Had my first girls game of the year last night. Wasn't expecting it (thought the schedule said all boys games on my court). When we found out I turned to my partner and told him, "We gotta watch out for jewelry and know who has the arrow."

Sure enough, after the captains meeting a girl comes to us with her newly peirced ears asking if she can play with them in or tape them up. I was about to tell her to take them out, then remembered our discussion here and instead only told her she could not play with them in. Her call, she took them out.

Game begins, toss goes up, it's tapped and two opponents immediately tie it up. Every time I read the note in the rule book about this I figured I'd go 10 years without ever seeing it. O well. We jumped it between the two girls who had tied it up, and off we went.

The game went just about as you'd expect--lopsided blowout. Mercy rule is in effect. Winning coach comes to us at halftime and asks us to just swallow the whistle for the other team and let 'em play.

It was kind of hard to switch gears back to boys ball for the next game.

I feel your pain!
Your quote reminded me of a situation I had last week in a soccer game. During the pregame check a girl has earrings in and I let her know that I'm not going to allow it. So about 5 minutes into game I first notice her again as she is near the play. She has her ears taped, top and bottom, as she had multiple peircings. I hit the whistle the next time the ball goes out of play and go talk to her, I say, "I told you about the earrings." She replies, "I took them out," and peels the tape off on one side to show me. Sure enough, nothing there! I said, "OK," and on we went with the game.
I had never seen a girl tape her ears after taking the jewelry out! It was a new one for me.

Pls advice how to switch gear back to tougher games after doing a few easy games.
In the small city where I ref, the culture is All Refs Ref All Kinds of Games.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Chin Ref
[B]Pls advice how to switch gear back to tougher games after doing a few easy games.[B][QUOTE]

Please advise why you think boys Varsity games are tougher than girls games.

RD

Chin Ref,
Every time you walk onto the floor, be ready for the most difficult game that you have ever seen.
At the very beginning of each game plan on working much harder than you have ever worked.
Bring this thought to each game, and you will be ready when the ball goes up.
mick

To begin with they never go above the rim.

To begin with they never go above the rim. [/B][/QUOTE]

On the other hand, they spend more time on the floor.

All games are difficult to do well, but for different reasons depending on the level of play and the skills of the players. Blow-outs are very draining, close games require a high level of consistency and self-confidence, Varsity boys are much faster and more sneaky, JH girls as mick said spend a lot of time on the floor.

You switch gears by always spending five minutes or more before every single game reminding yourself what you can expect and warming up the appropriate body and brain parts. For JH girls, you don't need to review the new BI and GT stuff, but be sure you're up to date on held balls! If your next game is a high level JV girls team, get your ankles warmed up and ready for lots of turnovers. And so forth. Make it a conscious practice to ALWAYS spend five minutes, or more if you can, setting your switches and either revving or idling your engines so that you will be ready at the toss for what ever happens next.

As Juulie knows, I usually do this at halftime, or maybe after the game.

Hey, if you're going to cash those checks you get for doing Girls games then please do everyone a favor and give it your all. The one BIG problem I see here in the Chicago Area is the lack of interest and hussle from refs who do Girls games. It simply makes me sick to hear them complain about how boring the games are compared to Boys games.

I gotta agree. Last March, I was watching the girls' state tournament, sitting in the section of the stands reserved for refs. It got pretty rough, listening to the refs laughing about how few girls' games they had done that season, and how much they felt like fish out of water. I had to go home and brush my teeth to get the bad taste out of my mouth.

Jewel,
That sounds like they were poorly attempting an explanation of why they were in the stands and not on the floor, nothing more.
mick

I don't think anybody in this thread is saying that an official should give a poor effort in a girls game. But my experience has been that it takes less effort to call a great game during a girls game than it takes to call a great game during a boys game. They are just different animals in this part of the country and the level of play in girls ball is substantially lower (in general, although there a couple of very good girls teams).

Well, get your barf bag, b/c around here 95% of girls games are as exciting as watching grass grow. One of my goals is to get PA Coach to travel to MA, so I can work one of his games. :)

Thank you guys for the valuable advice which I'll be working on them.
BTW, I think I have the right attitude that I put in as much effort as possible for whatever the game I ref. I look down upon those guys who dont provide the best possible service to the games. I hate to say that I'm associating with quite a number of those guys in my area. They even see me as weird.

Chuck is right, while we all strive to do the best job possible in every game, some games are better than others. As long as we are human, we will differentiate.

Generally (repeat, GENERALLY), the boys games are played at a different level. What that means is, aside from the fundamental things we always do, there are different things we focus on in girls games (call selection, game and clock awareness, etc). But, most of the time, the games will likely not be as "exciting".

I think those of you quick to express "outrage" over attitudes towards girls games are not being completely honest with yourselves or the people on this board.

The bottom line in the end is, while we expect the same effort, officiating styles between boys and girls games will not always be the same. Nor should they.

One great thing I find about girls games is that the overall atmosphere can be ten times as exciting as a boys game, because the players, coaches, and fans, are sometimes way more into it.