Disheartened

[BktBallRef]

You should have went home the instance that other last official left.

Lesson learned.

[jdccpa]

Your first mistake was taking on a partner out of the crowd. You are usually better off working a game alone rather than with someone who is not qualified. When you are working alone you have the "sympathy" vote going for you. You lost that by taking on a partner.

Before the game tell both coaches that you are going to work the game from foul line to foul line opposite the table. Tell them that you need their help with OOB calls table side and if they disagree you are going to go with the arrow.

Warn the players before the jump ball that you may miss some fouls so you may be inclined to call the ones you do call as all intentional fouls.

Never go to what would normally be the lead position on the end lines; instead use long bounce passes to administer end line throw-ins.

Administer foul shots from the trail position.

Hustle.

[brokerrookie]

The guy that stepped in to help was actually helping with the tournament. I assumed that he could call since as soon as the other officials left, he said he would help. Big assumption that didn't work out on my part. The guy running the tournament was insistent that he officiate also. I guess he didn't want me to be mad about having to do it myself. Hindsight being that, I would have liked to call the last games myself. I think it would have created less headache. Life lesson learned. Also thanks for the replies, this is a great forum.

[Back In The Saddle]

Originally Posted by brokerrookie

The guy that stepped in to help was actually helping with the tournament. I assumed that he could call since as soon as the other officials left, he said he would help. Big assumption that didn't work out on my part. The guy running the tournament was insistent that he officiate also. I guess he didn't want me to be mad about having to do it myself. Hindsight being that, I would have liked to call the last games myself. I think it would have created less headache. Life lesson learned. Also thanks for the replies, this is a great forum.

There are lots of people who think they can referee. The stands are full of them. There are even some who have "refereed," sometimes quite a bit. But, as you learned, most of those people can't, and really haven't. Wearing a whistle does not make a person a referee any more than sleeping in the garage makes a person an automobile.

[jeffpea]

Here's the best advice that I can give you: BLOW THE WHISTLE.

The fewer the number of officials, the more whistles you should have.
You are absolutely going to miss calls in this game (fouls, violations, 2pt/3pt shots, etc). You and the game are much, much, much better served by blowing the whistle too much, rather than not enough.

You have to establish the "ground rules" for the game (what is a foul and what is not); you can only do that by blowing the whistle. The players and coaches will adjust. 99% of the block/charge plays should be called charges (keep guys from putting bulling their way to the basket and ruining your game).

So, whether alone or with a "guy from the crowd" - blow the whistle. Don't worry about primary/secondary - blow the whistle. At the first sign of problems between players or involving coaches - blow the whistle (T). Problems with fans - blow the whistle, stop the game, and have them removed.

As a friend of mine from "down south" says: "a short leash makes the dog walk straight!"

[deecee]

Originally Posted by jdccpa

Your first mistake was taking on a partner out of the crowd. You are usually better off working a game alone rather than with someone who is not qualified. When you are working alone you have the "sympathy" vote going for you. You lost that by taking on a partner.

Before the game tell both coaches that you are going to work the game from foul line to foul line opposite the table. Tell them that you need their help with OOB calls table side and if they disagree you are going to go with the arrow.

Warn the players before the jump ball that you may miss some fouls so you may be inclined to call the ones you do call as all intentional fouls.

Never go to what would normally be the lead position on the end lines; instead use long bounce passes to administer end line throw-ins.

Administer foul shots from the trail position.

Hustle.

jdccpa -- what the heck are you talking about? dont listen to his advice.

#1 Never rely on coaches to help you out during their game -- sometimes you will miss close OOB calls because you are on the other side of the court -- make it clear to the teams that they play the whistle -- also if you are not sure who it went off go to the arrow.

#2 Dont listen to this advice on the intentional fouls -- call what you see and just make it clear to the teams that you have a lot to cover so you will miss more than usual but as long as you hustle you will not have anyone complain that at least you are doing the best you are.

Listening to the advice above will save you from having coaches argue over an OOB call and just because you miss more now you start calling intentional fouls is ludicrous.

[Adam]

Another pileon response to jdccpa's post. You lose the sympathy vote by refusing a volunteer. Don't worry about the sympathy vote. Just tell the coaches that due to the circumstances, you'll be taking a lot less "advice" from the benches, and that you expect them to accept the fact that you're going to miss some calls.
Most of the time, they'll appreciate your candor and give you the freedom you need. If not, it may be a short game. Either way, you come out ahead.

[SMEngmann]

My idea of effective "1 man" is to hustle. Change sides of the court, move aggressively for angles, etc, it will get you a lot more points than the guy who goes 28 ft line to 28 ft line on the same side of the court. Second thing is that you don't need more whistles, you just need to get the obvious stuff. You can't be expected to get off ball stuff, but you sure as heck can be expected to get the stuff that the guy in the nosebleeds sees. If there's something that looks really bad but you aren't sure because of your angle, get that too depending on your game. Call the obvious, OOB the players will referee themselves 90% of the time on obvious OOB plays, and for the other 10% if you have no clue, check the arrow, most of the time nobody will have a problem because the call could've gone either way anyhow.

[stmaryrams]

Originally Posted by SMEngmann

My idea of effective "1 man" is to hustle. Change sides of the court, move aggressively for angles, etc, it will get you a lot more points than the guy who goes 28 ft line to 28 ft line on the same side of the court. Second thing is that you don't need more whistles, you just need to get the obvious stuff. You can't be expected to get off ball stuff, but you sure as heck can be expected to get the stuff that the guy in the nosebleeds sees. If there's something that looks really bad but you aren't sure because of your angle, get that too depending on your game. Call the obvious, OOB the players will referee themselves 90% of the time on obvious OOB plays, and for the other 10% if you have no clue, check the arrow, most of the time nobody will have a problem because the call could've gone either way anyhow.

I agree with most of what you have. I've ended up starting some games in JV as a single official and went C to C across from table as much as possible. I too told both benches that they needed to keep it in check as there would be things I would not see but I had no tolerance for stuff I did see.

Bottom line - two bad teams, bonus in first period as neither team could play defense without grabbing and clutching. Part way through the period I hear another whistle, one of the crew to do the varsity game had arrived early and came out to help. Game was still a train wreck of fouls. I even had one girl basically bear hug another girl at one point because she had no clue what she was doing.