What should I work at next season?

[Texas Aggie]

My third year was my most productive, improvement wise, in officiating. By the end of the year, I was amazed at how much progress I had made prior to the end of the previous season. I no longer had any apprehension about any games (well, most any) and my mechanics were sharper than ever.

There are lots of little things you can work on, but I'd work hard on dealing with players and coaches. You've already proven by working 2 years you can handle criticism, even stupid criticism, so now work on actually appreciating it. Yes, by that I mean look forward to it. I LOVED working games where the crowd was big and really into it. I couldn't have cared less whether they were yelling at me or whether they were right (they never were). It used to give me a rush. But I had to make an attitude change to get there, and it started off as a concious effort. I'd recommend any young official adopt that attitude.

Get your mechanics in ship shape. Speaking of shape, make sure you are in ship shape. If you are in position, hustling, with good mechanics, and good rules knowledge (resulting with good calls on the court), you are now in good position for post season work and higher level work.