Partner having a bad game.

[Tim Roden]

I was working a freshman girl/boy double header this weekend. The first game went well but the boys game was the game we all dread. Or we look forward to if it means that we get it right and move up because the right person saw the game. Well, my partner was a young female official in her 3rd season and she wasn't quite right on all her calls. It got worse as the coaches were comming after me. We ended up with 1 ejection, 2 technical fouls and 4 intentional fouls. All in the 3rd quarter. We could have called more. I should have T'd up the coach at one point and my partner missed what I thought was an obvious intentional foul. She just called regular shooting foul on the play.

My question for you veteran's is two fold.
1) How do I handle a coach when my partner doesn't seem to be calling the same game I am and the coach thinks he is getting the shaft.

2) How do you handle your partner when you don't like the calls she is making? The way I handled her wasn't right because she said that it caused her to go into a deeper funk. (criticising, condeming and compaining never does work especially with woman and less experienced partners)

[mcdanrd]

Remember back to a time when your partner's partner was having a bad game. It happens to all of us. Try to be patient and don't talk down. I had 4 8th grade games last Thursday. It was my partner's first time. I helped when I could, cussed under my breath when couldn't, and encouraged as much as possible. I left the court a little hump shouldered but hopefully my partner will grow into a good official.

[kspann]

I firmly beleive that each and every situation will prepare you for the next game. Defend your partner to the death to the coaches, no matter what he/she has called. It is your responsiblity to protect your partner, even when you don't agree. Sell each and every call, even when it wasn't yours. Telling a coach that your partner made a good call, or saying the coach is at a different angle and had a bad look will take some of the heat off your partner. This may put the heat on you, but it will strenghthen the crew.

In dealing with your partner, use the old criticism sandwich. Tell your partner what he/she did well and/or right, mention what could be worked on, then another positive comment. People in general tend to take this better than negative comments.

Hope this helps!

[Indy_Ref]

Just this month I had an experience with a first year female official...one I'll not forget for a while.

I had contacted a fairly large school inquiring about getting on their varsity schedules. The assignor for the school informed me that he only had two openings for a single person. Since I wanted to get me & my regular partner onto the schedule, I said to schedule us for the two games. He said he would with the intent of giving us varsity games in the coming years. I asked him who the partners would be. He told me the partner for each game would be the same--Ms. So & so. "She is a first year official and we're trying to work with her to improve her officiating skills."

I gulped hard, and said, "Okay, no problem, see you then." Informed my partner and we did the games. They were against a traveling Canadian team & just practice games, however, this female official didn't really have a clue. I got dressed in my own locker room and waited for a knock on the door since I didn't know where the locker room was. That knock never came! I went searching for her. Finally found her standing at the table ON THE FLOOR waiting for the game to begin!! I walked up to her and asked if she had ever gone through a pre-game. She answered, "No. No one had ever bothered to do that with her in her previous 5 high school games." I said, "Come with me."

To make the LONG story shorter, we went through an abbreviated pre-game (I could tell she was getting overwhelmed) and had an okay game. I made all my calls and only creeped into her area when I thought someone might get hurt. She hardly whistled anything! No fouls, no violation, etc. I tried to talk and give her pointers at every timeout situation. I constantly asked if she had any questions...NOT A ONE.

The assignor came to me after the game and said that I was just what he was looking for and that he wanted to schedule me for multiple games for years to come. He said he appreciated how much I tried to work with the female official. I believe he is just trying to give her a break and help her out.

Moral of the story? I took her under my wing, tried to help her & stick up for her, and it paid off with "the people in the know".

No matter how bad it is, Tim, keep the chin up and help your partner out!

[Don Hendrickson]

There is not a lot you can do once you are on the floor. It is important to have a good pregame and go over the way you both should call the game. IE: being on the same page. That means calling the same violations and fouls. So getting to a game early and discussing it is important. Once you are on the floor and things aren't going well, we all know you have to do your best. I believe you don't call the other person's area unless it is a OH My Goodness crash. Then maybe you need to. If you don't call in the other person's areawillusually make them pick it up and get back in the game. Also if it dosen't get better at the next time out or exteded dead ball. Encourage your fellow offiical to get back in the game and help you. Putting some responsibility on your partner to make you both come out of this looking better is sometimes the kick they need to get going. Good luck

[rainmaker]

I can remember the time not so long ago (let's see, two or three weeks?) when I was in your partner's position. In fact, several times. I wasn't in a varsity game, but otherwise, could have been the same. Here are some things I appreciated that partners said to me:

That was a great travel call. Lots of vets miss that call, cause they are watching for the shot instead of focusing on the feet. Now, what did you see on that last block?

