Is it hard for officials to adjust back and forth?

Normally in this part of Illinois a varsity game has 3 officials, but for some reason (I assume money) this tournament is using only 2. Last night I watched parts of 2 Varsity Boys games and the officials seemed to be struggling with basic mechanics. They weren't boxing in the inbounds plays, lead was wandering the baseline, switches were not always happening, etc.. I noticed other things as I was trying to learn, but kept coming back to the fact that the officials looked uncomfortable.

Never having worked on a 3 whistle game I started to wonder just how uncomfortable it would be to switch between the 2 sets of mechanics.

For me, the only thing that takes getting used to when going from 3-whistle to 2-whistle is that I have to expand my coverage as Lead to include the near sideline. I have to remind myself that the 3-point arc and the sideline are my responsibility.

But I still do mostly 2-whistle, so it all comes back pretty quickly.

I go back and forth from 3 whistle NCAA Womens to 2 whistle NFHS so for me I have to remember that I have the entire lane (and the new extended area when I come across) in lead and that there isn't a C to help on the opposite side when in trail. Of course Monday I have a NFHS 3 whistle game (holiday tournament) so I have to get used to going opposite the table again! Maybe next year we can all use the same mechanics? Then we just have to convince all the high schools to go to 3 whistles for varsity (yeah, like that will EVER happen).

I like the NCAA womens mechanics and I guess thats because I want to make into the NCAA womens basketball one of these days... I'm currently doing all 2 man subvaristy but I'd LOVE to run some three man. I did the BASICS course through the chapter and we covered it at the camp i went to a little this summer and I've done alot of reading and studying on it when I have the chance. I'd just like to work a game or two with 3 man for once.

For a 2-person game my biggest adjustment is moving off the baseline to expand my vision.

For a 3-person game, my biggest adjustments are to:

(1) Get up closer to the baseline. In 2-person I like working deep.
(2) Getting off the court as the C and not working on the court like I do in 2-person.

Rich

I had asked the same question a while back when I saw that I would get to do some three whistle games this year.

Obviously as others have said, there are some adjustments to make when going back and forth. I did not find the transition as difficult as I thought it might be. I did however do my homework in terms of knowing the principles of the three whistle before going out. That way, I knew the rotations, the switches, the primary and secondary coverages etc... I only had to focus on the application of those principles and not forgetting to referee the game.

One other thing that helped me. I had refereed dozens of three whistle games in my head. Sometimes, I would watch an NCAA game on TV (or a college game in town) and referee along with them by focusing on rotations etc... You may find that weird but it works for me.

Jay