The Beginning of the Referee Journey

Dear Sabumnim,

So I went on an adventure! One of my favorite things about being at this stage in my taekwondo journey is how many adventures I can go on. I decided that it would be fun to bring the TKDTutors Community with me and journal this two-day escapade. Essentially, a blog post that works as a taekwondo referee journal! My adventure this time? A local competition. Not one of the larger scale state or national competitions, but definitely not a small one either!

Packing

I would like to say I prepped and planned and did my packing over the week before the tournament. You know, like an organized adult human. Alas… no. Instead I spent late last night and the morning of my trip hastily throwing things into my bags. Did I put my TKD Tutors hoodie on? Yes. Is it summer and therefore hot? Also yes. Was it so I could maximize getting subscribers? …maybe.

You know, in the early morning I expect silence or crankiness from people. That was not the result. I got the cheeriest, chattiest, most upbeat person ever! Turned out, she was getting into Muay Thai and an expert in Tai Chi! So the next 15 minutes or so were us geeking out over martial arts. Say what you will about Muay Thai enthusiasts, they sure know how to geek out!

Bus! Stop!

After we arrived at the bus stop I ran into two very interesting people. The bus wasn’t going to appear for another 15 minutes, so I had some time to just chat. Probably good to, because chatting is not something one does when refereeing. You’re simply too busy to do anything other than refereeing. I learned that one of them was a professor and the other was a nurse. I do love talking to people. Everyone has great stories to tell us.

After we’d chatted for a bit we got an awkward silence, which was broken quite promptly with the arrival of the bus! Turns out that ridiculously early bus rides are not filled with chatty people. Now that’s what I call a studying opportunity! Just me, bus driver, and time to pull out the (rather extensive) notebook and study for refereeing. Maybe I take too many notes. Also, what on earth is my handwriting? Maybe my teachers were right, I did learn to write from chickens.

The ride itself was very uneventful. Just studying and, when I got too distracted for that, music in my ears. After what felt like a short escapade, I arrived at the first stop. I was told the next bus would be taking off in 30 minutes. Sweet, I can go get lunch. I’ve been to the bus terminal here before. They have a great sandwich restaurant! When I went to the tables in the foyer of the terminal I… pulled out a sandwhich I’d made and ate it gleefully. Hey, referees don’t make much money. As I finished my sandwhich, I looked at the clock. 5 minutes. Time to run to the second ride!

The second ride was longer and certainly more…more. Instead of studying for the tournament like I promised myself (oops) I met a fascinating person! This may surprise, but the person I met is much chattier than me, an introverted taekwondo blogger. Go figure, right? By the way chatty person, if you’re still out there, you can absolutely become my social media coordinator! It’s not great at the moment!

Well the adventure on the bus was fun. You know what else is fun?

Hotels. Gotta love ‘em.

Naturally, after landing at the bus stop, I headed to the hotel that I thought the referees were assigned to. It’s nice. Like, cinematically nice. I walk in. Wonderfully kind receptionist. Who after much confusion, ever so kindly, informs me that I’m at the wrong hotel. I’m actually supposed to go to their competitor. I know. I shouldn’t feel bad. But she was so nice! I had half a mind to Make a reservation with her. or tip her. or something. Alas, there is not much money in blogging (maybe put donation thing in as joke). 

After the embarrassing convo, and 20 minutes of mildly awkward conversation (I’m great at social… stuff.) I manage to hitch a ride to the actual hotel. This hotel was much less futuristic and much more standard. And… I’m early! Extremely early. Like, 3 hours early. And so what do I do? Well, after chatting up a storm with the front desk (they’re so nice!) I sit down, and write for all of you. And post on social media. I felt like some sort of YouTuber going on an adventure.

I lost track of time. More specifically, I lost track of time writing this journal article. Oh, where does the time go? Thankfully, I was in the exact right place to be surprised by the appearance of my friend, the competition coordinator. To clarify, he is not my friend because he’s the competition coordinator. He, as an individual, is a friend. I felt I should clear that up. I’m not a suck up to competition coordinators. Referee supervisors, however, are a different group entirely. Kidding! Referee coordinators do not need to fear me… yet.

Finally got into the room

After my friend showed up and cleared up all the chaos (some of which was caused by me; whoops) I finally went to my assigned hotel room. I’m sent to a two bedroom hotel room. After claiming a bed for myself by placing my favorite hoodie on it, I started t wonder what to do next. I mean, seriously. What does one do with all that free time? A thing which I will not have tomorrow,by the way. 

Oh yeah, and I watched my favorite YouTuber’s clip of her at a taekwondo competition. Which she posted literally right then! A cool coincidence, no? I became a fan after she posted a video about getting her taekwondo black belt. What can I say? I love a good story!

Out on the Town!

Next came a mall visit to buy some earplugs. I may have forgotten my earplugs for the competition. I don’t wear them because the athletes are loud. Hardly. I wear them because the spectators do not always know the concept of silence. Instead they scream painfully loudly. Painfully. Loudly. And so, I have taken to wearing reusable earplugs. Honestly, they are fantastic. Best thing in my referee suit pockets for sure.

I end up asking the front desk for advice on where I might be able to get reusable earplugs. They suggest the local small-town mall. I groan at first thinking it’s going to be one of those middle-of-nowhere grocery stores. Thankfully, I’m told, it’s actually within walking distance. Sweet!

I walk in to the mall. Where there is a lot of people. Why is this a problem? Well, you see, when referees are preparing for, doing, and leaving a competition they limit the amount they talk to people who are not referees. Why? We want to be impartial, so we limit our risk of any emotional connection with athletes, coaches, or even spectators. If we run into anyone we know we are to avoid them and pull back from refereeing matches where they are involved. Yeah, we’re pretty strict about that. For that reason we, or at least many of us, set in this 24-hour pre-game rule where we don’t talk to anyone who is not a referee. At least, if we can help it. Unfortunately… a mall isn’t exactly populated with referees.

So what did I do? Well I ended up limiting engagement as much as possible. By the end I was quite efficient: Me: “Earbuds?” Shopowner: “No, but it could be [insert other shop]” Me: “Thanks”. Genuinely, probably the fastest conversation(s) I’ve ever had. After exploring the entire mall for about an hour, I learn that the only shop that might have it is all the way across the street. More specifically, the highway. A very big highway.

One thing you should know about me: I love statistics. I know a lot of different statistics. Do you want to know the statistics relating to cars and driveways? No. No, you do not. Thankfully, I ran across that field like an olympic sprinter and made it to the end. After ambling around the sports store only briefly (thankfully, not another hour) I found some nice hearing plugs.

Tragically, after (finally) finding the thing I needed, I got quite lost in the mall. Does management not know what a map is? It felt like I was in some sort of commercial maze. After finally finding the (day)light, I went back to the hotel. Yes, I also had to sprint across the road again to get there.

After getting to the hotel I decide that, well, I do still have time so… I sat down, wrote down, and then wondered what to do next.

After work?

After getting some work done I decided to go downstairs. I hadn’t seen any other referees, coaches, or athletes yet. So I could probably get away with chatting with the front desk, right? Indeed I did. He asked me a lot of questions about what I was here for. And what taekwondo was. And I geeked out. Hopefully I didn’t over do it. That’s a bad habit of mine, for sure. After chatting with him, I went to the workout room to cool off a bit and get dinner. I decided to go to bed early. That was a wise decision apparently, because then I got ambushed. (Part 2 Coming Next Week!)

Or…