WOW just finished 2 games today that I did all alone. First off I didn't hear of the games until 3pm when I got a phonecall as I was leaving school. I ran home got my stuff and was ready for tip off at 5:30. The first game was a 7th grade game and I did a pretty good job, and both coaches understood I was all alone. The second however was hell. It was an 8th grade game. Both coaches were former players. The away team blew the home team out, but the problem was with the away team. Home team understood my situation and didn't complain. Away team man the coach was on me from the beggining. After one of his players got tangled up he was all over me for the no call. he walked out onto the court infront of the table. I should have given him a T but with me being all alone I didnt want things to escalate. Well needless to say he didn't back down. (For those of you in the stl area the coach was the news channel 5 sports announcer Frank Cusumano.) What should I do to help keep things under controll when I am all alone.

NEVER take an assignment as the sole official... I don't care how much experience you have or how good you think you are...it WILL ALWAYS end badly.

try this
 

How about, "Hey coach, sorry I missed it, that's my partner's area."

"I've got another shirt in the bag if you really want to help me out."

"If you don't think you're hearing the whistle enough, you'll like it even less when I decide I've had enough for the night and leave."

Or better yet, early on, give him the stop sign, then TWEET, then TWEET TWEET! It'll get real peaceful like.

I disagree with Bad Zebra. It can be done, in the right sitch. That means, both coaches understand that you won't be able to call everything. Shoot, I've worked with partners that I know I'd have been better off doing the game alone!

Sorry i didn't specify but I was not notified that I was going to be all alone. Infact the gym monitor believed another official was comming. He just never showed

On top of making calls for plays that you can't possibly see, it sets a bad precedent...pretty soon the league thinks they can get by paying one young, gullible official for youth games.

True
 

While their may be some cheap league directors who would think that way, I'd be hard pressed to believe anyone would be foolish enough to make that switch. Except perhaps rec leagues, and. . . .wait for it. . . . the SEC!

None of the A.D.'s, coaches or league directors that I know would ever try to save money by having only one official on a game. Even the more ignorant ones know it's an impossible job.

That being said, there probably aren't many of us who haven't had to ref solo at least once in their careers. I think I had it happen a couple times... once for a JV boys game in my second year of officiating. I just told the coaches before the game, "guys, this is an impossible job. I'll do the best I can but I'm going to miss even more than I usually do." They laughed and were very understanding during the game. In fact, they never said boo.

Z

The only time I'm quick with a T is when I'm alone and a coach says ANYTHING derogatory to me. I will eject a coach fast in that situation even though I've never done it before and hope to never do it all.

Its going to escalate unless you do something. Most coaches will shut up after the first one, as jr. high coaches tend to get suspended if they get ejected.

I had to do a varsity girls game solo early this season - my partner's car broke down on the way & he called me 10 minutes before game time. I called our assigner & he tried to get one of the officials for to the boys game to follow to show up early, but traffic was bad enough he didn't make it until there was only 3 minutes left in the 4th......

They say that a call exists now and 5 minutes from now. But not calling it, you allowed it to esculate.

T him next time.

I looked and looked in the manual. Couldn't find the "1 man mechanics" section.

I liked the one reply "That was my partner's area".

One question. Did they give you both checks?

All kidding aside.

Good Job!

One for the road
 

"Hey, Mr. Cusumano, you look a lot smarter on TV than you do in real life!"

You had the right instinct (don't want things to escalate), but the wrong action (failing to T the coach in fact did allow things to escalate). Next time, dinging an unreasonable coach will *help* to keep things under control.

As has been said, we've all done games solo when a partner didn't show up. In my experience, those games have gone incredibly well. Everyone in the gym seems to understand that you're going to miss some things. Unfortunately, that thought never occurs to people when there are two or three officials rather than one....

Recently, two of us who were assigned to the varsity game showed up in the second quarter of the JV game to discover that the JV game had one official on it (the other one failed to show). We changed and joined the solo guy for the second half doing a 3-person crew. The solo guy enjoyed it (not much experience doing 3-man) and I think the coaches enjoyed it, too.

One of the advantages of doing a game solo is you never have to ask yourself "What was that whistle for????"