Working on a Small Court

[jdw3018]

I've had the "privilege" to work a lot of small courts during my time in Kansas. Lots of JV games there are played in the "second gym" at the high school, which typically is the original high school gym and may be very, very small. I've had the balcony as you describe. I've had the balcony actually a few feet out onto the court. I've had courts where you couldn't actually stand outside the 3-point line on the sidelines.

Smallest court ever was one from back in my playing days - the court was so small that the boundary lines intersected the 3-point line at about the free throw line extended, and we had the double-backcourt lines that were at the top of the keys. The baskets were actually nailed to the balconies. Really hard to get much space there.

Toughest court to officiate in my experience was a full-sized court, but it was basically a hockey rink - the sideline was about 4 inches thick, and the outside of that line was a half wall. The benches were behind that wall, and there was a door, just like with hockey, for getting to and from the bench. Needless to say, nowhere to go as an official if you got caught on the sideline during a transition. (This school just got a new gym in the last couple years.)

All that said, you simply do the best you can. Work for the best angles you can get, but I always tend to stay higher at center, as you can get caught below someone pretty easy w/o much place to go. If the court is actually smaller than usual, you have to work extra hard during games on movement, because there's going to be more "pack" contact, because everyone is in such a tight space.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.