I had a rec league game the other night.

Mid way through the fourth quarter I called a shooting foul on B1.

As I approached the table the coach, who was in his box and had not said a word to me or my partner all night, got up and (what I considered politely) asked why it was not a travel instead of a foul.

I quickly explained that the foul caused the travel.

He politely said "O.K."

In the meantime my partner was lining the players up to shoot.

As I approached the free-throw line to administer the first shot, I looked down and my partner was not there, he was the bench "preaching to the coach"

He spent a good 5 minutes, with ball in hand, explaining to the coach why coaches were not supposed to talk to referees in the manner he did (which once again I did not find offensive).

I tried to get him away from the bench, he would not.

I tried to get the ball so we could at least shoot the first, he would not give it.

After the game my partner approached me and stated "I'm glad to see that you stand up for yourself with the coaches."

Once again I felt I had done all that I needed to do.

Just thought I would see how you would have handled the situation.

Tell your partner that you don't need his help here, and that he should have let you deal with the coach.

I told him that I handled it the way I needed to handle it and he kinda puffed up and said well it's a good thing that he could fix it for me.

From your account of it, it sounds like you handled it exactly as you should have.

DOn't know what to tell you about your partner except that he has a different idea of acceptable communication between coaches and officials. If his comment was meant sarcastically then he is way off base and I probably would explain to him exactly what took place and ask that he not try to cover for me because I had it handled.

I worked some rec league ball toward the end of summer to keep myself in shape for the season. Working rec ball had the following effects on me:

1) Made my mechanics lazy

2) Made me wonder at least 3 or 4 times per game what my partner just called.

3) Made me call more T's on coaches and players than I probably ever have in 12 years of doing high school ball.

4) Made me wonder at least half a dozen times per game if my partner ever cracked open a rule book in his life.

5) Made me want to stop working rec ball.

With rec ball you get what you pay for. The vast majority of the officials work together all of the time and learn bad habits from one another and don't ever go through any kind of organized training. On the other hand, if you like to crack Dave-isms, it's definitely the place for you. :)

I use rec to fill my schedule between V games.

I enjoy working with the kids (it's the one place the parents and coaches appreciate you talking to their kids)

I does to a whopper on your mechanics if you do a lot between V games though.

Just tell him you had it under control. As far as tolerance level, mines pretty high, however if I'm working with a partner or partners who don't have a high one (although I'd be willing to be they've got a fairly high one, especially at the V level)--then I'm backing them up no matter how little the coach said or whatever that he got a T from my partner.

By the way...I'm getting ready to go do a 5/6th grade game to fill my time on Wednesdays! :) These are always interesting.

Good Luck!

[Edited by joseph2493 on Jan 12th, 2005 at 03:46 PM]

I have a gentlemen that I am sometimes (if assigned I'll work with him if I have a choice I won't) assigned to work with. Away from the court he's a very pleasant person. Sometimes on the court he does goofy things such as going into the stands talking to parents etc. I will do everything that I can to prevent this but if I can't I just stay away and let the chips fall where they may. Any anger or bad feelings are directed at my partner and not to me. I'm sure that you were taken by surprise if this should happen again stay away if possible let your partner take the heat.

joseph2493,
I woulda done what you did, but once my partner started talking to the coach I would have been with the players, ...away.
mick

Never went near the situation once it started.

Tried to signal from ...away

Agree with mick...as to your partner's comment about "fixing it for you", well, all you can do is sigh, shake your head, and walk away...if you work with him again, and he starts to do it again, just hit the whistle and say "Let's go partner, we got free throws to shoot"...

The key to rec ball is getting a decent partner. I work with another younger official, but we both do high school, so good knowledge of the rules and mechanics. We also tend to get on each other if we get start to get lazy/sloppy with the mechanics. For me, that's what makes rec ball a good learning experience and good to fill the schedule between games.

If you can always try and book your rec league games with a partner that you are comfortable with. This may be one guy or a number of guys. I do not know your experience level but working with different experienced partners can help you become a better official. I know last year when I started working rec ball the guy that puts the schedule together for officials seen that I really cared about getting better every time out. So he always seemed to put me with a partner that had alot of experience, and didn't mind answering a thousand questions from me about different situations that came up during our games. I know that this has made me a better official in a shorter amount of time than I would have just working with anyone.

IMHO the benefit of rec ball is it will prepare you for various situations. Things happen in rec ball that will not happen in a HS or college game. I would say use this situation to your advantage. I don't know if you told us the whole story but it seems to me that you might want to speak up a little more for yourself. This is a cut-throat business and your partner took some of your credibility. I would of at least told my partner that I had the situation under control and please don't do that in the future.