How much do you talk?
 

I have noticed more and more officials that do not say much during a game. Let me explain in more detail.

A travel occurs during a game. Some officials will hit the whistle and give the indication; some officials will hit the whistle and say, "Traveling" while giving the indication.

A coach calls a timeout. Some officials will immediately indicate whether it is a 30 second or 60 (75) second timeout before reporting to the table. Some officials will hit the whistle, barely say it is a timeout and have their partners in limbo (which way do I go?) until they report it to the table.

A foul occurs. Some officials will hit the whistle, go to the table and are barely audible during this whole process. Some officials will hit the whistle, immediately verbalize the foul ("Blue 32") and then verbalize - loudly and clearly - at the table. On a side note, when reporting to the table "three, two" are two different numbers and could create a problem with the table. On the other hand, "Thirty two" is clearly...#32.

Anyway, how much talking is too much and too little? I have actually never heard an evaluator say an official is talking too much, but many officials are just quiet as a church mouse. We talk about communicating with coaches quite a bit, but not really about verbally communicating better with the table and our fellow officials. At least not that I remember reading.

I have a big voice and use it alot. Plus I talk ALOT on the floor...to players, my partner(s), coaches, fans, cheerleaders. I also smile alot. It gives the imessage that I am having fun and I have found actually defuses some hard feelings when a call doesn't go the "right" way for someone.

Other than the fact that I've been getting over a cold for a couple weeks and have no voice, I verbalize pretty much everything as I call it. Especially fouls. My call goes - whistle w/ fist, drop whistle while action stops, "32 white, block" with the preliminary signal, if needed "40 red, 2 shots" so my partners can hear it.

Then go report and verbalize everything after making eye contact with the scorer.

The advantage for me when verbalizing is that I'm much more likely to remember the numbers! Nothing worse than forgetting on whom your foul was called.

One of the most important parts of our game, as officials, should be communication. Working NCAA-W, they have constantly reminded us that we need to signal and verbalize between partners, and I've tried to incorporate a lot of these ideas into my HS game as well. For example, the proper procedure on a violation is, stop clock, signal, direction, throw-in spot. We are told to verbalize things with our partners, such as, "Throw-in spot is right here, Tom", as we leave to go to our new spot. If there's a TO, we should all know as a crew where the ball is to be put in play even before the TO is reported to the table. If my partner has a shooting foul, I will try to tell them, "I've got your shooter, Tom" before they go report to the table. Before we shoot FT's, all three members of the crew will signal whether it's 1, 2, or 3 shots, so there are no mis-understandings and corectable error situations. When I call a foul, I usually verbalize as well, "White, 23, 2 shots". This way my partners will know what's going on rather than looking at each other wondering while I wander to the table.

I tend to verbalize quite a bit during a game, mostly to communicate to my partners and the table. Of course, there's the occasional communication with a player, coach, cheerleader, etc....

Well I have heard an evaluator at a camp say "we" talked too much in camps. I have changed the way I communicate in the past few years and it works out a lot better. I do not feel like I have to defend or respond to many calls. I will mainly talk only when talked to or when I am standing right in front of them. Now I will make myself available at times, but I try my best to stay away from most conversation. I have learned that saying a couple words is much better than a couple of sentences in most situations. It also helps that I am seeing the same coaches over and over and they know what I can or cannot do. I do not have to explain a lot as much anymore.

Peace

I don't talk a lot. I don't usually verbalize the type of foul at the spot. I will sometimes verbalize the number of the player who fouled (kind of verbal bird-dogging). I try ALWAYS to verbalize the shooter's number if we have free throws. I will say "the ball went in" if my partner has a foul and may not have seen the try enter the basket. I will tell my partner that I have his/her shooter (without saying the shooter's number).

Occasionally, I will say "good call, partner" on a bang-bang play if I also have a fist in the air.

For me, and I tell this to every inexperienced official, you need a good whistle and voice.

Our job is all about 3 things:

1. Judgment

2. Communication

3. Game management

Number two greatly impacts both one and three.

And I usually never do this. Only because I have a tendency to remember the last thing I verbalized if something unusual happens in between the foul call and reporting. After the foul, I used to say, "White 35 is my shooter." Then two players will give each other a stare-down, and I would step in between them to calm them down, call for someone with a towel to wipe up the floor, quickly answer the one player's question about what he did, another player comes up and wants a TO, so I tell them to hang on for a moment, and then when I FINALLY get to the table to report, I say "White, 35...(oh, crap)". That's why I started verbalizing the color and number of the player who fouled, and pointing to the shooter and saying, "Here's my shooter" so my partners are able to pick it up. This is just something that works for me; not everyone has the same problem I do of not enough space in short-term memory to remember everything... :rolleyes:

Works for me too.

What works for you too?

What were we talking about?

We were talking?

I am a talker.:D

Between partners, I don't believe it is possible to over-communicate. The more communication between us, the better...most of the ugly things that have happened in my games can be traced back to some lack of communication. Doesn't even have to be verbal - just looking and making eye-contact is a big thing...but when we have weird things going on, it really settles everyone down when they hear us communicating with each other.

Between us and coaches, the communication should be kept to a minimum...if they have a reasonable question, I will respond. If they want to whine and gripe, we're not gonna talk very much that night...

