Off Hours
Passionate Pursuits Outside the Office
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I’ve gotten run over a couple of times, or more often. Since I’m not a small guy myself, players will run into me and they fall and I don’t. Dr. Boyens in center.
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Puttin’ on the Stripes By Darrel Fickbohm
F
amily practice physician, Scott Boyens, MD, has an
unusual way of spending his off hours, for a doctor. In fact, he can think of only one other physician in the state of South Dakota who is also a high school football referee. Dr. Boyens is easygoing about the subject. And whether you like the sport or not, it’s not hard to be drawn in by his enthusiasm for a hobby that started by chance and grew into a serious pastime. “A long-time ref here in town asked me to do it, so I said I’d give it a shot,” recalls Dr. Boyens. “I just like football and what better way to see the games than right down on the field? I also played football at Washington High School and then Augustana. But really, there’s just nothing better than a Friday night football game in small town South Dakota. Nothing like that feeling.” Because referees are at a premium in South Dakota, Boyens says he has to be ready to follow the games – wherever they may take him. “Wherever they schedule the games, we get in the car and go. We never know where the next assignment is. It’s an escape. And on Friday we start off to the preparation time. So right away I’m into a completely different thing.”
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To the obvious question of having to run a lot while out on the field he replies, “Oh no. I’m the guy in the middle—we don’t move much but you still want to stay in shape, not because of the running,” he laughs, “but the uniform. The stripes are going the wrong way to make you look thin.” As a medical student, Boyens couldn’t imagine having time for “any life outside the office”. In fact, people are often surprised to hear about his unusual and sometimes timeconsuming avocation. But, like many other physicians, this busy father of four has found his hobby to be a welcome rest from the demands of family life and family practice. “I think my biggest stressor [in medical practice] is the possibility of making a mistake,” he says. “There’s not a doc out there who wants to hurt anybody. We don’t want to miss anything but we’re human, too, and we make so many decisions a day. It can be stressful. So it helps to get out.” And what about stressors in the game itself? Some consider the referee an underappreciated or even abused figure in sports. Dr. Boyens considers. “Well, the game moves pretty fast to dwell on a bad call. But my pet peeve is that fans don’t realize there are different rules for high school, college, and then pro,
so if they’ve just come from watching college football they sometimes don’t understand it when you make a certain call in a high school game. The important thing is, does the call have to do with safety or outcome of the play? Those are the decisions we have to get right.” As for memorable moments, Dr. Boyens says there have been many. “I’ve gotten run over a couple of times, or more often. Since I’m not a small guy myself, players will run into me and they fall and I don’t. “I especially remember things like the Aberdeen/Washington championship. That was quite a night. But it’s always as a team (of referees) that we tend to be most satisfied when we’re considered to have done a good job. You’re a crew. And when you’re chosen for playoff games and championships— that’s what you’re to us! hoping for. Tell us about your own ‘passionate Sometimes it’s pursuits’ outside over whelming the office. down on the field, though. You think: I’m looking at ten guys— and they’re all moving!” ■
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Midwest Medical Edition