Assistance

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Ch1town

JRut: Yeah, I did let my partner run things all night long.
He was the senior guy, a transfer from ATL who claimed to have had worked D2 & JUCO. My first time meeting him & all, his mechanics were so crisp & his reporting was very, very smooth so I didn't second guess much of anything he said... well except that jump ball situation & correctable error but I kept that to myself. Didn't want the older guy thinking I was some young arrogant punk. Last time a partner & I disagreed, we went to the books at halftime & that only angered him more & made for an extra-long evening.
For the record, last season was my first being patched & working varsity level games, so I got teamed up with true vets who guided me through, but yeah you're right, I need to KNOW those rules. When we get our new books in the mail, I'll be on it!!

It is common for officials to transfer from one area to another and say they worked a particular level. Do not get caught up into that. Also working D2 or JUCO does not make you a rules expert, it just means you worked a level you were assigned. For all you know the competition was not that high and he was asked to work that level based on his availability rather than his pure ability. That is a guess but it could be somewhat true. I have worked college games with people that cannot work a decent HS game. You will learn that as time goes on and you see guys come and go in and out of your area.

Now if you knew a mistake was being made by an official, then you should go to that official and insist you apply the rules properly or that "we" might have made a mistake. If the calling official insists on doing the wrong thing, then at least when the chips fall you can say you did what you did what you could to convince them. In the situation where the player was out of bounds and then back in bounds, it is possible you would have no idea why your partner called a violation. There are a couple of explanations that would make this a violation but based on your specific question it would not be. If you are working varsity, you have to learn to "step up" to a veteran when things are clearly wrong. You will not be given a pass if something is applied wrong and you have knowledge about it. It will affect your career.

Peace

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

Also working D2 or JUCO does not make you a rules expert, it just means you worked a level you were assigned. For all you know the competition was not that high and he was asked to work that level based on his availability rather than his pure ability. That is a guess but it could be somewhat true. I have worked college games with people that cannot work a decent HS game. You will learn that as time goes on and you see guys come and go in and out of your area.

Agree completely. In some areas, due to availability issues and the sheer number of schools/games, officials can work D2 or D3 and JUCO ball before they'll ever get a sniff of a good high school game. In other areas, you might have to prove yourself as a good high school official before you can get a sniff of JUCO/D2,3 ball. Officials should be judged on the job that they can do, not their resume.

And.....I've also seen some excellent officials who work rec leagues solely because that is all that they are basically interested in. That doesn't stop them from learning the rules and proper mechanics, and how to apply both, as well as how to manage a game. Iow, all rec league officials can't be labeled as Old School. They should be judged on the job that they do also.