States & 2 man vs 3 man

[zebraman]

Originally posted by PA Official
How consistant can we be as officials if we are switching back and forth? Not in mechanics, because it shouldn't really take more than a handful of games to get the rotations down in 3 man, but in calling the game? I assume that more whistles are made in a 3 man game because more court is watched. This would drive me crazy if I were a coach, to play one style of ball all year long, reach the playoffs, and find another style of game.

Coaches always state they want consistancy in officials. It needs to be consistant across the season. Budget constraints or not, I think its only fair to go one way or the other the entire season.

You shouldn't necessarily have more whistles in 3-person, just better ones. I suppose you might have a couple more off-ball calls per game, but coaches should appreciate that rather than having them be missed (coaches don't like rough play right?). My experience with 3-person is that 99% of the time I see the whole play rather than just the end of something. You are calling what you see rather than the "educated guesses" we sometimes have to make in 2-person when we turn and pick up the very end of a play.

Here in Washington State, we are at the beginning of a three-year "trial period" of 3-person. State tournaments and district playoffs are 3-person. Regular season games are either 2-person or 3-person and it's a negotation between each local ref association and the schools they serve. With our schools, we ended up doing 3-person on pretty much every night (varsity games only) except for Friday nights when we just don't have enough officials to cover everything. During this trial period, the schools are basically getting 3 officials for the price of 2 so us officials are taking all the pain (we would have been happy with a compromise). You'd think the schools would love it.. and some do. But some of the schools are resisting like crazy. We officials aren't happy about taking the brunt, but it's an executive decision made by the WOA so we have no choice in the matter. We're going along with and having a great time doing 3-person and making the best of it.

4A Varsity regular-season rates (during the trial period):

2-person ($48.00 per official plus travel)
3-person ($33.00 per official plus travel)

Z

[stmaryrams]

Mid State League in Central OH is now putting in 3 whistle crews for selected frosh/JV doubleheaders to train future varsity officials. As a 3rd year official, I take every opportunity to learn that I can get.