I did some searching on the forum here and found some New balance shoes. I have been wearing them around the house the last couple weeks to make sure they feel pretty good. So, we will see tonight how they feel under playing conditions.

You must wear your shoes in a very unusual manner! ;)

Or he spent too much time on Red's bad side. I'd blame Kelso.

Okay, did my first games last night and things went pretty well. I had a few veteran officials watch me and offer me some advice. As a quick summary, the first game I focused on my court positioning and watching my primary area. I was a little timid that first game, but as the game went on I became more comfortable.

The second game went about the same as the first. My major goal was to slow down in this one. I had picked up speed in the first half and was rushing reporting at the table.

By the third game I was doing much better or so they told me. :) I was more comfortable and getting more of a feel for things. I was starting to see my positioning on the court better and where I needed to be.

Now for some of the suggestions they had for me.

1. Better communication, meaning slow down while making the call and reporting.

2. Close down on the shots.

3. Practice signals more.

4. Be more confident on the court.

So, all in all it wasn't a bad night at all. I did have a lot of fun and am looking forward to next week.

Here's what works for me:

If calling a foul as the lead, stand in place with arm raised for a second or two. Allow the play to come to a complete conclusion. You don't want to start moving towards the table when a dead ball foul, T or worse yet, a fight occurs. Don't vacate your area until your partner is coming in to replace you. Signal to partner how many FT's are going to be awarded or if the where the ball is to be put back into play. Then confidently hustle to the spot where you will report your foul.

I need to do it like this and create a more mental process. Rather than rushing, I am going to work on waiting that couple seconds after the whistle. Thanks for the advice.

It helps me to think about it like this: What you do at the spot, that's the communication you need to do. Make sure your partners, and the players know what happened, and what will happen next.

Once the real communication work is done, then you can head to the table and take care of the less important "paper work."

I guess I was looking at it from a sort of backwards perspective. I was focusing more on the table communication, when like you pointed out that is not as important as the spot communication. I have my next game on Tuesday, so I can put this advice into action.