Last night I was honoured to assist with the City of Barrie Jr Basketball Championships being held at Eastview SS, the culmination of a very busy Jr Boys' and Girls' season that, so I'm told, featured over 700 games that were covered by the Barrie Referee panel, or BDABO. The tournament is the much anticipated crowning of a champ for a lot of high energy, high volume basketball'ing kiddies aged 10-12 years.
I was asked to cover the playoff rounds for the boys' side of the tournament, which would eventually include the gold medal game, and I don't mind admitting that I'm always honoured to be nominated for a championship because we have a large number of competent officials in BDABO, any of which would be an asset to any event.
Having said that, this particular post isn't about me ... quite the opposite, actually.
Before I get into the 'meat and potatoes' of this piece I should include a little background information, 'setting the table' as it were. You should know, in the off chance that you haven't witnessed Jr aged basketball in the Simcoe area in the last 10 years, things may not resemble what you may remember. Thanks to a number of factors, basketball has exploded in popularity, and bolstered by some pretty impressive skill development by the local club programs, there are some gosh-darned talented bambinos competing in your local gyms. At the risk of tooting my own horn, based on over 35 years of coaching from gr 4 all the way up the chain to the national program, I feel I'm qualified to make an accurate assessment of the talent level. When you try to host a 5v5 game in a half gym and the kids can really, really play, it quickly becomes apparent that the space is not nearly sufficient, and the play sometimes turns physical. With elementary basketball organized to utilize a single official in a half-gym set up, I knew that I would have to be on top of the action because these kids get after it, and safe play is not always forefront in their brains.
The championship game would eventually feature backyard neighbours Algonquin Ridge ES and Hyde Park ES. Featuring a number of club trained athletes, and some jaw-dropping athleticism, the game had the potential to be an old fashioned 'barn burner'. True to form, it was a hotly contested and high scoring affair, each team featuring players that were making incredible plays, much to the delight of the packed sidelines of parents, relatives, and supporters. What these kids lacked in team concepts and structure, they more than made up for in 1v1 skills, at times prompting a 'geez' from this old fart's lips. With each team taking turns squeezing out small leads, the game came down to the proverbial wire and the game was tied with time running out.
To give you a mental image, the half-gym at Eastview becomes quite the intimate setting with supporters lining all sides of the court in an effort to have the best view of 'little Johnny' and his mates giving it their all. Despite stopping the game on a number of occasions in an attempt to mitigate potential safety risks from the crowded sidelines, those that couldn't resist bellowing their input or criticism were close enough to spray spittle on the faces of the already sweaty players.
The whole thing came to a head when one young man ... in his 20's perhaps ... decided he had the right to march right out onto the court to voice his displeasure with how I was officiating the game, and after ignoring my instructions to leave the playing surface, continued to tell me exactly what he thought. I felt that I was left with no choice but to ask him to leave the gym. I could truly care less what he thought of my performance ... I am very confident in my abilities ... but the example he was setting could have far-reaching negative effects on these youngsters. With some help from others cheering for the same side as he was, he was eventually convinced to leave, but the 'damage' was done, as others voiced their opinions that I was quote, "robbing the kids of the game".
Really??
How far have we fallen as a society that supposedly mature adults feel they are justified to behave in such a ludicrous manner, for the sake of a game featuring 10-12 year olds. As the whole thing unfolded, the image of a poster I have seen posted at OFSAA events flashed in my brain ...
Look, there are three take-aways here:
One, While I'm focussing on the few, many that were there were prototypically awesome, cheering for both teams, and revelling in their youngster's efforts. They have my upmost respect for doing it the right way, and their children saw that.
Two, those few individuals who lost control were also noticed by their children, sadly.
Three, I still had a blast being a part of this game! It would take significantly more than some vocal displeasure to sour my enjoyment of helping kids experience the thrills of competition, and judging by the emotional celebrations of the winning team, there were some really awesome memories made.
That's really what it's all about, isn't it?
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