Thanks to everybody for the info on putting time back on the clock. Good stuff to know.
Well, camp is now done, so this is my final report. I did 3 games yesterday. Unfortunately, each one was at a different game site. First game at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex. Then a 35 minute drive to a "local" high school. Then another 40 minute drive to a rathole of a facility. We had to dress in a coach's "office", with no AC, no fan, no shower. But there were plenty of mosquitos, b/c you had to go outside to get dressed. But moving on. . .
Game 1: Observed by Violet Palmer. The game was lopsided, but both teams were energetic and were fairly talented. The winning team just had too much height advantage. They ran us pretty hard. Violet told me that my signals are still too fast, but liked my positioning and movement at the C position.
Violet is absolutely wonderful. She is very calming and reassuring, even while being critical. She was very positive toward us. At halftime, we met together and she was quiet for a moment before she started her comments. I'm thinking, "uh-oh". Then she said, very slowly, "Verrrry nice," looking at each one of us as she said it.
I asked her the question about how the Lead should cover long rebounds or 3-point tries on his/her side of the court (that's for NBA coverage only). I asked if the Lead should "open up", that is make the shoulders parallel to the endline. She said NO. Keep the 45 degree angle but step backwards toward the near sideline.
Without doing too much more gushing, it was a real pleasure to meet her and work with her, however briefly.
Game 2: Observed by Jim Clark
This was a ragged game with lots of pressing, lots of hands, lots of wild drives to the basket, lots of intensity. Our officiating was also pretty ragged in the first half. We left the court at halftime feeling really lousy. It seemed like we were letting the players dictate the game and we weren't adjusting. We were all upset with ourselves.
Jim came in the dressing room and told us, "That was not a good half. But it wasn't as bad as you all think it was." We talked about the situations that had bothered us, and the general tone of the game. As a crew, we said "Screw the tone they want. Let's work harder and set the tone that we want." So I think we worked very hard in the second half. We had 4 or 5 offensive fouls in the first 4 minutes or so. The players adjusted. We weren't perfect, by any stretch, but we all finished the game feeling that we had done 100% better than in the first half.
This was a good contrast to my earlier game where the crew never did mesh and the entire game suffered. This time, we were able to re-focus and work together and get the game back. I was actually pretty proud of our crew after the second half.
Game 3: Observed by TV, himself; Teddy Valentine.
10 pm game in a frickin' PIT of a gym. Best game of the day, tho. It was close the whole way, ended up being about an 8 point difference. We felt in control the whole way. The calls were quality, we jumped on some early trash-talking (I got to whack the kid
), and the players again responded by playing pretty good ball. I had a couple GT calls.
Teddy gave us some good comments on presentation. He also gave me some good ideas on how to deal with a coach that was complaining about a continuation play that I called. Teddy said, "Don't listen to that. Tell him, 'Foot, hand, arm movement, Coach. Only takes one to start the shot'." I kinda liked that one.
After the game, he said that the last 3 crews of the night were the best of the day. "So if I were assigning the Final Four, y'all would be movin' on to the next round". That was a good feeling.
After the game, there was a pizza and drinks social back at the hotel. I didn't actually get home till 1:30 am. Of course, I still had to be up for a 7:45 meeting this morning. I'm still yawning. . .
The meeting this morning was a lecture from coach Brendon Surr (sp?), former assistant to Chuck Daly on the Detroit Pistons Bad Boy championship teams. He gave a wonderful talk on the official's role as coach during the game. It was a great perspective. He was overwhelmingly positive. Sometimes, your partner is having an off night and you have to coach him thru it. How do you do that without embarrassing him/her, or without hurting his/her feelings? How do you help a coach to back "from the ledge"? He seemed like a great guy.
Only one game today, at 1 pm. Violet Palmer was again "observing". But she told us, "I'm not critiquing today. You guys know what we've been telling you. Critique yourselves. I'm just here to watch a good game. Go have some fun." See? She's awesome.
Game was very competitive, close the whole way. I had a couple moving screens, a PC when the dribbler swatted away the defender's hand. Again, the crew worked together very well. The quality of the campers here was very high, I think.
At halftime, we went over to sit with V. She couldn't help making a few comments, but they were all positive. My favorite was: "Watching the improvement in you guys over the last two days makes me feel like the proud mama watching her little ones go out and do good."
Anyway, there was little else of note in the game. It was fast, above the rim, and I felt like our crew nailed it.
The camp was fantastic, thanks for letting me share.
[Edited by ChuckElias on Jul 29th, 2003 at 10:01 PM]