Quote:
Originally posted by mick
Quote:
Originally posted by Nevadaref
... I worked the clock for a few of the state championship games this year and believe that it was a very helpful experience. It is harder than one would think because you must concentrate on your job and not watch the game or the officials. It was my first time working the clock, so I did mess up twice.....
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The Shot Clock is tough enough.
The game clock is even tougher.
I've worked the clock for a JV game a coupla times, and the 32 minutes lasted 33-35, I'm sure.
I am very happy that my first time operating had nothing to do with a championship, no less a state championship.
mick
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In Nevada we do not use a shot clock, so that is not a concern. I actually think that it was helpful that I had never worked the clock before because I was aware of that and tried much harder to focus on the job. If I had done it before I may have taken a more laid back approach and that wouldn't have been as good for the kids playing.
I also have a few comments on the ball-watching issue. I believe that it is better for the clock operator to watch the ball. This is because the vast majority of whistles that happen in a game are on plays either involving or very near the ball. Also, the time that I failed to stop the clock correctly was because I was looking off-ball. I was watching two post players pushing each other and became interested in how the official was going to handle the situation when the ball was tipped OOB on the far side. The official over there didn't give a very strong whistle since it was not a big call, but since I wasn't focused on that play I let the clock continue to run for a few extra seconds. After this I decided to focus on the play near the ball and am glad that I did because there were some other soft whistles combined with a noisy crowd that would have made it difficult to hear. Also you must watch the ball during throw-ins. This ball-watching does probably carry over to one's officiating though. Of course in our association there are probably only about 10 officials that look off-ball anyway.
