looking for any advice on officiating

[Jeremy40]

hey fellas

i am 23 years old and have officiated all different ages. all the games i have officiated have been scrimmages and rescheduled games. i am now an official, official. i am just looking for any tips, or advice, that you only get from experience and not something that is in a book. so for all the old cats and crazy veterans give me something that will make me a better conductor of the greatest sport ever invented (next to golf).

thanks guys
jeremy

[JRutledge]

Originally posted by Jeremy40
hey fellas

i am 23 years old and have officiated all different ages. all the games i have officiated have been scrimmages and rescheduled games. i am now an official, official. i am just looking for any tips, or advice, that you only get from experience and not something that is in a book. so for all the old cats and crazy veterans give me something that will make me a better conductor of the greatest sport ever invented (next to golf).

thanks guys
jeremy

Well this might not be what you want to hear, but reading things in a book is not such a bad thing. There are several books that can give you a much, much easier chance at learning things about officiating. Reading certain books and magazines that deal with officiating (and internet sites too) can add years to your experience. There is no substitute for floor experience, but classroom and reading can make you a better prepared official in a game.

The best thing I can tell you outside of that is set specific goals. You will go no where if you do not set very specific goals. If you want to go to the NBA and officiate, you need to find out everything you need to do to set that goal. No different if you goal is just to do the State Championship at the Junior High level. You still need to set specific goals.

Then once you have set those goals, you must do many things to achieve them. If you want to be a HS Varsity Official, you might want to go to games and talk to these guys when you get the chance. High School Officials are much more easily accessible and you will find that many of them have knowledge of doing college, mainly because many of them either are college officials or they know many personally. HS Officials also know of associations and have many contacts with people that can get you to all kinds of levels of basketball or officiating in general.

There is many more things but I need to go to sleep. Got to get up early in the morning.

Peace

[bob jenkins]

Originally posted by Jeremy40
i am just looking for any tips, or advice, that you only get from experience

The best thing you get from experience is good judgment.


Unfortunately, you get the experience from bad judgment.

[williebfree]

http://start.officiating.com/

I know, Brad (adminstrator) was "gonna git ya that one", but I took the initiative!

[Tim Roden]

Get a mentor. Learn everything that he knows. Preferibly one who calls a solid Varisity Schedule and gets playoff games. And read this forum until you are sick of it.

[Doug]

I agree w/ Tim, get a mentor. They reduce the stress level drastically and "show you the ropes." Then, when you are ready to fly out of the nest and go out on your own to officiate games, a good mentor will be the first to let you know.

My first year, I had a phenominal mentor, his name was Al. He was a veteran official w/ a solid varsity schedule. He took me "under his wing", got me games, did the test with me (went through it, explained, and anwsered my questions), and was just there to bounce ideas off of, like deciding which games to accept and which not to.

Deciding which games to take is a big thing for a new official. You must know your limits and not accept what you can't handle. Get your name out at the lower level before you move up. If no one knows you at the bottom, you can't make it to the top.

Some officials percieve giving a T, something that must be done in order to obtain prestige. Don't do it, as Willie said, preventive officiating is the key. You have to stay in the gym, and put up with the coach, why should he get to leave when he is not willing/can't put up with you. Unless it is a safty concern, keep the coach in the gym, don't give him the satisfaction of getting to you. This is proably the harderst part of officiating, knowing where to draw the line and call the T

I would not recommend "partnering up" on your first real year as an official official. You should officiate with as many people as possible, you will learn a lot, everyone has a little tip that will improve you a lot. officiating is a lot of little things and this will help. but, i think after a few years, partnering up is the way to go so that you and your partner make a name for yourselves and move up the chains. ad's, at least in my area (northern wi) prefer to book officials in pairs.

And last, have fun with it. officiating is a fun job to have, and when it stops being fun, then you know it is time to quit. Have fun and good luck


Doug

-Keep your eye on the prize

[Edited by Doug on Oct 14th, 2001 at 09:39 AM]

[Hoosier]

JRutledge is right. Read everything you can get your hands on. Go beyond the rule and case book. I try to read everything I can about officials. Read stuff from other sports too. Baseball umpires and football officials go through a lot of the same game management things that basketball officials go through so you can learn from them as well. If you do a search on Amazon for Referees or Officials you will find numerous books related to current or former officials. Also, be ready to listen. You will get lots of advice from many people, be willing to LISTEN. You don't have to agree with everything, but you will get a lot of different perspectives on many things. If you ask questions, you will find plenty of officials with stories and advice. It is hard to find an official who isn't ready to talk or give advice. But you are on the right track by asking questions in this forum, I have learned alot from it already. Good Luck

[Mark Padgett]

All the advice in the above posts is very good. I would add only two concepts you must master in order to become a good official. Both come from long-time high level official Ed Hightower.

