Never officaited deaf team, but did have deaf partner for JV game in Georgia. I had a lot of respect for him. And he could read lips very proficiently! At meetings, he would have an interpreter signing for him. He was some big time college player in Georgia (stories were written about him, don't remember his name though)

Worked a district game involving The Florida School for the Deaf and Blind a few years back. Great kids, great coach. had one snafu where FSDB was making substitutions and someone hadn't left the floor. They've got six players on the floor (we are holding up play waiting for the sixth to get off) and they all have their back to the coach so he cannot get their attention. Finally we got them turned around to see their coach, to figure out who needed to sit down.

The classic moment of the game was when some parents from the opposing team (District game neutral site -- about 15 people in the stands, so you could hear everything) began to gripe about the officials. Keep in mind the deaf school is getting blown out at this point. The parents keep at it, how we're cheating their kids (who are winning by mercy rule), finally during a time-out one of my partners walks over to the parents and says, "what it's not enough that they're deaf, you think they should be blind too." They stopped after that.

I had the pleasure of working a game between a "normal" hs and a deaf school in WI years ago, and it was a great experience. I found that the deaf kids were far more in tune to what was going on than what I feared - I found myself often times OVER signaling, etc and they were like "whatever ref inbound the ball!" They also "listened" to the coaches and were much more disciplined than their non-hearing-impaired opponents...not a ton of basketball talent, but great kids!

I work some games in football and basketball for the Iowa School for the Deaf here in Council Bluffs, just across town from where I work. Being deaf myself, I make sure I have partners who are willing to be solid with their signals and mechanics when working their games. I usually find myself catching more grief from the deaf coaches (probably because I play against some of them in regional softball tournaments) than the hearing coaches.

One thing that tickles me, is I've had partners beg me to do the pre-game because I can sign. If it's the first time that partner works a game there with me, I will usually do the girls' pregame to allow my partner to become comfortable. Then, being a bit of a smarta** that I am, I'll tell my partner just before we go on the floor for the boys' pregame he's got it. They always have the deer in the headlights look, but I bail them out by having the coach from ISD interpret.

Are you totally deaf ? What kind of things do you need to do , say to compensate, for not hearing. A deaf ref,huh, never thought about it till I read your post.

Jeez I guess you don't have to worry about having rabbit ears and things like coaches chirping or do you ?

I do have some residual hearing in my right ear, with the use of a hearing aid. The only things I have a problem with is most times I can't hear my partner's whistle and hearing the coaches' yelling for timeout, especially if they have a quiet voice or such.

I don't have rabbit ears, but I know when the coaches are chirping away at me. I teach non-verbal communication, so I know the body language and facial expressions when that happens. Some coaches in the area have grown acustomed to me, and know how to get my attention and know how to speak to me so I know what they're saying.

Update: Did the Iowa School for the Deaf last night against a hearing team from Nebraska. Sometimes I wonder who the disabled ones are. It seems like the fans from the hearing school are the blind ones!