Newbie questions

[euby]

I've been lurking here for awhile and decided to jump in.

First a little about myself. I am a fairly old fart at 44 years old. I played Varsity HS ball and then did a couple tours in the Marines. I started coaching AAU for the little ones in 1993 and continued until a couple years ago. I gave that up to focus on Admin of our local league of which I am the President for the past 4 years (about 700 kids). So I have been around the block a few times and saw how the officials were at the youth level but I am the type of person who either "puts up or shuts up" so I started officiating little league in-house games last year and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. Anyway I figure if your going to do something...do it right so I joined our local officals association and will be starting classes here in a couple weeks leading up to the exam at the first of October. I have bought the rule book, case book, and handbook and read thru them.

Now my questions...FINALLY

What was the hardest transition to make during your first year?

As a newbie what should be my primary focus be on... rules, mechanics, networking, conditioning?

What should I avoid while dealing with AD's, coaches, other officials?

Anything else?

Thanks for any response and I'm sure I'll be bugging you all for awhile!

Steve Eubanks

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by euby

Now my questions...FINALLY

What was the hardest transition to make during your first year?

I am assuming you mean "transition" from a house league to HS officiating. In one word "EVERYTHING." I bet your experience is going to be totally different than what you are used to.

Originally Posted by euby

As a newbie what should be my primary focus be on... rules, mechanics, networking, conditioning?

Everything. Being a good official cannot be broken down into one or two areas. You need to learn the rules but that is going to come with time. There are veterans that have to keep up on their rules knowledge because they have not seen over the course of their career. You cannot be a good official if you are not in position to make calls. So you cannot just focus on one aspect of the game and hope to get better from there.

Originally Posted by euby

What should I avoid while dealing with AD's, coaches, other officials?

Not sure I understand the question clearly. Go out and work games. Be willing to learn and listen. Seek out advice. Throw out what does not work and apply what works.

Originally Posted by euby

Anything else?

Unless you have something very specific, there is not much else for me to say at this point. All I can say is officiating is not easy but can be a lot of fun. Set specific goals (HS, college) and be realistic about those goals. Work hard and you might just achieve most of them.

Peace

[zebraman]

Originally Posted by euby

Anyway I figure if your going to do something...do it right so I joined our local officals association and will be starting classes here in a couple weeks leading up to the exam at the first of October. I have bought the rule book, case book, and handbook and read thru them.

Excellent. Our local group has had a lot of success with ex-coaches who leave the dark side and start officiating.

What was the hardest transition to make during your first year?

To stop watching the ball and trust my partners.

As a newbie what should be my primary focus be on... rules, mechanics, networking, conditioning?

Everything. Take in as much as you can without getting overwhelmed.

What should I avoid while dealing with AD's, coaches, other officials?

Just treat everyone with respect and expect them to do the same. Having been a coach, you have a headstart on dealing with coaches.

Anything else?

Welcome and good luck. I hope you come to love officiating as much as I do.

Z

[Dan_ref]

Originally Posted by euby

I've been lurking here for awhile and decided to jump in.

First a little about myself. I am a fairly old fart at 44 years old. I played Varsity HS ball and then did a couple tours in the Marines. I started coaching AAU for the little ones in 1993 and continued until a couple years ago. I gave that up to focus on Admin of our local league of which I am the President for the past 4 years (about 700 kids). So I have been around the block a few times and saw how the officials were at the youth level but I am the type of person who either "puts up or shuts up" so I started officiating little league in-house games last year and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. Anyway I figure if your going to do something...do it right so I joined our local officals association and will be starting classes here in a couple weeks leading up to the exam at the first of October. I have bought the rule book, case book, and handbook and read thru them.

Now my questions...FINALLY

What was the hardest transition to make during your first year?

As a newbie what should be my primary focus be on... rules, mechanics, networking, conditioning?

What should I avoid while dealing with AD's, coaches, other officials?

Anything else?

Thanks for any response and I'm sure I'll be bugging you all for awhile!

