Official Rookie Needs Help

[oppool]

Alright guys 1st year doing basketball and have had 4 sets of games so far.

Here's the question yesterday 7th grade girls team A has a big physical team, Team B does not. Game starts team A is playing very physical 1st time out in the game my veteren partner come over to warn me to keep an extra eye out so somebody doesnt get hurt badly lets try to keep it under control BUT here's where team B coach screws up in my opinion instead of keep playing his skill game and see if team A doesnt start getting into foul trouble he decides to tell his girls to play physical with them and loud enough for everybody to hear and understand. Will it doesnt work we called over 40 fouls in the game and the game last forever. Coach B decides about 4th quarter this isnt working so late in the ball game he decides to start crying every time his team has the ball or takes a shot "That's a FOUL!". The fouls where pretty will split with each team having over 20 fouls each and both had one player fouled out only because each team had 10 players and coach's kept there subs in alot. My partner did try to talk to the coaches in the early part of the game to try to calm it down but they never did


Question on this long winded tale is any suggestions by the vets on how to better handle this situation


Thanks

Don the Rookie

[Bart Tyson]

Good job calling the fouls. the coach was sending a message to you by saying it loud enough for you to hear. Don't take anything from him. 1st time he starts to complain, give him the stop sign. 2nd time give him the T. Hopefully he will get stupid again and you can run him.

[donfowler]

You were right to make sure no one got hurt. My question to you would be "Would you have called the fouls without your partner coming to you?"
You will come to realize that there will be games where the coaches and players don't get it. They are too thick headed to understand that contact will be called and you may have to call 40, 50, or maybe 60 fouls. Be consistent the entire game.
Remember that not every game will be a great game. Thre are times we have to put up with games like this.
Sounds like you did ok. Keep up the good work.

[zebraman]

Sounds like you did just fine. You have to call the game at hand. I had two girls varsity games last week.

One was a thing of beauty and we never got into the bonus until the end of the 4th quarter and the coaches never said a word even though it was close and intense.

The other game was so ugly that it should have been a crime....we had over 30 fouls at the half and could have called more. Coaches whined constantly, but the truth is that it was just plain ugly with turnovers and fouls that needed to be called. Keep it up.

Z

[williebfree]

Sounds like you handled this well...

An observation that I would like to add:

Do NOT concern yourself w/ team or player foul counts.(However, you do need to be fully aware of when you have reached the bonus, 7th team foul; and super bonus, 10th team foul) Style of play and difference in talent level between teams/players will often create an imbalance. That is a coaching issue. You gotta call (react) to what you see on the court.

Keep learning and having FUN!

[BBarnaky]

I really like the posts in this thread. I will say, I really like donfowler's comments and I will echo the same. Some games will not be fun or enjoyable to work. Those games are the ones that you must concentrate, be consistent and just call fouls. Games like this, if you continue to call fouls and "stand your ground" the coaches and player will either get the point or players will foul out. Simple as that.

Most games, however; early in the game when you sense aggressive play turning into rough play, some good post play guideline fouls can be called which we call "tempo setters" to establish the game. Once these "tempo setters" are called (post play off the ball/on the ball and handchecking) most of the time (not all, like in your game as stated above) the game will be much smoother and the players will understand how the game will be officiated. However, if these plays are not called early and sometimes continually in your case, a game can escalate and get totally out of hand.

I like the way you handled it in that particular game, just keep blowing the whistle.

[Hollywood]

I would say that you did a good job. If you think that the game you called was ugly, I can tell you from personal experience that the alternative would have been far worse.

I was watching my daughter's game last week and keeping score (I obviously can't officiate in her league because of the conflict of interest but they let me keep score). The two teams matched were far and away the top two in the league and this game was for early season bragging rights.
The play was very physical right from the start and the official was relatively new (2nd year - not alot of games called). He wasn't calling much of anything unless someone really got clobbered. Seeing this, the coach of the opponent's team tells his girls (loud enough so that at least everyone at the scorer's table can her) to really take it to them. Next thing you know, bodies are flying all over the court for loose balls and the elbows are being flung over every rebound. I thought the game looked more like a rugby scrum than basketball.

My question for the experts here would be, what could/should I have done. I know many of you have kids who play ball and go and watch their games. Do you talk with the refs who are calling the game? I know this guy and this isn't a high school game - it's only a rec league - so I went up and talked to him about his calls but only in a positive way. It seemed to help a bit but I didn't want anyone to say I was trying to sway his calls towards our team. Thanks for the advice.

[LarryS]

Hollywood,
The only time I speak to the officials at my daughter's games is when I am curious about why they called something a particular way. When doing so, I am trying to find out if, with their better angle, they saw something else or were interpreting something differently than I would have given what happened. I always try to ask the question in a way that lets them know I am not questioning their ability, just trying to learn and improve my game.

If, during our conversation they quote a rule that I read differently I simply say something along the lines of "I will have to re-read that rule when I get home, I thought it meant (insert appropriate wording here)". Most of times I have approached them, they said they could not remember the play. Either that was true or they did not want to discuss it and were trying to take an easy out...so I let them have the out and dropped it.

[Hawks Coach]

Personal opinion - avoid saying anything to the officials at your kids' games - inquiries, judgments, anything. You are a biased individual (consciously or unconsciously), but using your other role as an unbiased arbiter to influence an official. if they know you're related to a player, it looks bad. If they don't know, it is wrong.