Some do’s and do nots of reffing.I know you may be trapped into reffing sooner or later. Here are a few things referees should not do. These are my pet peeves.
1. Never turn to the crowd or folks watching with the old “these guys are jerks” line, even if they are. Be objective.
2. Try never to favor a player even if you do like that player.
3. Do not buddy it up with your favorite player during time outs because he or she is cool.
4. Do have towels on hand for the floor and even players as a nice touch if you are in one of those towel service place clubs. If not, get towels somehow.
5. Do not explain calls unless you have to. Keep it brief if you do have to. We all know that you know the rules and we do not need you to give long explanations of rules, thus breaking up the continuity of the game. Nobody needs to know the history of the avoidable hinder and how it started with King Henry the VIII when he played indoor tennis.
6. It is always helpful to have a rulebook of the latest rules. Each governing body has basically the same rules but with different twists, such as time outs per game, time between games, and lately rally scoring which is confusing at it’s best and really confusing at it’s other best! And the scoring may be changed mid-stream from 11 point games to 15 and vice versa.
7. Again, Be objective, and as fair as possible. Oh, and even then, you will make mistakes. And you may get yelled at but do not let the players hurt your feeewings!! You’ll be okay-it is only a game and you may be reffing two fierce competitors.
Note here to competitors-especially the paranoid ones-the ref is not out to get you! Repeat that five times because if you are really really paranoid- no matter what i say, you will think the ref is out to get you!