Steve Eubanks

1. Moving from participant's mentality to official's mentality.

2. Yes.

Networking is often overlooked by the new guys. Get your name around, you'll be getting calls to work soon soon enough. You'll need lots of games to get all the bad whistles out of you.

3. As a newbie? Avoid the need to explain yourself to coaches & fans, but do be approachable. Develop a thick skin but dont take crap from the coaches or players. Ignore the fans. Ask lots of questions of other officials. Start to catalog plays in you mind, a lot of what you'll see through official's eyes will be new and you'll be expected to react very quickly. Train yourself now to think thru each play before a whistle, if you can. Make sure you keep good books, you will want to get paid for your games.

4. Have fun!

[ChuckElias]

Steve, that's quite a background. You've already got a pretty wide area of experience when it comes to basketball. That can only help you. Welcome to the forum. I hope you find some useful answers here.

Originally Posted by euby

What was the hardest transition to make during your first year?

My personal experience was that I just felt lost my first year. (Shut up, Dan!) I didn't really know anything about how to get games, who to talk to, what an availability list was, any of that stuff. Plus, I was nearly as lost on the floor. I had guys telling me not to do this, do that instead; and other guys telling me the opposite. So most of what I remember is pretty confused.

The biggest adjustment for me, I think, was adjusting from the hard and fast rules in the classroom training to the interpretation on the floor. The other really hard thing for me in the first 5 years was dealing with the coaches. I started off by simply ignoring them all the time. I'm not good with a snappy reply on the spot, so I just never said anything. Well, that sure didn't go over well. So I tried to be the understanding listener. Turned out I just took too much crap. It took a long long LOOOOOONGGGG time before I finally started to feel comfortable with that aspect of the game.

As a newbie what should be my primary focus be on... rules, mechanics, networking, conditioning?

You can always work on all of those. Gotta know the rules, obviously. But I think the thing that served me best was working a TON of games and seeing as many plays as possible. Seeing plays works wonders. And working a lot of games gives you the opportunity to work on your mechanics a lot. Don't get into bad habits!

What should I avoid while dealing with AD's, coaches, other officials?

Avoid the appearance of arrogance. Be confident, but don't correct more experienced officials, even when they're wrong. Avoid "yeah, but" when another ref tries to give you some advice. If you don't like the advice, just nod and then forget about it. It happens a lot. With coaches, avoid being a smart-a$$. At least at first. Once you know them, maybe you can pull it off. But I can't do it.

Anything else?

I tell guys: when you're first starting out, there are only three things that you can totally control. Those are your rules knowledge, your appearance, and your mechanics. Read the rulebook over and over, get good quality uniform and shoes, and practice your mechanics in a mirror. Do those things and you'll be off to a pretty good start.

Good luck. Check in with us and let us know how it's going.

[tjones1]

Go out, work as many games as possible. Ask questions, you've found an excellent source right here if you can't find a peer. Most importantly, just like anything else, learn from your mistakes.

Good luck!

[Jurassic Referee]

1) Look like an official.
2) Show confidence.
3) Just call the basics.....get the out-of-bounds right, call the obvious fouls and violations.....if you aren't 114% sure, don't blow your whistle.
4) Listen.

Everything else will come with training and experience.

An old fart of of 44 years? Hell, I got hemmorhoids older than you.

Welcome to the forum.

[euby]

Wow...thanks for the quick and thoughtful reponses...I appreciate it.

I must admit I'm a little nervous about the whole thing but my goals aren't exactly that high! If I can have an impact at the youth level I would consider my efforts a success. Right now I have scheduled 8 games of in-house at the sixth grade level on Saturdays and 7 games of AAU (3rd thru 6th) on Sundays....so my whistle will get worked out and on. The association (Indiana Officals Association) will hopefully get me lined up with some middle school games to get me started and I will go from there.

I'm sure there will be situations arise during the course of the year when you guys who are in the know will be called upon...thanks in advance

Oh yea...one other question. I've seen you guys post about camps...is there a place to look for available camps to attend?

