Barbara Bleiweis's blog

In early November, I received the email I’ve been waiting ten years for: “You have new games”, read the subject line--- and when I logged into the officials’ website— I received my first high school VARSITY assignments!!  I could barely contain my excitement, but being superstitious, I refrained from blogging about it before now so as not to jinx myself.  Now, with several games behind me, I can tell the world:  I'm no longer on the road to varsity; I have finally arrived at my destination!

On May 7, Helena Costa became the first female to coach a professional men's soccer team in the history of the sport in France. I was thrilled to read the announcement, not only because its historic importance, but because of what did not include: completely absent from the article was any mention of her height, body style, hair color, fashion sense, or other meaningless traits too often included in articles involving women. Even better, there was no suggestion that Costa was bossy; at least not yet, and hopefully  not ever! Bravo, Coach Costa! Bravo!

My relocation to North Carolina temporarily disrupted my officiating schedule. With membership into a new association pending,  I needed to find a way to work on my game during the summer and fall without the benefit of regularly scheduled summer basketball. Tennis provided an excellent venue for physical preparation.  Tennis, like basketball requires fitness, quickness, teamwork and stamina. But while tennis helped with the physical game, it was watching Little League baseball, more than anything else, that helped the most with the mental side of basketball officiating.

Love March Madness!  Like many of you, from March 19 through April 8th, I am glued to the television, flipping channels and watching my favorite teams. In my case, I ALSO watch my favorite refs. From the opening toss, I pretend I am one of the crew and I make calls all the while comparing my call selection to theirs.  The "block" versus "charge" calls are especially fun- and difficult- no matter if calling a Division I mens game or a high school freshman game. Both require split second judgement, positioning, and rules knowledge... with emphasis on the "split second".

Last I blogged, I shared the fact that I re-engaged with tennis this summer.  Now, after four months of lessons and social meet ups, I learned a valuable lesson about competitive play and performance improvment.  In order to improve, the most important skill is NOT to focus and work hard. On the contrary, the most important performance improvment skill was to do NOTHING. In other words... RELAX.  While this may be counterintuitive, my tennis experience proves this point.