Camp notes....

[zebraman]

Went to a camp in Eastern Washington over the weekend. Clinicians were D-1 refs and a couple FIBA studs from Canada who have officiated in the Olympics. The info taught was a combination of their experience plus information from out of the Washington Officials Association office (it's a certified camp). Some of this info is just review, but might be helpful to some.

In the past, the center official was taught to take a step up or down (optional) to get an angle on a drive to the hoop. Now they want one step up and one step in (on to the floor). Too many officials are getting straight-lined by stepping down. Stepping up and down helps you see that gap between the offensive player and the defender.

For the last couple of years, the lead official was told to back out to wide-angle on a drive from the C. Now they want the lead to "pinch the paint" (a new term to me) which means to take a couple steps backwards (more depth, like we used to do in two person) to help if the C can't get in position to see the entire play.

When transitioning to lead, they now want the lead official to do directly to close-down (they used to tell us to go to wide-angle first). They want the lead busting their butt to get to the close-down spot by the time the ball crosses halfcourt.

The trail is now working onto the floor more instead of hugging the sideline so much. Much more reffing "inside out" from the trail. Too many trails were getting straight-lined by staying along the sideline when the ball matchup was close to the sideline.

Ref the game that's in the gym you are in THAT NIGHT. A good block followed by significant contact is a foul at the high school level. It may not be a foul at the college level depending on which assignor you work for.

Once a player "gathers the ball," they have begun their shooting motion. Too many officials are not awarding free throws when they should.

A 3-person crew should never have to go to the AP arrow on an out-of-bounds situation. If an official needs and his first partner doesn't know who hit it, the second official darn well better have a direction.

8 games in 2 1/2 days. I'm not moving very fast this morning.

Z

[ChuckElias]

Originally Posted by zebraman

Now they want one step up and one step in (on to the floor).

"Trail mentality"

Now they want the lead to "pinch the paint"(a new term to me) which means to take a couple steps backwards (more depth, like we used to do in two person)

Maybe I'm not hearing you right, but this is not how "pinch the paint" is explained around here. Pinching the paint means stepping into the paint, not away from it. That's how it's used at camps on the east coast, anyway.

When transitioning to lead, they now want the lead official to do directly to close-down

The trail is now working onto the floor more instead of hugging the sideline so much. Much more reffing "inside out" from the trail.

Once a player "gathers the ball," they have begun their shooting motion.

Welcome to the NBA.

A 3-person crew should never have to go to the AP arrow on an out-of-bounds situation. If an official needs and his first partner doesn't know who hit it, the second official darn well better have a direction.

If you said "almost never", I'd go with you on this. But there's always that one-in-a-million time when nobody had a look. That's why the rule is there. Hopefully, you won't make it up just to avoid the arrow.

[zebraman]

Maybe I'm not hearing you right, but this is not how "pinch the paint" is explained around here. Pinching the paint means stepping into the paint, not away from it. That's how it's used at camps on the east coast, anyway.

You heard me right. They want us to take two steps back to get a wider view. I found it interesting. I tried it a few times and am not completely comfortable with it yet.


If you said "almost never", I'd go with you on this. But there's always that one-in-a-million time when nobody had a look. That's why the rule is there. Hopefully, you won't make it up just to avoid the arrow.

This wasn't necessarily my philosophy Chuck, I was just relating info from the camp and the D-1 clinicians. The philosophy was that it was better to have the third guy take a WAG then have the whole crew look like three blind mice.

Z

[Raymond]

• In the past, the center official was taught to take a step up or down (optional) to get an angle on a drive to the hoop. Now they want one step up and one step in (on to the floor).

This had always been my natural reaction in the Slot but last year at an SEC-flavored camp I got hammered for stepping away from the play. So this past season I worked on only stepping in or down, but not up. I'm going to a couple ACC-influenced camps this month, it'll be interesting to see their philosophy on this

• Now they want the lead to "pinch the paint" (a new term to me) which means to take a couple steps backwards (more depth, like we used to do in two person) to help if the C can't get in position to see the entire play.

I hear this a lot when around the SEC guys but in reference to drives coming down the middle of the court. On drives coming from the Slot, SEC observers want to know why the Lead didn't rotate in time

• When transitioning to lead, they now want the lead official to do directly to close-down (they used to tell us to go to wide-angle first). They want the lead busting their butt to get to the close-down spot by the time the ball crosses halfcourt.

