Why you officiate...

[chayce]

Basketball is truly a place of high drama. It is a place where man vs man, man vs nature and man vs himself plays out with real characters under the full scrutiny of dedicated yet fickle fans. It is a place where no participant can hide, a place where winners and losers are distinctly labeled, a place where mistakes are magnified into misery and success becomes legendary! This place of athletic theatre requires the careful eye of one who will enforce the rules by which each participant must abide. Stepping onto this stage as an enforcer of rules puts you into one of life’s toughest roles: that of judge (a.k.a. official, referee). After all, why do you think they call it a basketball “court”?

An official just happens to hold the only enforceable view of how well the rules are being followed. If the whistle isn’t blown, there is no foul and a “walk” happens only when a referee gives the designated signal! Regardless of how angry or loud anyone else in the arena might be, the official’s opinion is the only one that truly is official. The thought of being in such tight control can be intoxicating but at times it can also be smothering. When your view is THE view, there is enormous pressure to be right…100% of the time! The sport and its participants certainly deserve nothing less than perfection.

Oh, my…expectations of perfection? Why would anyone even dream of taking a job that has no margin of error, no wiggle room, no tolerance of anything but being flawless? Who in their “right” mind would want a job with no forgiveness for being wrong? In this case, the very questions of who and why ultimately contain the answer. For an official, the pursuit of perfection is the game within a game that draws one to participate. Officials are tormented and teased by the mental and emotional challenge that grows from hunting something that has never been seen. The perfect game is as illusive as Nessie and Big Foot and it is the very reason that the search is so addictive.

The constant nagging in the back of a basketball official’s mind says, “There is no such thing as a perfect game.” It awaits confirmation on the first block/charge! When a referee steps out on the court, he/she is only a whistle away from the worst call some fan or coach has ever seen! The mind says, “You can’t always be right”, but the heart says, “If you work hard enough, the perfect game will come.” It is this life battle between heart and mind that officials live for.

Officiating is much like driving a bus filled with backseat drivers. Every move is second guessed, every decision questioned, and every explanation jeered…by someone. Yet, it is the insatiable desire to prove to everyone that you were right and have a much better chance of being right on the next call than they do, that keeps an official coming back game after game. The passion that officials have for the game comes from the desire to be perfect in an environment that would not recognize perfection even if it existed.




Many officials have careers outside of officiating that are colored by shades of gray. The decisions we make are designated okay, good, better, or best, illustrating that success sometimes comes in degrees. Officiating, however, has no middle ground; you are loved or hated, admired or despised, asked back or eternally uninvited. Everything is seen as good or bad, right or wrong, do or die. There is nothing quite like being a basketball “judge”. When you make the right decision, there is little fanfare because, after all, that is what you are getting paid for. When your judgment fails you, the perfect game once again slips away into hiding and those in the gallery voice that reality with gusto. Right or wrong, a judge must always make a decision and to be considered successful, a basketball official must possess the wisdom and strength to declare guilty or not guilty under the microscope of everyone present: fans, players, coaches, and partners. Ultimately, it is for them that we call the game and unveil the verdict!