What Should You Do About Bad Officiating

[26 Year Gap]

Same Coach: Man. Where did you get these officials? Couldn't you find any good ones?

Tournament Director: No. We had some a-hole of a coach trying to dictate who would and would not officiate his games and the good officials decided they would not come to this tournament anymore because of it. Hey! Wait a minute! I know you! YOU'RE THE A-HOLE!

[Back In The Saddle]

Officiating, like so many aspects of life in our modern world, comes down to who is willing to step up and do it. We can all sit on the sidelines and complain, and that's all that almost every one of us, speaking for society as a whole, does. "Somebody should fix this." "Somebody should be punished for this." Blah, blah, freakin' blah.

You want to change officiating at summer AAU tournaments, grab a whilstle and a striped shirt. Put your knowledge and experience with the game to work to make it better for the kids. If you do, you'll discover a few things pretty quickly:

1. You're not very good at it. In fact, you suck. It's a hard job that requires quite a bit of time in the saddle to get good at. Too much happens too fast and you don't have time to think about whether to blow the whistle. You have to know what to watch for, and where to watch for it, before it happens. Then you have to let instinct put air in the whistle for you. Oh, and then, once you've blown the whistle and everybody is staring at you, you gotta know what to do next. Some fun, eh?
2. Everybody hates you all the time. Okay, that's an exageration. But you'll quickly discover that from your vantage point you can see stuff that the jackass in the third row (which incidently is where you used to sit) can't see. Or won't see. Or couldn't care less about because all he really wants is a cheap and easy break for his kid. And that jackass has no qualms about questioning your judgement, intelligence, geneology, blood alcohol level, eyesight, competence or anything else he's "clever" enough to come up with to try and influence you.
3. The rules of basketball are NOT what you think they are. Sure, everybody played ball as a kid and everybody knows the rules. Sorry, wrong! Coaches, players, fans don't know they rules. Honestly, try it out and see if I'm wrong.
4. You're going to need to put in some serious time, and get some qualified help, to get good. And, by the way, that serious time I mentioned, happens at summer AAU ball. It's where officials go to get practice, and this may shock and offend you, because the games don't matter and it doesn't matter if you screw up. Every coach, player, and referee there is there for one, and only one reason, to screw up as much as possible and then to learn from it. Those that do learn, move up. Those that don't, stay right there. Blaming the refs is a clear indication of an inability or unwillingness to learn.
5. As you get better, you'll get better opportunities. As you get better opportunities, and get established as an official in your area, you'll get even more and better opportunities. Eventually you'll want to give up working summer ball. And that's okay. Leave it for the new guys to practice on.

Bottom line, if you really want to make the officiating better, then grab a whistle and go do it better than the guys you've been getting! But be prepared for a few uncomfortable surprises along the way. Let us know how it goes; we really will be willing to help you.

[Texas Aggie]

You're going to have to give examples here of this so-called "bad" officiating. The only examples I see are the guy being late and a delay of game call (that while I need more information to make a determination, doesn't sound like it was horribly wrong). As far as the guy being late, are you SURE it wasn't someone who was called at the last minute? Was this an early game where the assignor may have told the league that he couldn't guarantee someone would be there on time due to travel and/or work schedules? I'm not saying its a good practice to be late, but unless you know all the facts, you need to reserve judgment.

When we hear things like officials not "enforce(ing) the written rules of the game," what we are really hearing is "I wanted them to call more fouls/violations on the other team and fewer on my team." Again, without examples, its hard to take this rant seriously.

So, you want to know what you can do to correct it? Easy: grab a whistle and striped shirt and show everyone how things should be done.

[Man In Blue]

Originally Posted by Texas Aggie

You're going to have to give examples here of this so-called "bad" officiating. The only examples I see are the guy being late and a delay of game call (that while I need more information to make a determination, doesn't sound like it was horribly wrong). As far as the guy being late, are you SURE it wasn't someone who was called at the last minute? Was this an early game where the assignor may have told the league that he couldn't guarantee someone would be there on time due to travel and/or work schedules? I'm not saying its a good practice to be late, but unless you know all the facts, you need to reserve judgment

When we hear things like officials not "enforce(ing) the written rules of the game," what we are really hearing is "I wanted them to call more fouls/violations on the other team and fewer on my team." Again, without examples, its hard to take this rant seriously.

