Dirty Little secrets!!!

What is up with all of those strange people in the blue shirts, slinging thumbs, bizarre little paddles with numbers, and three of them watching everything we do.
Here is the secret. They are all volunteers. A number of them are educators, or have had children wrestle on the National level. They are extremely concerned with making sure they get the correct winner, and try to get every call correct. They do their best to keep the wrestlers safe while they battle in what looks like an MMA fight. They all do it strictly for the love of the sport. None of these officials get paid for working any of the regional, or national events.
I have been calling FS/G matches for a while. I went ahead and got my license book a year ago and have been an official, official for two years now. I have been trained locally by guys like Shawn Feilds,Mel Ashcraft, and Stacey Davis. I felt well prepared, and also got additional training from out of state officials at the last two South East Regional Tournaments. I needed to work South East Regional in order to get an upgrade. I also had to have several evaluations from experienced officials. I was pretty tired of officiating by the time our State tournament ended, but I was already booked to attend Junior Duals. I am not required to officiate a National Tournament for my upgrade, but at the time, I thought it would be a good idea.
15 hours in a bus, and a quick workout latter, and the Team Georgia boys were off to the Motel. They left me at the tournament to fend for myself. While I was there the universities woman's team was having an inner-squad dual meet. I was impressed with the high level of wrestling that the girls displayed. While I was watching, A Texas official joined me, and gave me a ride over to the dorms, and helped me get checked in. The rooms had good air conditioning, so I was pretty happy. Shawn Feilds, a California official, and a Illinois official were my room mates. We got a long well, but were rarely in the room except to shower, and sleep.
A little latter I went to help Gwen Lutz with Team Registration, and attended the first of many meetings. We had a meeting before every session. We reviewed things that were observed during the previous sessions, get instructions on how to call certain actions, and got our assignments for the next session. We got plenty of good information in the meetings, but the real learning came during the sessions. The experienced officials helped you become better at all aspects of the craft. The instruction I received, new friends I made, and overall improvements I gained made me want to officiate more.
I just booked a flight to Fargo, and put myself on the schedule.

FS/G State

Mountain view was a great host site for the State tournament. The big gym swallowed up the 5 mats with room to spare. There was plenty of quality views from the stand, and the coaches, and kids running the tournament were courteous, and hospitable. TWA, the compound, elite, TWC, and Team Georgia were all well represented with aggressive wrestlers. The crew from Lumpkin, and Jackson County were there also representing newer clubs.
We had three man mechanics on the Junior, and Cadet mats, and quality officials available for interpretations on the mats with only one official. There was a trainer available, and a group of Collins Hill's best managers to help with bloody noses, and cleaning mats between sessions. We had clocks from the ATA so everyone could see the scores, and of course we had some tough wrestling going on all over the gym.
Now I firmly understand the importance of every match at every tournament. I do not feel like I should only be officiating Junior level matches. I enjoy the young guys, just as much, and see the importance of what they are doing. I got the pleasure of calling some middle school and elementary level matches. I called about 60 matches and enjoyed every one of them. I was asked to go judge a high level Cadet match, but it ended up being a 7-0, 7-0 tech. I just looked at the other officials and said "you needed me for that".
I enjoyed our local tournament season, but can honestly say I am not disappointed that it is over. I look forward to national team practices, and a long bus trip to Oklahoma, followed by a longer bus trip to Fargo. I hope to catch some quality High School Summer Folkstyle action in the mean time.