Orange Maggot

Remember I mentioned I was thinking of getting back into football umpiring? 

I'm not sure if that was a smart move.

I rang the bloke in charge, Greg, and he duly signed me up and even rostered me on to umpire a game this Sunday down at Margaret River. Fair enough. They obviously need umps and I'm available (although it will be at the same time as the BIG Game between the Cats and the Swans is on! I guess we all have to make sacrifices!)

Greg then invited me to come to training, in Bunbury, Tuesday evening.

So I dutifully rocked up, never having been to umpire training before. 

What would it entail?

Discussing the rules of football?

Working out how to interpret situations?

Decision making?

Strategic placement so as to be in the best position to umpire a game?

Proper signals and calls?

All of the above?

None of the above!!
There was a lot of running.
In fact there was nothing but running!

It was all running!

Short running.

Long running.

Paced running.

Sprint running.

Sideways and backwards running.

Hill running.

Running running running!
I guess they prefer fit umpires to ones who understand the game and can make good decisions!

Guess who is feeling a little stiff and sore this morning?

Guess who tried to put in one last big effort in the final 60 metre sprint in a set of 10?

And guess who felt a sharp pain in his right calf at the 40 metre mark? A tweak of some sort, not a full blown pulled muscle but still an uncomfortable pain!

I had paced myself throughout the session, content to sit at the back of the pack and finish last in each exercise, a distant last usually such as in the 1.2km run. I even sat out a couple of sprints to catch my breath and contemplate my future. But having manfully persevered through the first nine 60m sprints I figured I could put in one last big effort to finish off.

That's where I was wrong!

I'm now limping a little. I iced it up last night. I was fine driving the bus this morning.

But will I be able to run around and umpire my first game on Sunday?

We'll have to wait and see!

NB. I did get a set of umpiring gear including black shorts, orange socks, wrist bands, umpires association shirt and jacket, all very nice. The only thing they didn't have was the orange shirt I'm supposed to wear. Similar to the background of this post.  They said a white one will do.