(To the coach) She called it a violation, its a violation. It doesn't matter if you've never seen that called before. Sit down, coach, let's get on with the game. (This was one of those obscure calls, but I knew I was right because I had just been reading the rules book at breakfast at that particular place. My partner thought I was dead wrong, but defended me to the bitter end. This impressed me tremendously with the responsibility I had to be a stickler in my study and be sure I am right 99% of the time. I owe it to my partner.)

People handle that call lots of different ways, but what Howard likes is ... (Howard is our benevolently despotic assignor, without whose attention no one evr moves up)

Don't let the coach get under your skin -- even if you're wrong, you're the ref and not him.

And my all time favorite for partnership came a day when I shouldn't even have been on the floor. My baby was being diagnosed with several very bad chronic problems, my grandmother was in intensive care dying, and my car wasn't running right. I tried to get out of my games but couldn't. About half way through the second quarter, my pertner said, "Are you okay?" I burst into tears. He hid me from the coaches and spectators, and said, "Okay, you just run up and down and I'll do the calling." When a coach yelled at me, he said, "Coach, she has won awards this year for her work, so I wouldn't be yelling a whole lot more." It is true I had won an award at camp this summer, but I sure wasn't living up to it that day. My partner really bailed me out of a bad jam, and I will never forget his friendship and compassion. Are you listening, Dan Gresham?

To summarize, Defend Your Partner to the Death. Correct Gently, and Sympathize with Emotional Problems (whether your partner is male or female, new or veteran, great or lousy.)

[Tim Roden]

I appreciate what you are saying. This seams to be the conclusion of what came about in our post game recape. My partner's mentor was at the game and here is what he had to say about the game. First to her he basicially said that we need to be watching what our partner is calling so we can make the same call when the call comes our way. Second, think about the game for 30 minutes then forget it it. It was a bad game. Then he left it was then I learned that I had put my partner in the funk by something I said. We will be working together again this weekend in the same kind of game situation so it will give us a chance to get it right. I appologized for my words, but words still hurt. But I think this is a lesson that we can learn from. We can all learn to be nicer to our partners, more supportive. Defend them to the death so to speak. We can defend them by calling the same game they are. We can defend them by praising their actions to the coaches. We can support them by making the coach think he is a better official then he is.

[SCBroncos]

I agree with all of the posts thus far.

The most important thing is that both officials are on the same page calling the same game.

I have often encountered partners (ussually older and more experienced) that call every game the same way - and it may not be the way I would like it called. What we have to remember is that a game is better officiated if both officials call it the same - even if one official is not happy with the result. The worst possible thing a coach can see is a call consistently made on one end and not on the other.

I had a situation a few years back with a 3rd year official in a boys JV game. I could see from the outset that he had much less hustle then what is expected of an official. I decided to extend myself and make sure I was in position to make every call. The varsity assignor was at that game and recognized this hustle and now I am regulary working his varsity assignments.

[rainmaker]

Tim-

I am impressed with your attitude -- that you have things to learn as well as your partner. Don't forget to apply the same lessons you are encouraging her with -- forget the past and move on to something better. With as attitude like yours, you will be an asset in any league or association. Training new people is the most difficult and most important part of our job -- I mean your job since I am still in the new category -- and how you approach this task is the key to a strong association or league in the future.

[Tim Roden]

Thanks rainmaker, I am a closet teacher. Ok, I have done some teaching as an Adjuct instructor and as a teacher at a private school. There is an old chiche that says that the teacher learns more than the student. I know for a fact that is true. Stick around and stay close to the first year guy's and you will learn something every year.

A little followup. Today I worked a game with a man I worked with at camp. He did a terrible job at camp if I listened to the press I heard. But I used the lessons learned last weekend on him and we had a wonderful game.