Players complaining to me more than other officials
 

Hi everyone, new to the forum - wish I'd found it earlier!

A general question. I've been officiating collegiate intramural basketball for six years. I recently changed schools and have noticed that players are not only talking back more often, but they are talking back *to me* more than to any of the other officials. I've issued six unsportsmanlike techs in the last eight games. My crewmates have not issued any.

I generally get good reviews from observers and take officiating seriously. However, I'm concerned that there might be something I am doing to draw the talking back from players. It may be relevant that my demeanor is usually the most "intense" on my crew - in the sense that I verbalize my calls most loudly, my mechanics are the most rigid, etc.

Has anyone else ever experienced a situation similar to this? Even if not, any advice about how I can help relieve some of the talking back? I know this isn't a job for the thin-skinned, but it has started to become grating.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Welcome to college intramural basketball.

That's exactly where I started my officiating career. I gave out a ton of technical fouls because the players were exactly as you say they are.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. As long as you're getting good feedback from the people who matter, that's all that counts. Continue to penalize unsportsmanlike behavior.

Stop making eye contact with the players. When you do it gives them an opening to engage with you.

Fixed that for you. If that's their excuse to engage unsportingly, it's a pretty poor excuse IMO.

Keep whacking them. They'll either figure it out or keep giving the other team 2 & the ball. Don't worry about it, the guys that do this crap are usually hacks who think they are Steph Curry.

I'd ask the observers what they see.

As a general statement, the demeanor of the official needs to match the "seriousness" with which the participants take the game. If there's a mis-match, then problems can occur -- and maybe the environment at the new school is different from the environment at the old school.

There are observers for college intramural games? These games are a starting point/stepping stone for doing real games that matter?

Wow!!!!!!!! You learn something new every day. It's amazing how different things are in different parts of the country.

Around here, intramurals are done by other college students. Some guys that want to get into reffing might do some rec league or junior high volunteer type games. There are no observers at ANY of these events.

Arem's suggestion is just one of many valid conflict avoidance tactics. Here's another one, at least as it pertains to the coaches: don't get unwittingly sucked into the coach's vortex. Too many do so by reporting too close to the table, and then waltzing inconveniently over right in front of the coach as trail.
Yeah, communication is important, I get that. But sometimes we ourselves put outselves in a position where we're ripe pickin's for a coaches complaining/comments because of our proximity to him/her. Staying a little farther away for that first free throw or for the next play at least makes him exercise the effort to initiate the communication. Some of the regretful communication coaches direct our way is avoidable if we just utilize a conflict avoidance tactic like staying away more. Doesn't address everything or every situation, but some.
As for the players, making the call and then getting out of there and not initiating communication with them by lingering right there in their proximity is a convenient aversion tool to use from time to time.

I don't change anything about my positioning, but I will make myself seem a bit more "focused" on other things if a coach starts with something other than a question.

This is where I got my start too. Makes high schoolers super easy to deal with. If you can deal with frat boys, a bunch of 16-17 year olds are tame by comparison.

We had evaluators, who were other more experienced officials in the student officiating program. They were a mixed bag--some were clearly just there for beer money, while others took it seriously and a few actually did high school ball while still in college.

Keep whacking 'em. It's those people who have to change, not you.

I also worked as an IM official as a student, and I think having students officiate the games creates an interesting dynamic. I suspect part of the issue you are facing is that you are new at this school. I dealt with the same stuff you described as a new official in the IM program when I was in college. I attribute the criticism I got from players to two (maybe 3) issues:

1. I was new and they wanted to test my limits.
2. They weren't used to someone that would call a game like I did.
3. I'm not committing to this 100%, but maybe I was wrong on occasion.

Regarding the first point, if the players know the other guys (on or off the court) their lack of complaining to them may be reflective of that relationship. They complain to the person they don't know. They may also know that the other guys won't tolerate it, so they complain to you thinking you won't give them a T because you're the new guy. They'll learn this isn't true if you consistently aware them Ts when they earn them.

Concerning the second point, I think you were on the right track regarding your observation about your "intense" demeanor. I came into IM officiating with some experience calling games outside of the IM program (middle school and some JV), and thus I took the game more seriously than many other officials. I worked on my mechanics and positioning, called violations and fouls that others missed, managed the game and kept the players in line. Most IM players were not accustomed to that level of officiating. I worked with other officials that wouldn't blow their whistle to save their own life, wouldn't call a T without consulting a supervisor and didn't seem to understand their role in the game. If the players pick up on that degree of dichotomy between you and other officials, they will be critical of you (you're the guy that stands out). It was a beautiful day when I finally found another IM official during my junior year that called games in a similar manner. We ended up getting assigned to most of the high quality frat/sorority games, and the players realized neither of us would put up with poor behavior, but also that there wasn't any need to whine because we were going to put forth maximum effort and did a good job based on the feedback we received.

I'm not sure which issue you're facing, but the best recommendation I can give is to keep doing the best you can and be consistent with handling complaining players. If the behavior warrants a T, award the player a T. If a player comes to you in a respectful manner and is complaining about something, listen to his/her complaints and acknowledge.

No you didn't. Making eye contact with an angry person is a easy way to allow them to engage with you. I'm not saying don't take care of business when needed but it's amazing what you can avoid by simply not making eye contact.

Avoiding eye contact makes an official look umsure...or scared.

