Quote:
Originally posted by mikesears
"The foul was on "52"? What? 52 didn't foul? I know I saw the number 52 on a player who commited a foul. Now the only way #52 couldn't have fouled is if he's not in the book and coach, that is a technical foul. (To other teams coach) Coach who do you want to shoot the technical freethrows?" - recognize the tongue-in-cheek nature of this.
One of the many things i have been working on this year is staying away from the table when I am reporting fouls. In very few instances do I ever get closer to the table than I need to be. It's only my second year officiating and I haven't developed the ability to tune out coaches or fans and staying away from them helps. I've been told "Ignore the fans and don't pay any attention to the coaches when they whine." I'm getting there but I still hear them.
Part of my problem is inexperience in dealing with situations where conflict arises and part of my solution has been issuing "T's" for poor behavior by a coach.
Real life experience from this year.
Girls 7th Grade girls basketball tournament game at a host school. I call a foul on a girl for illegal hands (the old "Reach In"). I am trail and after I report the foul the foul to the table, the coach is standing up saying, "That is a terrible call. How can you make such a terrible call?" TWEET, I give him the technical. As I report the "T", both he AND his assistant are standing up and whining at me "Ref, that was a horrible call." TWEET, I called the second T on the head coach and he was gone. As I am reporting the second technical foul to the table, the coach comes up to me, gets right in my face and says, "It's too bad you don't have a little more patience" I turned and went to my position and made sure the coach left the gym.
one week later: This coach is the coach for the Jr High 8th grade girls team and they are invited to play in the same tournament as the 7th grade team. This coach has already served his mandatory one-game suspension. During this game, this coach was the most cooperative coach and didn't whine about a call the entire night. He simply COACHED his team to a victory.
Now I don't believe that coach likes me, but I haven't been black-balled by that school or the host school.
With all the emphasis this year on sportsmanship, I have taken an iron-hand approach to stopping coaches from complaining about calls. Coaches questioning calls incites the crowd to start questioning calls and that's when my game goes to h*ll. This is the approach I take. I ignore the first objection. I warn the coach for the next objection by saying something like, "Coach, I will not listen to objections all night. I've heard enough and I won't hear any more." The third verbal objection, however slight, I nail the coach with a "T".
Comments that I warn for:
i.e. "He walked", "get him off his back", "Call the block", etc.
Comments that I give an immediate technical foul for:
"That's a terrible call", etc.
I am a reasonable person and if a coach approaches me in a reasonable fashion, I will give him a reasonable response. But I want to stop the crowd-inciting comments quickly.
I may be taking too much of a hardline approach but I'm experimenting with it this year to see how it works for me. Next year, (if I even do this again) I plan to back off quite a bit.
Halftime Situation I want advice on:
Doing the JV game before a Varsity game at a small school. We are put in the coaches office that is right in the Home team's locker room. Instead of having a full wall, this school uses a wire mesh above the wall material so we can hear the coaches and the coaches can hear us. At halftime, the coach says, "And guys, keep boxing out because eventually the refs have got to call the over-the-back. I know they can hear me and they will start calling it, but you've got to keep boxing out." We weren't calling the over-the-back because there were no "over-the-back" calls to make. The rebounding action was pretty clean.
What would you have done if anything?
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Mike, this is a tough time in your ref'ing career. Most
good coaches can tell you're kinda new so they're testing
you. And you are also bumping into a lot of "lower level"
coaches who are as new as you are. But giving out T's is
a part of our business that you have to get comfortable
with, and by that I mean you're going to go through a period
when you give out way too many (like now?) and a period
when you don't give out enough and finally you'll settle
on a reasonable balance. As for the crowd, well, **** 'em.
This game is for the players, not you or the coaches or
the crowd. Hang in there, you'll get the hang of it. In
the meantime try to work on ignoring *everything*. It might
be tough but don't take it so personally. How to handle the
complainers? Easy! At any comment, complaint or suggestion
just smile & say "Thanks coach, I hear you!"
"That's a walk!" or "Over the back!" or "Call the block!"
"Thanks coach, I'll get it next time!" Remember don't let
your ref'ing turn into a personal thing between you and
the coach. You're a benevolent dictator, not a tyrant.
As for the coach in the locker room, ignore that stuff, it
means nothing. But if you can't ignore it, laugh at it.
Can you imagine how powerful it would have been if you
would have just started laughing loudly when he made that
comment? And then start the second half with an "over
the back" on his team? See, there's much more to this
game than T's. Hang in there!