1) The purpose of a technical is to stop bad behavior. If you can stop the bad behavior without calling the technical, you're just that much ahead.

2) Be in control of the game without controlling the game.

The first is easy to understand, although it may not be quite so easy to implement. It emcompasses establishing respect from coaches and players so they know that when you explain calls and give warnings, they are justified. It also includes the concept of preventive officiating.

The second is an esoteric statement that speaks to attitude, demeanor and image. It only will happen with experience. As a new official, resist the temptation to become "whistle heavy". This is a term derived from the law enforcement term "badge heavy". Simply put, it means don't get caught up in the heady feeling of now having total authority and exercising it at every opportunity. You are not getting paid "by the whistle" and your job is not to interrupt play as many times as possible just because you "can" and want to let everyone know you are out there and are one of only two (or sometimes three) persons on the face of the earth who can make calls in this game.

Actually, your job is to make sure the team that plays the best - wins. But that's another thread.

[BigDave]

The one thing that I've learned that I use every game is maintain your composure when everyone around you is losing theirs.

When the players, coaches and fans are going bonkers, remember to stay calm and stay focused. When you fine tune this philosophy, nothing or no one can rattle you.

good luck...

[Peter Devana]

Learn to be a great COMMUNICATOR with the emphasis more on LISTENING than talking. Never be arrogant and learn to RESPECT the GAME, PLAYERS, COACHES, and FANS since it is those entities that you are providing the service for. Always try to be:
1 FIRM,
2 FRIENDLY;and
3 FAIR.
If you do those 3 things always it will take you a long way.
Keep in good shape- hustle at all times and always look like you are in the game and enjoying yourself!!
Pistol

[MattKerns]

To be 23 again...Jeremy: Look to someone in your assocation who you have respect for and has proven track record in both being mechanically sound and respected...someone YOU would want to work with in a championship game. Then, ask for help; I cannot think of anyone who is officiating, for the right reasons, that would refuse to help another when asked. Get tapes of games you work and review them. Camps, camps, camps. If you are getting Junior Varsity assignments, stick around for the Varsity game, at least through half time; better yet ride with the varsity officials to the game. Be a sponge. Stick to signals which are in the book, practice them. Image-while not everything can be a huge asset- look professional- you know what kind of grief slobs can get. Believe in yourself; while 'power' is not what you're looking for, control is. Good luck to you.

[JRutledge]

Originally posted by MattKerns
If you are getting Junior Varsity assignments, stick around for the Varsity game, at least through half time; better yet ride with the varsity officials to the game. Be a sponge.

I just had to comment on this. You might not live in an area where you will even be able to know who the Varsity officials are until you get to the game site. I will go a step further, stay the entire game. Unless you have to get up real early in the morning or have a real long drive (not that this is going to change your drive time), you should make it a routine to stay and watch the entire game. If you want to progress as an official, the only way that you learn how to do this is by watching higher level officials. How are you going to understand what the heck you are going to do in sticky or hostile situations without watching first hand what better officials are doing. You might pick up different things from different officials, but the idea is to witness it for yourself. It is one thing for me to tell you what to do, but if you see me do something and you are around to ask questions about what I did or did not do that type of education is invaluble. You do not get that by watching TV or going home. Stay the entire game, go in the locker room and leave with the officials when the game is over. There is also strength in numbers when you leave to alleviate problems that might have occured during the varsity game. And when you are not working, go to a game yourself. Most officials are not going to get upset if you want to set in on their pregame, if they are worth anything as an official.

Doing things like this will give the varsity officials a good impression of you and might help you with contacts or associations if you are around. And you meet many officials that you might not see on a regular basis.

The bottom line, make every night you work a late night. In my area, most of the JV games start from 5:30 to 6:30. Most start at 6:00 and when I was a JV official or even when I was just doing one of these games even last year, I always stayed the entire game. I did not care how long of a night it was for me personally, I wanted to learn and get better. And if you want to get better, these are some of the things you need to do.

[TC]

Don't rush, take your time and get things right. This doesn't mean don't hustle, we always need to hustle. Just don't let anything or anyone rush your decisions or applications.

[Tim Roden]

as var as staying for the varsity game. One of the places I like to sit for at least part of the game is on the front row near a base line. That way I can hear the lead official talk to the players. I will also watch the game from behind the scorers table so I get a good view of the way fouls are reported and how the trail works the game. The other place I learned a lot about the game is sitting behind one of the team benches. I was able to get into the head of some coaches so I could figure out how I was going to handle them when I got them for a varsity game. On that stratagy, don't sit behind the bench of the team that lost. The JV coach may recognize you.:-)

[williebfree]

Boo, hiss, berate the officials to no end. Make a total arss of yourself. Be loud and obnoxious!....

WAIT, That is the coach's role (Just kidding, I apologize to those two coaches who were in control last season...)

Never mind me, just having some fun...