Aspiring Ref

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by truerookie

Good one, However, you did not give me that advice. I learned the hard way>

I guess that's where the expression "wet your whistle" came from.

[crazy voyager]

officials humor, quite special

welcome to the board and officiating Snipes

[cdaref]

*Try to find someone in your area who is an official.
*Find a mentor to help you. This was huge for me when I started.
*Your mentor or official friend will normally have last season's rule books that they can lend you so that you can study up.
*Spend some time with one of the books called the Officials Manual. That is real helpful for new officials.

The rule books for High School basketball come from your association who orders them through the NHFS. Their website is www.nfhs.org. Dont bother ordering the books right now. You will get them when you join your local association. And, as mentioned above, you can get older copies from vetran officials.

But when you do get the books spend some time with them. Learning the rules is key.

*Practice your signals. In the mirror. With a spouse/buddy. Seriously. The sooner you get comfortable with proper signals the easier everything will be. Have a buddy of yours call out the foul or violation. For instance he calls out "traveling." Then you have to go "tweet" and then do a stop clock signal, then a travel signal, etc. Or he says "shooting foul" and you go tweet, make the foul signal, then indicate what it is, etc. If it is a foul, after your "call" it, go "report" it, which is the process of inidicating to the scoring table what the foul is. I know this sounds totally dorky, but it is really helpful for newbies. It is the number one suggestion that I have.

Good luck!

[refhoops]

Many of the above suggestions are great, especially if you can find a mentor. I am fortunate that I have 3 or 4 mentors who have helped me along the way. As important as studying the rules and learning the proper mechanics and signals are the most important thing when you are beginning is working as many games as possible. Find a rec league, middle school league or CYO league in your area and work as much as possible. Theory and rules will take you only so far but but doing games regardless of the level will give you the experience you need. And finally, if at all possible have someone film you from the stands. Although watching the tape can be brutal I know it always helps me to see how I look on the court, my position and mechanics,etc.