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Originally Posted by jeschmit

Here's the way I see it... You get out of camp what you expect to get out of it. If a guy is going having never blown a whistle before, he should probably be expecting to understand how to blow the whistle properly and basic court coverage. I was a teacher at a camp last summer where a kid came in having never refereed a game in his life. We went over where to stand, how to properly blow his whistle, and to get his hand or fist in the air when he has a call. That's it. I didn't worry about judgement or mechanics... just the extreme basics.

However, if he's thrown into a middle school game without any of that experience at a camp setting (with someone right behind him telling him where to go and what to do), he'll look like even more of a doofus...

My advice to your friend would be, if you have the time and money to go to a camp, go to it! Be up front with the clinicians, and tell them that you've never blown a whistle before and you might like some help with the basics. Most clinicians will be more than willing to help in that way, and some will even run the court with them.

Camp is the best place to try new things, whether it be learning how to referee, or a more advanced philosophy that you're trying out. Either way, it's camp. It's a lot better to figure it out then, than try and figure it out when you have players and coaches trying to win in the regular season.

That is exactly what is covered in the "school" put on by most of the chapters in this area.