Addressing a Team Practice

[Mark Padgett]

I have read through the thread with interest and thought I would put in my two shekels. In our local rec league, we have a policy of a ref making a presentation to all teams (we have over 125) at a practice. The presentation is somewhat "canned" and takes about 10 minutes. It does not cover the fundamentals of basketball, but specifically focuses on things such as waiting until beckoned when subbing, don't huddle on free throws, don't dawdle on getting into position for inbounds plays, how to behave properly toward the officials and the other team, and proper wearing of the uniform (correct color t-shirt under the jersey, tuck in the jersey and no jewelry). We emphasize our zero tolerance profanity policy.

These are boys and girls in grades 3-8. Usually we can get to 4 teams in one night per gym if we go at the practice time "turnover" from one hour to the next, since 2 teams share a gym for practice. Some of our gyms have 2 floors side by side, so we can reach 8 teams at once. Since we have about 40 refs, it's not much of a time-consumer for each one of us and the payoff is tremendous.

[Brian Watson]

I think the coach should be commended for even inviting an official in.

Chuck is going to be a GUEST, and as such I do not see how he can dictate terms of his visit. If he goes back and says I will only do it if you give me an hour, then what kid of jerk will he look like? Professional? Doing that will make him look quite unprofessional.

Take the few minutes, cover what you can (If I remember from speech class 15 minutes is longer than you think) and do the best you can. You cannot give a clinic, but maybe you will be helping a fellow brother official a few games down the line with what you do cover. If there are any parents who show up, maybe see if you can stick around with them off to the side to answer their questions. I, for one, would be interested in hearing what they asked.

[stripes]

Originally posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

As a someone who teaches at the jr. H.S. and H.S. level I most certainly do expect students at that age to be able to sit attentively and listen to an adult and to be able to ask intelligent questions.

School sports in the U.S. is supposed to be part of the learning experience (I do not necessarily buy into that school of thought). The quality of education in the U.S. is a major concern to the citizens of this country. One major problem with quality of education is that we do not demand more of our students and their parents. Telling me that 7th and 8th grade students are not capable of sitting attentively and listen to an adult for one hour is a classic example of the dumbing down of our students.

There have been a number of times when I have been told by a mathematics teacher, for whom I have substituted, that I am teaching over her students'heads. When following a teacher's instructions to go over a homework assignment, I have found that the students do not even know how to set up the problem to be able attempt a solution. Instead they are shown example problems which are very simplistic, but the teachers do not follow up with more demanding problems that require the students to think logically, and in the process discover how the example problems relate to a similar problem.

Today's students are more sophisticated than we think. We need to challenge. We do not challenge them because we do not want anybody to fail. But we cannot learn unless we do fail sometimes. [/QUOTE]

Mr. Denucci,

Thank you for pointing out the educational concerns of the country. I had no idea that citizens here cared about the quality of the learning that takes place in our public schools. I'm sure I'll be a better parent/concerned citizen from now on.

I think you have read way too much into my original post. I absolutely believe that 7th and 8th graders are completely capable of sitting still and paying attention for an hour, but honestly, how many of them actually will do this? This has nothing to do with "dumbing down" anyone. It is a simple fact. In a gym with various distractions (visual, audible, the person sitting next to them, the cute girl who walks through, etc.) they will not pay much attention to anyone, especially not a referee who they believe to be old and incompetent. I have a difficult time getting a HS senior (and captain of his team) to pay attention for a 1 minute pre-game meeting. Every player out there is capable of listening and understanding everything I say in this meeting, but is amazing how little they hear and retain. Why? Because they don't care what I have to say.

I agree that kids today are sophisticated and very bright. They are rarely challenged to exceed and succeed by their teachers. I interact with teenagers (who are not my children--mine are still quite young) almost daily in parts of my personal life. I am very well acquainted with their lives, capabilities and challenges--their attention span is largely a factor of the respect that they give to the person in front of them--not the message.

As I said before, take the 15 minutes, hit the high spots and answer every question. Be sure to thank the coach for the time.

[Edited by stripes on Sep 27th, 2001 at 03:48 PM]

[Richard Ogg]

Originally posted by Dan_ref
Hey Chuck, .... Next season we're gonna tackle Maxwell's equations.

I hope we don't have to have Maxwell's equations memorized still. I could hardly do that in college. (Think I'll stick to 7th grade and let someone else have the 8th grade. Differential equations are easier than Maxwell's.)

[Richard Ogg]

Use whatever time you get. We are in no place to demand any amount of time. Talk to the coach and find out what he/she wanted to accomplish by your visit. Then brainstorm about other areas the coach might like help. This could turn it into the better part of the practice. Sometimes I ref my daughter's team scrimmages (8th grade). We don't stop the play, but I yell what I would call. That way they know that would be called a foul, travel, whatever....

Also, volunteer to meet with the parents during any extra portion. Advertise the time as explaining the 5 most misunderstood rules, plus ask any question you want.

[Mark Padgett]

I wonder if there is a diplomatic way to explain to the players about the situations where a coach tells them to do something and it results in a violation or foul, and when you subsequently call it, they tell you that the coach told them to do it.

An example would be a coach calling a player over to the bench for a consult during a free throw where the player leaves the lane. I'm sure there are many others, such as a coach instructing a player to foul, then you calling the intentional.

Probably, most coaches wouldn't want you to cover this.

Maybe we could just put it this way:

rule #1) when a coach tells you to do one thing and an official tells you to do the other, the official is always right

rule #2) when in doubt, see rule #1

[rainmaker]

Chuck--

I've been off the board this week due to computer problems, so I am just now checking in at the end of page three.

I would do as others have suggested, cover sportsmanship, basics, mechanics (llining up for free throws, etc). Emphasize that what they see on TV is not going to be a good guide for their own play. Near the end of the 15 minutes, I would offer to stay another 15 minutes to do some floor demonstrations (using several players at once) on things like block/charge, legal and illegal dribble moves, and so on. Make these active and busy, and include some element of "practice" or drill. Then offer the coach to do some annotated scrimmaging, either that day or another day, with emphasis on dribbling, 3 seconds, and legal defense.

Afterwards, tell the coach what a good idea it is for him to understand the rules, and offer the address for a book. Offer to do a similar lesson to parents, who probably need it the worst of anyone.

How could any coach refuse all that help and flattery?