This time of year around here, a lot of high school programs make a little money by running weekend tournaments for middle school age teams. I worked some of this stuff this weekend (see "Parking Lot Punch"), at the hs where the girls team is expected to unseat our reigning local girls' basketball dynasty. My partner never showed, so the tournament director asked one of his players to ref with me. She's a sophomore who starts varsity on this really good team.

When he told me this is what he was going to do, and she went running off to find a shirt (which had a collar, by the way) and whistle, I was sitting there thinking, "okay, what do I tell a 15-year-old girl who isn't really interested in reffing but might be a good ally somewhere down the road?"

I finally settled on telling to to keep an angle between the ball-handler and the defender, and I'd handle all the off-ball stuff. I talked about A/D and what to no-call. It was very clear that the game would be a blow-out, so I suggested that we'd be pretty lenient on white, and if the blue coach complained, I'd talk to him.

I tossed. For about the first four minutes, she wasn't quite sure where she should be, and I was rehearsing how to tell her where to get to when she was new lead. But then she got the hang of it, kinda on her own. She switched sides when the ball was coming in there, she had some good no-calls, and she made an excellent PC call, without any help, except for me to show her the signal. She would move ball side when necessary, and she stepped in when whistling a held-ball. I didn't tell her any of that, she just did it on her own.

Second game was much closer, and we needed to be very attentive. Skill wasn't very high, but the intensity was. I talked to JJ about off-ball, and that I would need her to watch especially for illegal screens in and near the paint. She did great. Her instincts were good and she was really a help.

It was just a lot of fun, and she enjoyed it too. I told her, if she doesn't make it into the WNBA, that she could still stay in the game by reffing. I also told her I hoped she wins the tourney this year!

Good story.

Sometimes players will learn by just absorbing what is going on around them. Playing varsity as a sophmore makes me think that this young lady is a student of the game, so she probably does pick up on all the things going on during the game.

Which school Juulie?

Southridge. Player was JJ Hones.

Well, is she hooked? :)

Time will tell. She did enjoy it more than she expected to. But she's a star player with a lot of future. I expect that'll have to run its course first.

Working a Women's NAIA game last week.

Star player for the much superior team comes up to me during some free throws -- I had the foul and was table side trail -- and has a legitimate question about the call, she wanted to know what I saw. I told her, and also told her that we had a double whistle on the play so, one of my partners had seen it the way I did as well.

She then asks, "do you like what you do?" I said, "what officiating." She says yeah. I told her it's a blast. She then mentions she's been thinking about giving it a try when she finishes playing (she's a senior). I told her she'd never regret it and would get to stay a part of the game for as long as she wanted that way.

Odd conversation during a couple of free throws.

Thought so...I've got their JV again this Thursday - 3rd time this season, and have thoroughly enjoyed every one.

They've got a great program going. I don't know if you've seen their varsity girls play, but they're awesome - superb basic skills, great execution & balanced scoring. There's not much variation from #1 through #10 on the roster, and even #11 & #12 could start for any varsity program in the state, IMHO. Someone's done a great job of teaching them the underlying principles of the game.

The JV is similarly skilled - they could probably hold their own with most of the 4A varsity teams in the state.

I'll watch for her & pass on your cudos if I see her....

Hey Rainmaker...moved it back to this thread.

Yeah, that's the 3rd time I've had them this year.....

When I passed on your comments, JJ seemed pleased - got a nice thankyou & a smile. I then told her that I knew she was very talented, and had a lot of years playing left, but when the time came I hoped she would think about working the other side of the whistle, that we can always use people with her apparent natural ability & knowledge of the game.

I hung around to watch the varsity game, it was a real blowout - they beat Glencoe by 38 pts.