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There are many times when I am asked by newer officials "What did you see?" or something to that effect. My reply is always the same, "Are you asking me because you want to know and we can talk about it or are you asking me because you are supposed to as a newer official?" I try my best to never question judgment but I will be honest in what I observed. I always have a notebook woth me so I can write down time and what happened at any point in the time I observed. If an official disputes what I saw (i.e I didn't do that, or that's not what happened", then I am done with the discussion. I learned this approach from camp and it has helped me personally and with critiquing other officials. If I'm not asked by someone and I've seen something which should be critiqued, I will offer my thoughts and I try to do it in the form of a question (i.e. I noticed you tend to come out on the floor as the lead in the frontcourt on rebounduing action, are you aware of that? Is there a reason for it?" Our JV officials are asked to stay through at least halftime of varsity contests and our varsity officials are asked to observe as much of the JV contests as possible. The purpose is to create dialogue situations and offer fresh constructive critiques. We are then asked to convert those thoughts to writing within 24-48 hours and submit those evals to our evaluation committee. It is successful for the most part but more is gained in those verbal discussions.
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