Who:Truerookie
When: June 24-26 2005
Where: Jacksonvill, Illinois
Why:To become a Referee and not stay an Umpire

I attended my first camp this past weekend. I have to say it was a very positive experience for me. I have not work three person mechanics before. The name of the camp Midwest Referee School ran by Al Raya of the Midwest Conference. The clinicians were very patience with the campers they did not talk down to you they were hands on. I had the opportunity to do a few game with a couple of them. Yes! they were on the floor with the camper doing games. We had good wholesome classroom instructions between games. The instructions covered alot of things from game management to how to break game film down. Yes! you could film yourself. I did! My first game was a total disaster according to my standards however, I took what the clinicians evaluated me on throughout the day and worked on one thing per game and as the weekend progressed things got better. I have to say all the clinicians were on the same page. You did not get conflicting information from different clinicians which is a plus. We had some very well known D-1 official as clinicians who have done NCAA games a few of them had done the Final Four. I would recommend this camp to any persons interested in attending a Womens camp. The cost is reasonable and the food being served is OUTSTANDING!!!! That was my camp experience


P.S. We covered the new rule changes that will affect the NCAA Womens game. I would give this camp a few marketing pitch. Go to the Midwest Referee School the last weekend in June every year. I will attend again.

truerookie:

Glad to hear you had a good time. Since I was there as well, I would have to echo all of your sentiments. Al runs a great camp there every year. Sure, there are assignors there, but he also emphasises the teaching aspect of the camp. Beginners as well as veterens usually come away with something good.

So, did I work with you at some point? :)

I had my first camp as well. It was IIOC camp in Murfreesboro, TN and it was unbelieveable. It consisted of about 10 NBA officials. The instruction that we all received was unbelieveable. In classroom we would watch a DVD of plays that the NBA officials use for their own study.

John Guthrie, the supervisor of officials for the SEC was the frontman for this camp, and until this week I never understood how revolutionary he is. This man is all about getting the call right. He does not microdot (which means he does not sweat the small things) about such things as whether you announce your numbers with one or two hands, if you use a lanyard or not, and other things of that sort. He just wants you to be in the right spot so you can call the play correctly and wants you to call the play correctly.

I say this camp is not for the faint of heart. These are NBA officials instructing you and they of course are passionate about their work, so if they think you missed a call because you were out of position or you just missed a call they will let you know, if a coach is ripping into you and you don't handle it accordingly they will let you know. It has a very militarized feel to it. At almost every classroom we have to wear the same clothes, which I myself personally liked it gave the camp some uniformity which correlated straight to the playing floor with all of us making the same types of calls, etc.

I would advise anybody who gets invited to this camp to jump on it right away especially if you're in the 18 to 26 range. The knowledge that these guys have is just astonishing. I thought I had a chance to make it to the NBA, but after these guys teaching us what they know I honestly don't think I have the brain capacity to know all they have to and do know.

UNBELIEVEABLE CAMP!!!!!!

Nice Post Ben !

IIOC in Murfreesboro is a great camp. I encourage all officials who are invited to go.

I do not know what was your roster number. I was B3 one of two who came up from Missouri. The bald one!!

Mine was A4, so our paths probably didn't cross too often except to and from the classroom and cafeteria. Glad to hear you had a good experience.

As far as picking you out as the bald one, I think that covers 1/3 of the people there. That's like saying your name was Mike or Jim. ;)

I was the one with the cheese and crackers in my pocket. Which, by the way - for those who were anxiously awaiting for how that experiment turned out - don't do it. By the third day in that heat the cheese was overripe.

M&M there were only two people who came up from Missouri. Roderick

I also attended Al Raya's camp this past weekend. I have attended this camp for the past 5 years and besides always learning a thing or two we always have fun. Roderick, this is Mike from Milwaukee.....glad to hear you had a good time..hope to see you next year!! have a great season! I was A15

Roderick and Mike - good to put a face to the user names. Hope you guys both had safe rides back. My drive was only two hours, but I was just a touch tired after staying until 4:00 yesterday. (Ok, I lied - I was wiped out.)

In spite of what JR thinks, the blond roots on my red hair mean nothing.

Jim

???? Southern Mississippi for the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (NAIA)/Mississippi Junior colleges 6/24-26. My first college camp. It was a really positive experience. Bob Collins, super for GCAC and Southland, heads the camp. Clinicians included Mark Whitehead, Mike Thibodeaux and Pat Adams. The best instruction for me though came from the lower level D-I officials who were clinicians. Jake Delaware comes to mind. I'm really looking forward to incorporating all of the ideas and concepts into my game.

And we all hope you did not cut it.

It's funny you should mention that. There was one time, early on Sunday morning, I was coming down to lead to administer a couple of FT's. As the girls were starting to line up, some of them were laughing, and a couple of them were holding their uniforms over their noses. As I got to my spot, I realized why. It was strong enough that I thought I saw a slight haze in the air. If I would've stayed in one spot too long, I'm sure my eyes would've started watering. I asked if one of them had eaten some dead animal for breakfast. By then, all of them were laughing and we had to hold up a moment to get serious. After all, this is a serious game, right?

I suppose you could have T'd them up for pulling up their uniforms in disgust. ;)

Nope,the call has to be a fragrant foul.

I grew up in Hattiesburg. USM, class of '70. Dang! That means I'm old!