Ref Shortage

[deecee]

Originally Posted by rbruno

18 years if officiating basketball from HS varsity down to youth levels during the entire year. So I've seen all the crap we talk about from the parents, coaches and unfortunately the kids. I believe it has gotten much worse in the 18 years I have been doing this. My feeling is that youth associations, NFHS, or whatever governing body in charge has to start to set in motion a zero tolerance policy. Its about time this nonsense stops so the kids can start to have "fun" (sorry I used the F word) and the officials can just do their job and not have to "manage" anyone. It sounds impossible but I wonder what would happen after a year of no tolerance. Kick out the parents, don't allow any coach antics ( I mean none), and teach the kids that they have to just shut up and play. The nonsense behavior from all around has become the norm not the exception. This clearly needs to be reversed. I know I always comment to my partner when we do a game where players play, coaches coach, and parents clap and cheer.... Good game "just like its supposed to be."

That's up to you (and other refs) to manage. Most don't IMO. I do. I also have more coaches not like me because I don't like to deal with garbage. Way toooooo many officials let to much slide that coaches know it's easier to just request me off a game because they have a 75%+ chance of getting guys that will let them and their players act like fools.

When refs complain about a coaches or players behavior and I ask them what they did about it. If they say they did nothing I ask them to stop complaining to me. If they said they did something but the behavior didn't change I then ask them then why did you change your adjudication if you ALREADY drew a line. If they say nothing then I ask them to stop complaining to me. If they did take care of business then I can usually relate because it's the same offenders year in/year out that as officials we just roll our eyes because in part working those games aren't exactly fun sometimes.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by deecee

That's up to you (and other refs) to manage. Most don't IMO. I do. I also have more coaches not like me because I don't like to deal with garbage. Way toooooo many officials let to much slide that coaches know it's easier to just request me off a game because they have a 75%+ chance of getting guys that will let them and their players act like fools.

When refs complain about a coaches or players behavior and I ask them what they did about it. If they say they did nothing I ask them to stop complaining to me. If they said they did something but the behavior didn't change I then ask them then why did you change your adjudication if you ALREADY drew a line. If they say nothing then I ask them to stop complaining to me. If they did take care of business then I can usually relate because it's the same offenders year in/year out that as officials we just roll our eyes because in part working those games aren't exactly fun sometimes.

That sounds great, but we are not doing this in a bubble. We can give all the Ts in the world if we do not have support by our assignors or leagues or state than it only goes so far of what we can do personally.

I threw a kid out of a game earlier this year for basically trying to intimidate me directly and he was tossed. You would have thought that I had pulled a gun on the kid and was totally out of line based on the fall out after the incident. Well ironically, this very same kid was kicked out of his school for cursing out a teacher at the private school he attended. But if the adults would have not allowed certain behavior, what I did in a game would have never needed to take place. If I was a less accomplished official or someone with much less experience, I might have seriously contemplated getting out of this. But I have been here before and seen this before and was able to overcome the situation. But I did not feel I got support by those involved for not being treated like I was a kid.

I am a grown ass man and wish to be treated as such. I am also not going around treating other adults like they are not adults. But I refuse to treat kids like they are adults when I was not raised that way or act like if they act up I cannot do something about their behavior. But many in power allow that kind of situation to continue even if we use the main tools we have within the game. So I am going to disagree that we cannot complain about it when we are not supported. Because if you give a T then they try to make it about you as the official, not the behavior that caused the reaction.

Peace