Saturday was a very long but fun day filled with aussie rules football. It was the last day of the season and as such the U-18, Division 2 and Division 1 Grand Finals were all played on that day. Although I wasn't officiating in any match I headed down to Manuka Oval for 2 reasons: to support my fellow umpires and entry is free for officials. Every year the umpires present a cohort for the final day and we sit as a group.
The games were of high quality though without the added excitement of a close result. The matches were handily won by the victors. I did have something of a small victory myself. During one of the intermissions I received detailed feedback on my performance in the latter part of the year. Because of manpower issues, the umpire coaches cannot see everyone throughout the year and only do these detailed assessments towards the end when deciding who will get a finals appointment. According to the assessor, I had progressed "in leaps and bounds" this year and of 20 or 30 assessment points, there were only 2 "mistakes", if you can call them that. The first was that I was wearing a gray shirt underneath my orange uniform when it should be black or skin-coloured; I think I mentioned this previously. The second was that for one decision I may have straddled the line a little late, but the assessor wasn't sure. In other words, it was not clearly a mistake on my part. As it is almost certain that I will be in Canberra for another year, this bodes very well for me. The assessor informed me that my progress had impressed the coaching staff and if I continue to perform very well, there may be good things indeed in store for me.
After the games, the lot of us proceeded to the nearby Kingston Hotel for a repast. We watched part of the St. Kilda Saints-Western Bulldogs Preliminary Final and toasted another successful year. The Umpires' Association Annual Dinner will be held in mid-October but until then, we're free of obligations.
Free of obligations is perhaps being a tad generous as fitness has no off-season. Although there will be no games until February or March, it is still necessary to maintain a certain level of fitness so I've resumed running 4km every few days. I may increase that to 8km later on but for now, I have to ease into it. I want to be as fit as is humanly possible for me when next season rolls around.
The weather has turned quite pleasant with spring in the air. The days are warming up to 20C which means t-shirts and shorts. Temperatures will hover around this mark for a month before rising again.
One final bit of good news, I received a Distinction for my Equity and Trusts take-home exam. This is not an easy course and I am very happy that I have grasped at least the basic concepts. We'll see how I do when the final exam rolls around but this has given me a much needed boost of confidence. Now let's hope my other courses follow suit.
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