Thicker skin

[Vinski]

I’m sure that most of you vets have been through worse, and will probably nod your heads and say, “Been there, done that. No big deal”. But I gotta tell ya, what an evening (for a rookie anyway)! Let me preface this with a little history. I just rapped up my first season. I had been reffing 5th – 8th grade boys and girls mostly for the local YMCA. Next year on to sub-varsity. Can’t wait…At least that is how I used to think before this evening. I’ve done about 25 games and most went pretty well. Only had to hush a coach with a warning once. Had to T a kid for an unsporting. Had a couple noisy parents. But other than that, mostly pretty good. Until tonight…
Two rival junior highs were going at it and I new it could be a rough one because I had reffed both before but not playing against one another. One was very aggressive and the other was kind of a rough team. Right off the bat a couple of fouls on team A. The coach is in my face about B’s guys pushing. I give him the hand and tell him to back off with an official warning. Then A1 picks up another foul and grows a visual display of displeasure regarding my call. I give the hand and warning to him. This was the last I heard from team A the rest of the game. Now it’s team B’s turn. I catch B1 slapping hands up high defending a shot, so I blow the whistle. He response with a “What the f.***”. Bam, I give the T. Now, this started with a shooting foul so we clear the lane and let the shooter for team A shoot two. It so happens that this is A coach’s choice for the T shots as well, so he fires up a third and the B coach goes nuts! He had forgotten that it was a shooting foul and thinks that we are giving him a 3 shot technical. I try to get a word in to explain, but he goes on. So, Bam, T number 2. This kid from team A got to shoot 6 free throws in a row before we got things going again. I told coach B to sit and be quite or he is gone. That quieted things down some but I kept getting a bunch of chirping and whining about the other team not getting called and that I was picking on theirs. But B was bent on playing sloppy, rough basket ball.
Now, get this…Not a peep out of the parents the whole game.
Anyway, sorry for the rant. Just not how I want the season to end. However, I do feel my skin getting thicker.

[Nevadaref]

One tip that I will give you is that when I have to administer four FTs to the same shooter due to a situation such as this, after the first 2FTs, I make a point of checking with the coach that this is the shooter he wants for the T by looking over at him and making eye contact, pointing, etc. and then step into the lane and give the T sign so that it is visible to the table and benches before administering the technical FTs. This makes it very clear to everyone what is going on. Had you done that you likely wouldn't have had any more problems.

[Vinski]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

One tip that I will give you is that when I have to administer four FTs to the same shooter due to a situation such as this, after the first 2FTs, I make a point of checking with the coach that this is the shooter he wants for the T by looking over at him and making eye contact, pointing, etc. and then step into the lane and give the T sign so that it is visible to the table and benches before administering the technical FTs. This makes it very clear to everyone what is going on. Had you done that you likely wouldn't have had any more problems.

Good advice, Nevada. We probably could have been more visibly clear when we started the T shots. Thanks

[MadCityRef]

I don't know know about giving the T signal, but announcing which shots are being administrered is a good idea. Be vocal so everyone knows. Unless you can't be heard over the coach going nuts.

[blindzebra]

Originally Posted by Vinski

I’m sure that most of you vets have been through worse, and will probably nod your heads and say, “Been there, done that. No big deal”. But I gotta tell ya, what an evening (for a rookie anyway)! Let me preface this with a little history. I just rapped up my first season. I had been reffing 5th – 8th grade boys and girls mostly for the local YMCA. Next year on to sub-varsity. Can’t wait…At least that is how I used to think before this evening. I’ve done about 25 games and most went pretty well. Only had to hush a coach with a warning once. Had to T a kid for an unsporting. Had a couple noisy parents. But other than that, mostly pretty good. Until tonight…
Two rival junior highs were going at it and I new it could be a rough one because I had reffed both before but not playing against one another. One was very aggressive and the other was kind of a rough team. Right off the bat a couple of fouls on team A. The coach is in my face about B’s guys pushing. I give him the hand and tell him to back off with an official warning. Then A1 picks up another foul and grows a visual display of displeasure regarding my call. I give the hand and warning to him. This was the last I heard from team A the rest of the game. Now it’s team B’s turn. I catch B1 slapping hands up high defending a shot, so I blow the whistle. He response with a “What the f.***”. Bam, I give the T. Now, this started with a shooting foul so we clear the lane and let the shooter for team A shoot two. It so happens that this is A coach’s choice for the T shots as well, so he fires up a third and the B coach goes nuts! He had forgotten that it was a shooting foul and thinks that we are giving him a 3 shot technical. I try to get a word in to explain, but he goes on. So, Bam, T number 2. This kid from team A got to shoot 6 free throws in a row before we got things going again. I told coach B to sit and be quite or he is gone. That quieted things down some but I kept getting a bunch of chirping and whining about the other team not getting called and that I was picking on theirs. But B was bent on playing sloppy, rough basket ball.
Now, get this…Not a peep out of the parents the whole game.
Anyway, sorry for the rant. Just not how I want the season to end. However, I do feel my skin getting thicker.

