Shoulder Push

[Smitty]

You're welcome. One other thing. Everyone here started out as a new official once and fought through the same issues as you do. It took me years to understand the concept of advantage/disadvantage. Back in the day I was starting out, I didn't have the internet to get great advice like this site offers. All I had was the book and the other refs in my association, who sometimes gave me conflicting information. I had to figure it all out on my own. It took years. You now have all these great tools to help you become better faster. This site is outstanding for clarifying those details that are fuzzy in the book. You still may find that even the most experienced guys disagree, but you end up with so much more information to come to your own conclusions.

I think it's safe to say that most basketball officials were basketball players before we started to officiate the game. I never realized how little I knew about the rules until I started reffing. It's great that you have the mindset of a player, but you have to look at situations from a different perspective now. It sounds like you have a grasp of advantage/disadvantage. Just be open to constructive criticism and don't take things so personally here. If everyone left this site because someone else pissed them off, there would be no one left. The pissing contests are half the fun...