Evaluations

[Scrapper1]

Just some random thoughts. Hopefully, to share a little of my perspective.

Originally Posted by RonA

Never more than now has there been a need for an ongoing, fair system of referee evaluation

Never more than now? The problem is worse than it's ever been? I agree that some objective basis for evaluation would be nice; but it's not like this is a new problem. It's always been this way for amateur referees. Just 20 or 25 years ago, your chances of moving from high school to college ball -- and even from low-level college ball to D1 college ball -- were based simply on whether you knew the assignor. There was not even such a thing as camps and try-outs. There were were very few commissioners who employed evaluators. And at the HS level and below, it was worse. One person could control a whole county's worth of HS assignments, and your schedule could depend on whether that person liked you.

I'm not trying to poo-poo your frustration. I'm just trying to assure you that it's not a new problem and not simply your problem.

For the official to be impartially evaluated it must be done by an observer who has NO stake in the game being evaluated.

That would be nice, but that person isn't going to do it out of the goodness of his heart. Who's going to pay for an observer to spend 2-4 hours a night in a HS gym, taking notes? Not the coaches. Not the conference. Very likely, not the officials' association. It would be great. Most of us would welcome it. But it's a financial issue, and it's a tough nut to crack at the HS level.

A coach should NEVER be the one to do the evaluation of an official, because all he/she will remember at the time is whether his/her team won the game and the one or two calls he/she feels cost his/her team the loss.

Two things to say about this. First, I agree with you that the coach shouldn't be allowed to evaluate the officials; but for different reasons than you state. It's not so much that they only remember wins and losses, although that's probably true. But many of them (most) have literally no idea what the official is doing or looking at on the floor. Position, angle, mechanics, judgment are completely foreign to the coaches. So they should not be given a voice about how they think we performed.

Second, despite the fact that most of them have literally no idea what we're doing out there, the coaches will ALWAYS have a say in who works and where. The assignor has to please the schools/conferences/coaches that hire him/her. Therefore, the assignor will do (roughly) what the schools/conferences/coaches want. That will never change as long as the assignor is accountable to someone other than the officials.

What a chapter needs is a fair and balanced system whereby the evaluator is a neutral party, with nothing at stake to handle these critical evaluations that are ONGOING. ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH!!!

Again, the financial question. In a perfect world, I agree with you. But how much of each game check are you willing to donate to the Observers' Fund?

It should also be requisite upon the officials who have the following game(where applicable) to complete an evaluation of the previous crew.

Again, in a perfect world. . . But not all officials want to help younger officials out. Some officials (even some good ones) just want to do their game, get their check and go home. That is what they're there for, after all. I'm not saying that's a good attitude to have; but we live in the real world. Not all officials are excited about helping others to move up and "take their games".

This information could be put in a refs file for the coaches to look at the picking meetings,

But as you've already pointed out, they only remember if they won or lost anyway. Why will they care what's in a folder. "I don't need to read his file. He screwed us last time we had him."

Evaluation of coaches are also necessary, due to some of their antics.

I think this is done by AD's. It's no more appropriate for officials to evaluate coaches than it is for coaches to evaluate officials, and for some of the same reasons.

Ok, I already wrote way too much. I know you're frustrated. And believe me when I tell you that I've been through the same frustration. The bottom line for me was that I had to tell myself, "I have no control over coaches, ratings, or postseason selection. I'm just going to go out and work my best game every night. Eventually, if I'm as good as I think I am, somebody will notice." I try to control what I can control and not worry about what I can't control.

[Chess Ref]

Scrapper wrote "The bottom line for me was that I had to tell myself, "I have no control over coaches, ratings, or postseason selection. I'm just going to go out and work my best game every night. Eventually, if I'm as good as I think I am, somebody will notice." I try to control what I can control and not worry about what I can't control."

Scrappers attitude is the attitude I have. And lord knows I need it this week. GJV game. I had to explain to my partner we have no 5 second count on closely guarded unless the girl is just standing there with the ball. Also needed to convince him no foul shots on team control fouls. My favorite personal instruction was explaining to him then when,as lead, he points to the floor I think it's a 2 and not a 3. We had to stop the game 3 times caused he pointed to floor as lead and I gave the opponent 2 points-he meant 3. So last night he comes strolling in the gym in all his glory to do the Varsity game. I was taken aback slightly but felt good when I saw him now raising his hand to signal a 3 to his partner.
Not that I think I am ready for V games, well some of them I could do, but I need to stay focused mentally. Which for me means incorporating the attitudes and thinking Scrapper referred to.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by Chess Ref

I had to explain to my partner we have no 5 second count on closely guarded unless the girl is just standing there with the ball.

NFHS rules?

[Chess Ref]

Here in California, at least in our section, we use modified rules on closely guarded for the girls. We also use a shot clock. The girls also have no 10 seconds in the backcourt. The modifications come from page 28 of the California Basketball Officials Associations handbook.

It's true, it's true.....

[jmkbball]

Boiseball,

While you've already had some objections to your post, I would have to share almost all the frustrations you offer.

In my case I first worked games almost 25 years ago and because I had played in college, gradually worked up to better games over those 4 years. I then stopped officiating to raise a family and a business but watched both my kids play HS and then college ball.

I have the time and interest now to run three or four nights a week, to try to help kids and the game. In coming back to officiating four years ago, I found that some things had changed -- at least in our area.

I've noticed that more new officials seem to work today because of the money and that a surprising number (at least to me) have not had much (in some cases, no) previous participation with competitive basketball.

I'm sure this will be popular ?, but it also seemed that more officials today come from professions where merit is not the first consideration in advancement – longevity with the system is. And that seems to carry over to the way some chapters are set up and games assigned.