Let's see coach A gets a warning, runs it and gets another warning...mistake #1.

Coach B gets 2 T's and doesn't get ejected...mistake #2.

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by blindzebra

Let's see coach A gets a warning, runs it and gets another warning...mistake #1.

Coach B gets 2 T's and doesn't get ejected...mistake #2.

I think that the mistakes are yours, Z.

The way I read the OP, Coach A got a warning, then A1 got a warning. This is followed by B1 getting a T and then Coach B getting a T.

[blindzebra]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

I think that the mistakes are yours, Z.

The way I read the OP, Coach A got a warning, then A1 got a warning. This is followed by B1 getting a T and then Coach B getting a T.

I shouldn't be posting on no sleep in the intensive care unit looking over my mom.

[WhistlesAndStripes]

Originally Posted by blindzebra

I shouldn't be posting on no sleep in the intensive care unit looking over my mom.

May she rest peacefully.

[BillyMac]

From Vinski: "I give him the hand and tell him to back off with an official warning."

Vinski: Be careful about your wording. There are only four official warnings in NFHS rules: defense crossing the plane of the boundary line during a throwin, free throw huddle, interferring with the ball after a basket, and failure to have the court ready, i.e. water on the court, after a time out.

Also, whether or not the NFHS suggests that officials use a visual warning to indicate to the coach that "enough is enough" has been hotly debated on this Forum. Please refer to:
Stop Sign Not Considered Harmful

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

From Vinski: "I give him the hand and tell him to back off with an official warning."

Vinski: Be careful about your wording. There are only four official warnings in NFHS rules: defense crossing the plane of the boundary line during a throwin, free throw huddle, interferring with the ball after a basket, and failure to have the court ready, i.e. water on the court, after a time out.

Also, whether or not the NFHS suggests that officials use a visual warning to indicate to the coach that "enough is enough" has been hotly debated on this Forum. Please refer to:
Stop Sign Not Considered Harmful

Billy, you are being a bit technical here. These are delay warnings. They have nothing to do with telling a player or coach to knock it off. Please do not be a rulebook official where you forget all common sense.

Peace

[JRutledge]

This is a classic case of a young official trying to find his or her way. There is nothing unusual about what happen. You have not learned how to handle players, what to say, what works, what does not work. Even if you gave a warning there is no guarantee that you will be able to get that point across if you have not learned how to deliver the message. Also 25 games are not a lot of games. There is a lot you will experience before you learn how to handle these situations properly. Even when you think you have it all figured out, you will have something take place you have never dealt with and be caught of guard. I was working post season games all week and I have some challenges during my games. It just comes with the territory.

Peace

[BillyMac]

From JRutledge: "Please do not be a rulebook official where you forget all common sense."

JRutledge: I see your point. The only reason that I brought this up is that Vinski is a rookie official. I would not have picked up on this small technical mistake if he were a veteran official. As a member of my local IAABO board's training committee, I believe that it's important for a new official to really understand the rules, and I didn't want Vinski to start his career thinking that there was such a thing as an "official" warning to a coach that "enough is enough". The veteran's on this Forum can't even agree if the NFHS suggests a visual warning to indicate to the coach that "enough is enough, as I indicated to Vinski in my post to his thread.

[tomegun]

Let's say for a second that I believe in giving a coach the stop sign, which everyone knows I don't. You gave a player the stop sign? And this was a very young kid?
You started off by commenting about how many coaches and how many players you gave technicals this season. Let that thinking go; you are there to do a job and if someone earns a T so what they did it not you.

[Vinski]

Thanks a ton for your comments. I’m the first to admit that I had made some mistakes here. I do realize that I didn’t handle the FT procedures for the technical as cleanly as I could have, which as Nevada pointed out may have averted the coach blowing his stack. Also, I may have made too much use of the stop sign, but in my brief experience it was usually enough. However, this game was much different than any other I had done. These coaches thought they were Bobby Night and they were playing for a shot at the NCAA championship.
Also, as mentioned by BillyMac, I did misuse the work “official” in the OP. I didn’t actually go to the table and have the warning recorded, I just gave the hand and said that they had been clearly warned and the Technical was right behind it.