How to get through a rough night?

[jeffpea]

Originally Posted by jdw3018

... I didn't feel the game went poorly for me, just that it didn't go smoothly, either. I felt slow on the whistle, let some contact go that I normally wouldn't, overall just felt a bit disengaged.

My question - anyone else ever have these nights, and what do you do to try to get back in it? How do you fight it? Maybe it's the cold I'm fighting, but I just felt like my brain was in molasses last night...

I had that type of game last night...I could sense that I wasn't as focused as I should be before the game, so here's what I did:

a)I stood a lot closer to the players in pre-game warm-ups than usual and really focused on each player shooting (I kept track of makes vs misses - 18 of 28 at one point)
b) I talked to myself during plays (like rainmaker suggested earlier) - i.e. "my ball"; "legal screen"; "good block out"; "my sideline"
c) I tried to conciously move a lot more to get better angles
d) During a TO I reviewed the game details (time, score, foul count, poss. arrow, what we've called - 2 travels, 1 illegal screen, 1 charge); DON'T "zone out" and listen to the music with a blank stare
e) I stood up during the entire half-time; didn't want to relax and lose my focus

Those things helped me improve my focus during the game. BTW it was a double OT game that had me feeling a little disappointed in our performance as a crew (bad calls, missed calls, calls out of area, clock issues, etc). Fortunately the "right team" won....

Hope that helps.

[rainmaker]

Originally Posted by jeffpea

d) During a TO I reviewed the game details (time, score, foul count, poss. arrow, what we've called - 2 travels, 1 illegal screen, 1 charge); DON'T "zone out" and listen to the music with a blank stare
e) I stood up during the entire half-time; didn't want to relax and lose my focus.

Excellent points!! These actually are good things to do in almost any game. Letting down the concentration often leads to problems.

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by jdw3018

My question - anyone else ever have these nights, and what do you do to try to get back in it?

Just one word - MEDS!

[Ignats75]

DON'T "zone out" and listen to the music with a blank stare

Nah. I save that look for when I'm not the R and my partner is conducting the captains meeting.

[jdw3018]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. Some great "focus" tips in there and things I'll try in the next game. I know this happens every now and then, and the best thing about it was I was working with two partners who did an excellent job and we called a good game overall.

Thanks again!