rule books

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by cdaref

All I am saying is dont ignore the Official's Manual! That is in my view super-important for a new official. I am presuming you will do what is needed to acquire the basic rule knowledge. But dont forget the official's manual.

I would contend that you need to get more material than the Official's Manual. There are other publications or books on mechanics that are much more expansive on mechanics than what is currently in the NF Official's Manual. Things I learn and teach in camps also have many more techniques to get better than just reading that book. Mostly the Official's Manual tells you where to stand, but does not tell you how to officiate. I have read other books that actually tell you how to officiate specific plays.

Originally Posted by cdaref

I came to two conclusions:

1. he failed as a new official to spend any time with his officials manual and to take an interest in making himself into a good official, and
2. that we as an association failed him. how we can have a guy finish a year with mechanics like that is inconcievable to me.

It is very possible that even if he read that book, he would still not know how to do those things. I see people that review the proper material all the time but still cannot do the things on the court. Sometimes they do not realize they are not doing the proper things because no one has evaluated them live or on tape.

Originally Posted by cdaref

So that experience led me to say to our OP--spend some time with your Official's Manual. It is invaluable and is too often overlooked in favor of the rule book. I think you have to do both. And I am not trying to say "look good but dont know the rules" at all.

Even reading the rulebook is only going to mean so much. You still have to experience situations to truly learn rules and mechanics.

Peace

[cdaref]

Originally Posted by Smitty

As the self described more experienced official in this game, did you talk to your less experienced partner at halftime and perhaps suggest that he work on at least one thing for the rest of that game - maybe getting his hand up in the air when he blows his whistle? Did you point out any of the major mechanics problems to him? If not, then you might lean more toward conclusion #2 above. If so, did he seem eager to improve and at least try to do better in the second half?

Yeah, I did. I am a big fan of the "work on one thing" advice for newbies. At half we talked about just getting his hand up whenever his whistle blows. I tried to be supportive and helpful. I reinforced that I thought the calls he was making were good ones, he just needs to work on the mechanics so that his partner and the table and everyone else knows what he has. He said OK, but he didnt really do anything different in the second half. Afterwards I reiterated that I liked what he was calling, encouraged him to spend some time with the Officials Manual and even to practice in the mirror.

[Mark Padgett]

Just to help you out, here's the entire NBA rulebook:

Rule 1: Never call anything against a "star" player.
Rule 2: When in doubt, see Rule 1.