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Originally Posted by Snaqwells
Sometimes the most important benefit of a pregame is the process of getting us into the proper mindset for a game. Yeah, you go over various things that need to be addressed; double whistles, OOB lines, blind spots, etc. But you've also mentally prepared, which is just as important as warming up your body.
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100% agree... earlier last week I was late getting to a game site due to a work emergency at my "real job", arriving 16 minutes prior to tipoff while still needing to change clothes. I had no time to mentally prepare, and I could tell my game suffered for it. Luckily, it was a 9th grade game, so nobody really noticed.
My standard is to arrive 40 minutes prior to tipoff (most of my partners show up about 30 minutes early, so I'm usually the first to arrive). That gives me time to change, clear my head of any 'regular day' distractions, stretch, and pregame.
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Originally Posted by RichMSN
There's an old saying that it's better to get to a level a little late than too early. Do you feel like you, personally, are ready to be working games like this?
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Yes, I do feel like I'm ready. I had an off night but I know I can handle that level of play in general.
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If you feel you missed a lot of fouls, that can lead to the perception that the game got "out of control." Sometimes getting those fouls can slow down the pace of the game and clean up the activity. Sometimes not, in which case you'll be shooting a lot of free throws.
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Looking back, the tone was set early... my partner passed on several rough play instances in his primary in the first few minutes, and I think I ended up with the brain block because I got stuck in "he didn't call it earlier, can I call it now?" mode. I won't let that happen again.
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The lack of a pregame sounds and your reaction to it makes it sound like it pushed you out of where you needed to be mentally to be on top of the game early. Don't let your partner distract you (if possible) from being strong and aware early in the game.
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Agreed. And this particular partner's name is certainly in my "not blocked, but strongly prefer not to work with" list.