My First Game

[Chess Ref]

I agree with rainmaker. I had my wife tape me several times last year and WOW . What and how I thought i was doing versus the reality was night and day. Biggest area I caught, early in the season, was rushing through the part of letting my partner know what I had called and where the ball should be thrown in. So I was able to slow down and get it right.

I am in my 2nd year now and will be taped about once every 10 days to just keep checking myself for procedures and mechanics. To chalk up some brownie points tape a Vet and give them a copy. They really just can't get enough of themselves. LOL

[Camron Rust]

The times I've chosen to interact with fans, it has always worked out for the better. I rarely do it but you can tell when a word or two will improve the situation. There was a group of boys in the stands at a game I did last year that were trying to get to us. After a bit, I said something to them and the tone of their comments changed from getting more crude and vicious to more funny and lighthearted. It can work for you if you pick your times and approach carefully. Of course, a majority of the time, it's best to just ignore them.

[cdaref]

I am so jealous. We dont start for a few more weeks. Oh man, I cant wait for the season to get here.

[SMEngmann]

Although I wasn't there, I'd venture to make an educated guess that the hostile fan behavior was directly related to the behavior of the coach. Allow too much rope, and there are many ways to get hanged. Fans take their cues from the coach, if he's ranting, raving and berating, chances are his fans will feel and act based on his reactions, regardless of the activity on the court. Same with players. In a situation with a hostile coach, particularly in a sub varsity game, someone's gotta deal with him either through communication, or a technical foul if it persists. A lot of JV coaches emulate what they see on TV and will push the envelope as far as they can. Too many officials are unwilling to deal with them when they get out of line and that just causes problems in their games and throughout the season. I'm not saying look to T, just enforce the rules and do what you can to control the game. You have a hard enough time controlling one coach, let alone trying to deal with fans too.

[Rizzo21]

Originally posted by Dan_ref

And now you know why you need to always ignore all the fans.

I understand how all this could backfire, however, I found that this situation was overall a positive one. I enjoyed the brief interaction with those who smiled and even with the irate lady. I've been in the stands before and know what it feels like when you think you know it all. Then you become an actual referee and discover that you don't know half as much as you thought plus the angles are different.

[Rizzo21]

Originally posted by SMEngmann
Although I wasn't there, I'd venture to make an educated guess that the hostile fan behavior was directly related to the behavior of the coach. Allow too much rope, and there are many ways to get hanged. Fans take their cues from the coach, if he's ranting, raving and berating, chances are his fans will feel and act based on his reactions, regardless of the activity on the court. Same with players. In a situation with a hostile coach, particularly in a sub varsity game, someone's gotta deal with him either through communication, or a technical foul if it persists. A lot of JV coaches emulate what they see on TV and will push the envelope as far as they can. Too many officials are unwilling to deal with them when they get out of line and that just causes problems in their games and throughout the season. I'm not saying look to T, just enforce the rules and do what you can to control the game. You have a hard enough time controlling one coach, let alone trying to deal with fans too.

You are dead on with that. As a spectator, I did the same thing (watch the coach's reaction). My very next game was with this team/coach but we knew it was going to be a blowout (by this team). My partner was experienced and usually did varsity games (this was Freshman) and communicated with that coach before the game about the type of game we were going to call (EXTREME advantage/disadvantage only). He had no problem with that and the game was a blowout as expected. It was no fun at all to do this game when one team was so bad but at least he never said a word or argued with anything.