Another season is winding down...time to mentally summarize your overall performance and figure out what you need to do better next year.
If you see yourself in the following true story, I humbly suggest it is time to hang up your whistle.
Up front, let me acknowledge that the officiating had no bearing on the outcome of the game. However, as a fellow official, I was embarrassed by the poor quality of officiating.
At my daughter's game on Saturday, one official, I'll call him "Ernie", was woefully overmatched by the teams--he simply could not keep up with the pace of the game. Ernie was carrying about 30 extra pounds on his gut (he could've used a wheelbarrow to help him cart it up and down the floor), and by the way he was walking it was obvious his legs were killing him.
During the game two of Ernie's calls particularly bothered me--not so much the calls but how they were made. Ernie called one foul that happened near the baseline. Ernie was straight-lined on the play, and made the call from the Trail position--which in his case was on the division line.
The second call that was particularly bad, and not because of the call but because of the circumstance, was this: green took a shot from the low block, the lead, five feet away, gives the signal for "clean block" (which every good official knows he really shouldn't do...but that's a different topic), but Ernie calls a foul FROM THE FOUL-LINE EXTENDED ON THE OTHER END OF THE COURT!
I watched a tape of the game when I got home that night. Ernie's performance was even worse than I thought--he was out of position 80% of the time. The only time he was in position was when the ball happened to move to the right spot, because Ernie cannot move. He cannot even keep up with the point guard when she brings the ball up the floor at half-pace with no pressure.
Oh--the level of play here? These were 10 year old girls.
Please, if you cannot keep up with the pace in a 10-year old girls game, do everyone a favor and hang up your whistle. The players deserve better.
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