Communication Skills to Coaches & Players.

[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.

[M&M Guy]

Luis - As you can see, even in this thread, communication skills are very important. In fact, usually a focus of my pre-games is the word "communication". If you look at most pre-games, it's all about how we communicate with partners, both verbally and non-verbally during a game, or how we communicate with our signals and our voices to the table, coaches, players, and fans. Who's got the last second shot? How do I know my partner now has their new primary on a rotation and I can now look off-ball to my new primary? How do I tell my partner(s) where the ball is to be put in play after a foul or violation? How do I tell my partners the coach has been warned? These things can be done through good, crisp signals, body language, or verbally, all forms of communication. Heck, the pre-game itself should be about good communication - everyone should be involved rather than one person lecturing to the rest of the crew.

Originally Posted by Offical99

I am honest with them and if they ask a question I give them the best answer I can. But I also like to talk to them and initiate the conversation. I like talking with the players. I want to let them know I am there. I find that words of encouragement to players on both teams, at both ends of the court, can really help a game and diffuse intense situations quickly.

Official99 - This is a great example of communication. I don't disagree with most of the things you've stated throughout the thread about talking to players. For example, getting in there on jump balls and scrums and using your voice to let them know you're there is a great habit to have. However, I would like to point out the part in red. That was one of the first items pointed out to you (attacked?) as not a good idea. Initiating a conversation with a player or coach, unless there is some overwhelming reason to do so, is not a good idea, especially if the reason is so they can see you're a good guy. That is what some of us were trying to point out. Maybe that wasn't your intent, but that is what you communicated in your first post.

The other issue most of us disagreed with was your comment about not fighting your partner's battles when they come to tell you they've warned a coach. Most of us feel we work as a crew, not as individuals, and we want to know if a partner has warned a coach if it's not obvious. You seem to feel differently, but instead of explaining why you feel that way, or having a conversation about the merits, you just dismiss it as attacking you. You will get a lot of information that isn't useful from this site, and a lot that is. The key for all of us is figuring out what is useful for us. Maybe you feel your skills have taken you a long way, but how do you know these suggestions won't take you further? Just something to think about.