Being lead your thoughts

[jcarter]

As i posted earlier last night was my first official games as a ref.

My question is, I felt very uncomfortable in the lead position. Even thought my much experienced partner said position wise I was always in the rite spot, I felt that i could not see everything that I should be seeing.

Is it just human nature and being new that i tend to focus more in the area of where the ball was instead of scanning over the area in which a lead should be covering? Even though I did catch myself doing this alot I still could not consitantly keep my eyes in my own area.

will this pass with more experience? what did you guys do to keep from wanting to follow the ball all the time?

[mick]

Originally posted by jcarter
A what did you guys do to keep from wanting to follow the ball all the time?

I put more trust in my partner.
I concentrated on my duties.
I kept focus.

[blindzebra]

Get used seeing the ball with your peripheral vision,you should know where the ball is without looking.Make sure you stay open as lead,the foot closest to the basket should be slightly behind your outside foot.By being open you only have to adjust your eyes and not turn your entire body to look at something.

Move to get a look thru the players and avoid being in a stack.If you are in a stack a big step back and toward the basket will clear you,and it is faster than several steps left or right.

[One-Whistle]

Do not follow the ball around the top. As mentioned above, you should be able to tell where the ball is in the periphery by the actions of the players in the low post.

On 3-point attempts near you on the baseline, stay with the shooter and defender(s) until the shooter has returned to the floor AND the defender(s) has stopped their momentum toward the shooter. Too often violent contact is missed because the lead is too eager to get back under the basket.

When monitoring players in the paint, keep your focus on the action in the paint, BELOW the basket. Don't worry about the flight of the ball toward the basket (trail's responsibility). Your partner will let you know whether the basket was made, if necessary.

[rainmaker]

The first time you catch an illegal screen away from the ball, you'll never have any more problems. Well, maybe occasionally, but you'll have a lot less problem over-all. The way to catch that first one is to agree with a partner that you'll be watching off ball the whole evening, and he needs to follow the ball. Then do it. You'll still get the hacks on the shots, and the nasty body bumps on the drive -- your eye is just drawn to the contact when you're not watching the ball. But keep trying to look away. You'll get it more quickly than you might expect.

[zebraman]

Originally posted by jcarter

will this pass with more experience? what did you guys do to keep from wanting to follow the ball all the time?

Yes, it will pass. As you concentrate on staying in your primary and learn to trust your partner(s), it will get easier. You just have to keep telling yourself over and over to stay in your primary. With some refs, it takes more than one season for them to figure it out.

Z

[RecRef]

It will come one way or another. In my case, unfortunately, it came because of a nasty incident that I missed. A2 and B2 had a thing going most of the game. I was L on the strong side in a 2-man crew. A1 shoots an air ball from the side of the basket and it goes into the weak side. I close down on it leaving my back to A2 and B2. The next thing I hear is a loud thump and A2 is on the floor. Fans, players and coaches are going nuts and neither my partner nor I have a clue as to what happened.

Stopped the clock to get things quieted down. Called both coaches over and had to admit that I did not see what happened. From the coaches I learned that A2 threw an elbow into B2 chest. B2 after a split second grabs A2’s arm and flips “her.” Yes, this was a girl’s game. It turns out that B2 was taking some sort of self-defense course and put it to use. One of the coaches suggested, don’t remember which, that if the other coach would pull his player for the rest of the game he would do the same. We went with the arrow and restarted the game.

[nine01c]

You are well on your way to becoming an excellent Lead official because you already KNOW what you need to work on. For some, it takes several years before they realize they are ballwatchers. One suggestion: Go to a few games (high school would be good) and as a spectator, focus on play in the lane. Watch jockying for rebounds, and actual rebounding, shooting, and "boxing-out" (AKA pushing). Notice how players keep their arms STRAIGHT UP, but then do a sneaky bump with the hips, for example. Later, in your own games, you will notice much of the same action and be prepared to call it. Good luck. By the way, these fouls are EASY to spot when you are a spectator.

[Ballen]

Originally posted by mick

I put more trust in my partner.
I concentrated on my duties.
I kept focus.

I silently say the defensive numbers of the competitive match-ups in my primary...then extend out off ball and scan for cutters and screens in the event my primary is non-competitive.

[davidw]

Originally posted by jcarter
As i posted earlier last night was my first official games as a ref.

My question is, I felt very uncomfortable in the lead position. Even thought my much experienced partner said position wise I was always in the rite spot, I felt that i could not see everything that I should be seeing.

Is it just human nature and being new that i tend to focus more in the area of where the ball was instead of scanning over the area in which a lead should be covering? Even though I did catch myself doing this alot I still could not consitantly keep my eyes in my own area.

will this pass with more experience? what did you guys do to keep from wanting to follow the ball all the time?

We have been conditioned to be or watch 'were the action is', and the action, to us, seems to be where the ball is. NineO1c and Rainmaker had some great suggestions; I would definitely recommend you try those.

Another simple suggestion is to identify your primary boundaries each time you set up from transition. NOW you know exactly what area to be focused on when the ball is somewhere else.

When you see that first off-ball foul--Sell it! Call loudly, the color of the jersey being worn by the offending player, point the other direction everyone's gonna be going (of course do your other preliminary signals) and go report it. Great call. You will be well on your way to being a great 'off-ball' official; one your partners can trust to call his area.

[jcarter]

Thank you for all the advice, I had a great opportunity this weekend to work on not following the ball. I was work some Rec sports games and one of the games was a forfeit because the team wasnt at the court on time. They showed about about 10 mins after scheduled game time.

So the two teams decided they would just play for fun for 45 mins since the court was basically thiers for that time. So they asked my partner and I if we would work it just for the heck of it. My partners said sure, so i followed suite. Now the two teams I knew most of the players pretty well from umpiring thier softball games. So i told my partner, when ever i am lead I am going to watch everything but the ball. He said no problem, one of the guys made a smarty comment in that why do you need practice you never watch the ball anyway. HAHA he was a friend of mine and i explained that i was working on my mechanics. I went on to say that if you guys see me cheating and watching the ball say something or make a noise or do something.

Well they were horsing around and playing the game and about 15 mins into thier play, Im lead and obviously watching the ball, and one of these round heads sneaks up behind me from off ball and scares the T total living crap out of me. I only call him a bone head because he made me jump out of my shoes!!! HAHA

Anyway nedless to say I didnt have a problem the rest of that game not watching the ball.

Thank you all for your advice, i will use it wisely....