So, you want to know what you can do to correct it? Easy: grab a whistle and striped shirt and show everyone how things should be done.

When I first started I worked every game I could get. Many were "over my head". That's how you learn. The younger the players the more likely the officials are less experenced. Just like the players- the officials are learning.

Now there is no way I will put up with the abuse of AAU. I've paid my dues and maid my mistakes and learned from them.

[ChuckElias]

Originally Posted by Man In Blue

I've paid my dues and maid my mistakes.

You get maid service with your association dues? That's awesome!

[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by ChuckElias

You get maid service with your association dues? That's awesome!

Man In Blue, meet Mr. Annoying Pain-In-The-Azz Grammar Guy.

Mr. Annoying Pain-In-The-Azz Grammar Guy, meet Man In Blue.

(I've always admired Ms. Manners.)

[26 Year Gap]

Originally Posted by ChuckElias

You get maid service with your association dues? That's awesome!

Got it wrong, Chuck. He makes no reference to a third party being the maid.

[Jimgolf]

Originally Posted by Texas Aggie

The only examples I see are the guy being late and a delay of game call (that while I need more information to make a determination, doesn't sound like it was horribly wrong).

I think the point there was the irony of an official who was a half hour late calling a delay of game T.

[REFVA]

Has anyone heard or seen smurf since his post?

[SamIAm]

Just when you thought Gargamel was useless.

[26 Year Gap]

Originally Posted by REFVA

Has anyone heard or seen smurf since his post?

Just pm the guy and tell him to come back and gain knowledge.

[rainmaker]

Originally Posted by smurf

Seriously Folks,

The officiating where I live has gotten to the point where it's really, really bad. Is there anything a parent/coach can do about it or do we just have to learn to tolerate it?
What can coaches, parents, and fans do about it? What is the right approach?

Seriously, smurf, I'm glad you asked, because it gives me a chance to give my little lecture, and believe that someone might actually hear it and pay attention to it.

"As long as you blame the refs, your players aren't going to get any better." That's the whole story. If your refs are calling a travel sometimes after the first step, sometimes after the second, then don't ever take that second step. If your players are to be good players, they need to be able to adjust. This means that they can change their play to be able to handle different kinds of teams, and different kinds of plays, and thus different kinds of refs. But if you keep saying to your child that the refs were lousy, your child won't see the things she needs to work on, because she'll be too busy feeling sorry for herself.

The teams that I work with that are really good, end up in the state tournaments, put players into college scholarships (and I"m talking about not only high school teams, but also the classics middle school teams) have coaches that may or may not work the refs, but they don't let their players use that as an excuse. Even if they get lousy refs (and you know they do, since I said I've worked with them!) and they're yelling at the refs, they still tell the players what to fix and what to change. In fact, the best coaches I've worked with say things like,

"Yes, that was a travel, Ashley, and you've been doing it all season"
"Even if you didn't actually foul, you weren't supposed to be there."
"That was a great play, and it was also a foul."

I've even heard,

"So the ref doesn't know the travelling rule for that one situation. Then DON"T DO IT ANYMORE!!" Meaning, yea the ref was wrong, but you are even wronger to keep doing it.

As a parent, you need to focus on your kid's attitude, effort, improvement, and perspective. Those are all things you can have a direct influence on, and they don't require harsh words or angry confrontations.

[kiwiref]

Dear Smurf
I am writing this although I suspect that your post was made just to went some steam, rather than to discuss an issue.
Given that many before me have offered valuable and valid advice, I will offer a slightly different view of things.
Your first option is simply to move to another area! Move somewhere where refs are doing a much better job. If at first you fail, keep moving until you find a place where the referees are doing their job the way you approve of. I have no idea where that may be, but good luck searching.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by kiwiref

Dear Smurf
I am writing this although I suspect that your post was made just to went some steam, rather than to discuss an issue.
Given that many before me have offered valuable and valid advice, I will offer a slightly different view of things.
Your first option is simply to move to another area! Move somewhere where refs are doing a much better job. If at first you fail, keep moving until you find a place where the referees are doing their job the way you approve of. I have no idea where that may be, but good luck searching.

LOL.....great advice for all fanboys....as long as they don't move anywhere near me.

[kiwiref]

I heard rumours that Siberia is a good place to start. I know, a bit cold there, and the nearest high school is like, 800 miles away, but you must start somewhere...