I'll avoid eye contact with a coach if I don't want to engage him. However when I'm talking to players I will look directly in their eyes when I address them.

I never avoid eye contact with players. I deal with players and coaches differently.

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I just don't do this. I do figure that not engaging if there's no question is always an option.

I counted a basket last night and a coach started giving me a travel signal from the box. I didn't bother not giving him eye contact -- but I did report the foul and move on without saying anything even though he really wanted me to engage.

Thing is - I know what AremRed is saying and don't entire disagree when officials are experienced and can do this in a way that doesn't make it obvious he's avoiding the coach. Newer officials need to work on making eye contact and having confidence in their calls, so I'm not sure how good the advice is for someone who has trouble keeping eye contact on even routine fouls.

My goal isn't to avoid being engaged. If they want to engage me in an appropriate manner, I have no problem with that. Often times, a player won't understand what I saw and will approach me after I make eye contact and ask what they did wrong. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. If they can't be an adult and talk to me in a civil manner, that's on them (much like the T they will earn). I'm not interested in acting sheepish after a call and avoiding eye contact because I'm confident in my calls and what I see. We're not there to tip toe around their feelings or their inability to act like adults.

We're there to manage a game, though, and sometimes "not being there" for a few seconds serves to de-escalate situations. So does quickly putting the ball back in play.

The technical foul isn't the first or only tool in the toolbox.

I don't disagree with that at all, and I'm not saying I hunt for eye contact with a guy. But I'm not going to avoid eye contact all game with everyone just to make these guys who think they're in the NBA happy.

A lot of things are said and done in the heat of the moment, and unless those things are entirely out of line, I don't think there's a problem trying to avoid them. Not making eye contact could do that. Take the following examples (which come just off the top of my head, so might not be the best cases)...

1. While heading to the table to report a shooting foul against Team A, out of the corner of your eye you can see the head coach for Team A looking at you. By the look you can tell that he's not happy with the call, but he's not doing anything else like yelling or waving his arms angrily.

In this case I don't see a problem with looking at the coach and letting him know that you'll be there to speak with him after reporting the foul.

2. While heading to the table to report a shooting foul against Team A, out of the corner of your eye you can see the head coach for Team A angrily looking at you and shaking his head.

In this case it might be a good idea to avoid looking back at the coach, as his anger could increase resulting in him doing or saying something that any official would tag him for. The angry look and shaking of his head, in and of itself, is not t-worthy in my opinion, so why do anything that could simply "add fuel to the fire"? If he wants to talk about it then he can call me over in a respectful manner. I'm not going to react to him while he's acting like a child throwing a temper tantrum.

3. While heading to the table to report a shooting foul against Team A, out of the corner of your eye you can see the head coach for Team A has an angry look on his face, and at the same time he's yelling "you've got to be kidding me" while waiving his arms wildly in the air in exasperation of the call.

In this case I'm reporting the foul, then calling a TF on the coach. I don't have to look at him, as he should know that he stepped over the line. If he really wants to talk to me, then he's going to wait until he calms down and calls me over in a respectful manner. IMO, looking at him while calling the tech could push him over the edge and lead to another tech/ejection, and I want to give him a chance to avoid that.

You guys are providing great examples with regard to a coach. The OP was about intramural/wreck players. There are many liberties that I'll extend to the former that I won't allow for the latter.

"just to make these guys who think they're in the NBA happy"

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I sense a bit of a shoulder chip in this phrase.

You're probably right about that. I've been doing wreck league all season and those guys are wearing me out. They've been watching too much NBA and think it's okay to act like the superstars they see whining about every call. I'm well aware that I'll miss many calls over the course of the season, but I am 100% certain I don't miss every single call. The league I ref for does a piss poor job of discouraging technicals (they have to sit out 1 min of game time, and a half if they are ejected-- no limit to ejections or techs over the course of the season) so I guess my frustration with that is starting to boil over. I'm to the point now that we let them know in the pregame meeting (this mandate was put into place halfway through the season because they've had 2x the number of T's that they had last year) that it's basically an automatic technical if they're whining about a call.

My leeway in a HS game for a coach is substantially higher than that for some guy who plays once a week and pisses and moans and stares me down about a travel call because he thinks a eurostep means he gets 4 steps.

One reason I simply don't do rec ball. I'd give Ts out like candy thrown from a Halloween parade float.

I won't do it next year, but I have a wedding/honeymoon as well as a trip to the east coast for a marathon to pay for this summer so I'm basically taking anything that anyone throws at me.

Ha, If your the one getting married you will never be able to quit….:) You'll just be paying for something else next year…and the year after….and after….:)

If the people giving you games like what they see, then I wouldn't worry about the players so much. You're new, they'll adjust as they realize you don't take their crap. They're like fourth graders with a substitute teacher.

Stop bragging!!:D

What race?

Good practice for the future. ;)

There are exception, but the vast majority of the time if a coach is staring me down he's going to be ignored. I'll manipulate a coach into showing at least some respect. I'm not going to reward a coach for being a clown with the wonderful words that always come out of my mouth.

Mad Marathon in Vermont, then hopefully Boston the following April.

Yep...keep the game moving. Don't let moments linger.

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Acting sheepishly would only tend to encourage them. I do make eye contact if I feel a look and stay with my signal for a bit. Sometimes before they can even look to me,I will say just loud enough "Too much hip" or "On the arm" or "Off the leg" Short and clear and move on.