Communication Skills to Coaches & Players.

[ChrisSportsFan]

Originally Posted by Official99

One last point I want to mention, why do we have this thing where officials walk over to their partners and tell them "this coach has been warned"? You fight your own battles and I will fight mine. Just because you have a problem with this coach doesn't mean I should too, and if he was warned by you, he wasn't by me. I understand that we should be "uniform" but not in this case. If you want to T the coach up, then go ahead and do it, but don't expect me to T the coach up because the first thing I heard him say based on you telling me he was "warned". Fight your own battles when it comes to coaches!

99, I was with you on everything you posted up until this
We are a crew and if I let you know a coach has been warned then I should be able to count on your support. First of all, I'm not coming all the way over to you to let you know this. (S)he's going to know I let my partners know (s)he's been warned. You may not know why at that time but you'd better have my back or we've got problems. Possibly, coach is attempting a divide and conquer and I'm letting em know we ain't going there tonight. Maybe they've been questioning/complaining about YOUR calls. If I warn em for that and then you don't support.....you see what I'm saying?

[JRutledge]

Communicating with coaches and players are a personal endeavor. Not all of us are going to handle situations the same, and all of us are not going to use the same tactics and they will work. I know guys that talk all the time and that works for them. I know guys that say nothing and that works equally as well. Also game situation and the types of coaches and players you deal with can change from game to game and you might have to handle those situations differently based on what you are faced at that specific time.

Peace

[Ref Daddy]

Think differently about communication if its a dead ball/ Live ball situation.

Good: Quick, clear personal info to player or coach during a break.
Bad: any dialoge with a player or coach while running down the court.

Recall your team captains. Make a point to talk to them as you expressed during pre-game that you would.

Don't avoid a coach, listen, nod and accept their constructive comments or criticism's. During Free throws the NFHS is putting you right on top of them for a reason.

Don't show emotion. Players and coachs are emotional and in a competitive situation. Inform and answer. Don't discuss and debate.

[icallfouls]

Alright, upon further reflection.

I think that we all agree that communication is a very integral part of officiating. We all must find what works for us and recognize that not every situation is the same. I have been involved in games where I have been asked by a player about a particular call and a coach has said "don't talk to the referees," or "don't talk to my players." Some coaches just don't want us to make comments to them because they don't want the added distraction, they prefer to just make their comments that aren't really directed at the officials. As officials we need to be aware of things like this.

Pertaining to the comment about warnings, I just have to say that we will disagree on this point. Communicating with partners about such things can help. What you choose to do with this information is your business.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by icallfouls

Alright, upon further reflection.

I think that we all agree that communication is a very integral part of officiating. We all must find what works for us and recognize that not every situation is the same. I have been involved in games where I have been asked by a player about a particular call and a coach has said "don't talk to the referees," or "don't talk to my players." Some coaches just don't want us to make comments to them because they don't want the added distraction, they prefer to just make their comments that aren't really directed at the officials. As officials we need to be aware of things like this.

A coach cannot dictate if and when you talk to his/her players. The coach might not like it, but if I am talking to players there is a reason. I also want to cover my behind when I make a call that I have likely warned a player or made him/her aware that their actions might result in a foul or violation. I have had coaches not want the officials to talk to their players, but I still have a job to do.

Peace

[Official99]

Originally Posted by ChrisSportsFan

99, I was with you on everything you posted up until this
We are a crew and if I let you know a coach has been warned then I should be able to count on your support. First of all, I'm not coming all the way over to you to let you know this. (S)he's going to know I let my partners know (s)he's been warned. You may not know why at that time but you'd better have my back or we've got problems. Possibly, coach is attempting a divide and conquer and I'm letting em know we ain't going there tonight. Maybe they've been questioning/complaining about YOUR calls. If I warn em for that and then you don't support.....you see what I'm saying?

Chris, I appreciate your comments, especially with your attempt to make sure I know where you are coming from, rather than just attacking like most other people on this site. Thankfully, half of these guys I will never meet, nor do I ever want to meet.

I can understand where many people would disagree with me on this point. I am a team player, I believe of the importance of having a team working together to ensure a good game. You are very rarely going to see a D1 referee fight someone else's battle. If a coach is talking to me about your call that happened 4 minutes ago, and you warned him... sure I will take that into consideration. But, if the coach is talking to me about a call I just made, that just occurred, I could careless about the warning you issued to him.

