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Originally Posted by ChuckElias
Posture was one thing that a D1 ref mentioned to me last summer. I've made a concerted effort to improve in three specific areas.
1) When standing during play or during a TO, I just try to remind myself to stand with my shoulders back and head up. Even if I have my arms crossed (during a TO), I try to keep my shoulders back. During play, I have a tendancy to lower my head as I'm concentrating. So I've just had to remind myself to keep my chin up.
2) When reporting to the table, I used to put one foot in front of the other and sort of lean toward the table. It just looked stupid. So I just make sure that I stand squarely on both feet, straighten up and try to look bigger than I am. (And here's a pre-emptive "shut up" for Dan. . .) This is something that was pointed out to me and corrected several years ago, but I see lots of officials doing it.
3) When running, in order to maintain a more athletic posture, I've started running with my hands at shoulder level at all times. This looks a little like a sprinter in a track meet. They run straight up and they keep their hands up high. This is what I try to emulate.
I think I look a little better out there now. Do any college assignors actually care about that stuff? I don't know, but I think it's helped my presentation on the court.
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Running with raptor arms.
Arms up but relaxed when you run.
Arms down when you aren't moving, with elbows slightly bent and with your weight on the balls of your feet.
One thing that helps me is that you run faster when you don't try to run faster. It's like swinging a golf club, the easier and more relaxed you swing it the faster the clubhead moves. If you really muscle up to kill the ball, you actually tense up and loose power. Running is the same way. Run tall and relaxed.