Sorry, can't please everyone.

Friday morning one of my students asked me to call his mother and ask her not to move so that he could finish up the year with me. Latter in the day his mother called me to let me know she was moving, and ask me some technical questions about his graduation, and testing. You may ask yourself if I talked to her about not moving. I never got the chance. She spent the entire conversation defending the move, and asking me questions. have I pleased my student? No.
That was just a small example of the daily pull I get from my students and parents. As an official someone is upset with every close call, and even if you are 100% right (rarely am) it is hard for the person on the down side of the call to accept. Great coaches and parents use these situations as a teaching opportunity to help their wrestlers get better. They also use it as an opportunity to demonstrate good sportsmanship.
I ran into some great kids, and coaches this weekend at Brookwood for a youth event. One of the best matches of the day had two tough wrestlers in a close one point match. At the end of the second period there was a takedown attempt that I did not award. It was very close to control when the timekeeper came over and ended the period. There was a lot of noise from the spectators and coaches, but the coach did not call me over to the table, or say anything about it being a bad call, he just told his wrestler good job and keep working hard. As I was leaving, I saw the winning wrestler from this match. I asked him if he would have won if I had awarded that takedown. He answered maybe.
Before both sessions, I met with the coaches while the other officials met with the wrestlers. I told them if they had any problems with one of the officials they could come to me(non of them did in 500 matches). I also asked if they had any wrestlers with skin issues or special equipment that needed to be approved. I did have one coach bring over a knee pad to be checked and quickly approved it. I informed the coaches that they needed to have the wrestlers 100% ready to wrestle when they showed up to check in at the table, and that the wrestlers were to go directly from the table to the center of the mat. There were only 3 matches out of the 100 plus that I officiated that did not comply with these rules. Two wrestlers had on undershirts that had not been approved, and one wrestler went from the table to the center, then over to his coaches corner. I was lenient in the morning session with the little kids. The kid that showed up with an undershirt was not penalized, and I approved the shirt at match time. In the afternoon session (since I had put special emphasis on it)I penalized a wrestler for reporting to the match in an unauthorized uniform. I tried to get the coach to handle it before the wrestler got to the table, but it did not get handled in time. I awarded a team point to his opponent, started injury time and told him he had to remove the shirt. After the match I asked the wrestler if he wanted to wear the shirt so that I could approve it, and he said no. The wrestler who went from the center back to the corner was warned for stalling, and after the match the coach/father was telling me that it wasn't right, so I started to quote the rule to him (should have just warned him for coaches misconduct)and he said I know the rule, but no one else is calling it, and you need to tell the other officials to call it. I still am not sure what his point was. He acted mad at me for enforcing the rules, but asked me to get all of the other officials to enforce the rule in the same way.
I did have another coach tell me I was supposed to coach the kids. I think his wrestler wanted an injury time out. I have no way to know because the wrestler walked off the mat to his coaches corner and took of his headgear. I instructed him to report to the center of the mat, and the coach started yelling at me. I asked if he needed an injury time out and he said yes. I started injury time and went to the head table. I rely do not do not remember what the coach was saying, but his recurring point was that I should be coaching the kids. Believe it or not I am supposed to enforce the rules when I am officiating, and the coach is supposed to do the coaching. I never make any infraction calls without letting the wrestlers know what I called and why. If a coach does not understand a call I will always explain it to them. If a school wants a rule clinic I will come do it for free. I can not coach the wrestlers when I am officiating. I am just not allowed to.
I am about to head to a meeting about the GHSA State duals. I will be volunteering my time at the tournament, and look forward to seeing some exciting action. Hope to see you in Macon.