Some people will never understand my philosophy on this, but it works for me and I don't go around handing out T's left and right. There are a lot of D1 officials who have this same understanding and it works in the big leauges.

Thanks again Chris. I hope you understand what I am trying to say.

[zebraman]

Originally Posted by Official99

I can understand where many people would disagree with me on this point. I am a team player, I believe of the importance of having a team working together to ensure a good game. You are very rarely going to see a D1 referee fight someone else's battle. If a coach is talking to me about your call that happened 4 minutes ago, and you warned him... sure I will take that into consideration. But, if the coach is talking to me about a call I just made, that just occurred, I could careless about the warning you issued to him. Some people will never understand my philosophy on this, but it works for me and I don't go around handing out T's left and right. There are a lot of D1 officials who have this same understanding and it works in the big leauges.

I just completely disagree with your first post where you indicated that you don't want a partner telling you when they've warned a coach. Don't we want to have as much information about what is going on in the game as possible?

When a partner tells me that he has warned a coach, that doesn't mean I'm going to go whack the coach if he says another word. It means that the coach has been giving my partner some trouble and I'd like to help alleviate that if possible. With the additional information that my partner just gave me, I might rotate a little different to keep myself in front of that coach for a while. Maybe that will give the coach a chance to get his act together and nothing further will happen.

I'm not going to "fight my partners battle," but I do think it's good info to know that a coach has been on my partner so much that it has warranted a warning.

I've always thought that a "partner protect" technical foul is the best kind (if it came to that) anyway. If I know that the coach is all over my partner, I will start watching that interaction more closely. If a T is warranted later, it sometimes looks less confrontational if it comes from one of the refs who wasn't taking the majority of the heat from the coach.

As far as your Lute Olsen comment, I can only respond with an icon on that one.

Z

[blindmanwalking]

Originally Posted by zebraman

I just completely disagree with your first post where you indicated that you don't want a partner telling you when they've warned a coach. Don't we want to have as much information about what is going on in the game as possible?

When a partner tells me that he has warned a coach, that doesn't mean I'm going to go whack the coach if he says another word. It means that the coach has been giving my partner some trouble and I'd like to help alleviate that if possible. With the additional information that my partner just gave me, I might rotate a little different to keep myself in front of that coach for a while. Maybe that will give the coach a chance to get his act together and nothing further will happen.

I'm not going to "fight my partners battle," but I do think it's good info to know that a coach has been on my partner so much that it has warranted a warning.

I've always thought that a "partner protect" technical foul is the best kind (if it came to that) anyway. If I know that the coach is all over my partner, I will start watching that interaction more closely. If a T is warranted later, it sometimes looks less confrontational if it comes from one of the refs who wasn't taking the majority of the heat from the coach.

As far as your Lute Olsen comment, I can only respond with an icon on that one.

Z

I'm in total agreement with this post. I've worked with guys before that would not give me any help after I had warned a coach. I had to take care of business. They chose not to back me up. I really don't care to work with them anymore.

[Official99]

Originally Posted by zebraman

As far as your Lute Olsen comment, I can only respond with an icon on that one.

Z

You can take my comment about Lute Olsen however you want you. The intent wasn't to brag about the games, but to show that I am not some idiot and I've worked hard to get there (even though you may think differently).

I have read far more of these posts then I reply. I never like to post here because there is a core group of you who always attack everyone. If the "outsiders" don't say it the way this core group of people would say it then watch out. I came here to learn some new ideas from fellow officials, and I find all I am doing is defending the way I referee, a way that I have found works and has worked for me for many years.

To those of you who show a valid interest in holding a true conversation, thank you. For everyone else...

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by Official99

You can take my comment about Lute Olsen however you want you. The intent wasn't to brag about the games, but to show that I am not some idiot and I've worked hard to get there (even though you may think differently).

Get where?

[blindmanwalking]

99, Your comment about calling games in front of Lute Olsen could mean you called a pee wee tournament where his grandkid was playing. If your going to drop a name like that in here, you might want to be a little more specific. Did you work an Arizona game? And as you can tell by my number of posts, I'm not one of the "core group" that you are refering to.

[Dan_ref]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

Get where?

Can't you read?

Get to call a HS exposure game in front of Lute Olsen...I wonder how much he paid for the camp?

[Luis]

Hey guys, please do not debate here or something, I don't hope to see that and I'm upset about this. So let's just raise our own comments about COMMUNICATION SKILLS with Players & Coaches. I really appreciate your comments since I learned a lot from you guys, thanks again.