3-man

[mick]

Take a game board and a lot of questions to your pre-game.

[bigwhistle]

Originally Posted by mick

Take a game board and a lot of questions to your pre-game.

I used to take a risk game board with me, but we missed our game once since the risk game took too long

[Ref Daddy]

Three Man is a pretty radical shift in approach from 2 Man, it takes some time.

Two man requires knowledge of floor responsibility coverage, get a good position and work your area.

The best advise I recieved on three man is this: The two off ball officials have two matchups each in their zone. The on ball official has focus on that single matchup and follows it to the basket if it goes there.

Adding that to my zaone of responsibility helped me a lot.

[ChuckElias]

Originally Posted by Ref Daddy

Three Man is a pretty radical shift in approach from 2 Man

It seems that way when you're first learning it. But it might help to realize that 3-whistle officiating is basically 2-whistle officating with some help. You have a Lead official and an official on the opposite side of the court, just like 2-whistle; but you also have a Trail to help with rebounding, traveling in the post, etc.

The Lead has to go ballside, just like in 2-whistle. And when that happens, the other officials shift their areas of responsibility, just like in 2-whistle.

So while the primary areas of responsibility are different and take some time to learn, the basic premise of the 3-whistle system is to get the Lead on the same side as the ball as much as possible and have the other official(s) referee the outside stuff. Pretty much like 2-whistle.

I agree with everybody else who said that the best way to get comfortable with it is to work it. Good luck. Just remember to officiate, and you'll be fine after a few games.

[tjones1]

Originally Posted by bigwhistle

I used to take a risk game board with me, but we missed our game once since the risk game took too long

Big,

Take Candyland.. much easier to play (for us officials) and it doesn't take as long!

Originally Posted by tomegun

Pay attention early in the game to understand what the defense and offense are trying to do. An offense with a lot of motion and a zone defense may require less rotations than an offense that wants to go inside and a man-to-man defense.
Once you get comfortable with knowing where your primary and secondary areas of coverage are as well as picking up the rotations, it still boils down to getting good/open looks and calling the game. Hopefully, some good partners - with a good pregame - will help you relax and do the best you can.

Yup, I was lucky enough to have two good partners my first night of 3-man, certainly helped. After I got comfortable with the areas and everything, I was able to work on the first part of Tom's post and knowing when to rotate as L. Good stuff Tom!