It is hard to decide where to start, so I am going to go chronologically.
Before South east Regionals begins, you must have a USA Officials card, which includes a background check. You must sign up for the tournament online, and request accommodations if you are traveling from out of state. If you do not request a room, you are welcome to pay for your own. If you are putting on a clinic, or performing some other service for USA wrestling, they will pay for your room. For everyone else, Team Georgia provides them with a room. The part that most people do not realize is that the officials volunteer for these tournaments. They are not compensated for there time.
Ok, I already had my USA card, and I signed up online for the tournament. I did not request accommodations because I live 30 minutes from the center even with a stop at QT.
On Friday while the facility was being set up, I attended the Officials Education Program. It made me feel a little guilty being in class while some of my friends were setting up the venue, but if you want to get better at something, you have to take the time to learn from more experienced people. The class started about 8:30 am. We started by reviewing the new rule changes. I was good on the rule changes, but when someone asked the instructors to review continuation, I got my first big lesson of the day. It was my understanding that when I got a 6 point lead, or hit my second 3 point move in a period, the period was over unless I had my opponent in a position of danger/fall. I learned in the clinic that if there was a continuous move from the spot that I earned my 6 point lead, with scoring from my opponent, that it was not a tech-fall situation. I had to score again to get the 6 point lead. I also learned that in the second 3 point move scenario, that if there was a continuous move that put me in danger, that I could be pinned. Those were both new to me, and I knew i had to make adjustments.
Next we reviewed some video and practiced scoring. These were specific situations from world championships that were chosen because they demonstrated the application of rules, or were subject to different interpretation. It lead to some great discussion, and opened my eyes to some different interpretations.
After the scoring practice, we spent time learning about the different roles, and responsibilities of the members of an officiating crew. I have practiced 3 man mechanics on several occasions, and performed it last year at SER, but the discussions of how the group should work together, and offering choices for the chairman to make a decision were very helpful. I was already pretty comfortable on the whistle, but knowing that there are two more people helping get every call right makes it less stressful to actually call what you see without second, third, and even fourth guessing yourself. The information from this session also made me aware that from the judges chair if I see an action that the chairman has a good view of, and official on the whistle calls it a 1, but there is a small chance it could have been a 3, that I should offer a 3 so that the mat chairman can make the final decision. I know that leads to coaches, and parents thinking what the #@$% is he looking at, but I will take that criticism in order to give the two officials with a better angle to get the call right.
We took a lunch break at Frontera across the street, and Team Georgia picked up the tab.
After lunch we spent several hours going over protest procedures and video reviews. I learned what is protestable, and what was not protestable, and we had a practice exercise in which we had some written protests with score sheets, and we had to decide whether it was a protestable situation and should go to review. If we decided the protest should go to review, we had to act as the protest committee, and decide what had to be done. I learned plenty in this session, and it was my favorite part of the clinic. I know that I would not want to be on a protest committee, but I could do it now if asked. This last session took about 4 hours, but it felt like 4 minutes.
After class was done, I went out to the State of Georgia table to help distribute weigh-in cards for the first weigh-in. Everything was a little behind schedule except for the athletes, parents, and coaches. The weigh-in cards were coming in from out of town, and they just were not going to arrive on time. My hero Cheryl Flatt got colored paper, printed off the weigh-in cards, and got them to us just a few minutes late. Melody Domanico, Coach Porter, and I were trying to get the cards organized, hand them out, and work crowd control all at the same time. It was a little stressful. There were kids doing a great job of cutting in line, parents coming behind the tables trying to get cards while we were trying to get organized, and coaches getting upset about the line braking. Ron Domanico got out there and helped us out and things started moving a little better. That was not the best experience of the entire weekend. We got through it, put away the cards for the wrestlers that would be weighing in Saturday, and tried to put it out of our minds.
Now it was time for the Officials Greco clinic. We turned in our License books to be signed(Every time you officiate, go to a clinic, or an OEP you get your book signed for proof. It is all part of the upgrade system). We went over the rules specific to Greco, and spent a lot of time on the clinch procedure. We even got cheat sheets at every table with the proper clinch procedure. At the end of the clinic Team Georgia provided us with some subs, and I spent a little time socializing while I shoved a sandwich down my neck. The clinic lasted about an hour and when it was done I walked through the Convention Center to see if there was anything I could do to help Team Georgia. Everything looked pretty good. I checked with Cheryl and saw that she was organizing the Junior weigh-in cards, so I knew that the check in table would be smoother in the morning.
Saturday morning at about 6:00am I headed towards the venue. After a quick stop at QT for a little breakfast, and my favorite energy drink I was at my home for the weekend. I spent a little time tracking down the weigh-in cards for the morning, and found everything I needed. I had a little time to get organized. Except for the wrestlers who showed up without USA cards, things were much smoother.
