Anything beyond "Ok" or "I see" or "Yes sir/ma'am" is usually too much.

I had a situation in my last camp where an observer didn't like a call I made. At first I thought he wanted an explanation but then looking in his eyes I realized that he didn't so I cut off my sentence about 3-4 words into it and just said "OK" and nodded. Another observer pulled me to the side afterwards and reminded me about keeping your mouth shut when an observer is talking.

Best advice, IMO, is to not offer information unless you have been asked a specific, non-rhetorical, question.

Sounds like you handled that sitch pretty well, but understand the notion of...

The *Lazy C* :

• Doesn't leave front court on the *dead run* unless there's a fast break.
• Hangs around the division line to assist Trail with division line and backcourt players.
  • Loose defense in backcourt
• After a score, hangs around Free-throw line extended to determine if Trail will need assistance.
  • Ball coming up on C-side
  • 4-5 players in backcourt light pressure
  • Pressure defense

Point being, you may have been a bit too far down court.
*Lazy C* should be very aware of the ball, of is partner on ball and of being there to help when needed. two eyes in the back court and two eyes in the front court and you've got 'er.

Just remember the line: "I understand."

It is not uncommon to hear conflicting viewpoints at camps. Listen...... and then do what a specific observer asks of you in that game. If in the next game you are asked to do something different, do so. A lot of times, guys will be testing you to see if you can adjust your game accordingly.

The descrepancies are usually minor items that are simply personal preference anyhow such as getting the ball while the trail reports a foul.

The main focus of camp for you should be learning 3 man-mechanics.

I still would not tell the observer what another observer or what you heard at another camp. As someone said, it still sounds like a "yeahbut" type of interaction. All I would do is ask for clarification and reasoning. I would not tell them what someone else told me because it is possible they do not care what the other person said to you. What and observer is telling you what they think is best and what works for them and others. That does not mean everything they tell you will work for you. Listen and say "OK" and move on. Or soon you will get the reputation as knowing everything and those that would help, just leave you be.

Peace

Thanks for the advice- I'll go with the "OKs" and "thanks" the rest of camp.

When might it be appropriate to ask any of the observers or directors for further explanation or to discuss a particular play in more detail? Obviously, its not during the game or while they are involved in another game- after the games perhaps?

Or should I not push the envelope without a specific invitation? It sounds like an obvious question, but if the observers don't want the campers to get too deep into what they advise, then I don't want to seem ungrateful or that I'm arguing with them. I/we don't know the answer, or I/we don't know why I/we should have passed on that call, that's why it's my/our first year and first camp. Ask or figure it out for myself?

This situation reminds me of a funny issue I encountered at camp several years ago....

I'm lead and Observer1, on one end of the court, is telling me I need to move to spot X. After a trip or two and a foul or two leaving me lead on the other end of the court, Observer2 is telling me I need to move to spot Y. It happens that spot X and spot Y are very different directions from each other relative to where I had been positioning myself. Each trip to the opposite end of the court, I keep getting "corrected" on my position since I couldn't figure out where I should be with conflicting info.

We got to the end of the half or a timeout and the observer I was closest to was starting to talk about the position again. I responded that I would be happy to do as he asked but that the guy on the other end of the court was telling me to move the exact opposition direction and I was having a hard time figuring out how to do both.

He had a good laugh when he realized what was going on and the dilemma I was in with to sets of conflicting instructions.

Aside from a case like that, I agree...not much response is advisable.

:)
Closing down vs. going wide?

At the last camp I attended I worked with an official who was new to 3-official mechanics. I don't rememeber the specific point, but apparently during our post-game session with the evaluator he received input that conflicted with something said previously. I thought his response was great and I have put it in "my toolbox".

He said "Excuse me but I am confused and since there is a very high probability my confusion is my fault can I ask some questions?" His first question started with "Earlier in the camp I understood the clinician to say I should..." and ended with his restatement of what the evaluator just said and asked for some assistance in reconciling the advice. I thought that was a great approach in bringing up conflicting advice without being a "Yea but" camper.

Exactly! Was a really fun experiment to try to split my body in half and cover the same play from two angles.

Did you work a game with me? This is more or less what I do and did just a few weeks ago at a camp at Central Washington when I received apparently conflicting information. The evaluator was happy to expand on his comment (the two statements were not actually conflicting...just one was misunderstood) and I ended with "Thanks, I've got it now".