because they generally don’t change a call and just slow down the games.)

One of my biggest pet peeves is watching players forget who they are and decide they are referee supervisors. Therefore as a coach I had a “No Palms Rule” where I benched a player whenever he showed his palms to a ref to question a call… this week’s rule: Player is not a referee… (And neither is a fan!)

·         Player is not a referee… there is no need for you to point out someone else’s travel, double dribble, etc… but own up to your mistakes…

-          Proverbs 28:13 He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.

We would be amazed at how different life would be is we stopped scrutinizing everyone else’s calls n life and just “played the game” - remember “Players Play!”

(Note: this is not to suggest that heathy accountability is not needed… I heard that explained at a recent conference as “protective love”… not intended to penalize like a referee!)