You Never Know Who’s Watching – Part 2: Intermediate

When we last left off our striped superhero, he was feeling himself. With CYO, those stripes were well earned; he afforded the luxury of multiple games and worked on blowing the whistle and all while making the calls correct. Now his britches are bigger.  He has a good command of the AAU circuit, where he took more lumps. CYO was mastered; a big fish in a small pond.  The AAU circuit is a much bigger body of water, so at first he was trout.  Yet there were disparities aplenty between CYO games and AAU games.  The Amateur Athletic Union is an organization that pumps the best basketball in the present time.  Parents pay vast sums of money for their kids to travel around a state, sometimes across the United States just to play Basketball.  For 1,400 dollars or more, a kid is entitled to a coach, a practice schedule, and games.  I failed to mention sheer volume of REPS – precious reps on the basketball court.  The competition in AAU is the best you can get on a daily basis. CYO is nowhere near.  But therein lies the problem.  CYO pays more, much more at times.  You are doing harder games in the AAU circuit, for less money.  However, AAU is all year round.  CYO is only November through February.

I mention this because CYO gives you the shot. But after a certain amount of time you want more.  You want to challenge yourself.  It’s not about the money.  Enter the aforementioned – AAU.  

I REMEMBER ONE OF MY FIRST EXPERIENCES in the AAU circuit.  I was working with this veteran – we’ll call him Dennis.  It was the summer so we were able to wear shorts in a non-air-conditioned gym.  It was the middle of June, so the swelt wasn’t as sweltering as it would become. Dennis smelled blood; after the first time out he asked me if I was new.  Not only did he smell it, he saw it.  He might have been tipped off by the high Nike Dry Fit socks that covered almost up to my knees. He must have thought I thought that it was playing in the World Cup afterwards.

Nonetheless, I got off kilter.  Forget “you never know who’s watching.” I knew exactly who was watching.  The veteran Dennis, who didn’t necessarily know everything, but knew enough to know what I was, off jump: a lowly rookie, a naif, who thought he was so good, but is back at the bottom. I quickly remembered I was still a rookie. 
Time went on.  And I always gave it 100% as we talked about yesterday.  I treated it like everyone was watching – I put my head down and worked on my craft.  Just like those AAU teams, I was able to get the same sheer volume of Reps – precious reps on the basketball court. 

“My picture should be in the dictionary
Next to the definition of definition
Because repetition is the father of learning”
– Lil Wayne
Back to CYO.  I was still doing it because now I was obsessed with officiating sports – especially Basketball. I felt more emboldened after every game. The tableau was Sacred Heart, a now-defunct school, but the venue that housed the endless amount of games during the week. My partner was someone that didn’t take it as seriously as me, so much so that he never showed up. Instead, someone else was filling in that took it more serious than anyone I ever met, thus far. 

“Life punishes the vague wish and rewards the specific.” – Unknown

The details of the game were blurry.  It was a boy’s game; one team was mediocre, the other team was even more so.  Moreover, looking back I’m not even sure if they were playing Basketball or Rubgy – for every time there was a loose ball both teams would jostle for position to grab that round ball.  

Jump Ball! Jump Ball. Jump Ball? Jump Ball….

The 4th one became the 5th, and the 6th became too many to count. 
When left to my devices, I was equipped with a pink rubber band that vacillated from left hand to right.  That was the device of choice to know who’s ball was who’s. The alternate possession. Then there was a timeout. Brian approached-

 “Young man, how come I don’t know you?” He said.
I wasn’t sure how to answer the question. I said as much.
“Well you can go far young man, but why do you use that rubber band on your hand?” He pressed, quizzically.
“Well, I was taught-“ I said as he put his right hand to halt me dead in my tracks.
“Young man, why can’t you keep that information in your head? There’s only two colors! Red and white.” He continued passionately while pressing his head, “You can only go as far as your mind takes you.”

Who the f*ck was this?!? 

Aforementioned, I was always left to my own devices.  Now this guy, Brian, saying all these things that sounded like a fortune cookie.

“Learning never exhausts the mind.” – Leonardo da Vinci

All the other details from that day were semantics.  But I will say Brian saw something in me, and I saw something in him. Here was a guy that has been doing it for 20 years + and is still as enthusiastic about the craft of officiating as he was when he first started.  And here he recognized a lot of what I had in him was in me.  He unlocked that within, and in turn, made me a beast.

You. Never. Know. Who’s. Watching.

Since that day, I’ve been guilty by association.  Those words, “you can only go as far as your mind takes you” took me somewhere between forever and ad infinitum.  He told me what separates the good officials from the best officials is the little things: rule knowledge, appearance, presentation, mechanics. Jumble that up in the pot, it won’t matter who is watching; because you’ll be comfortable with reffing as if everyone is.

“I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.” – Abraham Lincoln

Part 3. Tomorrow.