The videotape don't lie

I've watched my videotaped game several times now...once alone, and twice with fellow refs. (It's only about a half-hour long...so don't think I'm overdoing it.)

My original stance, that I am crouching over as I blow the whistle, stands. I will work on slowing down and making sure that only my arm signals the foul and my feet close to the spot on a foul or violation call. The leaning-in crap has to stop. Slowing down will ensure I do that. Yesterday, I realized I wasn't doing it after every call...which is a step in the right direction.

But I found something a little more alarming...

I'm not hustling.

At first glance, I thought that it was an issue with running mechanics, and that I'd need to re-learn running all over again. On a second and third look, however, I'm finding that I'm seldome going at faster than an amble or a saunter. That makes me look bad. I'm seldom out of position for a play, so I don't think it's having a lot of impact on the game (although I'm sure it does periodically). And no clinician or evaluator has EVER come up to me and said "Hey! You're not hustling!"

But by God, there it is.

I think a lot of it is the switch from 2-man to 3-man. I no longer need to run as far or (frankly) as hard. So I only give as much as I need to. Routinely, therefore, I'm arriving just before I have to, and in a slow, seemingly disinterested way. Evaluators don't catch it, I suppose, because I'm not really out of position much (for that reason, anyway).

But it plays into my Blogging-Ref-has-to-fool-them-into-thinking-I'm-an-athlete deal. I just don't look good because I'm not going hard.

That ends today, and permanently.