Definitely something you have to do when working in front of those SEC-types. Last year I even heard the Big 12 Women's Supervisor say to come across right away, not even to wait for the trail to make it to half court. But I know not everyone is a big fan of that philosophy.

• A 3-person crew should never have to go to the AP arrow on an out-of-bounds situation. If an official needs and his first partner doesn't know who hit it, the second official darn well better have a direction.

Two of my good friends & mentors who are D1 officials both espouse this philosophy

I'm doing my only 2 out-of-town camps back-to-back over the next 10 days then I get to relax for the summer.

[Back In The Saddle]

Originally Posted by zebraman

Maybe I'm not hearing you right, but this is not how "pinch the paint" is explained around here. Pinching the paint means stepping into the paint, not away from it. That's how it's used at camps on the east coast, anyway.

You heard me right. They want us to take two steps back to get a wider view. I found it interesting. I tried it a few times and am not completely comfortable with it yet.


If you said "almost never", I'd go with you on this. But there's always that one-in-a-million time when nobody had a look. That's why the rule is there. Hopefully, you won't make it up just to avoid the arrow.

This wasn't necessarily my philosophy Chuck, I was just relating info from the camp and the D-1 clinicians. The philosophy was that it was better to have the third guy take a WAG then have the whole crew look like three blind mice.

Z

I heard quite a bit about "pinching the paint" in my camp this last weekend too. In this case, they were talking about taking a couple of steps into the paint. Of course, it would be good to be a couple of steps off the baseline when you do this to widen your view.

I agree with Chuck on the "almost never." I had this happen in one of my camp games. I'm at T and the ball comes squirting into my area along the floor. It came from C and I have no idea who touched it last. The ball goes OOB and I go to the C for help and am rewarded with a power shoulder shrug. L is unable to help as well. I have no choice but to go to the arrow. Now you can argue that the C should have known, and he should have. Some would argue that he should have guessed, but I've always felt that most people know which way it should go and to guess wrong makes it obvious that you're guessing and destroys credibility worse than going to the arrow. JMO

[IREFU2]

Originally Posted by zebraman

Went to a camp in Eastern Washington over the weekend. Clinicians were D-1 refs and a couple FIBA studs from Canada who have officiated in the Olympics. The info taught was a combination of their experience plus information from out of the Washington Officials Association office (it's a certified camp). Some of this info is just review, but might be helpful to some.

In the past, the center official was taught to take a step up or down (optional) to get an angle on a drive to the hoop. Now they want one step up and one step in (on to the floor). Too many officials are getting straight-lined by stepping down. Stepping up and down helps you see that gap between the offensive player and the defender.

For the last couple of years, the lead official was told to back out to wide-angle on a drive from the C. Now they want the lead to "pinch the paint" (a new term to me) which means to take a couple steps backwards (more depth, like we used to do in two person) to help if the C can't get in position to see the entire play.

When transitioning to lead, they now want the lead official to do directly to close-down (they used to tell us to go to wide-angle first). They want the lead busting their butt to get to the close-down spot by the time the ball crosses halfcourt.

The trail is now working onto the floor more instead of hugging the sideline so much. Much more reffing "inside out" from the trail. Too many trails were getting straight-lined by staying along the sideline when the ball matchup was close to the sideline.

Ref the game that's in the gym you are in THAT NIGHT. A good block followed by significant contact is a foul at the high school level. It may not be a foul at the college level depending on which assignor you work for.

Once a player "gathers the ball," they have begun their shooting motion. Too many officials are not awarding free throws when they should.

A 3-person crew should never have to go to the AP arrow on an out-of-bounds situation. If an official needs and his first partner doesn't know who hit it, the second official darn well better have a direction.

8 games in 2 1/2 days. I'm not moving very fast this morning.

Z

I have heard all of this also and it make sense. The "pinch the paint" is more of one foot into the paint to get a better look. As far as close down on transition, that is used if you have to make a quick rotation on the run. If the "C" has a match up you can run right over to the other side so he can stay at the new trail.

[refTN]

OCreferee nice meeting you. I hate we didn't get to work together and I hate theat I did not get to watch you work that much. I do know you made one great call for sure (you know which one I am talking about). Snake-eyes I enjoyed working with you as well. It was a great week and I just want to add so that everyone on the forum can hear this. Snake-eyes and ocreferee are both solid officials and anyone would be happy to have them on there floor.