Can an NCAA Basketball Official Work Both Sexes?

[Rich]

I tend to struggle more with girls coaches -- mainly because I call plays the same in boys and girls games. And as JRut said, a lot of the girls coaches think contact = foul.

[SC Official]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

That is fine that you disagree. We all have our opinions on the matter. But the boys game is almost guaranteed to be near or above the rim, which has a different set of challenges for officials with contact and the ability of the players physically. Also, boys are much faster at the top levels than girls. So you have to be physically able to keep up along with having the judgment to see plays. I see many girl's officials that would struggle just keeping up with kids that will be D1 players. It is obvious when you look at many of the officials (at least here) that have to work a girl's games.

One of the reasons I said this, is because there are officials that will call every little touch a foul and that will get you killed in a boys game. The coaches will go nuts if you call those situations, especially when those are not clearly illegal events. You dribble into three defenders and call a foul when the defenders did nothing wrong does not fly in the boys game.

I know some are going to disagree. Even the last possession there are many officials that wanted a foul (that work girl's games) and the ones that work either higher level college or men's games, tend to think there was no foul by the Notre Dame player. The expectations are just different.

I'm with you, but there are plenty of officials that have no problem making the adjustment between what's expected in girls games and what's expected in boys games. Just because you're good at one doesn't mean you can't be good at the other, even though you may still be "better" at a certain gender. And I would guess that in most states officials aren't given a choice between working girls or boys. Therefore the issue of coaches not wanting a "girls official" on their boys game or vice-versa, like you have in Illinois, is not likely to be problematic.

Originally Posted by Rich

I tend to struggle more with girls coaches -- mainly because I call plays the same in boys and girls games. And as JRut said, a lot of the girls coaches think contact = foul.

Most of the girls coaches in my area are not smart and thankfully don't say much. I've had issues with a couple male girls coaches who I whacked but my girls games are normally uneventful when it comes to coaches. I told those coaches something along the lines of "I will not bail out your player for tripping over her own feet," and of course they didn't like that response (I'm an honest guy, to a fault sometimes).

But I'm with you. I call advantage/disadvantage in girls and boys. I don't officiate the presence of contact or lack thereof except when it comes to the automatics.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by SC Official

Most of the girls coaches in my area are not smart and thankfully don't say much. I've had issues with a couple male girls coaches who I whacked but my girls games are normally uneventful when it comes to coaches. I told those coaches something along the lines of "I will not bail out your player for tripping over her own feet," and of course they didn't like that response (I'm an honest guy, to a fault sometimes).

But I'm with you. I call advantage/disadvantage in girls and boys. I don't officiate the presence of contact or lack thereof except when it comes to the automatics.

The ones that are not smart are the ones that say TOO much, in my experience.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by SC Official

I'm with you, but there are plenty of officials that have no problem making the adjustment between what's expected in girls games and what's expected in boys games. Just because you're good at one doesn't mean you can't be good at the other, even though you may still be "better" at a certain gender. And I would guess that in most states officials aren't given a choice between working girls or boys. Therefore the issue of coaches not wanting a "girls official" on their boys game or vice-versa, like you have in Illinois, is not likely to be problematic.

I call the game the same with the same philosophies. I do not call all contact a foul. I put a premium on the contact being illegal before I call something. That means it must have some disadvantage and not penalizing bigger and stronger players which appears to happen all the time in girl's basketball. So I am not often considered very good at the girl's side and why I stay away from it almost entirely.

Peace

[Kansas Ref]

As a ref, you can get lots of really good experience with recognizing and calling all types of angles, and configurations on "held balls" in girl's/women's games. Lots of held balls and AP arrow action occurs for sure.

[ilyazhito]

Originally Posted by Kansas Ref

As a ref, you can get lots of really good experience with recognizing and calling all types of angles, and configurations on "held balls" in girl's/women's games. Lots of held balls and AP arrow action occurs for sure.

I agree with that for lower levels, but does this happen in NCAA women's basketball?

Besides experience with held ball situations, are there any advantage to working women's basketball? AFAIK, some women's mechanics are lazy (not stopping the clock on OOB plays, 5-second violations, or 10-second violations; using the fist to start the clock; standing in the lane as the Lead on the first free throw), but some ideas make sense (coming up with one decision on block-charge plays).

Conversely, what are the advantages to working men's basketball? Is there any ideas from the men's game that make sense, or bad mechanics habits that men's officials get into?

[Rich]

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

I agree with that for lower levels, but does this happen in NCAA women's basketball?

Besides experience with held ball situations, are there any advantage to working women's basketball? AFAIK, some women's mechanics are lazy (not stopping the clock on OOB plays, 5-second violations, or 10-second violations; using the fist to start the clock; standing in the lane as the Lead on the first free throw), but some ideas make sense (coming up with one decision on block-charge plays).

Conversely, what are the advantages to working men's basketball? Is there any ideas from the men's game that make sense, or bad mechanics habits that men's officials get into?

What you call lazy, I call decisive -- a crisp directional point without the "stop clock" mechanic is far better than the stop clock and subsequent point.

Standing on the block on the first free throw -- give me one reason why that's lazy rather than an intelligent mechanics choice. Nothing's happening and it saves steps. Smart.

[ilyazhito]

Standing on the block does not put you in a good position to see lane violations or displacement in the lane on free throws. The approved position in the NFHS and CCA Men's Basketball manual does. This is an article that explains more about why you should not stand in the lane as the Lead Lead, They Didn’t Vacate that Lower Lane Space for You to Stand In. See https://www.myvirtualofficialsassociation.com/?p=626 for more information on stopping the clock. The reason why the NFHS and CCA men's manuals require stopping the clock is because the "stop the clock" signal is what technically stops play, as well as reminds the clock operator to stop the clock, and gives the official time to process the play before making a decision.