This Saturday I have been asked to help train a group of officials for a local church league. Some will be new officials (they have been actively recruiting women to work girls games), and some will have been "doing church ball" for many years. The planned format is an hour "classroom" time followed by a tournament of sorts where they will get some floor time. The level of play will be boys and girls, rec league quality or lower. What suggestions do you have?

I have my own opinions on some of this, but I want to know what actual smart people think ;)

* What are the most important things to teach a new official
* One approach that has occurred to me is to allow 30 mins for mechanics and 30 for rules, starting with the "myth busters"
* I've been to camps where the evaluators talk to the officials at time outs and between periods. I've been to camps where the evaluators will sometimes run the floor with you. The latter seems most helpful and by far the most distracting. Which do you prefer?
* If you were planning this, what would you do? I know many of you have trained officials, care to help a guy out? :D

BITS

I have been to both kind of camps and feel that if the guy is following me around alot and talking to me it really keeps me distracted like you said. I would say to pretty much use time outs mostly. If something horrible is happening I can see mentioning it during play but not too much. They will be nervous enough about what to call without the added distraction. Just my two cents worth.

One additional point I would make is to tell them to be careful of when they chop the clock with 2.4 seconds remaining in the game. They could be opening pandora's box.

Wow, you are in for it. Just get them on the floor and start critiqueing. Have plenty of help. Don't worry about how other officials critique your newbies. Lasty and firsty, make sure they all understand, they are going to be criticzed and if they can't take it then they should not be a official. O, and NO yabut's.

I've done this very thing.

For those that have done it a few times, I catch them in breaks...timeout, intermission, etc.


For the beginners, I think shawdowing them works very well. They're generally pretty lost and don't have any idea what to do or where to look.

I remind them to cover the ball when it is in their area and find other players to watch when it is not. I'll say "you've got the ball, watch the defender" or "your partner has the ball, look off ball. watch the defenders."

Occassionally, I'll add "that was a foul, you've got to step up and call that." if they're being very timid and are missing several.

I also stress that contact does not always equal a foul. I impress upon them that in almost every situation, the defense actually has to physically do something to get a foul and that if they watch the defense, they'll see that the defender was just standing there...arms up.

I also cover the common myths.

I've got an 8 page summary of rules and mechanics that I wrote as the Sports Director for my Church. If you'd like a copy, send me your email address and I'll forward a copy to you.

If possible get the rec coaches to join as well, at least for the rules part. And spend a few minutes reminding them there's nothing to be gained from doing their Bob Knight impersonations.

As for camps, I think the best way is to videotape the game & then go over the tape afterwards. If you can't do that then probably best to keep the observers away from the refs while the game is going on, let them get together between periods or during timeouts.

Camron, thanks for the offer. My email address is [email protected].

:D

Einstein would never let the clock stop at 2.4, and neither would Churchill or Edgar!

Nor would they ever allow an overtime.

Camron, please send me a copy of your condensed rules also.

[email protected]

thanks in advance. Are these available on your association's website?

BITS,

Don't know how much help you have, but if you have enough bodies (both observers & officials)breaking up your groups for a rotating sched. of classroom, floor time, video room is an optimal situation.

Being able to see themselves soon after being on the floor and having good feedback is very helpful.

Split time between mech. and rules is great. Beginners need lots of help learning to put some 'good air'into the whistle and not run away from the spot of the foul so quick.

Lots of luck.

Blow the damn whistle!

(but don't say "damn" at a church league.)

Church ball.. Gotta love it. Start with a prayer and end with a fight.. :)
When I work with church officials, I foucs on basic rules and the myths you have seen here.
Gotta be set..(Basic Block Charge)
What is three seconds?
What's a jump stop and what is legal?
Basics on lining up for FT's

Spend 1/2 hour or so on rules and then talk about basic coverage. Then get them out on the floor.

I think you are from Utah, are youare talking LDS Ball? If so There are a couple of guys I can point you to who have some good officials training manuals. A couple of them work Utah high school ball. Email me if that is true.

New fan: "How long do these games last?"
Old fan: "Usually 'til about the middle of the third quarter" ;)

I've worked many, many church league games. The above statement is the most accurate thing I have ever seen posted. Classic. :)

As someone who does this all too often, training Intramural officials, I would add a couple of things to stress. Most new officials have the belief that if I don't blow the whistle, no one will be unhappy. You need to work with them so that they blow the whistle a little too much. I tell my students that I would rather have someone come in and complain that our officials are calling too many fouls, not the other way around. The second big area is to let them know that officiating is not a spectator sport. Concentrate on the area of coverage, not the ball. They will want to chase the ball all over the court.

My suggestion, 30 minutes of rules, 30 minutes of mechanics stations, and then on court. I agree that if they have some experience, take a look at them to see what they know and then concentrate on the newer folks. Good luck.

I started training high school students to ref in my town's rec league last year. I developed my own material -- focusing on what "matters" in rec ball -- both rules and mechanics.

My biggest surprise after two years is that these kids do not blow the whistle when the ball is out of bounds. And that is probably the most common violation in rec ball. My bottom line: "Talk loud, take charge and never forget: The game is about the players, not about you."

I can share my material (Word documents) if you want.

Thank you. I want :)

B.I.T.S. -- The best on-going training a person can have is ... (anyone who's been on this board more than six months knows what I'm going to say)...

TAPE TAPE TAPE!!!

What you do in your initial session is important, but if you can find a way to get each official taped, and the tape reviewed by a vet and the beginner together, and do that about twice a season for each beginner, you'll multiply the learning curve by 10. Nothing is more instructive.

Agree that taping sessions on the floor and then reviewing them is the preferred way to go. Running the court with them, IMO is the worst way to go. Book session, floor session, tape review and then group discussion. The quicker you get them on the floor I think the better chance you have of them staying around (also you can weed out those who obviously will not make it quicker).

[QUOTE]Originally posted by RefRx
Book session, floor session, tape review and then group discussion. The quicker you get them on the floor I think the better chance you have of them staying around (also you can weed out those who obviously will not make it quicker).

If you have a group of any significant size, getting enough "quality" court time is tricky. My class had 8 kids and they varied a lot in quality. I was not ready to toss half of them out because they did not "get it" as quickly as the others, but it is a large investment in time to do this right. In addition, the program they will be working in has to be very tolerant. I had one ref last year who would not blow the whistle, even if a kid was dribbling with both feet out of bounds. The program coordinator told me he would rather have a parent who knew nothing about basketball mechanics or ruls serve as ref than this kid.

And now that I have a couple of kids from last year who did very well, they want a lot of game assignments this year as I try to juggle the new kids into court sessions.

Camron & Baystateref can you please send me a copy of your condensed rules? [email protected] *(yes i am a chef along with a ref)


[Edited by PAT THE REF on Jan 1st, 2004 at 10:16 PM]

Camron and BITS,
Please send me your condensed information booklets as well.
[email protected]

Thanks

Hi Camron Rust, I too would like a copy of your 8 page rules/mechanics. Please send to [email protected]
Thanks,
Bart