Crossing to the Dark Side

When the kids first had an opportunity to play soccer in Canada I wanted to be involved but was also conscious of the fact that if I committed to coaching a team, it was likely that someone was going to miss out on Dad getting to their game, especially as Michael, Sam and Thomas played on the same nights (even if Michael was an hour later).

I figured that the easiest way for me to get involved was to volunteer to referee (much as I had done at home) and that way, which ever game I was at I could assist with. What I didn’t expect was for them to send me back information about how I would have to undertake a 2 day course and pay money in order to be a referee. With how busy I was at work at the time, it simply didn’t happen.

Since then, every now and then, the call goes out for people to learn to be referees. I maintained an interest, but the timing for the courses never quite seemed to line up. Until recently, when I spent a weekend, including Father’s day doing a referee’s course.

I have crossed to the dark side. I am now an officially qualified regional referee in Alberta. All that’s left to do is get the uniform. Of course this is Fort McMurray so that is a task in itself.