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Originally Posted by PYRef
I'm currently only working 8th grade games (2 official) as I'm new to this.
I work very hard not to ball watch and stay focused on my primary areas.
I only ask the question because what I've read on these forums by some posters directly compared to what is stated in the officials manual. Just curious as to what the overall opinion is. I want to do it right.
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Well, to some extent, everyone's correct. Does that clear it up for you?
It has been proven that when an official calls outside their area, they are wrong way more than half the time. So when you ball-watch, or make a call that is outside your primary area, there's a real good chance you will be wrong.
However, there's an art to watching your area, but being aware of everything else. Has it happened to you yet where you're intent on the players in the lane, blow the whistle to call that 3-second violation on the post player, only to realize the ball just went through the basket on a 3-pt. shot? You were so intent on your area that you were not aware that a shot was in the air, and your count should've ended. You still need to have full-court awareness, while being focused on your primary. So there are a few times where that awareness will allow you see those "oh my god" plays that perhaps your partner went brain-dead on, and let you come in to help. But I also agree with tomegun in that "getting it right" is code for some officials that means "I'm going to watch on-ball and get all those calls my partner misses". "Getting it right" in this case is getting it wrong more times than not.