Anyone interested....here is my league website. www.djba.org

Thanks again.

Steve

[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by euby

Oh yea...one other question. I've seen you guys post about camps...is there a place to look for available camps to attend?

I'm not sure how many camps are still happening this late in the summer; most occur earlier when players are off during the summer months.

One other thing that hasn't been mentioned - find a local association to join. They can be a great resource for information and contacts. Members would certainly know if there are any late-season clinics or camps going on, as well as being able to help with rules questions.

[Back In The Saddle]

Originally Posted by euby

Wow...thanks for the quick and thoughtful reponses...I appreciate it.

I must admit I'm a little nervous about the whole thing but my goals aren't exactly that high! If I can have an impact at the youth level I would consider my efforts a success. Right now I have scheduled 8 games of in-house at the sixth grade level on Saturdays and 7 games of AAU (3rd thru 6th) on Sundays....so my whistle will get worked out and on. The association (Indiana Officals Association) will hopefully get me lined up with some middle school games to get me started and I will go from there.

I'm sure there will be situations arise during the course of the year when you guys who are in the know will be called upon...thanks in advance

Oh yea...one other question. I've seen you guys post about camps...is there a place to look for available camps to attend?

Anyone interested....here is my league website. www.djba.org

Thanks again.

Steve

Being nervous is normal. I started working 6-8th grade games. Every game was a big one for me at first, because I had so much to work on and I didn't feel comfortable with it all yet. Today I wouldn't be the least bit nervous, and you'll get there too soon enough.

As for goals, it's good to have them. Quantify what it means to have an impact. If you don't know what it means, how can you do it? And set goals to work on specifics too. I started keeping a game journal early on. After every assignment I'd sit down and write a page about what went well, what went poorly, what I recognized that I did wrong, questions I needed to find answers too, etc. If you'll do that, you'll work up a good list of specific things to work on pretty quickly. Then attack them one or two at a time. Work on those two until you've got 'em cold then move on to the next couple.

As far as camps go, your local association will probably be the best place to find out about them. For the most part camp season is over for the year. But maybe there's one or two left in your area. Get to camp as soon as you can. It'll be the single greatest learning experience you'll have this early in your career.

And smile. This is fun Welcome to the brotherhood.

[Mwanr1]

I’m rather new as an official myself. I hope my advice will help

When making a foul call, reporting a foul, in bounding the ball, and issuing for free throws, takes your time! Make sure you and your partners are aware of the foul and/or violation and are both on the same page. I am aware most middle school games often use the 20-mins running halves format except for the last 2 minutes of the game unless a 15+ or 20+ lead. Don't get caught up worrying about the running clock. It is important to remember that 5-10 seconds extra you take will usually not have a big effect to the game. However, if you rush through it, that 3-5 seconds u saved can give you hours of headache later on.

Slow down and make sure things are in control before issuing the ball for play. If you call a total of 15 fouls and you take an extra 5 seconds each per call, you are only using 75 extra seconds. That’s only 1 min and 15 seconds extra of running time. No one will pay attention to that lost time. But if you rush into things and screw up on one big play, you can potentially lose minutes in correcting the error and hours of writing a report to your supervisor. SO REMEMBER: SLOW DOWN, STAY POISE, SMILE AND HAVE FUN!

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Mwanr1

I am aware most middle school games often use the 20-mins running halves format except for the last 2 minutes of the game unless a 15+ or 20+ lead. Don't get caught up worrying about the running clock. It is important to remember that 5-10 seconds extra you take will usually not have a big effect to the game. However, if you rush through it, that 3-5 seconds u saved can give you hours of headache later on.

Slow down and make sure things are in control before issuing the ball for play. If you call a total of 15 fouls and you take an extra 5 seconds each per call, you are only using 75 extra seconds. That’s only 1 min and 15 seconds extra of running time. No one will pay attention to that lost time. But if you rush into things and screw up on one big play, you can potentially lose minutes in correcting the error and hours of writing a report to your supervisor. SO REMEMBER: SLOW DOWN, STAY POISE, SMILE AND HAVE FUN!

