It was great watching these middle school students play the game, moreso if the students were ones whom I know. Many of them played with amazing enthusiasm, even those whose teams were quite outmatched. In the same vein, it was nice to see the families cheer them on. Despite the colder than predicted weather (thankfully without rain), we had a pretty good turn out.
It was strange being a line ref. I ran the side with the families and friends, and could hear snippets of conversations as I tried to keep in a good position to make the correct calls (not that I did much more than say who got possession after the ball went out of play). I struggled between letting my focus lapse during particularly interesting conversations, and having too much tunnel vision on who touched the ball last and thus missing some other calls. Thankfully, only a few people were frustrating to be around: one was a coach who kept berating the main referee, and a couple were parents who made certain to make comments about calls they would have made any time I was near them. Everyone else was largely positive and supportive, at least of their team.
I really came to appreciate the intricacies of being a referee. There is so much action on the field, that was impossible for me to keep everything straight. Sometimes I struggled just remembering which goal to point to when I needed to indicate possession. My instinct was to point towards the team (and thus its goal) which is entirely the wrong direction. Things were really confusing right after the half when the teams switched sides. Add to it any time that there were more than two players on the ball and I sometimes felt a little overwhelmed. Thankfully, the other referee had much more experience (in both coaching and reffing) and was able to keep things running pretty smoothly.
I am now quite sore. I was doing a lot more running than I expected. By the fourth game, I started to feel my legs cramping up. I'm really grateful for the after school crossfit workouts I've been doing; otherwise, I think someone would have had to carry me off the field.