New Referee Here

[Junker]

I would also add go out and work as much as possible. There is no substitute for experience. You'll work with good officials that you can learn from, and you'll work with other officials that will show you what you don't want to do. As far as a rough week, that was last week. Shake it off. One hint I picked up at a camp for after a rough week is to break the game down into segments. Work on focusing hard for small periods of time, for example, when I'm kind of out of it, I'll tell myself to suck it up and work the best 2 minutes of the season until the next time out, dead ball, etc. Also, rough weeks happen to all of us. I seem to have about one a year where things just don't go well. It's part of life. The best thing you can do is learn from any mistakes you made and move on.

[Kostja]

Hi, even though I don't ref in the States I can relate to your situation very well. I started refereeing when I was 17, that makes it 10 years now. And I started to work games on the highest level (professional league) here in my country, this year.

What can you do to get better? To repeat what others already told you, work as many games as possible! Ask someone to be your mentor, maybe he won't have enough time to ref many games with you, but you'll need somebody to talk about the things you experience on the court (this forum is a great place to do that, too). Keep a game log, write down 3 things to focus on, before every game, rate yourself after the game, what did you do well and where could you improve.

Points of emphasis for your first years will be mechanics (how to get into a good position), call selection (what needs to be called and what is just an unnecessary interrution of the flow of the game), selling your calls (signals and body language). Practice on the court and get yourself videotaped by a friend or family member. Practice in front of a mirror (what looks good and what doesn't). Talk to as many referees as you can, you can draw on their experience. Watch as much basketball as you can, and watch the referees. AZ_Ref said steal something from everybody who you see refereeing. he is right about that! Officiating is like a large buffet. You can take/try everything you see, but you'll stick to the things you liked (worked for you and your personality).

[BadCallTallKid]

I'm 25 and have finished my third year of officiating and my first in college basketball. The thing that has helped me the most is having my ears open and my mouth shut. Listen to people who are where you want to be. Be a sponge. Go to as many camps as you can afford and have time for and just be around people who are good solid officials who can offer you good evalutions of your games. And try to get on film as much as possible, it's amazing what you pick up after seeing yourself on film.

[BktBallRef]

Learn the rules. I can guarantee you that you don't know them. Get a rule book and a case book. Ask questions about situations that arise in your games on this board. Also, read other discussion about rules, situations, screnarios. Ignore the bull**** posts.