That might not be completely true. Where I live they play 6 minute quarters with a regular clock. I am sure based on what rules an area or organization adopts, this is going to vary all over the country to come extent. But the idea of not rushing is correct either way.

Also he might not start out or work a lot of JH games. I know when I started I worked a small percentage of JH and middle school games. I worked mostly HS games. Even now most new officials work a healthy amount of HS games. JH games are not for everyone and not everyone can get to those games as 4:30 where I currently live.

Peace

[26 Year Gap]

Originally Posted by ChuckElias

Steve, that's quite a background. You've already got a pretty wide area of experience when it comes to basketball. That can only help you. Welcome to the forum. I hope you find some useful answers here.

My personal experience was that I just felt lost my first year. (Shut up, Dan!) I didn't really know anything about how to get games, who to talk to, what an availability list was, any of that stuff. Plus, I was nearly as lost on the floor. I had guys telling me not to do this, do that instead; and other guys telling me the opposite. So most of what I remember is pretty confused.

The biggest adjustment for me, I think, was adjusting from the hard and fast rules in the classroom training to the interpretation on the floor. The other really hard thing for me in the first 5 years was dealing with the coaches. I started off by simply ignoring them all the time. I'm not good with a snappy reply on the spot, so I just never said anything. Well, that sure didn't go over well. So I tried to be the understanding listener. Turned out I just took too much crap. It took a long long LOOOOOONGGGG time before I finally started to feel comfortable with that aspect of the game.


You can always work on all of those. Gotta know the rules, obviously. But I think the thing that served me best was working a TON of games and seeing as many plays as possible. Seeing plays works wonders. And working a lot of games gives you the opportunity to work on your mechanics a lot. Don't get into bad habits!

Avoid the appearance of arrogance. Be confident, but don't correct more experienced officials, even when they're wrong. Avoid "yeah, but" when another ref tries to give you some advice. If you don't like the advice, just nod and then forget about it. It happens a lot. With coaches, avoid being a smart-a$$. At least at first. Once you know them, maybe you can pull it off. But I can't do it.

I tell guys: when you're first starting out, there are only three things that you can totally control. Those are your rules knowledge, your appearance, and your mechanics. Read the rulebook over and over, get good quality uniform and shoes, and practice your mechanics in a mirror. Do those things and you'll be off to a pretty good start.

Good luck. Check in with us and let us know how it's going.

Some, but not all, would suggest a good quality pair of fishnets.

[26 Year Gap]

[QUOTE=Mwanr1]I’m rather new as an official myself. I hope my advice will help

When making a foul call, reporting a foul, in bounding the ball, and issuing for free throws, takes your time! Make sure you and your partners are aware of the foul and/or violation and are both on the same page. I am aware most middle school games often use the 20-mins running halves format except for the last 2 minutes of the game unless a 15+ or 20+ lead. Don't get caught up worrying about the running clock. It is important to remember that 5-10 seconds extra you take will usually not have a big effect to the game. However, if you rush through it, that 3-5 seconds u saved can give you hours of headache later on.

Slow down and make sure things are in control before issuing the ball for play. If you call a total of 15 fouls and you take an extra 5 seconds each per call, you are only using 75 extra seconds. That’s only 1 min and 15 seconds extra of running time. No one will pay attention to that lost time. But if you rush into things and screw up on one big play, you can potentially lose minutes in correcting the error and hours of writing a report to your supervisor. SO REMEMBER: SLOW DOWN, STAY POISE, SMILE AND HAVE FUN![/QUOTE]
This is good advice. There is a guy in my area who started when I did and he seems to have a permanent scowl.

[Ref Daddy]

Had a summer to work an association camp - noticed and reminded me of my "hardest habit to realize and then break".

Don't watch the game. Watch your assigned players and areas.

If you ever catch yurself watching an arching three pointer or looking up as the lead - need to make corrections.