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All I am saying is dont ignore the Official's Manual! That is in my view super-important for a new official. I am presuming you will do what is needed to acquire the basic rule knowledge. But dont forget the official's manual.
I just worked a summer league game where the idea was to pair some senior guys with guys who had just finished their first year last year, so we could report back and give the committee a good report on how the newer guys are progressing--because you guys are right, normally newbies dont get paired with the best when they get their real low level games. I, personally, think a better mentoring system needs to be in place in my assoc, but it just isnt.
So I work this game with this guy who had done a year. He isnt putting his hand up. He isnt stopping the clock for fouls or for violations. He isnt indicating direction. He doesnt really know how to report fouls well at all.
I came to two conclusions:
1. he failed as a new official to spend any time with his officials manual and to take an interest in making himself into a good official, and
2. that we as an association failed him. how we can have a guy finish a year with mechanics like that is inconcievable to me.
But that said, the calls he did make I thought were fine, to the extent I could see him (which was more than normal since part of the point was to observe him and see how he was doing; you cant do that all game but I tried to keep an eye on him much more than you would on a partner in a normal game where observing your partner isnt the point of the exercise). He blew his whistle. You just never knew what he had. Luckily, in a summer league game with 3 parents in the stands you can hear him say "white" and so little is going on that I can take a second and figure out what he had. But that garbage isnt going to fly in a JV game even.
So that experience led me to say to our OP--spend some time with your Official's Manual. It is invaluable and is too often overlooked in favor of the rule book. I think you have to do both. And I am not trying to say "look good but dont know the rules" at all.
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