Now it was time for the Officials meeting. We went over last minute details, got our mat assignments, and found out who we would be working with. It can be like winning or loosing the lottery. If you get a good crew, it can make the day a lot more fun, and a true learning experience, and that is what I was there for. I was familiar with the Officials I was assigned to. I had worked a little bit with one of them last year, and he had taught me a lot about position on the mat, how to get there , and when to get there. I know the things I learned from him last year made me better, and figured today would be a good learning experience as well. I am a M3 official (low man on the totem poll). In order to achieve a ranking of M2(still low man on the totem poll but not a sorry M3) I had to have two years in, and have good evaluations. I had been evaluated last year, and needed to be evaluated this year, so I gave the evaluation to our head official at the beginning of the day. We worked on a three match rotation in which we changed duties about every three matches. We rotated from Whistle, to chairman, to judge, and back to whistle. I did not like the pace of our mat, but it is hard to go fast in greco. I really started to drag by about 6:00pm, and we kept going for another 2.5 hours. I felt like I was on my game, and did a good job of officiating Saturday. I got a good review, turnned it in, and was ready to head home. At the last second I turned around, and headed to the officials social. Team Georgia and Ted's Montana Grill hosted the social, and it was a nice affair. I enjoyed a couple of adult beverages, shared some tasty appetizers with my friends, and enjoyed a nice bison burger. Service was great, and everyone had a good time. I got home about 11:00pm
Sunday morning, and it was time for one more weigh-in. I was back at the Georgia table getting organized, and Anthony Flatt was busy chasing people out of the building, and getting the doors locked. He really could not have the entrances opened till he had his volunteers there to collect at the door, and help work security. There was a small line forming at the entrance, and Melody and I were set up and ready to get weigh-ins started. A man banged on the window behind us and asked how do I get in. We both pointed to the line at the door directly in front of him. He banged on the window again, a little harder this time and we directed him to the line at the door again. He banged on the window excessively hard this time, and I told him to stop it, and directed him to the front door again. When he finally got inside he marched over to me and asked my name several times. He informed me that he just wanted to get inside so that his son could check his weight. He told me that everything was ok now because his son was in the venue cutting weight. Understand, I was sitting there in an officials uniform, at a USA event, that strictly forbids rapid weight loss. This man was telling me that the only reason that he had acted rudely was so he could get inside before the venue was open to allow his son more time to break the rules, and it is ok because his son is breaking the rules right now. he asked me my name several more times as if he was going to report me to the king for beheading and finally walked away. Dispatching the weigh-in cards was very smooth today except for the few that did not bring there USA cards. Everyone got weighed in, and it was time for the officials clinic.
There was an emphasis on being effective, and moving matches quickly. We were asked to have less conferences, unless they were absolutely needed. I was assigned to a crew of younger guys that seemed like they were going to be efficient, and we would run at a good pace.
I was right. Our mat ran at a high pace, and we had very few conferences. I split time on whistle, and in the judges chair with our highest ranked official. The mat chairman stayed on the table all day long. I do not have a big ego, and feel the need to be a chairman, but I do like the practice, and experience. Because of the rapid pace, and the lack of conferences, I did not have as good a learning experience today. I felt like I did a better job on Saturday. There were a couple of times when I was confused by some calls that the chair and Judge made, and the explanations I got were incomplete, and lead me to believe that I was supposed to call a situation as illegal, when in fact they were talking about something else all together. It was not clarified til latter when i was trying to apply the rules as they had told me, that they told me that is not what they had meant. I did not dislike the group I worked with on Sunday, and even enjoyed myself, but I had a much better learning experience on Saturday. At the end of the competition I gave the lead official on our mat my evaluation to complete, and it was not nearly as good as the evaluation I received on Saturday.
I left my crew and joined my Team Georgia faithful to brake down the tournament. We got the mats rolled, strapped, clocks boxed, and began loading everything onto trucks cars, and vans. Mr Sartain got all of the gear he had delivered all loaded up first, then we started loading mats onto the tractor trailer. We realized once we started that in order to get all of the mats on the truck, we were going to have to stack some on top. I climbed up on top of the mats and stuffed mats back into the hole as everyone brought them to the truck. Pulling together when you are tired, and accomplishing a task like this has always been fun to me. Mats were loaded and I was about to go home. Cheryl saw me about to head out, and said we are about to go to Carrabas if you want to come. I accepted the invitation, and enjoyed a nice meal, an some conversation with some of the team Georgia Coaches, and some of the wrestlers that had stayed and loaded trucks. Team Georgia covered the bill again.
The weekend was complete. I learned a good bit, may or may not have done what it takes to be elevated to an M2, and got feed all weekend by Team Georgia. I got a nice shirt, some new wrist bands, and got to spend time with my friends. It was a volunteer operation where as a volunteer I was well feed. I should have just held up a sign that read will work for food.
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