Thanks!
Thanks for all the advice. I appreciate it.
Unfortunately, I did agree to help out this non-profit basketball league who does not have a budget to pay refs. Thus we are all volunteer refs whose schedules allow us to only have 1 ref per game.
I just started out "formal officiating" recently. I joined the Illinois High School Association (IHSA), was accredited by passing the exam and am planning to go to some clinics and camps in November. Though I am not a total rookie since I've officiated some pick-up games when I was in college and high school. So I decided to volunteer for this league to gain some experience and practice.
This is the first season that this particular league had refs. Previous seasons had no refs, i.e. players calling their own fouls and violations. The league commissioners described it as more of a pick-up game league, more friendly than intense.
I just finished my fourth week working games (2 games per night). The players and team captains realize that I am a volunteer ref (i.e. not paid) so I can sense that their gratitude outweighs some of their frustrations during and after the game. It's a good feeling to hear "Thanks" from players on both the winning and losing teams. It's more gratifying to hear "Thanks" and "Good Job" after the game from players who've been complaining a bit too much during the game too.
I talk to the captains before the game and stress that I won't be able to see everything and I couldn't cover all angles. AND I would only be making calls that I see. For the most part they understood this, especially for the first 3 weeks.
Since I view this as more of a pick-up league, my approach has been to be lax with calls, i.e. let the players play, don't call touch fouls, don't call fouls that don't affect the plays, don't call fouls that do not disadvantage a player/team, etc. And of course, some of the players view this as being too lax, that I'm not watching the plays, I'm letting go too much contact, etc. Also, I have avoided calling technical fouls since I dont't think it's warranted in this league. I think any kind of game has its share of cursing, complaining, etc. but at least for the first 3 weeks, I didn't encounter a situation when a T should have been meted out to a particular player. I have a high tolerance for complaining and actually am pretty good at turning a deaf ear to what most of them say.
The fourth week was different though. Things have just gotten more intense. The losing team started complaining too much, confronting me at half time with calls and non-calls and telling me to "open my eyes", "watch the play", "call the fouls", etc. There was even an instance when this player stopped the play and just screamed "FOUL" and started complaining why I didn't call it. Most of these situations definitely warranted a T. But I didn't give it to them. What I did do wrong was I lost my top too, and I confronted them and started to argue with them (i.e. a tantrum, if you will), sort of like how baseball umpires get in the face of players and managers. I know basketball refs are instructed not to do this.
I am already thinking of a game plan on how I will approach the games this coming week (we play on Tuesdays). I will definitely start issuing Ts and ejecting players if necessary. If they want fouls called tight, I will do that. I will again STRESS that I will not call something that I don't see.
What do you guys think? Is this worth it? Am I really gaining useful experience by volunteering my time in this league? Or is this "one-man crew" experience bad for a beginning official?
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