Where have the days gone?

On Friday afternoon, there were 2 boys varsity basketball games scheduled to be played. My future as a basketball coach and refereed officially died that day. The athletic director, NCA boys' varsity basketball coach, and the Director of NCA were gone on a junior high field trip until Sunday. I was left in charge of making sure that the things went smoothly. In Nicaragua, things often don't turn out how you planned...Friday was one of the cases. The first game was between San Luis and Cedro Galan. These schools are very poor with too many students crammed into a very small room. There are no books or couple of very out of date books, and students have to stand around the room because there are not enough desks. San Luis didn't show up and didn't call, so I had to discuss with the Cedro Galan coach what he wanted to do. Did I mention he didn't speak any English, and I don't speak any Spanish? So I was talking through a student translator, luckily the coach was nice and agree to accept a win by forfeit. The problem was there were no referees because they didn't remember to show up or no one called them to remind them to come that day. The forfeit couldn't be legal because there was no official to sign it....that's where I had to step in. I was the official because there was no one else around, and that meant I had to referee the next boys game. I haven't been around basketball for at least 4 years! I never went to any Dordt basketball games in college, and I hadn't played competitive, organized basketball since 9^th grade. So I was a little rusty for sure! I was nervous and stressed, and I felt constant pressure from the NCA coach and the students. I had mentioned before that the game is not much more organized than barnyard basketball. I had to constantly tell players where they had to line up for three throws. I handed the ball to a player to throw the ball in, but he forgot that I handed to him and dribbled the ball inbounds. He responded, “I forgot, I thought that she passed the ball to me...” The game ended with a score of NCA 8 and Covanic 66; luckily it wasn't a close game otherwise the refereeing could have been disputed by either team. After the game had ended, some NCA players, the coaches, spectators, and Covanic players got together and played a friendly game together. It was cool to see how the game of basketball bringing people from all over with different backgrounds together.

posted by Sarah @ 6:40 AM