All right! I've arrived!! Now, uh. . . where am I? :confused:

When did you change your name to Dan? I don't remember any vertically challenged dinosaurs. :D

Hey, OverandBack. If you think you're going to pursue refereeing as a serious avocation I suggest you try to attend a camp or two. Like camps for players, you get to see a lot of work in a short period of time, and you're surrounded by people who are generally as good or better than you.

At least, that's what they tell me, anyway.

Re: Update
 

Well said. Congrats and you'll have tonnes of fun, I guarantee it.

Forgive the newbie question, but how exactly would I go about that? I would like to.

I'm not a ref, so can't really give you an answer. A lot of the regulars go to camps, however, so I hope one of them will weigh in. If you don't hear from anyone in a day or so, I suggest a new thread, asking specifically for camp info for your area.

This is the key. As a very new guy, you probably do not want to fly across the country for a camp. So let us know where you are, and somebody from your area will probably chime in.

I'm in suburban Chicago. Is there some sort of clearinghouse website for those types of things?

What association do you belong to? Do you want to work girls, boys or both?

Feel free to contact me off-line for more information.

Hey, what do you know? I was thinking I wouldn't get to do any games this weekend, and I was bummed because I didn't do any games last weekend, and my assignor just called to give me three games Saturday! YAY!

It's a different feeling now. After the first day I wasn't sure I could do this. After the second day I thought "Man, this is FUN!"

I'm looking forward to Saturday. Thanks for everybody's encouragement and advice.

Okay, folks, he's hooked now! O&B, don't ever stop having fun. Yea, there'll be days here and there, even the odd week, when you really wonder WTH you're doing. But as long as it's 85% or more unadulterated fun, you just keep running and whistling. Life doesn't get much better than this. Around the end of March, check back in here for a list of Whistles Anonymous meetings around the country. Meantime, Happy Hoops!

Bump because I was once again bummed that I had a whole weekend with nothing to do and no games to call, but my guy just called and gave me two games late this afternoon.

You guys were right - now my feeling is "Yay! I get to do games today!" where a few weeks ago I wasn't sure that was such a good thing.

Time for a little rulebook study before I polish my shoes. Thanks for everybody's help and encouragement!

Turned out to be 2 1/2 games. I got there early for my game, and the guy working the game before me had his partner not show up, so he did the first half alone. I jumped in and did the second half with him (8th grade Girls A, the highest level I've done so far), which was good. I'll take all the action I can get.

I blew a couple - nothing earth-shattering, but things that at least make me say "Okay, I need to work on that," which is the point, I reckon.

But one thing I've definitely improved on is something that I think is very, very important for an inexperienced official that most of the rest of you probably take for granted because you've been doing it for so long - confidence. That's a huge hump to get over. Having a court presence is so valuable, I'm finding out. How I feel now when I go on the court versus how I felt three weeks ago is like night and day, seriously. I feel like I'm supposed to be there, at least, which is a good part of the battle. Now I can deal with finding a few things in every game I do that I do a little better than the last time and try not to make the same mistakes over and over.

Season's almost over. Hope I'll get a few more games in.

Progress....
 

Great Attitude! Charge forward. :)

One of those primitive, but essential officiating skills is

EYE CONTACT with your partner EVERY time before you administer the ball for an inbound play.

I will slip in a minor addition to this and include ALWAYS glance at the table before administering the ball for an inbound play (and occasionally during play). It is an easy way to make the coaches feel that you are "on top of your game." If you are consistently missing substitutes during dead balls it will cause grief in MANY areas. Yes, the table should blast the horn to alert you, but you should know well before the horn is sounded.


"Whistle While You Work!"

Thanks. I always do the first one (usually with a thumbs up when we're ready to go, whether I'm administering the throwin or not) and can do better on the second one.

I reckon eventually all these places that you have to think about constantly looking to will become second nature.