Stories of Kindness from Around the World

Making Sure to Thank the Referees


--by kidzfirst, posted Jul 5, 2013
I spent my Saturday at the basketball court watching all three of our kids play their games.  My older two had playoffs as they worked to be in the championship game.  During the third game of the day I commented to my husband that these playoff games were getting a little overly rough and competitive and it was making me nervous.
As my son's game continued, the fans around us starting making light-hearted comments about the refs' calls - or lack of. 

These were the same ref's my son's team has had all season and I think they are a GREAT pair - which I said often during the game.  The refs had a sense of humor and grinned and nodded as the comments continued to come.

It was an intense and physical game and I was cheering loudly!  It was a tight game to the end, but my son's team did end up winning and will head to the championship next weekend.  As fans exited the stands and thanked coaches, many commented that we won even with the refs's bad calls. 

I went up to the refs and thanked them - I let them know that I have three kids in the league and they are my favorite team of refs.  Told them I appreciated their sense of humor and ability to shake off the fans' comments.  They seemed genuinely thankful to hear that.  
These gentlemen get lots negative comments, even in good spirit, but I bet they have NEVER had a parent/fan come up and say what a great job they do. 
 
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Readers Comments

Dobby wrote: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR DOING THIS!!! I have friends and 1 of my cousins is a ref and the things people say to them is down right awful. My cousin (who's a big guy) has had parents come at him with fists. They've never had people come up to them and do what you did. And I know if someone did, just what that would mean to them. They try to do their best. Thank you for being a great example to those other parents.

Maybe the group of parents you talk to about your acts of kindness could form a new group and part of your collective acts of kindness would be to quell the negative comments from the other parents. Would make the games much more positive for everyone, esp. the kids (they hear that stuff). Just a thought.
Mish wrote: Go kindness team!!!!!!!!! :)))))
FairyBubbles wrote: That's a lovely thing to do - thanking someone for a job well done.
denisemj wrote: So Nice of you to care about the refs! I'm sure this made there day. Smiles :):)
MakeSomeoneSmile wrote: That's great that you did that! I am sure it mattered a great deal to them. Refs get beat up for their calls or non-calls so kudos to you for taking the time to be kind! :)
jsmc10 wrote: Thanks so much for doing this. It's lovely to hear that you're appreciated and I bet this cheered them up no end :)

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