Please, share with us.
Was it all of the perks of being a referee, the great hours, awesome pay, tremendous respect, fabulous food, great accommodations, summers off, opportunities to travel to exotic lands, and most importantly the t-shirts?
Or was it that you could no longer sit in the stands or the coach’s chair and see competitors ref'd by people who, at best, hadn't bothered to read the rules so they just made up their own or, at worst, were blatantly cheating? Instead of jumping up and down and screaming, writing anonymous letters or taking your ball and going home, did you set out to spend years learning the rules and earning the respect? Did you sweat your way through local, then national tournaments, to finally qualify to seek your IR? Then did you spend thousands of dollars to go to the IR seminars? Did you work within the system to try to make it better? Or did you quit and leave those same competitors in the hands of incompetent or dishonest referees thinking someone else could deal with it?
I bet I know the answer, or you wouldn't be a referee today.
Jenny W.
This is a great topic, I hope to see more answers posted soon.
I refereed at JO's in Las Vegas for my first national. The same event where the food was left out overnight and re-served at lunch, when we walked across a scorching hot parking lot in 100 degree heat, the hotels turned off our A/C during the day, and a bogus referee 'walkout' that no one knew anything about.
Even with those minor setbacks, I really wanted to be there because I witnessed several horrible calls against kids the year before in Louisville and elsewhere in my state. I didn't know every rule, but I did know when an 8 year old green belt gets knocked down and a swollen, bleeding nose from an axe kick that at least some penalty should be given. I saw other competitors punched in the face in full view of the referee without any warnings and more referees who clearly should have never been out there. At the local level, I saw what I thought was blatant bias from judges to their schools and an unwillingness to hold people accountable for their misjudgment. I knew I would have to get involved or sit back and let the problem go on.
Since then I have refereed six of the seven last JO's, three Seniors, and most recently my third Collegiates. I was appointed my state's referee chairman 4 years ago and most recently earned an award for NCTA's Referee of the Year in Boston. I never thought I would see my greatest success come from being a referee, but it is clear for me to see that this is where I belong and what I will be doing for a very long time.
I became a referee simply because it seems like it should be part and parcel of the study of Taekwondo. Refereeing TKD is an artform in its own right.
I don't believe one can be a good competitor, coach, or even fan, without knowing the rules.
There never seem to be enough qualified referees at tournaments.
Encouraging those who study Taekwondo to become referees seems like an important part of the growth of Olympic Taekwondo.
I simply wanted a deeper understanding of our artform.