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Last night was the final game of my first season as an official. I've followed this forum and one other all year, and this has really helped my interpretation of many rules and situations. So my thanks to all of you who provided positive input and encouragement, and special thanks to mick who pointed me to the NewBalance shoes!
I'll be renewing for next year, and thought I would assess my lessons learned and areas of improvement for next year...
Lessons Learned
1. Stretch before every game--even 5th grade girls. (Had one leg cramp in the middle of a game.)
2. Don't backpeddle. My achilles hasn't hurt since I stopped.
3. Note the number of the freethrow shooter before reporting a foul and granting a timeout during freethrows.
4. Keep the whistle in my mouth when the ball is live!
5. Eye contact with my partner before putting the ball in play.
6. I can't call it a foul late in the game if I don't call it early. (Without catching a lot of grief for it, that is.)
7. Don't dwell on my mistakes, or I'll make another one right away.
8. Constantly review the rule book.
9. Read the "case studies" on this forum.
10. Don't drink PowerAde during games. Man, that had some nasty side affects... I'm sticking with water from now on!
Areas of Improvement
1. Learn rules better
2. Get in better shape
3. Closed hand-Foul. Open hand-Violation. Closed hand-Foul. Open hand-Violation. Closed hand-Foul. Open hand-Violation... DANG!
4. Concentrate on keeping my eyes in my area of coverage.
5. Concentrate the entire game--even the 47-1 blowouts.
6. Practice prevention through more interaction with players.
7. Count the players--accurately!
8. Get better at recognizing travelling
9. Be quicker with the whistle. (I sometimes take too long to make up my mind.)
10. Keep up on the NCAA better so I don't humiliate myself in next year's pool...
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