Week 7

For 3 days I have been a line judge at the MN State High School League Volleyball Tournament. The assignment was three matches a day immediately followed by an evaluation that was always constructively given. Sometimes I am just harder on myself but found myself right away returning to the job at hand with mental cues given for the task at hand. Only during the last match did a coach say something uncharitable after a line call that she didn’t like. Interesting how I see something looking straight down the line that coach doesn’t see from 6 feet off the line. Coaches think they can pull an official or line judges ‘chain’ but that doesn’t always work. Good thing she didn’t go for a 3rd comment as that was going to cost her an unsportsmanship card. I substituted the negative comments with a reminder that I was doing a good job and that the players were having fun working hard.

I have always considered myself a positive person, but as a Christian, I know that I sin daily. Totally erasing negative thought seems an impossibility. (Tee hee, is that being negative?!) Even when going through a day thinking you are doing great, an outside observer may see otherwise. Just need to keep those positive thoughts going! Looking how to help others keeps me going.