New Stripes!
Last weekend I participated in the first lacrosse officials certification course in Montana’s history. The event was hosted by the Montana Lacrosse Association (namely, Tim Bechtold) and I got to arrange the location, which was at the Payne Family Native American Studies Building on UM’s campus. Side note- I’ve been hugely jealous of this building since I completed the NAS program only a year before they broke ground… it is an amazing facility and the staff have been big supporters of local lacrosse; playing host to our Elite Boys team study halls last year and now hosting the Officials Course. If you haven’t checked out the building yet, be sure to stop in!
All in all, 28 participants were brave enough to sign up for the weekend class… which is a great start! We had future refs from Whitefish, Billings, Bozeman, Arlee, Stevensville, and of course Missoula. We had middle schoolers and a couple grey haired gents, a good mix of backgrounds and experiences, and a lot of people wanting to grow the game here in Montana! Everybody was there at 9 AM (or earlier!) on Saturday, ready to hit the books… we studied inside, with a brief lunch break, until 2:30 PM before heading to the fields for our first “live” experience. I think this was eye-opening to a lot of people, who somehow assumed that refs stand a lot… in truth, they don’t ever really stand… We were back in the classroom Sunday at 8 AM for another half day of school, then back to the field for our final “live” experience. Everybody learned a lot and I think we will all be reading through those rule books for a while…
These guys will all be coming soon to a field near you, so I’d like to take this opportunity to make a strong advocation for all of us to show respect for these brave men during the games. If we all do our part, we can really ensure that young players across the state have a positive experience… and that’s what we are all here for.
BIG THANKS to Tim Bechtold for organizing this event! BIG THANKS to Don Huber, Fred Zensen, and Nic Herriges for traveling to Missoula and showing us the ropes! BIG THANKS to all the participants, especially those who made a long car ride!