Between us and players, communication helps a lot. I talk to players during dead ball periods quite often. I stay away from things like "Stop doing this" or "Set better screens" and just keep it light with them...if they have a reasonable question, I will answer it. If they come in griping, they get told to knock it off...

I agree, it's almost impossible to overcommunicate with partners. I communicate more every year and verbalize way more than I used to also.

Don't forget that you communicate using many different "tools": whistle (volume, duration, etc); body language (lethargic looks indecisive or energetic/sharp looks confident); movement; etc.

IMHO, there is a solution to every problem and it will always include communication.

I'm a talker, but I hardly ever state "shooters number" when I have a foul. (Shooters number seems to find its way back to my lips and hands when I report to the table!)

I do get frustrated when it feels like a partner's primary communication mode resembles charades, or pictionary in the air, or some kind of "silent mouthing" that requires both lip reading and interpretation of hand/arm movements. This leaves me (and I assume most others) wondering about the call--especially what we do next!:confused:

As officials we have to take 100% of the responsibility for both giving and receiving information. We all know what "assuming" does for us.....

On common violations like travelling, palming, or double dribble my communication consists of a loud whistle w/open hand, clearly pointing the direction of the subsequent play and clearly pointing to the throw-in spot.

However with fouls I immediately verbally communicate to my parter(s) the location of the throw-in or the number of free throws. If free throws are involved I make sure of some sort of communication (verbal or non-verbal) with my partner(s) indicating we are aware of the correct shooter before I proceed to the table.

If a partner calls a T I try to verbally communicate to my partner the team shooting, basket, throw-in location before he reports to the table.

I communicate to my partner(s) when bonus goes into effect. If my partner calls a non-shooting foul during the bonus I immediately find and point to the shooter and raise the appropriate fingers to indicate shots to be taken.

I'm a big believer in effective communication among the crew.

I agree with you 100%, but I wasn't talking about communication with a coach.

I guess I wouldn't have a problem working with several members here. Unfortunately, that isn't the case where I live and it is sorely needed. Everytime one of my partners called time out last night, we were just standing there waiting to find out what we had. I'm new and my other partner is born and bread here. He was looking at me smiling and he could tell I wanted to know what the heck is going on. He just said, "That is what you get with some people." I was glad it wasn't just me that was frustrated with it.

Fouls
 

I am particularly vocal with my partner on fouls. On fouls its a fist and then two fingers and a loud "Shooting two" or a fist and a point and "Blue on the baseline" for a non-shooting foul.

I too have had short term memory loss if I say the shooter's number out loud. I will, instead, point to the shooter and say "You are my shooter" on my way to the table.

Now don't be bringing in any of your college stuff to the HS game, people around here don't like that. Naughty, Naughty

______________________________
I think you two are talking too much. :)

That reminds me.....

You never did answer the question about <b>your</b> college stuff.

You stated that you were hired as a college official, same as what Old School stated. Of course, you also stated that you had never done a high school game either.

http://forum.officiating.com/showthr...877#post334877

So.......are you currently working NCAA D1, D2, D3, NAIA or JC regular season games?

And what pro leagues did you work too?

Just wondering.......

Forgetting who GOT fouled is worse. Especially if you hear snickering.

Where's 'around here'?

HS, JUCO, D2, pro camp and summer league this upcoming summer. Why is it that anytime someone who says they work college, or anything other than that you have to know what they do? What justification does that give you or us for that matter? Your an assigner, right? What do you assign, HS, JUCO, D1, D2, D3, NAIA, semi-pro? Like that is going to give me any more validation of you. Are you a rules freak or a common sense type of ref and/or assigner who still knows the rules and how to apply them? I'm sorry, but you do so much attacking and questioning of people that you probably don't deserve to know what I or anyone else works nor should you care. I could work in the NBA for all you know and even if you did know you would still not take what I or anyone else said (eroe39 ring a bell) as being valid or having merit, it is only up to what you and the rulebook have to offer. I rarely, if ever, hear your opinion on things, it is always a rulebook citing that comes in to play. I have news for you, there are situations you are put in that don't spell things out in black and white, and that is how the officiating works, it is a ton of grey.

I don't want to speak for JR or anything, but I have an opinion about what you just said. Regardless of your post count, you are a new guy similarly to the way I'm a new guy in my local area. Hopefully you can understand how stating, in generic terms, what levels you work could raise doubt when nobody knows you.

I would still like to know if you are...tennesseeref. Can you tell me that?

Well, I was just kind of wondering. After all, as of about 2 months ago, you had never worked a high school game of any kind. And I gotta say that a lot of your posts seem to lack a basic knowledge of some very fundamental rules and mechanics. That's jmo though, which really doesn't mean anything anyway either.

Btw, I'm no longer wondering though.:)

All good stuff, but this isn't "college stuff.'' Our good HS officials around here do all of the above.

I realize that, but maybe I needed to be a little more clear. This is stuff I have learned through college-level camps; some of the mechanics are specific to NCAA-W, but they can also be used at the HS level. I wish some of this would be taught at more HS camps. Going back to tomegun's original post, I can understand some of his frustration, because I have also worked with officials that blow their whistle, move to the next spot, and "assume" the rest of know what's going on. Communication before, during, and after a game is critical, and it doesn't seem like it's emphasized as much at the HS level.