Secret Shopper

Originally Posted by jTheUmp

The only two things he had for me were a) I sometimes don't get my arm fully extended when signaling a violation or foul (guilty), and b) I have my whistle on the side of my mouth rather than in the middle, which he said looks like I'm not paying attention. (Personally, I do it that way so it's easier to use my voice if necessary during a live ball).

While there is always an element of "when in Rome" and doing what your uppers want you to do, remember that these two things are not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things.

Signals exist to communicate what call we have to those watching. Signals need to be clear, but also demonstrate strength and show confidence in our call. Sometimes that means not going explicitly by what the diagram shows.

As for the whistle in the side of the mouth, I have heard that as well. Just know when you turn on the tv you will see many high level refs chewing gum, dangling the whistle from the side of their mouth, and if they don't use a lanyard even dropping their whistle from time to time. It happens, even to the best. So take that critique with a grain of salt.