Strange Night

[LarryS]

I am by no means an old pro at this, but earlier this year I called with a partner who was taking the floor for the 3rd time. His whistle was fast, he called almost everything and I could see the coached were getting frustrated with him during the second quarter.

I took the approach of try to keep myself in a position so that I was at T on the bench side as much as possible. By doing this I was able to keep the coaches a little calm. When they complained about one of his calls, I could say something like "Coach, I didn't see the play but I'll ask him what he saw" or "I saw it in my peripheral and he got it right" or "We'll discuss it when we get a chance". I never hung him out to dry, but by saying something occassionally they stayed fairly calm. That way, he and I could use the dead balls to talk about ADV/DISAD and having a patient whistle. A couple of times when I asked questions, he saw what I was getting at. Late in the third quarter I complimented him for a recent good no call and he said "I always like the official passing on that when I played". Man I jumped at that and suggested he be more patient and call what officials called when he played HS ball. It didn't work completely, but he got better towards the end of the game.

I figure, when working with a guy in that situation about all I can do is talk to him and keep the coaches off him as much as possible...let him work on one thing at a time.