Preseason captains’ practices started last week and I shoveled snow off my driveway this morning. With temperatures below freezing, it’s hard to imagine that green grass, months like April and May or short sleeves still exist; however, in seven short weeks the first games of the 2017 season will be played. Snow will (hopefully) be gone, fields will be lined and players will step onto fields, bundled in layers, to begin another season. Watching players in these first practices is so exciting because we get see the beginnings of a team and their potential. Walking into open gyms, beginning to pass, getting in the first rounds of wall ball for 2017, rust begins falling off of sticks that sat idle for too long in the offseason. Returning players step up and take ownership of their team – setting the tone for practices and games to come. New girls who have never touched a lacrosse stick learn the fundamentals. With every caught pass and moderately on target throw, their confidence – and by extension, the team’s confidence –  grows. To think that come May, these same girls – girls who currently can barely cradle let alone catch a pass on the fly – will be zooming up and down the field only builds anticipation for the weeks and months to come.

This is when a team begins. Of course, there are returning players and already formed relationships, but each season is full of fresh perspective and new approaches to the game. Key players graduate, leaving space for new players to show up and deliver. New plays are hashed out, skills are added to the arsenal. There are many exciting moments in a season – first goals, big upsets, deep playoff runs … the list could go on; however, preseason is one of my favorites because it is full opportunity. It’s a bit of a blank canvas and with our players we can create an incredible team and season. Best of luck to the coaches, officials, players and parents beginning the season, make it a great one.

I have just finished my 25th year as a high school and collegiate official. I wonder where the time has gone, and even though I have been working for a long time, I still want to be better.

After a season, I have found it to be helpful to think about what I did to improve myself over the last season – did I study the rules, more? did I attend a clinic? What did I do to become a better official?

If the answer is nothing, then, while experience helps, just working year after year, may not make you a better official. If you want to be better, you have to practice at being better, and to do that, one must educate him/herself.
Being an official is an incredibly difficult hobby. You invest your time away from family, and you invest money in all the accoutrements that are necessary to be prepared and play the role of an official.

We do that, why?

When people ask me, why, I say that it feels really good to be able to administer a highly competitive game, where the players, play, and the coaches are able to coach. In the best games, there is a sense of trust between the two teams and the officiating crew. The players, play. The coaches, coach.

Each of the three teams are able to do what each has prepared themselves for. Yet, those games do not happen by chance, they are the result of your willingness to be a constant learner.

First, read the rule book. More importantly, develop a common sense and fair play understanding in how to apply the rules. Next, attend more trainings and clinics. I learn something at every clinic and because of that, I have more arrows in my quiver of experience, to draw out, when I’m in the middle of a game. Last, want to get better. None of this matters, if you do not want to improve.

One conclusion that I have come to after all these years is that the better I am, the easier my games will be. Simply put, It is to my benefit to improve.

Stephen Perez is the President of the Wisconsin Lacrosse Officials Association 

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