Working with a different partner

[Cole4088]

I'm wondering. What do you guys do to mesh/keep the game even when working with a partner who does not call much? I've had a few times when working with a partner who will not blow their whistle compared to how I call the game. I've tried to loosen up and let things go but stuff starts getting out of hand. I had a couple coaches call me over a few times and tell me I have called a good game but the game is inconsistent because my partner is not calling.

[SC Official]

Unless it's an elephant I typically let my partner(s) live and die with what they do/don't call. Not much more you can do than that.

A coach telling you you've called a good game means nothing. "Consistency" is a common refrain for only wanting calls that benefit your team.

[SNIPERBBB]

Get with your partner early, half time is the best time to do this, and ask if there is something he is not seeing that you are to explain the dfference in play calling. From there you can discuss how to call things thr rest of the game. Then hope from there that he gets back on page, from there there isn't much you can do to make things better.

[Dad]

What do you mean keep the game even?

My pregame is pretty good so rarely do my crews vary enough to be an issue. So yeah, pregame, fixes so much junk before it even happens.

This is hardly ever the case, but sometimes you just have to go home with sore shoulders to ensure your crew as a whole did well.

[BigCat]

Tough to pregame blow the whistle. You can say it all you want but...You can get the horrendous stuff but otherwise your partners have to live and die. And just so you know, if you make a bad call the coach is telling your partner he's having a good game but you're from Mars. You just have to referee your area and extend on horrendous stuff. You didn't hire the others and you can't save the world.

[Dad]

Originally Posted by BigCat

Tough to pregame blow the whistle. You can say it all you want but...You can get the horrendous stuff but otherwise your partners have to live and die. And just so you know, if you make a bad call the coach is telling your partner he's having a good game but you're from Mars. You just have to referee your area and extend on horrendous stuff. You didn't hire the others and you can't save the world.

I thought it was rather easy. Though there's a difference between blatantly spelling it out and having your partners feel like they are part of a team they want to work hard for. Sometimes you just have to manage partners more than you do everything else.

[Mregor]

As a wise man on here was known to say, Get in, Get Done, Get Out.

If you held a good pregame but on the floor there is an obvious difference, be sure to switch when you are supposed to and get done and get out unless you are willing/able to adjust to their level.

One last thing, If you believe it when the coach says you are doing great, you have to believe them when they say you suck.

[Kansas Ref]

Well, for better or worse, your own officiating ability will get lumped into the perception of your partner's / crew members officiating ability. If one of your crew is making bad/suspect/incorrect calls and you are making proper calls, then the coaches and players [and fans] will say "those refs are horrible"--they will not tend to separate the two or three of you---your crew will collectively be perceived as "bad refs".
This is one of the banes of officiating.

Originally Posted by Kansas Ref

Well, for better or worse, your own officiating ability will get lumped into the perception of your partner's / crew members officiating ability. If one of your crew is making bad/suspect/incorrect calls and you are making proper calls, then the coaches and players [and fans] will say "those refs are horrible"--they will not tend to separate the two or three of you---your crew will collectively be perceived as "bad refs".
This is one of the banes of officiating.

And is one of the best reasons to find a core group of guys you like working with and trust (I have 10-15) and try to work games with them whenever possible. I have a smaller group of 4-5 who I always ask first but you can expand your list as needed. If you work in a situation where you are always lumped with random partners....get in, get done, get done.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Kansas Ref

Well, for better or worse, your own officiating ability will get lumped into the perception of your partner's / crew members officiating ability. If one of your crew is making bad/suspect/incorrect calls and you are making proper calls, then the coaches and players [and fans] will say "those refs are horrible"--they will not tend to separate the two or three of you---your crew will collectively be perceived as "bad refs".
This is one of the banes of officiating.

Not when you have been around for some time. Coaches tend to know or tend to single you out if you have been seen for some time. Just like when a coach sees a new guy and the other two are veterans have have been working years before in different situations. Maybe if the coach has never seen the three officials in life, but that would only apply if you are working a non-conference game and the teams are far apart from each other that the visiting team is not from the area. Even in those situations it is funny how one of the coaches knows someone on the crew. This might be an area specific thing to, but rarely have I have been in a game were a coach from each team had never seen either of us at some point.

Peace

[Dad]

Originally Posted by AremRed

And is one of the best reasons to find a core group of guys you like working with and trust (I have 10-15) and try to work games with them whenever possible. I have a smaller group of 4-5 who I always ask first but you can expand your list as needed. If you work in a situation where you are always lumped with random partners....get in, get done, get done.

I've never understood this philosophy and for high school think it's actually a horrible mind-set. Maybe you're an outlier, but those are usually the most difficult people to work with. I have fun working with 98% of my association. Ability level shouldn't be an issue... have fun and carry them.

[SNIPERBBB]

Only time around here you work with random partners is subvarsity or playoffs. Most varsity games are assigned to crews as most schools here have the AD get officials and its easier to hire a crew than to individually hire each official.

[Pantherdreams]

Around here we've got a small group of officials that cover a small regional area. You could be assigned to work with anyone of them but there are only 8-9 guys so you get to know each other pretty well over the course of the year. Only time you would work with someone you don't know might be at playoff time.

Amongst ourselves the only commonality issues we often encounter are various opinions on managing the game. We've got a couple of association guys who think the best way to manage the game is to not let anything ever get to a point where it could get have a chance of getting out of hand (ironically they are the ones who often have to throw out more T's to visiting coaches because of how tight the game is and the lack of flow and energy) while others are willing to adapt the level of contact being allowed to the level and abilities of the players involved. If you get in a situation where the game is physical and competitive between 2 good teams and you've got 1 of each you can get into a mess. Default seems to be adapt the more frequent whistle for consistency amongst the crew.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Dad

I've never understood this philosophy and for high school think it's actually a horrible mind-set. Maybe you're an outlier, but those are usually the most difficult people to work with. I have fun working with 98% of my association. Ability level shouldn't be an issue... have fun and carry them.

I work about 80% of my games where one of my partners is the same person.

It's comfortable, sure, but I quite enjoy when I'm paired with people I haven't worked with before or not too often.

I disagree with the whole "pregame will fix it" nonsense, though. You can't take someone who won't blow a whistle and get him to blow it with some magical words 30 minutes before gametime.

[Dad]

Originally Posted by SNIPERBBB

Only time around here you work with random partners is subvarsity or playoffs. Most varsity games are assigned to crews as most schools here have the AD get officials and its easier to hire a crew than to individually hire each official.

State has three major assigners that do the majority of everything. They also are the ones who have most say in who gets the big playoff games. If that's how your system works then there's nothing you can do about it, but I think it hurts officials growth(in one aspect of the game, albeit to some not important).

In the playoffs I'd say the most difficult part is getting crews on the same page. Most of the time everything goes smoothly, but there are games where 50% of my effort tries to go into getting the crew on the same page instead of just enjoying what I'm doing. Almost every time, it's because there's an official there that doesn't know how to mold to a crew outside of their buddies they've been officiating with all season. Don't get me wrong, at that level every official is good in their own right, but I want the game to run smoothly. When you start out with Betsy calling dink fouls and Robert letting flagrants go it's irritating.